Number One on Two Wheels
I’m late to this, but here’s news of Philadelphia being first among the ten biggest cities in the US in terms of percentage of commuters who bike. Strangely, number two is San Jose, which could not be more different than Philadelphia in terms of form, topography, and climate. Other fun factoids:
• Philly is 10th among all cities (Portland is #1 with 6% of commuters biking).
• Philly has the 6th lowest proportion of driving commuters (Philly and Chicago have just over half of its commuters driving, with New York, DC, San Francisco and Boston well under half).
• It was a lot easier for me to bike to work when I was in my early 20's and fit than it is now that I am in my late 30's, out of shape, and hauling one of my kids in the back seat.
Whoops, that last bullet point doesn't really belong. But kudos to Philly for this distinction. And, even better, this is the sort of thing that gets better as you build momentum: bike-friendly policies encourage more biking, which makes biking safer, which encourages more biking, which encourages more bike-friendly policies, and so on. So it looks like we're going in the right direction.
Comments
And I claim honorary membership in that statistical grouping, because I live so close to Philly I could probably hit the wall of the CVS on the Philly side, throwing a stone from my backyard. And I commute to my Bala Cynwyd office by bike, riding more or less the whole way on the Philly side. Because I honestly feel I'm less likely to die on the Philly streets, than on the Lower Merion side.