I know about bus trips. What about bike trips?

[Human beings and our economies have to find a place within the environment. The economic assumption that endless growth is not only necessary but possible is suicidal for any species that lives in a finite world. pg. 298, The Sacred Balance by David Suzuki]

Two-wheeled bicycles seem to be growing in numbers and popularity.

Is it because of the rising price of gasoline or a growing awareness that our love for the automobile comes with astronomical environmental costs? Is it because two-wheelers are cool, fun and connected with self-reliance?

Is it because they’re sexy in a way that three-wheelers will never be?

Whatever the case, based on personal observation of ridership in Wortley Village alone, I think numbers are up at least 4.1% over last year. But... I don’t know for sure.

Now, about buses, here’s one of last week’s big financial numbers - 1.9 billion.


“The number of trips taken on Canada’s public transit systems in 2010, a new record, according to the Canadian Urban Transit Association. That was a 4.1% increase from 2009.” (July 26, London Free Press)

I can only guess why bus ridership is up, but I bet the increase is associated with “the rising price of gasoline (and) a growing awareness that our love for the automobile comes with astronomical environmental costs” along with the recession, high unemployment, tightness of money and expansion of bus routes, but not because buses are “cool, fun...” or “sexy.” (Electric trolleys are sexy, but buses, not so much).

When I read the little news clip last week I wondered if numbers related to bikes are kept by anyone. Are bikes sale up across Canada and the US? Are people riding fewer kilometers in cars and more on bikes? If so, how many?

Admittedly, I know that bikes go slower than cars, are cheaper to operate per km. or mile, and are easier to store on one’s front porch. I know with each mile my legs are getting stronger. I know I can view my surroundings more fully while pedalling and can hop off at a moment’s notice and sit under a shade tree or on a river bank and actually become a part of my surroundings (rather than travel past it or over it at high speeds - never giving nature’s beauty a second thought at times - within the confines of an automobile, artificially climate-controlled).


["I can sit under a shade tree at a moment's notice.": photo GH]

I know that not only are my legs getting stronger, my butt - already a tough little number - is getting firmer with each mile too.

What I’d like to know, however, relates to the bike’s popularity.

Is it growing outside Wortley Village? Are numbers of bike trips growing?

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Please click here to read more about bicycles from my limited point of view.

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