Amazon iframe

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Two-wheeled liberation from gas pump bondage

Signe Wilkinson cartoon on bicycle lanes
From the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia) 05.02.08:

Stay a slave to gas prices, or switch gears and ride a bike
Each morning, Sam Perry dons a helmet, hops on his bicycle and pedals 4 miles from his home to his job at a software company near Broad Street and Parham road. "Part of it is my own health initiative," (Perry) said, "and part of it is having one less car on the road."

With motor vehicles polluting, the planet warming and the price of gas approaching $4 a gallon, wouldn't we all benefit from fewer cars on the road? "Unfortunately, it takes a price like we're seeing today to lead people to seek alternative transportation," said Perry's wife, Kimberly Perry, executive director of the Lakeside-based BikeWalk Virginia...

It's clear we need to switch gears and look beyond the automobile and gas pump for our transportation solutions. (Read more.)
Encouraging article from Virginia, featuring supportive comments from state officials at the kick-off event for National Bike Month.

Image: Signe Wilkinson/Philadelphia Daily News.
Visit: Possible $4 a gallon gas helps cycling to work look good, Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL)
Visit: Enlightened opinion from Virginia, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: I want to ride my bicycle, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit:
Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips Site

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The cartoon is telling, and shows why I think this will be the bicycle century -- low public capital costs, no public operating costs.

We have been living beyond our means, have a government dominated by vested interests (especially older generations), and have massive debts -- federal, state, local -- and personal. Our dollar is depreciating as those in other countries realize we won't be paying those debts back in money of equivalent worth, bringing the excess consumption era to an end.

When the generations now in charge get through with us, younger generations face of future of high taxes, bicycles and telecommuting instead of transit, supported homeschooling instead of viable public schools (or private schools, which they won't be able to afford), and folk remedies instead of high tech health care.

Given the future of health care -- unlimited health care at an unlimited cost for some, nothing for most -- it is all the more reason to ride a bike.

iplayhockey said...

I'll be riding in at least one day a week starting tomorrow.
While I have daylight and good weather, the 40 mile round trip will be quite pleasant.
I'm riding from Princeton to Piscataway, NJ.