In her ode to bike commuting and urban cycling, which includes good tips for how to make it easier for people, Lizzy Bennett highlights some interesting statistics:
It could be the rise of unemployment, the race to lower carbon emissions, or something in the water, but urban cycling is on the rise the United States. From 2006 – 2009, New York City built 200 miles of bike lanes and saw a 45% increase in commuter cycling. During the same time period, San Francisco built zero bike lanes and saw a 53% increase in bike commuting. Clearly infrastructure isn’t keeping folks off their bikes; even people in Los Angeles are bike commuting! And organizations like Peopleforbikes.org are helping folks realize the magic of bike commuting.
There’s strength in numbers, as they say, which is why more cyclists leads to…more cyclists. The more cyclists there are on the road, the safer it gets for all cyclists. Often, it takes an increase in cycling before the additional infrastructure will follow. Here’s hoping it does, around the country. On the Move readers, where would you like to see more bike infrastructure in Mercer and Ocean counties?