TelecomZombie
05-23-2008, 12:28 AM
A red-blooded endorsement of cycling makes good public policy, saves money, promotes health and would add to Gross National Happiness.
With gas prices suddenly up to a "shocking" $1.25/litre locally and expected to double, it's time people thought more about a very simple way to save a lot of money and gas, create quality jobs, improve health in the general population, and have fun at same time: promoting cycling as a serious form of transportation.
Governments should build bike lanes and hire celebrity hotties to promote them.
I admit to being a lifelong cycle enthusiast. Not everyone shares my enthusiasm, usually for fairly common reasons that can, for most people, be overcome. Really there are only about seven:
Cycling is dangerous.
Canada is a northern country.
Distances in Canada are too great to make cycling practical.
Real men (and women) don't ride bikes.
Cycling is too hard and hurts your butt.
Cycling takes too much time.
Cycling ruins your hair.
If we were serious about reducing energy use and improving public health, it wouldn't be hard to deal with these problems, and doing so would have benefits and positive spin-offs in every case.
It's true. Cycling is damned dangerous, for beginners and experienced riders alike on our roads the way they are now. Without dedicated bike lanes and ongoing public awareness campaigns, cyclists have no protection from motor vehicles. A promise to create bike lanes going everywhere would be exciting. It would call for major construction spending. It would also enable working families (see problem 4) to save lots of money on transportation.
Sure, Canada is a northern country, but only American tourists think it snows all the time here. In my part of Canada, that means riding is pretty tough from mid-November to late March — about four months. If you have decent rain gear and you're in good shape from riding all the time (see number 4), like the Dutch and Danes — in northern Europe — that leaves eight months of gas-free commuting and shopping. With good bike lanes maintained well, winter commuting in Canadian cities is feasible at least part of the time. I personally bicycle-commuted across Toronto during the winter of '99, the year of the Storm of the Century. I remember lots of other riders on the Bloor Viaduct that winter. If you're dressed for it — and have bike lanes — it can be a lot of fun and save money.
Distances in Canada are too great to make cycling practical. Public transportation died during the 50-year interlude now coming to a close when personal car transportation was cheaper than other alternatives, because of cheap oil and other subsidies. This era has ended but left us with a sprawled pattern of development that isn't confined to suburbs. Cities and rural areas have the same problem. It has been easy for people — like me — to locate fairly far from others. That's great when gas is cheap, if you ignore environment effects, but not so great now and worse in times to come.
We can't rebuild the railways or run buses everywhere. But public transportation networks, supported by regional, provincial and federal governments, could provide bus, jitney, or shuttle services with pickup points planned for coordination with all those new bike lanes. These services would offer good jobs and stimulate the economy by saving money for working families and enabling them to work, go to school, shop and travel for fun. In Holland and Denmark, you can lock up your bike, get on a train, and then get off and rent a bike with no fuss at the other end — kind of like those shopping carts you "rent" with a coin — and pedal to your destination.
Real men (and women) don't ride bikes. Old attitudes are some of the toughest problems in social change. Cycling in North America has somehow been identified as a middle-class activity. It's hard to getting working-class people onto bikes. People who work hard physically like the relaxation of driving or being driven. The problem is more than that, though. It's attitudinal.
In the past thirty years, we have seen enormous changes in social values due to concerted social marketing. Real men now change diapers. Real men quit smoking. Real men can even be gay cowboys. If we get enough male actors, athletes and other sex symbols onto bikes on TV, the average Joe will follow suit. And when they get into condition, they will suddenly find that it's a great way to do what real men love to do — compete.
Cycling is too hard and hurts your butt. Compared to driving, that's true. Compared with paying for a car and gas, it isn't so hard. At $2.50 a litre for gas, it's not hard at all. Over time, with practice and good equipment, cycling gets a lot easier and more fun all the time as you improve. As for hurting your butt, modern bikes have shock absorbers, and after a while, you won't notice, either because you get into shape or simply go numb.
Cycling takes too much time. But if you're like most of us, and 20 minutes of riding would get you to a convenient lockup/pickup point, then it's not that big a deal — if there's some way for you to leave your bike securely and get picked up.
This is where government needs to get involved with a range of job-creating, energy-saving ways to move people. Rail and light rail will, in time, come back to the important place they should have had all along and which they have always had in Europe. In the meantime, bus and jitney services, ride share, car pools, transportation cooperatives need to be set up and launched, and they can be with a minimum of lead time.
Bad hair is another social marketing question. (See number 4). Pay celebrity hotties — female and male — to do public bike events and make designer helmets part of the campaign. Promote Bike Chic.
Benefits? There could be enormous benefits of aggressively promoting bike transit as part of Canada's transportation picture. More people on bikes and using shared or public transportation means less fossil fuel use, less pollution, and more healthy people who happen to be a bit happier too because of all the exercise and social contact. The economic benefits are many: helping family budgets, jobs building infrastructure, jobs in public transportation, lower health care costs, and reduced national dependence on oil — other than chain oil.
http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature8.cfm?REF=303
With gas prices suddenly up to a "shocking" $1.25/litre locally and expected to double, it's time people thought more about a very simple way to save a lot of money and gas, create quality jobs, improve health in the general population, and have fun at same time: promoting cycling as a serious form of transportation.
