|
 The other day I took a turn too sharply, and before I knew it I was over the offending curb with a flat tire. The bill from the mechanic for the new tires and labor were a painful reminder of how expensive it is to depend on a car for daily life.
It made me think again about the idea of commuting to work by bicycle and the economic benefits of such an endeavor. Depending solely on a bicycle for my work travel would drastically reduce the number of miles I put on my car, reducing maintenance and wear. The upkeep for a bicycle (including replacement tires, chains, trips to the shop) would be substantially less than for a car, even for a pricey top-of-the-line road bike. Of course the initial investment would also be much less. Add to that the savings in gas, and I start to wonder why I haven't made switch.
I don't wonder for long though. The reality is, my time also has value, and what I would gain in monetary savings I would lose in time spent prepping and on the road each day. My 9 mile commute one-way, which takes a grand total of 15 minutes by car, would take nearly an hour by bicycle. Add to this the time spent preparing before hand and the transition time on arrival & departure at work, and I've sapped an extra hour and a half to two hours from my day. Not so appealing anymore.
If my commute was shorter, I can imagine making the jump to a bicycle. On top of saving money, it would also provide a consistent source of daily exercise (which as I approach my 30s I'm finding is actually important - I can no longer eat whatever I want and still lose weight). There are 3 or 4 people in my office that commute by bicycle, two of them almost every workday of the year; rain or shine or snow. I admire their commitment and consistency, and I wonder what society would be like with more people on bicycles than cars.
I found it interesting to read that bicycle ownership in the world is actually declining. A prime example is China, where in 1992 97 percent of the population owned a bicycle - in 2009 it had dropped to 63 percent. This trend is decreasing with an increase in the popularity and affordability of motorized transport, including cars and scooters. This phenomenon could be a sign of positive technological and economic development around the globe, allowing people to get places faster and save time. But the decrease in bicycle use also means more crowded roads, more vehicle emissions, and (possibly) a less healthy/active population.
 A cost-benefit analysis done in Copenhagen, Denmark (where 4/5s of households own a bike) found that bicycles were six times less expensive than cars for society as a whole. This factors in such costs as infrastructure and the consequences of increased traffic and emissions. This study certainly would ring true in parts of the United States, where infrastructure costs and rising car numbers are very real challenges for today and tomorrow. Part of the answer could be making city roads safer and more amenable to cyclists; maybe then we'd have more people choosing bicycles over cars. And then I ask myself again: if I lived closer to work, would I choose to ride instead of drive?
Probably yes... But for now I'll just listen to the Queen song.
References:
Scidev.net
ENN.com
| 
Re: I Want to Ride My Bicycle
