By: Joann Bally CSCS
An estimated 131,000 residents use bicycles for transportation on a typical day, but that isn’t a very high percentage. The main reason potential riders do not bike to work, they say, is lack of safe parking. In the last 2-1/2 years, the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) has added over 150 miles of bike lanes and routes. They want to double bike commuting by 2015 and triple it by 2020. Bicycling has increased by 38% since 2007.
The city has launched a safety campaign to protect (and alert) the bicyclists. Now they are addressing the parking problem. DOT recently chose a standard bike rack design for the city through a global contest. The design will be used for bike racks throughout the city. DOT also held a competition for the most bike-friendly company. The winner provided card swipe ID tags, air pumps for flat tires, and health club discounts for its bicycling employees.
The city is New York. The company is Credit Suisse. If they can do it, why can’t your city and/or company?
There is a great likelihood we will soon be seeing major infrastructure projects as a way to stimulate the economy. This is not building bridges to nowhere. It is about fixing existing bridges, roads, water systems, dams and levies, and electrical systems. It’s hard to argue against these, as we have neglected them for so long. This is also a good opportunity to expand and improve public transportation and get serious about alternative energy.
State and city officials are also requesting projects for their areas. Journalists and other politicians like to make fun of these. I heard a national journalist lumping bike paths with a number of questionable projects as something to make fun of. I don’t buy it. Bike paths, parks, hiking trails are low-cost, high return projects. The return can be in improved health (and lower medical costs) for citizens who can get more exercise, and in quality of life. So don’t hesitate to promote biking paths and biking for transportation for your community. After they fix that hundred-year-old sewer pipe, that is.
HEALTHandFITNESS.com 
