how the nations stack up for bikes

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/mayor-of-london-announces-summer-of-cycling.php


D: contrast that with the mocking the Dems received from 'Pubs about bicycles are part of a green transit strategy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_bicycle_program
D: Portland is considering a bike-rental program.
Some European cities already have it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14429468

D: I went to Michigan's Saint Joseph Venetian Festival this weekend.
I was a bit bewildered, since they kept the car show but stopped the lighted ship contest.
For a festival named after Venice... as in canals, boats.
Anyway, we saw some pedestrian overpasses over the bigger highways.
We also saw a few but very wide bike lanes.

Food for thought: imagine a car-shaped area. That is about 5x10' or 50 foot square.
In that space, we could fit 4-6 bikes. Or ?12 pedestrians.
For each car driver who is now walking (assuming a single-person commute to work), we have that much space freed up on the highway.
We do so by -yes- sacrificing some multi-lane lanes. Perhaps we even designate some streets as pedestrian-only areas.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ejbj73/Ottawa/photo#5199984722474975826
Well, at first drivers think bike/walk lanes/walks mean simply less road for them.
Not true. As other means of transit become easier, some fence-sitters switch away from driving.
The result is, counter-intuitively, the remaining drivers also benefit from less traffic congestion.
But this means building good walks/trails/bike lanes and maintaining them.
Enough to cross the entire city. I am not talking about on every street.
But I am talking in every neighbourhood.