Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal

[TrailBate]

There is an interesting article in today's WSJ about bike commuters. Among a few things it mentions:

A bill has been introduced in the senate to give employers tax incentives to encourage employees to bike to work.

80% of American cities have plans to build more bike ways.

The number of bike commuters increases 1 percent for every square mile of added bike path.

The number of bikers in NYC has increased 50% since 2003.

It mentioned cool bike stations, where for $99 a month, you get a bike lock up, showers, towel service and a locker. There was in in NYC (I think) that has sold out membership for the past 3 years.


Anyway, cool article.

[YakFish]

That is good news. However, I cannot imagine the square mile of bike paths data is correct. I am not sure how wide a bike path typically is but assuming 10 feet that would mean 528 miles of path would be needed to get the 1% increase in bike commuters.

[TrailBate]

oops. that was suppose to be just a mile, not a square mile. my bad.

[catbbq]

That is cool. In the past when I did have to commute to an office, it was arriving sweaty and having to carry my work shoes in a backpack that kept me from biking to work. Showers and lockers would be great.

[sizlinseagulsoup]

catbbq - I had that problem as well. I just got a set of Jandd waterproof panniers for the Great Divide Race yesterday--I think I'm going to start using them on commutes on the future. I've always found that when I ride into Boston w/o my pack on, I'm not really that sweaty (except last summer when we had ~30 days of 85-100 degree weather).

[Slider]

I've been tempted to commute for a while now. I now spend over $10/day to drive the 38 mile distance both ways.

The distance is the problem. When I lived in Arlington, the commute to Cambridge was actually faster by bike than car. Since I was often the only person in the software comapny office, I didn't care about perspiration or wearing baggies all day.

Here in the hill part of CT, I guess I can average 15mph or so. That means a 2.5 hour commute, each way. In work by 9 means I need to leave the house by 6:30, which is painful. And I'd get home at 7:30, minimum. Five hours in the saddle is a lot for me, but I could get used to that.

I suppose I could do a Park and Ride, leaving my car someplace to cut the distance. Hmm...That might work.

I guess I only have one question. Is 15mph reasonable?

Slider