| Page 2 of 4 < > |
For Bicyclists, a Widening Patchwork World
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
In Britain, a country whose nationwide transportation system is nearly as inhospitable to cycling as that of the United States, London has emerged as Exhibit A for the quick infrastructure fix that gets commuters out of cars.
In 2003, the city imposed a steep "congestion charge" of about $16 for cars driving into the city center. Within a year, inner-city cycling had increased by about 25 percent. In the past eight years, there has been a 10-fold increase in city spending on bike lanes, bike parking and education programs. The effort has nearly doubled cycling throughout London.
There also seems to have been a fundamental change in the way Londoners think about cycling. It's become cool. Model Elle McPherson, Mick Jagger and Madonna have been spotted on bikes.
Angela Simoes, 55, sold her car seven months ago. When the mother of two needs groceries, three miles away, she cycles. When she visits the doctor, one mile away, she cycles. She is studying to become a teacher, and when she wants to let off steam, she cycles, sometimes for hours.
She rarely uses the subway, but when she does, she locks her bicycle to one of the many bike rails provided outside the station. She also has a folding bike, which she carries on the train like an oversize handbag.
The decision to ditch her car was easy, she said. Gas prices had shot up, she won the folding bike in a contest, and her car needed costly repairs.
She doesn't miss the car. "It's so much quicker to jump on the cycle and get a few things," she said. "There's no pollution and you're keeping fit."
As much as she can, she rides in London's new bike lanes and uses bus lanes that have been opened to cyclists. But Britain still has a long way to go before it connects the cycling dots.
There is "no one long path we can call our own" in London, and roads outside the city are dangerous, she said. "A cyclist has to keep her eyes peeled."
Europe's Full Embrace
Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands have been connecting the dots for three decades. They started in the mid-1970s, in the wake of the world's first oil shock and after 25 years of American-style, car-centric traffic management that had coincided with a sharp decline in cycling.
There is now an integrated system of safe bicycling routes in most cities in all three countries. It allows cyclists to go almost everywhere on paths that are separated from automobiles and in "traffic-calmed" neighborhoods. Besides pampering cyclists, these countries punished drivers with fees and restrictions intended to make commuting by car expensive, slow and frustrating.
The policies have resulted in the developed world's highest per-capita rates of cycling and lowest rates of cycling accidents, the Rutgers study found.
