by Larry Lagarde

Recently, an American living in Holland sent me this photo of bike parking at a local commuter railway station in Amsterdam along with the following text:

I thought you might find this interesting. Holland is heaven for cycle lovers. The latest figures show that there's over 20,000 kilometers of bike paths in The Netherlands (that's over 12,000 miles for you non-metric people).

Here's a picture of bicycles parked in ONE of the bicycle parking locations at the Amsterdam train station. Notice that the bicycles are on both sides and also behind the escalator and go all the way to the back by the trees. Also notice how the escalator has a groove for the bicycle wheels so that you can get the bike up and down the stairs (regular stairways have this too).

A lot of train stations also have an elevator not just for handicap access but also for older individuals with bicycles that find it hard to hold the bike steady while riding the escalator. There are areas designated on trains so cyclists can sit with their bicycles or for cyclists to place their bikes while traveling so crating/boxing a bike is not required.

As an American, when I first moved here 14 years ago, it was funny to see all the cycles everywhere but I'm getting used to it. It's still fascinating how many people commute daily with their bicycles. It took some getting used before it became normal to see men in suits and briefcases bicycling or women in their good clothes bicycling.

Everything here seems to revolve around cycling. Although I'd driven an automatic transmission for almost 20 years in the States, I was required to take lessons here in order to get my Dutch drivers license. One of the most difficult things to adapt to is the constant looking over your shoulder and out the side window to see if there are any cyclists. Drivers Education here stresses looking at all angles of the car, front, sides and back, checking the rear view mirror every 3 seconds to see what's behind you and the side mirrors every 5 seconds. You can hear another car but not a lone bicyclist; thus, given the number of people who bicycle in The Netherlands, driving lessons and the exam revolve around paying attention to your surroundings.

Cecelia

Will the popularity of cycling ever reach the point in the USA when there are multi-story cycling garages in most major American cities? Probably but not just yet. More than likely, most people will continue to hold out hope that the current crisis will pass and gas prices will go down; however, lower prices are not probable. Instead, due to economic growth in emerging nations like China & India, world demand for oil will continue to rise regardless of falling demand in industrial nations. Meanwhile, world oil production will slowly fall, causing oil prices to continue their upward creep. Instability anywhere in the oil supply chain will only add to the price increases...

America is at a crossroads. The sooner we face facts, the faster we can adjust and profit from the realities of the new economy. Americans are about to re-discover local scale economics and inner urban living. What will be hot in this economy? Living within walking, biking & mass transit distance of the essentials: work, shopping, schools & church. Vacationing closer to home. Living more efficiently. Shopping online. What will be out? Suburbia. Demand for housing in town will rise while demand falls in outlying areas.

My advice is that we the people demand action now. We must tell our elected representatives to invest in alternative energy and transportation solutions NOW. Due to decades of chronic under funding, "mass transit" is so inefficient in so many places that only the most marginalized tend to use it. Naturally, there are exceptions but most people don't live in places with great mass transit.

Folding bikes will help some commuters adopt to transit but huge investments in transit infrastructure are needed and transit agencies do not have the budgets to do this. Only when the federal government opens the tap will transit authorities be able to rebuild and that's years away from happening.

Labels: folding bikes on mass transit, mass transit, peak-oil