cooker

How do you define voluntary? Lots of car owners are probably in a situation where they have to sacrifice something else (kids' piano lesson, family vacation) to make the payments. If they weigh their options and decide they don't need the car enough to make those sacrifices, is that voluntary in your book?

Plus, Roody reported from that link that bike commuting is increasing fastest among rich people. I don't know how many of them are going car free, but perhaps some are.

Mobile 155

Just as reference isn't cycling commuting really subjective? I mean from Roody's home state any increase that still doesn't equal 1 percent is still pretty small. In fact not many states have a big percentage or reported cycling commuters. So what do the mean when the say cycling is increasing? Are they including recreational cycling? Look at the chart on the bottom of this link and tell me what you see. This is for reference because it isn't up to date. It just means if cycling doubled or added 100 percent from .38 it would still be less than one percent.


American Bicycle Commuters

tandempower

Humans are always confronted with resource limitations, with which they make due by means of ingenuity, which includes the science and technology you worship.

The sun needs not receive worship. It gives abundant energy in the form of wind, evaporation/precipitation/rivers, among others. All we have to do is utilize the energy it sends but instead of making use of the energy that's right in front of our noses on the surface of the planet, we dig down and bring up energy from underground that only upsets the balance of planet. The big lie is that surface energy is insufficient, dwarfed by levels of combustion and nuclear power that were never necessary. We are like Disney's sorcerer's apprentice who thinks he can make life easier by animating the brooms with magic but ends up finding out more power harms him instead of helping.

wolfchild

In my area there has been a huge increase in recreational cycling in the last couple of years, local bike shops are making good profits mostly from recreational cyclists... Increase in commuter cyclists has been minimal and majority of those commuters are part-time, seasonal, fair weather riders who put their bikes away into storage at the end of summer...I am the only crazy one in my suburb who continues to ride all year round through the worst blizzards and snowstorms. Majority of car-free people in my city use public transit instead of bicycles.

cooker

If you are asking about the link in the OP, I think the US census bureau gave a very objective definition of bicycle commuting:
"Means of transportation to work refers to the principal mode of travel that the worker usually used to get from home to work during the reference week. People who used different means of transportation on different days of the week were asked to specify the one they used most often. People who used more than one means of transportation to get to work each day were asked to report the one used for the longest distance during the work trip."

cooker

Have they opened the major bikeway(s) you mentioned a while back?

EDIT:
This is actually very impressive https://www.mississauga.ca/file/COM/trails_map.pdf
And we know which coffee shop paid for it!

Roody

Hang in there! I used to be the only Lansing cyclist in the winter. After a couple years, I saw fresh bike tire prints in the snow and followed them, hoping to meet the other one who was as crazy as me. But now, a dozen years later, I see many fellow bike travelers, even on very cold and snowy days. I barely bother to wave at them, so common have they become.

Roody

Nice!!! I see some broken links in the trail network, but I assume it's still a work in progress. If they clear off the snow, wolfchild will no longer be the only ice biker in Missassauga!

Mobile 155

Cooker: I mean subjective in what a big increase is. If you start with two riders and the next year you have four that may seem like a big increase. But that number is still pretty insignificant if ninety-nine percent are still not cycling to commute.

Roody

I assume you're talking about the ACS study that was referenced in the first link? If so, the figures refer only to commutes to work or school last week. No recreational riding is included or even utility trips to the grocery store or whatever.

Of course if you're looking at a low baseline, the numbers in an increase will look small at first glance.

But keep in mind that a change in bike commutes from 1% to 2% is a doubling of the numbers. It's actually pretty amazing in the real world for any human behavior to double in one year. If this doubling is the start of a trend, the numbers will be quite impressive in just a few years.

But no survey can tell you if the trend will continue. We just have to wait and see where the numbers eventaully go.

wolfchild

Yes it's getting better around here. The only problem with a lot of the off-road paths and MUPS is that most of them don't get any winter maintenance.

Roody

If you double every year, everybody will be riding in less than eight years. But like I said, we have no way of knowing if the doubling will continue year over year. Usually, the curve for adoption of a new behavior is pretty steep at first and levels off quickly.

