PEDAL POWER

Can bicycles play a role in modern urban transportation systems? Can pigs fly? Is there a Santa Claus? Is the Easter Bunny really Bugs Bunny's cousin?

At first glance it would seem that a question about bicycles in a modern transportation system is in the same category as those other questions. Automobile ownership in the US is nearly universal. Most of us cannot conceive of a lifestyle that does not revolve around our ability to get into our cars and go where we want, when we want. Americans enjoy gasoline prices two and three times lower than most other industrialized nations. Government has a history of dealing with traffic problems by building more roads to accommodate more automobiles. Bike lanes, where they exist, are almost always an afterthought. With the exception of a few hardy city dwellers the idea of commuting, shopping, or going about our daily business on a bicycle has been as foreign to most of us as the idea of traveling to the moon.

However, we are coming to understand more about the impacts on our environment, lifestyles, and economy,of our personal automobile fixation. As a result, bicycles are getting a second, and serious look.

There are some facts to back up the contention that bicycles are a viable component of modern transportation systems. Worldwatch Institute, an internationally recognized research foundation, reports that worldwide bicycle production is booming. In 1969 world production of bicycles and automobiles was about equal -- 25 million bicycles to 23 million cars. However in the past few decades that ratio has changed dramatically. In 1988 the figures were 105 million bicycles vs. 35 million automobiles. In the last year that data are available -- 1991 -- it was 95 million bikes and 36 million cars.

There is no doubt that most of the bikes made or sold in the US are for recreational use. However this is not the case in other countries. People in many European and Asian countries routinely use bicycles for transportation. In some of these countries the primary reason for dependence on pedal power is a lack of economic power. However, that is not always the case. In many European countries affluent citizens choose to ride bikes, in part because of their environmental awareness.

The positive environmental benefits of accommodating bicycles in a modern transportation system are significant and long-lasting. They include decreasing the amount of gasoline and other transportation fuels burned, along with the resulting decreases in pollution. In addition roadways need less maintenance; physical fitness is enhanced; more people are able to experience the natural world "up close and personal"; and, wilderness areas are made accessible to the public without the large-scale development, and resulting environmental degradation, that highways require and produce.

WHAT WE CAN DO

Making our transportation plans "bicycle-friendly" will require citizen action. Many US communities have citizens groups which promote bikeways, greenways and other "bicycle/environmentally friendly" transportation policies. Keep your eye on your local newspaper for notices about their meetings.

On the national and international scene a US organization known as the Worldwatch Foundation has campaigned long, hard, and effectively to promote bicycle-friendly transportation and development. We can contact Worldwatch at: Worldwatch Foundation, 1776 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 452-1999.

We can also check out CYCLING THE NET, a comprehensive World Wide Web bicycling news resource.

COPYRIGHT 1995 BY JEFF STARK

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