Governments should build bike lanes and hire celebrity hotties to promote them.
I admit to being a lifelong cycle enthusiast. Not everyone shares my enthusiasm, usually for fairly common reasons that can, for most people, be overcome. Really there are only about seven:
Cycling is dangerous.
Canada is a northern country.
Distances in Canada are too great to make cycling practical.
Real men (and women) don't ride bikes.
Cycling is too hard and hurts your butt.
Cycling takes too much time.
Cycling ruins your hair.
If we were serious about reducing energy use and improving public health, it wouldn't be hard to deal with these problems, and doing so would have benefits and positive spin-offs in every case.
It's true. Cycling is damned dangerous, for beginners and experienced riders alike on our roads the way they are now. Without dedicated bike lanes and ongoing public awareness campaigns, cyclists have no protection from motor vehicles. A promise to create bike lanes going everywhere would be exciting. It would call for major construction spending. It would also enable working families (see problem 4) to save lots of money on transportation.
Sure, Canada is a northern country, but only American tourists think it snows all the time here. In my part of Canada, that means riding is pretty tough from mid-November to late March — about four months. If you have decent rain gear and you're in good shape from riding all the time (see number 4), like the Dutch and Danes — in northern Europe — that leaves eight months of gas-free commuting and shopping. With good bike lanes maintained well, winter commuting in Canadian cities is feasible at least part of the time. I personally bicycle-commuted across Toronto during the winter of '99, the year of the Storm of the Century. I remember lots of other riders on the Bloor Viaduct that winter. If you're dressed for it — and have bike lanes — it can be a lot of fun and save money.
Distances in Canada are too great to make cycling practical. Public transportation died during the 50-year interlude now coming to a close when personal car transportation was cheaper than other alternatives, because of cheap oil and other subsidies. This era has ended but left us with a sprawled pattern of development that isn't confined to suburbs. Cities and rural areas have the same problem. It has been easy for people — like me — to locate fairly far from others. That's great when gas is cheap, if you ignore environment effects, but not so great now and worse in times to come.
We can't rebuild the railways or run buses everywhere. But public transportation networks, supported by regional, provincial and federal governments, could provide bus, jitney, or shuttle services with pickup points planned for coordination with all those new bike lanes. These services would offer good jobs and stimulate the economy by saving money for working families and enabling them to work, go to school, shop and travel for fun. In Holland and Denmark, you can lock up your bike, get on a train, and then get off and rent a bike with no fuss at the other end — kind of like those shopping carts you "rent" with a coin — and pedal to your destination.
Real men (and women) don't ride bikes. Old attitudes are some of the toughest problems in social change. Cycling in North America has somehow been identified as a middle-class activity. It's hard to getting working-class people onto bikes. People who work hard physically like the relaxation of driving or being driven. The problem is more than that, though. It's attitudinal.
In the past thirty years, we have seen enormous changes in social values due to concerted social marketing. Real men now change diapers. Real men quit smoking. Real men can even be gay cowboys. If we get enough male actors, athletes and other sex symbols onto bikes on TV, the average Joe will follow suit. And when they get into condition, they will suddenly find that it's a great way to do what real men love to do — compete.
Cycling is too hard and hurts your butt. Compared to driving, that's true. Compared with paying for a car and gas, it isn't so hard. At $2.50 a litre for gas, it's not hard at all. Over time, with practice and good equipment, cycling gets a lot easier and more fun all the time as you improve. As for hurting your butt, modern bikes have shock absorbers, and after a while, you won't notice, either because you get into shape or simply go numb.
Cycling takes too much time. But if you're like most of us, and 20 minutes of riding would get you to a convenient lockup/pickup point, then it's not that big a deal — if there's some way for you to leave your bike securely and get picked up.
This is where government needs to get involved with a range of job-creating, energy-saving ways to move people. Rail and light rail will, in time, come back to the important place they should have had all along and which they have always had in Europe. In the meantime, bus and jitney services, ride share, car pools, transportation cooperatives need to be set up and launched, and they can be with a minimum of lead time.
Bad hair is another social marketing question. (See number 4). Pay celebrity hotties — female and male — to do public bike events and make designer helmets part of the campaign. Promote Bike Chic.
Benefits? There could be enormous benefits of aggressively promoting bike transit as part of Canada's transportation picture. More people on bikes and using shared or public transportation means less fossil fuel use, less pollution, and more healthy people who happen to be a bit happier too because of all the exercise and social contact. The economic benefits are many: helping family budgets, jobs building infrastructure, jobs in public transportation, lower health care costs, and reduced national dependence on oil — other than chain oil.
http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature8.cfm?REF=303