The Challenges of Bike Transportation
Two of the biggest challenges that cyclists and motorists share are communication and learning to share the road. Making eye contact, signaling where you want to go, obeying the laws of the road and not pulling any crazy moves are just a few things cyclists and motorists can do. Imagine a cyclist trying to do a U-turn on a busy street.
While good communication is vital, the greatest challenge for both drivers and cyclists is treating the bicycle as a commuter vehicle, not a recreational toy (Lagowski, K. “This is How We Roll”, CAA Magazine, Fall 2012).
Recall, it was the bike that was first invented before the car with all its bells and whistles rolled out. The first considered “bicycle” was called the penny farthing. Bet you didn’t know that! Imagine trying to maneuver that through the busy downtown core, although being at a better height than everyone else, you would be able to see what the traffic was like up ahead.
We know the obvious benefits of cycling: great exercise, frugal mode of transportation and better for the environment. This excerpt is taken from Cycling Health and Safety : A Review by Chris Cavacuiti BA, MD, CCFP, MHSc, ASAM:
” Anyone who cares about social justice issue should care about cycling:
Unlike cars, bikes are available to people of all ages and incomes. Most utilitarian cycling in cities like Toronto happens in the inner city , in fact, over half of all households in central Toronto do not own a car and must rely on bikes and other forms of transportation . Support for the concept of “complete streets” (roads with bike lanes, sidewalks and room for mass transit) is gaining support from a diverse range of people, including advocates for senior citizens and the disabled .
Anyone who cares about the environment should care about cycling:
While almost 50% of car trips are <5 km, bicycling accounted for an average of 1.2% of work trips in Canada in 2001 Using bikes more and cars less for short trips such as these is an incredibly effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Anyone who cares about their health (or their children’s health) should care about cycling:
Health issues related to an inactive lifestyle (such as obesity in childhood and heart disease in adults) are much less common in countries where more people ride their bikes . The health benefits of cycling are calculated to outweigh the risks by 20:1 .
Anyone who cares about the economy should care about cycling:
Physically active citizens are good for the economy as they have higher productivity, fewer sick days and need less medical treatment. In fact, a Danish cost-benefit analysis suggests that for every dollar invested in cycling infrastructure we can save over ten dollars in reduced health care costs and other savings.”
As you can see from the review, cycling plays a huge part in society and thus it is imperative that cities strive to create a better cycling infrastructure and put more cycling laws into effect And cities are doing just that. Behold the Bixi bike:
Source: http://petite-riviere.com/blog/?p=233
It is a shared commuter bike that is used by the general public. It is currently found in major cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Boston, London and Melbourne. People can go to a station, located at various checkpoints throughout the city, insert their user key and release the bike from its docking point. The bike can then be returned at any docking station within the network. Even the docking station itself is environmentally friendly, in that no excavation for a site needs to be done and the system is powered by solar panels. Check out the website for details on this clever concept for urban transportation: http://www.bixisystem.com/what-we-do/public-bike-system/
I have never used the system myself, since I own a bike , but its a great way for people to get around if they don’t have a bike. It’s great for tourists too if they want to explore the city, but don’t want to fork over tons of cash for a guided bike tour.
Take a look at the table below from the article How Dependent on Cars are We?:
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Table 2: Trends in Auto Dependency (Percentage Change over 20 years)
Population Increased 20% Length of Commute Increased 30% Miles Driven Increased 50% Time Spent In Traffic Increased 225% Time spent Walking & Cycling Decreased 45% Adapted from: Fulton, Pendall et al., (July 2001), “Who Sprawls Most? How Growth Patterns Differ Across the U.S”
Why should cities bother to invest in improving the cycling infrastructure?
Fact: The truth is European cities such as Copenhagen and Amsterdam that have a stronger focus on city cycling have shorter commute times. Average commuting time by car in Copenhagen: <30 min, Amsterdam: 47 minutes. For the majority of Canadian cities, the average commuting time by car is a whopping 63 minutes. For specifically Toronto and Vancouver, it is now over 70 minutes . This large difference in commute times between the cities indicates that the increase in cycling, decreases traffic congestion significantly.
Now I know it is impossible for everyone to incorporate bike transportation as part of their daily commute to work, because not everyone works and lives in the same city. Imagine all the people who did live and work in the same city and drove to work. Imagine if the majority of them actually biked to work, what a difference it would make. I know many of you are the white-collar desk jockeys and you worry about being all sweaty by the time you arrive at work. Companies could incorporate change rooms and showers and make it an upgrade to the washroom.
From what it seems, Europe has made a worthwhile investment in improving its cycling infrastructure and has shown nothing but positive results. North America seems to be slowly picking up on the trend and hopefully in the future, one will not have to constantly deal with traffic congestion and increased commute times. We only have so much time and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be spending it on something else, rather than sitting in traffic.
I want to give a HUGE thanks to everyone who commented on my previous post to this. I had received a lot of great comments, which inspired me to write this post:(In no particular order)
The Cheapskate Mom
My BF just got back into cycling, and we live on a street that’s known to be a cycling route. I kind of like it really because cars rarely drive on our street making everything really quiet. I personally don’t bike (I walk or bus) but I sure support anyone who does!
