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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Why do you bicycle to work?

Image of bicycle commuters
From the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Greenversations:

To bike or not to bike--that is the question… It’s National Bike Week! Biking is healthy, it prevents air pollution, and it can even save you money (filled your tank recently?). So why aren’t you biking to work? Need more bike paths? Different policies from your employer? Government sponsorship or policies? Or are you just a couch potato?

Why are you or aren’t you biking to work? If you ARE biking, tell us about your route and experiences!
Wednesday is Bike to Work day in my community; many other communities across the U.S. are also sponsoring bicycling promotion activities as part of National Bike Month. And here is an opportunity to comment on the EPA website about your enthusiasm for bicycling. Maybe if they get an overwhelming response it might cause some shift in our petroleum-marinated government...OK, I'm not that naïve. But still, consider leaving a comment. It can't hurt, right?

Image: Web capture.
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips Site
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8 comments:

E to the M said...

I've been biking most days since I got my new bike! I love it and because I live fairly close to work, it's actually faster than driving. I also live in Burlington, VT and it's very bike friendly so that makes it easier.

dr2chase said...

I left mine, interesting to see if "sick of our oil war" will mark it as immoderate.

Kevin Love said...

Where I work has zero car parking. My choices are biking or public transit. I choose biking because because it is cheaper and I like it.

Anonymous said...

Reading the comments there, I had no idea so many(?) people worked 40-80+ miles from their jobs.

There is no way I could do that, no job is worth 2+ hours of my life in a car 5 days/week.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Paul, for mentioning our blog question of the week. We'e been amazed at the response (381 comments so far, 270 of which came in today). We're now looking at how to best use that info.

@dr2chase: We approved your comment. No sweat on commenting on the "oil war" on this end! Fit just fine into our commenting policy, which is really just to keep things civil.

Jeffrey Levy
US EPA

dr2chase said...

And again and again with the safety (though I mentioned it it my very own comment, worrying about downhill speed).

The two effective cycling messages that deserve to not be lost are:

- visibility, visibility, visibility, and

- what is the other guy expecting?

There may not be a bike lane, but most drivers, if they can see you, will actually make an effort not to hit you. (Assuming that they are not distracted, assuming that they are not overdriving their vision in dawn/dusk conditions.)

Cell phone laws, and enforcement of lights at dusk/dawn/rain/snow/fog, would also help. If it's dim enough that I can see my bike light painting reflectors, cars should be required to have their lights on. I've got reflectors all over the back of my bike, but they do nothing if a car's headlights are off.

Matthew Heberger said...

I bike to work because I'm cheap (the bus in Oakland is $1.75 each way! Gas prices are outrageous!) and lack patience (sitting in traffic or waiting for the bus? I could have been at my desk by now, sipping coffee and reading emails!).

Anonymous said...

Cheaper, faster, funner than a car or a bus. Thanks for the EPA link, Paolo.