I've always said that higher gas prices are not the cure for the bike industry's blues, but it is clearly helping things. I see it as a great start, or catalyst, to help make the necessary changes for more/ broader ridership. It's always been my belief that convenience and safety are paramount to keeping people on bikes once they get on a bike.
It is my sincere hope that we are on the road to creating a better cycling world in the US- one with the proper infrastructure to keep people interested in using their bikes as more than toys/ fitness tools... but as a regular part of their lives.
Hope does spring eternal after all...
Tim
(Thanks to my coworker James Ayres for sharing this article with me. As they say, "even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile".)
6 comments:
Set the wayback machine to 1979,, May to be even closer, high gas prices and the threat of NO gas caused the bike shop for which I worked to leap to selling 6 to 7 bikes a day from one to two.
Just another cycle.
Wow, sorry about crash...I had sent a couple emails and was wondering why no response !
Get well real quick
Tony
yay for Bike to Work 2008! I personally loved seeing all the bikes out today...
I hope that every "bike boom," large or small leads to a few more people discovering cycling as a viable option for getting around. I'm happy to be in such a bike-friendly place (Missoula, MT), where I can live in town, bike to work, and get many of my errands done on the bike as well. I sold my clunker car for fender and tire money two years ago, now my wife and I share a car and haven't looked back.
But back to the "living in town" thing. In my working life, I'm a land-use planner, and that's where it all starts. Planning for enough residential density and mixed-use in town to make biking, walking and public transportation viable. Creating a built environment that people want to live in, that's nice enough so they don't buy a half-acre on a cul-de-sac at their first opportunity to get out of the loathsome city. Get enough people living in town and bike facilities and complete streets become economically viable. And for heaven's sake, welcome new people into the biking fold. In my other working life, I've been a sales floor guy at REI for the last few years, and we see our share of people looking at bikes who haven't been on one since they were 12. The price point has to be explained gently, the basic education (tire changes, etc) has to be worked in without being intimidating. As cyclists, as retailers, as citizens, we will all benefit from more butts in saddles. One of the most important things to do as a cyclist is to get out there and be seen riding, to and from work/grocery store/whatever. Be seen riding a regular old bike, with fenders and a rack, wearing normal clothes, following the rules. Show the world that in between DUI cyclists and spandex racers, there is a whole other class: regular people riding bikes to meet the needs of dasily life. OK, I'm rambling, but you get the poitn and I'm preaching to the choir anyway.
Wow Mike.....so well put. Thanks for breaking it down!
Wow Mike.....so well put. Thanks for breaking it down!
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