That’s great to hear you’re supportive of the cycing movement. I honestly never really gave it much thought until I went back into cycling. Being both a motorist AND cyclist has really opened my eyes and made me more aware of sharing the road.
Oh man now I’m feeling more guilty than ever not riding my bike! lol! I think for me one of the biggest reasons I don’t ride more often is time. My time feels SO tight these days and the free time I want to be spending is playing beach volleyball. I COULD ride my bike down there but that adds and extra two hours to my day. I know, I know, excuses excuses!! I need to start giving this a lot more thought! 🙂
My intention wasn’t to make people feel guilty! lol! Just to make people more aware. I don’t even ride my bike as much as I’d like to because it does take longer. You’re still good in my books. 😀
I have been working out a way to cycle to work. I used to but my commute is a lot farther now. I will work it out though. I really miss it.
Your post is spot on btw. I really like all of the factors you addressed. Hopefully more and more people will consider cycling.
It did take a little bit longer to write because of the research I had to do, but it was interesting research that I enjoyed. Glad you liked it.
Brian loves cycling. I enjoy watching competitive cycling but I don’t actually know how to ride a bike. *blush* Luckily, we both live close to work. My commute is a 30 min bus ride and Brian just walks to work.
I’m super-supportive of city bike lanes and cycling infrastructure though. When we were in Europe, bikes were so much more common – so much so that I had to be very mindful of accidentally walking in the cycling lane instead of the sidewalk!
Thanks for the shoutout! I actually don’t even own a bike :0 It’s just not something that I really enjoy, though you do have some good points 😉
Thanks for all your great comments! You’re one of my top commenters. 🙂
Okay, first off I just love the piggie in wellies. I have that as my wallpaper. 🙂 I read that article in CAA magazine too. Alas,I live too car to commute by bike, but I did do that back in my student days.
I live near one of the biggest cycling cities around, but have yet to jump ship from my vehicle. The scariest statistic I see above is the average commute time: 63 minutes! UGH! Come to think of it, I commute about 40 minutes each way, and I hate it. I try to ride the bus when I can as well, but it takes about 90 miutes each way, so I only do it a few times a week.
I agree that cycling should definitely be more of the norm, and could probably stand to cycle to the bus stop for work. It would be a big life change for me, but probably well worth it. Is it expensive to get started?
The public transit buses in the city where I live actually have bike racks in front, so you can bike to the stop and take your bike on the bus with you. To me the biggest investment itself is the bike. Depending on what your price range is, they can go for several hundred to several thousand. My bf got me a bike that normally costs $800, but got it for half because his brother sells them. I definitely noticed the difference compared to my cheap supercycle. The bike is a lot lighter. I can actually lift it up! 🙂 I’m no bike expert, but I noticed it rides a lot smoother too and it’s a LOT faster. It’s just better quality overall. I’m sure if you search Craiglist and Kijiji, you’ll find some people selling their bikes at a decent price and you can probably can bargain with them.
I totally wish I could bike to work. I spend almost $200/month on gas alone. 🙁
I would love to bike to work, but I serve and can’t be really sweaty serving people !! And I live in Ontario, gets snowy and once there is rain or snow on the road, I do not want to bike. It is an amazing thing though, they really should improve bike lanes, and businesses should add things such as showers like you mentioned to encourage it more.
I live in Ontario as well. When I was in school there were a few times I biked after night class through a dark poorly lit park. Sometimes I biked through in the rain and sometimes in the snow and ice. That was pretty dumb of me, but I wanted to get home as soon as possible.
My aunt lives in a neighborhood that was built to accommodate bikers. They have a small doctor’s office, their own movie theater, pools, volleyball courts, etc. It’s like a tiny city. It’s a great idea in theory, but because it’s so far away from everything else, I wonder if the residents actually save on gas, or if it just balances out since when they do have to go somewhere outside of the neighborhood, it probably costs a lot more.
-M
I have to admit that my city doesn’t have a sterling reputation for being kind to bikers. I even heard a friend say that some cars will speed up behind a biker just to scare him. Isn’t that sad?
Seriously!?!? I can’t believe people would do that. That’s real sad! And dangerous too!
Hi there!!! It took me a REALLY long time to respond to your comment that you left on my blog, mostly because I never check my blog’s email any more! Anyways, I LOVE this post, and your blog in general. I can’t wait to sell my car and just bike around the city. I have a Cervelo for racing, and I use Bixi for in city trips (don’t have to worry about theft, maintenance, etc. I’ve had it for two weeks and have apparently already saved 2 litres of gas…that’s an average of 365/year!). I live in Toronto’s harbourfront district and there’s a station behind my building. It’s fantastic.
And you’re right. From a socio-economic standpoint, bikes are the great equalizer, used by all.
Amazing blog!
Thank you for your kind words. I am truly flattered. I can’t even remember what I wrote on your blog cause that was a while ago, but your blog and Give Me Back My Five Bucks were some of the first blogs I started reading and inspired me to write a blog of my own. 🙂
I’m super-supportive of town bicycle paths and riding a bicycle facilities though. When we were in European countries, motorbikes were so much more typical I can as well, but it requires about 90 miutes each way, so I only do it a few periods per weeks time.