Cycling, the Other Gasoline Alternative
Written by Michael Vass
Let’s assume that the price of gasoline has been rising every year for the past 6 years. Let’s say that you live in a major metropolitan city. Let’s say that the number of obese people in your nation has grown almost as much as the waistlines. What do you do?
In America you blame the other political party, offer a tax break or threaten to tax the oil companies (depending on your party affiliation), mandate an alternative fuel source that drives up the price of food and that 98% of the population can’t use, and then sit back as unprecedented numbers of people go out and buy scooters or motorcycles. In America its drive or die you know.
But if you happen to be in England, well then it’s another story completely.
In a nation where gas gulping Hummers never took hold the obvious choice was to ride a bicycle. And that is something they have been doing in droves.
Since 2000 there has been an increase of 90% in the number of cyclists hitting the roads. In fact the government there has just created a ~$250 million incentive package for 12 cities, including Bristol, to become modern cycling cities. Not that does not match up much against the ~$10 billion spent on transportation in London alone (of which approx $110 million will be going to cycling) but it’s an impressive number.
Considering the huge numbers of people in America concerned about green house gases and global warming, the food police demanding that every meal be an organic mix of veggies and nuts, and the ping pong battle over drilling for domestic oil anywhere I have to admit I’m shocked that not even San Francisco has made similar moves if not to lead the world with cycling.
Cycling is not just the sport of France, or an event in the Olympics. It’s a real solution to rising oil prices, obesity, and global health. No matter how the politicians spin the polispeak the fact is that there is something that can be done, and England is doing it.
August 25th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I was born in England and lived most of my life there, and I truly wish it were true that England was seriously investing in cycling, but sadly it’s not. You need to look elsewhere. If you look to the Netherlands you will see what proper investment in cycling can achieve.
The cycling rate in the UK is still around 1% of all journeys, much as it is in the US, and the expenditure on cycling overall is still low when you look at how much they are spending per person, and for how long the bigger than usual budget lasts.
In the Netherlands nearly a third of all journeys are made by bike. Why ? It’s been made into a pleasure for all. It’s so good that I emigrated. Expenditure in the city I now live in (Assen) is consistently around 27 Euros per year per person on new infrastructure alone. This is added to by the contributions of developers, and items such as cycle training, sweeping the paths, de-icing in winter, maintenance of existing facilities etc. are also additional as they come from other budgets.
The result is that on average, people living here make 1.2 cycle journeys per day. Everyone cycles, from 4 years upwards, virtually all arrive at school by bike and they continue well into old age. Even the over 65s make nearly a quarter of their journeys by bike.
Infrastructure here is designed around cycling. You can see this in our online photo gallery: http://hembrow.eu/cycling/photos.html