Today I came face-to-face with the realities of modern transportation.
My beloved truck, a 2004 Nissan Frontier, may have finally died after struggling for several years with a bad supercharger. As I waded through rush hour traffic in the rain the rumbling under the hood grew from concerning to deafening and downright alarming not only to me, but also to the other drivers in traffic – that’s when I knew it was bad; I had other drivers yelling their personal diagnosis’ at me above the roar of metal on metal.
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| There she is - hiding in the woods |
Now, this poses several issues – all surmountable, but not without some sacrifices. First and foremost, we live in a country built on the personal automobile. Never mind the cultural stigma of not owning a car, in most of this country it is simply impractical to use it as a means of real transportation as opposed to a hobby. The infrastructure is single-purpose, the planning is short-sighted, and distances between many necessary, day-to-day places too far. I won’t belabor the point that the current state of our transportation infrastructure has been influenced by corporate interests, market demand, and cultural flaws, but it has subsidized an addiction to oil and the automobile.
Here is the point I will belabor – we are primed to become a nation of the Bicycle.
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| "Yeah! Burn those dinosaurs!" |
Lets start with the freedom of the car. A selling point of every car commercial – the open road with the wind in your hair – it plays to powerful underlying sentiments quintessential to American culture. In keeping with the tradition of freedom of movement and individual choice (long used as rallying cries against trains and other mass transit) the bicycle is champion. Conveniently, few car owners have ever thought of freeing themselves from the constraints of gas station locations, but it is a limiting factor. The bicycle takes these shared ideals and brings them to a whole new level: they allow you the ultimate freedom of movement as far as your own legs will take you. You simply fuel yourself, and hop on your self-powered machine. No more burning subsidized dinosaur goo – how is that for real personal freedom?
In terms of the physical makeup of our towns and cities – think for a second how much surface area is devoted to the automobile. Parking lots, highways, interstates, all built to store and accommodate our two-tons of personal armor, our carapace of sorts, enclosing a living room on wheels. Our cities have been transformed into places for our cars, not places for people. The bicycle, as opposed to an automobile, is a human-scale machine. They lack noisy, polluting combustion engines, can only go as fast as you can peddle, and cost far less over a lifespan. Most of the mechanical needs of a bike are so simple a child can do it. Gone are the days of DIY auto repair, today it requires specialist, a computer technician, and a garage full of specialized tools – not so with a trusty bike.
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| The only parking lots I dream about. Thanks Wikipedia. |
On the East Coast, especially New England, towns were spaced a long walk apart, usually about 6- 10 miles. With sprawling infill and urbanization, the density is perfect for biking. So many times I hear people in the dense, older suburbs of DC where I live in say, “ I could walk it, but its just a bit too far”, that’s where the bike comes in. It is ideal for the suburban ring, as well as the city of course, but it expands your radius of travel 10-fold without burning anything except a few calories.
On that note: http://velocracy.com/2011/07/12/how-the-transportation-future-was-won-by-the-dutch/
Can you imagine, for a second, a city devoid of all combustion engines? There is a place you can experience this phenomenon – Venice, Italy. As night falls in the city, and the bustling crowds retreat, the silence becomes conspicuous. No rumbling freeways in the distance, no blaring horns, just the quiet lap of water in the canals. Imagine instead hearing birds, quiet sidewalk conversations, and the “whizzz..” , of a bike zipping past.
On that note: http://velocracy.com/2011/07/12/how-the-transportation-future-was-won-by-the-dutch/
Can you imagine, for a second, a city devoid of all combustion engines? There is a place you can experience this phenomenon – Venice, Italy. As night falls in the city, and the bustling crowds retreat, the silence becomes conspicuous. No rumbling freeways in the distance, no blaring horns, just the quiet lap of water in the canals. Imagine instead hearing birds, quiet sidewalk conversations, and the “whizzz..” , of a bike zipping past.
