During the first quarter of 2009, more bicycles were sold in the US than cars and trucks. While the Great Recession is hurting bike sales, they didn't fall as fast as automobiles. Around 2.6 million bicycle purchases were made, compared to less than 2.5 million cars and trucks that left our nation's lots.
Bicycle Sales Still Hurt by Recession
I don't mean to say that bicycle sales are unfazed by the recession. They are actually down more than 30% from the first quarter of 2008. But that percentage drop is slower than the 35+% drop in sales for cars and trucks. Since nationwide gasoline prices are now rising above $2.40 per gallon at the pump, we may see another wave of US residents shifting to bicycles for their everyday trips. The large savings from riding a bike over short distances rather than driving can help consumer confidence and support economic recovery.
Even Long Trips Can be by Bike
Visionary activists are creating opportunities for cyclists to safely travel longer distances as well. For instance, the East Coast Greenway Alliance aims to connect greenways from Key West, FL, to Calais, ME, on a 3,000-mile long paved trail. For me, it's an exciting potential to visit family and friends in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island (or even the longer trip to my native state of North Carolina!) via bicycle. So far, many corridors of the East Coast Greenway (ECG) are built. But gaps in the trail exist that we all can chip-in to connect. One important current opportunity is for us to show our elected leaders that we support the completion of the ECG and other trails throughout our country as part of the federal transportation bill to be deliberated this summer.
Climate Benefits of Bicycling
Not only are there cost savings from such local and intercity rides, but there are environmental benefits too -- especially in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. While an average solo car trip or airplane ride emits more than 1 pound of CO2 per mile, bicycling or walking emits close to zero. If we need to travel hundreds of miles, there are great low-carbon strategies for travel that include mass transit and carpooling, keeping our average emissions less than 1/2 a pound of CO2 per mile.
Infrastructure Development Crucial
For Americans to put these millions of new bicycles to use, government leaders from the federal to the local level need to give more support to the construction and maintenance of safe bike lanes and greenways. Such work can be a much-needed source of job growth. From neighborhood paths to an urban counterpart of the Appalachian Trail, bicycling has great growth potential.
Let's make it happen!
China and India may be in a rush to develop, but they can also see the mistakes made in Western industrial history. They don't have to follow our pattern exactly.
Those suppliers have been carrying very high inventory this year - much to their dismay - so it's likely that the number of bikes imported in Q1 exceeds the number sold.
See: http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/2720.html
Although bike sales are down, the good news for alternative transportation is that sales of more utilitarian bikes are rising: http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/2751.html
Someone please come up with a viable transport for two people or more - something with a roof and windscreen wipers!
A comment for bicycle manufacturers: You wouldn't buy a car that didn't have headlamps, so why do you sell bicycles that don't have a lighting set? My current bicycle is German, and the lighting set and front wheel hub dynamo came with it.
I find touring bicycles and trailers perfectly suitable, but you might prefer a vehicle like the TWIKE. This expensive number comes from Germany and augments pedaling with electricity.
As for lights, there are so many options, I'd prefer they not be included in the bike. I use LED lamps mounted on my helmet with great success.
Off-road paths are fine for recreation, but not always usable for efficient bike transportation due to (1) high numbers of non-cyclist users, and (2) just plain don't go everywhere you need to go. Most urban areas are unsuitable for a separated path due to the high number of intersections, where statistics tell us most collisions happen, and which separation makes worse. Former RR right-of-ways and riverside trails can be a useful exception, having fewer intersections. Bike lanes become un-useful and potentially dangerous at intersections because they too can mislead about proper intersection merging for all potential destinations. They are no substitute for using the proper travel lane position. Even the European countries that many bicycle advocates love to hold as a model continue to have safety problems with some of their infrastructure, especially in urban areas, and bicycle-specific infrastructure is arguably not the only reason that the bicycle mode share is much higher there than here.
For all these reasons, I disagree with the author's last paragraph that a massive infrustructure rebuild is necessary. I think the problem is mainly educational, on the part of both motorists and bicyclists. Stressing bicycle-specific infrastructure minimizes the real need for education, competes for precious government dollars, and sets up bicyclists as just another special-interest group for everyone else to attack, which is not going to help our cause in the long run. In my opinion.
I rode a bicycle in S. Fl. for recreation and found a lot of hostility from cars, as thought bikes didn't belong on the street.
It's a lot about Driver Education, Driver maturity, and the attitude that , we all have to get to work in the AM, on the same road.
Holland has 1/10th the death rate of bicyclists as the USA
because of the Biking infrastructure.
