Re: Gas prices knock bicycle sales, repairs into higher gear

On May 12, 9:29 pm, max <betat...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> In article <857e2165db39cfbcc79dcb334f77d...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>
> i'm not seeing a significant amount of traffic on the Fox River Trail
> yet, and my workplace bike-to-work website trending seems unrelated to
> gas prices, although i've seen a _few_ more bikes on site.  I would
> opine that $4/gallon isn't a big* motivator yet.
>
> Given the canonical suburbs/commute-distances, at least in west
> surburban chicagoland, i'm not entirely convinced we'll see much
> commuter biking, unless it is first preceded by an inter/intra-suburban
> migration.
>
> The routes just aren't here for more than fairly short commutes unless
> your endpoints are proximal to the few rails-to-trails bicycle
> superhighways.
>
> *Big...  There's two kinds of big.   there's population-doubling big
> (wow! there's 4X as many bicycle commuters!)  (translation: instead of
> two there's 8... woo. hoo.).
>
> And then  there's percentages of the gross population big (up from 2%
> last year,  8% of the Kane County commuters rode their bikes today) (not
> true, but it would be a big number).
>
> I think any changes in cycle commuting numbers occurring right now are
> occurring in the "five times a *verrry*smmmall* number" regime.  I think
> that the %daily-commuter numbers is still fairly constant.  Say up
> from1.3% to 1.5% (numbers kinda made up).
>
> that's what i thimk.

As someone who lived much of his 26 years in the western suburbs of
Chicago, I can state with certainty that bicycle commuting is not
something that will increase.  The roads are not designed for bikes.
Simple as that.  And it would take a huge amount of household
reshuffling for it to even begin to happen.  Many people live a long
distance from their jobs, requiring commutes of 20+ miles each way.
If people were to relocate to within a reasonable distance to their
jobs it /could/ happen, but I doubt it.  The sprawling nature of the
Chicago suburbs make it unreasonable to think bicycle commuting will
be commonplace in the future.  There will be smaller, more fuel
efficient cars, I'm certain.  But that's about it.

Living in Chicago now, I've sold my car and ride my bike everywhere.
This isn't in response to gas prices, it's just logical.  Chicago has
a decent trans****t system (it would be much better and on time if
people stopped driving!) and plenty of bike friendly roads to get
anywhere.  I don't miss my car at all.  However, one of the major
issues with this city having a large number of commuters is the
weather.  I'm a year round rider, but many of the people I see riding
now are not.  They're unwilling to ride in 5 degrees, the snow, the
rain.  And, I admit, it sometimes sucks.  A lot.  But it's a decision
I made because I feel it's the right thing to do.  Most people who
have a car in the city simply don't need it.  There's no reason to
drive a car 4 miles from your lakeview condo to your job downtown.
It's foolish.

Hmmm, I fear I've begun to rant.  :-)