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| Couldn't have said it better myself... |
Ok, do you want to tie this to some of the political issues of the day? Sure, let’s go there:
For a complementary list of additional factors that keep us in our cars, look no further:
http://www.theurbancountry.com/2011/05/making-sure-nobody-walk-or-bikes.html
So, if we assume some of the infrastructure is in place(http://velocracy.com/2011/07/11/the-case-for-separate-bicycle-infrastructure/ ) – paths, roads, trails, alleys, etc. (ah, the versatility of the bike!) – minus a few extra bike racks, what is holding back the bicycle uprising? It is held up by oil subsidies, cultural norms perpetuated by archaic industries, and the lack of a legal framework that gives bikers rules and rights like the auto-driving public. Historically, the “right-of-way” that we refer to as our roads were reserved by the government for the travel of all people; cars are just big enough, loud enough and dangerous enough that they have edged out everything else. In the US, biking remains the marginalized mode of transportation. Many cities have taken steps to remedy this, most recently, L.A., an auto-addicted metropolis if there ever was one. The recent legislation, Rosendahl’s Ordinance, (http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/22/opinion/la-ed-cyclists-20110722) outlines the rights of bikers not be harassed or otherwise intimidated by drivers. While cities continue to build bike lanes on the unprotected shoulders of busy streets, they often fail to acknowledge the real needs of the biking community.
With a continued focus on national health and the economic issues facing America’s urbanizing population, planners, politicians, and drivers should take note. Increased use of bikes, through ownership and bike-share programs, is a continuing trend. As personal vehicles become less attractive, due to costs and associated health and environmental issues, biking has the potential to become a dominant mode of transportation in some parts of the US.
If you are interested in reading more on bikes, and lots of beautiful picture of people on them, you need to check this out:
http://www.velocracy.com/
From the Velocracy site: "Worldwide, less than 8% of the population owns cars, but everyone is paying a huge price for their existence and abuse, and the Western world, even the United States, is starting to realize that."
For the truly chic:
· Riding a bike could greatly reduce obesity = lower healthcare costs.
· Riding a bike reduces pollution – air particulates and smog, noise pollution, and runoff of all the fluids that leak from our beloved vehicles. = lower healthcare costs from environmental hazards, lower environmental cost of clean-up and regulation.
· Riding a bike saves money – no more car insurance, maintenance bills, gas bills, and car payments = lower household debt.
· And, in this political season it must be said, riding a bike could help create more jobs – with an increase in demand for bicycles there will be an uptick in small business (bike retailers, many locally owned), manufacturing, and all the related apparel and accessory industries. As well as infrastructure/construction jobs to widen the roads a bit and paint all those bike-lane lines.
http://www.theurbancountry.com/2011/05/making-sure-nobody-walk-or-bikes.html
So, if we assume some of the infrastructure is in place(http://velocracy.com/2011/07/11/the-case-for-separate-bicycle-infrastructure/ ) – paths, roads, trails, alleys, etc. (ah, the versatility of the bike!) – minus a few extra bike racks, what is holding back the bicycle uprising? It is held up by oil subsidies, cultural norms perpetuated by archaic industries, and the lack of a legal framework that gives bikers rules and rights like the auto-driving public. Historically, the “right-of-way” that we refer to as our roads were reserved by the government for the travel of all people; cars are just big enough, loud enough and dangerous enough that they have edged out everything else. In the US, biking remains the marginalized mode of transportation. Many cities have taken steps to remedy this, most recently, L.A., an auto-addicted metropolis if there ever was one. The recent legislation, Rosendahl’s Ordinance, (http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/22/opinion/la-ed-cyclists-20110722) outlines the rights of bikers not be harassed or otherwise intimidated by drivers. While cities continue to build bike lanes on the unprotected shoulders of busy streets, they often fail to acknowledge the real needs of the biking community.
With a continued focus on national health and the economic issues facing America’s urbanizing population, planners, politicians, and drivers should take note. Increased use of bikes, through ownership and bike-share programs, is a continuing trend. As personal vehicles become less attractive, due to costs and associated health and environmental issues, biking has the potential to become a dominant mode of transportation in some parts of the US.
If you are interested in reading more on bikes, and lots of beautiful picture of people on them, you need to check this out:
http://www.velocracy.com/
From the Velocracy site: "Worldwide, less than 8% of the population owns cars, but everyone is paying a huge price for their existence and abuse, and the Western world, even the United States, is starting to realize that."
For the truly chic:
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| Courtesy: Copenhagen Cycle Chic |
If you want to be on the cutting edge of biking, and have the hottest set of wheels when gas gets to $10 a gal. check this out:
And to wrap it up, a short photo study from Amsterdam. Here it is understood that the bike possesses all the desirable qualities of urban transportation - and they do it with class:
http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/
http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/
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| Courtesy: www.ski-epic.com |
It amazes me that a country with such a strong cultural tradition of personal independence, DIY ethic, and appreciation for the self-driven (literally!) that the bicycle has remained marginalized, for hobby and recreation, in the US. I think its time we give bicycles serious consideration as an integral part of our transportation system.
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