There aren't too many tools that are as ideal today as when they were invented, in just the same form as they were originally conceived. But the bicycle is one. Simple, cheap and accessible, absolutely no existing transportation solution could be better for reducing greenhouse gases, untangling snarled urban streets, and improving human health than getting more people on two wheels. But challenges are many and varied.
While accelerated use of motorized vehicles in developing world cities is quelling traditional dependence on bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles (NMVs), industrialized cities are pushing people to forego auto transport for pedal power. All over the world, bicycles are getting much-deserved reconsideration as a no-brainer solution to fundamental problems in transit, community, and the environment.
In many large Asian cities, NMV transport accounts for well over half of the total means of transit. According to a report from Michael Replogle of Environmental Defense:
"In many low income Asian cities where NMVs predominate, there has been little need to create a separate cycle network because large numbers of NMVs define their own legitimacy to right-of-way. However, as motorization increases, or as traffic congestion worsens, it becomes increasingly important to develop modal separation in high traffic flow corridors. This is particularly vital in mixed traffic cities where NMV use is declining due to competition from growing motorized traffic."
We've talked in the past about creating urban designs that favor harmonious coexistence between motor vehicles, bikes and pedestrians, and technologies that facilitate a convenient car-free existence. We've also discussed the requirements of a successful balancing act of introducing new technology as a means of advancing a growing city, without forcing perfectly effective, less high-tech urban systems into extinction. There are plenty of other efforts and organizations out there analyzing and supporting the sustained use of bikes in changing cities.
Again from Replogle:
In smaller cities, bicycles should have a primary role on their own for work, shopping, and other travel. In larger cities, where trips lengths are longer, bicycles should be seen as most important in providing access to efficient public transport services for work trips and in serving some short distance shopping and other trips. The integration of bicycles with public transport can facilitate efficient polycentric metropolitan development patterns. By linking multiple urban centers together by public transport on its own right-of-way and expanding the service areas of public transport stations with bicycle access, such strategies can favor the evolution of megacities into more manageable constellations of small cities.
WC Ally and guest contributor, Emeka Okafor recently pointed out a Bicycle Reference Manual for Developing Countries compiled by "mobility consultant" Barbara Gruehl Kipke, which provides suggestions and approaches to be considered by urban transportation planners as they work to accomodate increased auto traffic.
WorldBike (formerly known as XAccess, the non-profit associated with Xtracycle) has also been promoting the use of bikes in accomodating heightened demand for the transport of goods and people around cities. Their programs have been providing load-bearing cycles (utility cycles) to people in South Africa, and now Kenya, in partnership with KickStart, with supplemental efforts to establish local manufacturing.
Other methods exist for connecting surplus bikes with communities in need. IBike (the International Bicycle Fund) connects individuals and organizations wishing to donate bikes, parts or maintenance and repair training with those requesting tools and skills abroad. They call it a "Recycling Program," and offer a host of specific suggestions for facilitating a connection and building networks. Similar strategies for facilitating donations, not just abroad but also domestically, are ongoing with Bikes Not Bombs.
With May being National Bike Month in the U.S., a little extra focus has been placed on opting out of the daily car commute. The LA Times ran a long story on Angelenos taking on the city with handlebars and a helmet. The profiled a number of different LA residents who'd each had different reasons to stop driving everywhere in the car-dependent metropolis. An interesting one came from a "self-described conservative Republican and Navy veteran" who called riding a bike "the most patriotic thing that anybody can do at this point in time." LA's also home to the super-rad Bicycle Kitchen (La Bici Cocina), "a cooperatively-run bicycle Culture and repair space dedicated to improving the lives of Angelenos through environmental justice, cultural awareness, community and youth outreach using the bicycle as it's tool."
Unless you are in the Southern Hemisphere, it's summer now and you have no excuse. If you can fall in love with riding while the sun is out, the affair might last into rain and sleet. The best way to get drivers to share the road is to give them someone to share with; the best way to convince planners to add bike lanes is to show them they have someone to plan for.
Make it happen en masse at Critical Mass. Most US cities' next ride is tomorrow, May 26 (and almost always the last Friday of the month).
