Can Bicycles Make a Difference?

Bicycle commuting requires similar thoroughfares as those used by pedestrians. That is, bicycle routes must be safe, well-lighted, wellpaved, inviting, and go where the traveler wants to go. The benefits of using a bicycle to replace cars in most commuter trips should be familiar to almost everyone: bicycling promotes health; bicycling reduces air and noise pollution; bicycles do not use fossil fuels; bicycling relieves traffic congestion, which burns more fuel; and bicycles do not require much space to park—about 20 bicycles can park in a single car parking space.

Bicycling Life, a Web site devoted to bicycles as an alternative mode of travel, has noted that bicycling gives added benefits beyond good health: bicycles are inexpensive for owners and for city infrastructure; high-quality bicycles include more advanced material and power technologies than cars; and in urban centers bicycles reach their destinations faster than
cars, but bicycling has not become part of global industry. The last point refers to the wariness that many people feel toward giant corporations that have close ties to government. In 1955 General Motors chairman Charlie Wilson proclaimed, “What is good for General Motors is good for America.” At the time, Wilson made a valid point because the country’s economy and car-oriented culture brought new post–World War II conveniences
and wealth. But the auto industry also grew into a huge enterprise that collected as many critics as it did supporters. The bicycle industry, by contrast, supports local businesses and has not become tied to political agendas.

A new bicycle culture in the United States may take different forms that will all help the environment. First, commuters can substitute bicycles for cars whenever possible. Bicycle travel may be point to point or it may be composed of partial trips in which a bicyclist rides to a subway or bus station and then travels part of the route on mass transit that also carries the bicycle. Second, bike-sharing works the same as car-sharing: More than one person makes use of a single bicycle in a day, either free or with a small rental fee. After a few hours, the rider returns the bicycle to the same drop-off/pickup location. Bike-sharing in Paris, France, outshines any other place in the world for efficiency. In 2008 the Time reporter Kristina Dell wrote, “It’s hard to walk more than two blocks [in Paris] without running into a bike rack, which helps explain why the program has already yielded a 5 percent drop in car traffic. Paris has also removed lots of parking spots to make way for bike stations.” Lyon, France; Copenhagen, Denmark, and Barcelona, Spain, also run successful bike-sharing programs. By comparison, Washington, D.C.’s program has 120 bicycles and only 10 stations. A third bicycling option involves the use of electric bicycles, also called e-bikes, that run on power levels much lower than those consumed by cars—150 watts of electrical energy versus 15,000 watts for a car.

Bicycles certainly make a difference in preserving the environment, especially if people combine bicycling with other sustainable activities. To help bicycling grow and make a true impact on the environment, some of the following issues must be resolved: (1) safety for bicyclists in heavy vehicle traffic; (2) building more bikeways; (3) options in bad weather;
(4) theft prevention; and (5) developing respect between drivers and bicyclists. As the Time reporter Dell pointed out, “With gas prices skyrocketing and carbon-footprint consciousness going mainstream, more and more cities are betting that Americans are finally ready to make biking part of their daily commute.” Dell’s prediction has already come true in many cities and towns where a small but dedicated subpopulation of commuters has made the bicycle their primary mode of travel.