But it isn't safe to make these kind of generalizations. There are many shapes that the curve could take. Just wait and see, and do what you can to persuade others to do the right thing (whatever you think that is).

ETA: when I say doubling, I'm referring to percentages, not numbers of commuters. But either way, any kind of doubling gets numbers up there real fast.

wolfchild

Sometimes I will see other cyclists tire tracks during very mild winter days with a light dusting of snow, but after the heavy snows come, after everything begins to ice up then I don't see any other cyclists.

Roody

I gotta say, that's one thing that my city does right. We have 18 miles of separated trails, and all get cleared in the winter. Sometimes the bike trails are cleared before the surface streets are. (But don't tell the cagers! )

Dave Cutter

Is this a waving thread?

Here in SW Ohio.... we have what is said to be the nations largest connected bicycle path network (well over 300 miles). Mostly rail-to-trails paths that were initially established for manufactures (this is he rustbelt).

Roody

Oh, nice. Here in Michigan we only have 2,383 miles of rail-trails.

But the actual thread aobut bike trails is located here: https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...paths-etc.html

Dave Cutter

That would make sense. Michigan would have very little use for the rails now-a-days.

gerv 

Yeah, our city started regular trail clearing a few years ago and it's remarkable how many riders you'll see in the winter. Not necessarily all winter, but on many good days, there are lots on the road.

Along with that, lots of walkers... sadly, city sidewalks are as poorly cleared as ever, so there's no other place to hoof it.

Roody

It makes me feel good that most of the winter riders are wearing parkas instead of "bibs and shells" and stocking caps instead of streamlined helmets. Most of them are riding Huffy mountain bikes, not road bikes or cyclocross bikes. In other words, they're just ordinary Michiganders riding around in the snow and ice.

We have the same problem with the sidewalks. Last year, the city adopted a harsh new law with heavy fines that are added to tax bills, and planned to get the sidewalks cleared by city workers if homeowners neglected them. That didn't work either... I'm a little concerned because this winter I plan to walk every day for transportation and exercise.

I-Like-To-Bike

I would be surprised if that is not the case in every U.S. city for adult and non-students that has any kind of public transit service.

bluegoatwoods

We figured out from your first couple of posts in this thread that you deny the very legitimacy of talking about poverty or affluence in terms of happiness. We've been ignoring you because we see that as being too simplistic. We suspect that you are hostile to the very notion that some people with few assets are, nonetheless, capable of being happy and that striving for fewer belongings can actually increase happiness.

I wouldn't quite call the Cheshire Cat a troll. Often trollish, it's true. But he sometimes makes insightful comments. Also takes far too many pot-shots at people.

Yes. I think you did imagine that.

It seems that there are some statistics out there seeming to indicate a rise in bicycling. Unless there are some enemy sleeper agents in our ranks, I would think that all of us are bicyclists. Can't we just be happy about this?

I-Like-To-Bike

Do the cycle tracks give any indication if the owner is carfree?

cooker

No, but even if they own a car, the fact more people are cycling in adverse conditions, could mean they are driving less and that is the topic of the thread.

Dave Cutter

I just wouldn't have a clue as how to perform emotional mathematics. I feel emotions..... and calculate my math.

Who the heck is WE..... you got a mouse in your pocket?

You and your mouse should re-read my posts!!! I've insisted that affluence or the lack of it is (within reason) coincidental to being happy. I even included a link (post #24 ) to the oldest example I know of that demonstrates that as a truism:

Acts 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

Making more money, having more stuff, or nicer stuff will NOT make anyone happy (not that nice stuff is bad ether). Simplifying life has it's rewards. But the rewards are NOT happiness. Happiness is a self-generated emotion. Although few people fully understand the complexity of the multi-dimensional human. Hence... most people fail to properly maintain themselves so as to fully find the enjoyment and fulfilment they desire.

So... most people chase the latest popular trends of the day... or the off-the-wall trends... in hopes of finding what was always inside themselves all along.

Dave Cutter

I know this is anecdotal.... but I've noticed people in my area are walking, jogging, and even walking dogs in the most extreme weather conditions now-a-days. What does THAT mean? And how are those activities different than cycling? Are joggers that jog in two feet of snow also driving less?