Thanks to Holly for sending me this article. ‘Slate’ recently asked, “What would it take to get more people to bike to work?” and came up with the answer “more bike parking.” It makes sense when you think about it, and it applies to cars so why not bikes? Studies show that a large percentage of commuters who drive to work alone in their car each day have a free, assured parking spot. So if you knew you had a safe, guaranteed place to park your bike each day, would you ride more?
So… My job is about 22 miles from my house. I would make the journey at least once, maybe do it a couple times a week if:
A.) I had a place to shower and store stuff at work. At my last job, there was a locker room and I had about 4 changes of clothing there plus all my shampoo/razors/cream rinse…and girly preparations there.
B.) If I could occaisionally fax (non long-distance), use the internet to check my home email, and use the company phone for local numbers to make a few calls during my breaks (goverment jobs do not generally allow this.) It's amazing how much harder it is to just leave the, "Mother Ship" to run errands at lunch-time.
C.) If the road I travelled was not perceived as an advanced level of Pole Position. It is a DNR road where people drive like maniacs competing for a Nascar trophy. It has many twists and turns, and motorists are so determined to win, I would surely die.
Many surveys show that folks would really like to NOT ride with automobiles. In fact, it is noted that the ratio of men cyclists to women is pretty astonishing: not that I really get on the gender kick too often, but most guys I know tend to be more into shall we call it, "physical risk taking," than ladies (I'm always scared of dying) like myself. Studies have shown that men commuters out-number women by at least 2.5 to 1 (where they get that half a person, we'll never know 🙂
Here's an interesting link:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WPG-4P6VD47-6&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=984125560&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=23d3929e1f7c473537ce96228fbf5ace
Sheesh that was longer than the article.
Here's another one:
http://www.michiganfitness.org/active/factsheet.html
Scroll down on the last one and take a look at the cost of building biking infrastructure vs motorist or bike/motorist infrastructure.
There. Are you tired of reading this LONG WINDED COMMENT? Sorry.