Holland has lower speed limits in town than the US, and motorists are by law assumed at fault in any collision. That's at least two big differences that could help explain the fatality difference. Most US *fatalities* (not talking *all* collisions, just fatalities) are on high speed rural roads, many at night. Rural paths can no doubt help prevent this, especially if cyclists don't use lights, which many don't. But urban bike lanes won't do much to help because that's just not where most US bike/car fatalities are. I don't know where most Dutch fatalities are.
I don't want to get into a battle of statistics, and I'm not an expert in them anyway; I'm just saying it's not as simple as you imply.
We are willing to take driver's education to learn to drive a car, so I think people who want to use their bikes for transportation should be willing to augment their driving education to include "driving a bicycle" as well. Such education is available through the League of American Bicyclists.
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Having said that, I love commuting by bicycle. Luckily I live in an area with bike paths and wide streets. Five miles each way adds up to a good workout and saves about half a gallon of gas per day.
Sad to see sales of bikes down so much
There are also websites that allow users to create bike routes using glorified versions of google maps, check out bikely.com. Maybe someone in your area has mapped routes already, or you can start making a few.
If we want people to bike, we need to adopt a system of bike paths designed like the Dutch system.
The question is: Can we make the US a Bike Nation?
Like SET aims to make the US a Solar & Wind Nation in the electricity sector (starting from a small % in 2008), bicycles will take a while to reach Amsterdam- or Copenhagen-like shares of the transportation pie. But such a transition can lower our health care costs (from decreases in obesity), our foreign oil bills, and our carbon emissions enough to make the effort well-worth it.
Onwards in the Sustainable Energy Transition-
Dennis of SETenergy.org
Solutions: wind power for electricity, Natural Gas Vehicles for transportation.
Will it work? Of course it will it is working right now in small scale. If we will put billions in these directions it will work in huge scale as huge monuments all around our country for our stupidity and misunderstanding of global warming.
Mr. Picken as many others very famous persons in the world and mass media did not understand role of wind to cool the air. Wind energy evaporates a lot of water from any surfaces of rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans. Any uses of wind energy will reduce these cooling effects of wind.
Kinetic energy of the wind in the atmosphere send hot air from the land or water surface to the high level of atmosphere where it is easy for heat to escape to the space.
Kinetic energy of the wind met the small droplets of water in fog, clouds, and all green vegetables, especially in leaves of trees around all atmospheres on the Earth. These processes produce water vapor that invisible greenhouse gas, which always go up to cloud level and cool the Earth better than anything else.
Mr. Picken think that wind power did not produce pollution. It is not true. Production of millions wind turbines, batteries need energy. Electricity from these turbines is also pollutant –heat pollutant. Solar power is the same.
You play with fancy physics equations but your arguments have nothing to do with reality.
More and more people are realizing, on purpose or through necessity, that bicycles are empowering and at the very least a solid alternative to autos for shorter trips and commuting. It's low impact and once you get used to it a two mile trip to the store is just a nice cruise, and a rewarding break from driving and traffic.
Biking in Manhattan makes even more sense since B'way at Times Square has recently become a Pedestrian Mall. What takes 30 minutes by cab- takes 10 minutes by bike. It is like the best kept secret - so few people know the benefits of how great it is to be empowered with how you get there and when. It's freedom from cabs, subways and buses!
Incidentally, I ride a hybrid bike that can hop the curbs and pot holes. To keep my bike safe, I use a Masterlock 9-link Street Cuff, mounting bracket and a cable. They're light and work like a charm.
Is riding in NYC dangerous? Could be depending on how one rides. There's tricks to learn - you have to watch for car doors and take over a lane when you need to. Watch the messengers and you'll learn a lot. It is a combination offense / defense. In the twenty plus years of riding most days including in rain or snow, I've only been doored once, with no other accidents. I feel safer on my bike then riding with many cabbies.
With biking, it is gratifying to know that I am making a difference in a variety of green initiatives and enormous health benefits.
Every puff of CO2 brings us closer too, if not over, the "tipping point" where runaway global warming will certainly kill us all.
So why is it that Nancy Pelosi can fly back and forth to California via her taxpayer-funded jet, yet the rest of us are expected to buy and peddle bikes?
How many polar bears is she killing with every trip?
How many species will perish?
The Obama administration flew Air Force One over the Statue of Liberty for a photo op.
Are these the actions of people concerned that we are destroying the planet?
Why isn't Nancy driving an electric car or hybrid from San Fran to DC?
Why are we suppose to take the threat seriously... and make drastic lifestyle changes to combat the threat of global warming.. when those telling us to make those changes don't make changes themselves?