bicycle – Things Are Good

Providing Safe Cycle Infrastructure Helps Developed Economies

The benefits of providing good bicycle infrastructure just keep getting proven time and, and time again. Bicycles are good for people’s health, the local economies, and now many other benefits. Yet, for some reason the rates of a bicycle ownership does not correlate to places with good bicycling infrastructure, so what gives? Researchers looked into why the rates of ownership of bicycles does not match their use and noticed some neat trends that will inevitably lead to more research.

We also noticed that countries with extremely high income level and bicycle ownership (e.g., the Netherlands and Denmark) tend to increase bicycle use, likely due to some special country characteristics, such as a cycling culture, high environmental awareness, well-developed cycling infrastructure, and flat terrains. It is also shown that, among countries with a similar level of bicycle ownership, population density positively affects bicycle use on a daily trip because lower population density often makes driving a necessity (e.g., type 4 countries). Countries with high traffic death rates (e.g., Thailand, Brazil, and Russia) tend to have relatively low bicycle use because cycling can be perceived as dangerous. This finding echoes earlier research that bicycle infrastructure expansion (e.g., separate bicycle lanes) could increase the bicycle modal share36,45. For example, the provisional redistribution of street space during the COVID-19 crisis has induced large, rapid increase in cycling36.

Don’t be Afraid of e-Bike Batteries

Are you avoiding buying an e-bike because you’ve heard of scary battery fires? No need to live in fear, instead just purchase a battery that isn’t illegal. I have an e-bike battery that I charge inside with nary a worry as it’s a legit battery that is safe to use. You don’t need to take my word for it, in the video above Evan Edinger breaks down why people think e-bike batteries are a concern and the reality of how dangerous they are. Spoiler: not that dangerous, in fact they are likely less dangerous than the gas you use in your car or in your house.

A Human on a Bicycle: Incredibly Efficient

Graph showing how efficient a human travelling on a bicycle is, more efficient than a horse

With the recent Israeli and American attack on Iran the price of oil has shot up and shows no signs of going back down. This seems like a good time to remind people that a bicycle is the most efficient form of human-powered transportation. Indeed, the graph above is an update to a popular graph showing efficient transportation, but grouped into the animal kingdoms. Save gas, save money, and get fit by riding a bike this summer.

Travel involves two main expenditures of energy: fighting gravity and propelling yourself forward. Most terrestrial animals must expend energy first to stand up, then to take each step forward. (Longer-legged land creatures tend to be more efficient because they get more distance out of each step, which explains why mice are so inefficient.) Flying animals, though, can move forward cheaply by gliding through the air, carried more by currents than by their own power. Swimming animals can similarly glide through water while letting their natural buoyancy minimize the need to fight gravity.

Expand Houses by Shrinking Lanes

Seemingly everywhere there’s a crunch on housing and there’s a surplus of roads, so let’s change some car space to sleeping space. If we take away even just one lane of parking for cars we can create towers of housing for people. Cities can benefit from increased revenue since housing makes more money for cities than stationary cars. What’s more, when a developer wants to build and take away a lane then part of the development fees can be specified to increase transit and biking infrastructure.

He argues that highway conversions make more sense than using lanes on regular city streets for housing, at least in most cases. “Most street right-of-ways are can only be reduced by a lane or two, which can generate enough extra space for a bike lane or expanded sidewalk but not enough for the addition of housing,” he says. “Moreover, trading street width for a housing tract typically requires a public/private land swap. These are possible, but add enough red tape to only make sense when a significant amount of housing can be added.”
In Boston, Speck’s firm is working on a plan, now in its second design phase, to use excess road space in Kenmore Square to add new housing and public space. “The plan results in considerably more housing than originally conceived, plus a beautiful plaza,” Speck says. The plan would also more than triple the space available for pedestrians.

Bike Riding is Not Just a Phase

Every cyclists knows that riding a bike equals freedom, you can go where you want when you want and don’t need trillions of dollars of infrastructure to operate one. Electric bicycles are getting more affordable every year and more and more people are buying them instead of getting a car. Interest in car driving continues to decrease while interest in biking increases. Now cities need to change their car dominated approach to embrace a faster, safer, form of transportation.

As much of the media is still trying to understand the phenomenon of this massive growth in e-bike use, cities are already grappling with just how to handle it. Not only are cities around the US seeing their own rise in e-bike usage, but several are helping to support the shift away from cars by providing incentives for purchasing electric bikes.

Even without incentives though, e-bikes are surprisingly affordable. Like anything, you’ll find fancier expensive options. But a good e-bike can be bought for under $1,000. When you compare that to the cheapest $40,000 Tesla, you can see why young people are moving to e-bikes in droves.