Originally Posted by
Smallwheels
Think about this; bicycling offsets our natural method of transportation, walking. If we walked everywhere instead of using other methods of travel it would cost us more money. Take it to an extreme. How many days would it take someone to walk from coast to coast? That would take months and a whole lot of food. It would be much cheaper to fly from coast to coast. You would save all of the food costs and the energy production needed to go into it.
I like walking. It is a very relaxing activity for me. Walking though, is just too slow for this society, even for some people living in urban areas. The closest fully stocked grocery store is four and a quarter miles away. I walk one mile in seventeen minutes twenty seconds. I don't want to spend almost two and a half hours just to go to the store.
I've read that bicycling is more efficient than any other method of transportation. Perhaps all forms of transportation should compare their carbon usage to a base level of one mile traveled by bicycle.
I agree with everything you said.
However, for me it's a different decision as I have super-efficient public transport (subway) 100m from my home to 100m from my office. also, i ride along the subway line, so when I get a flat, I just hop on the subway and finish the commute. in fact, most mornings (when i ride without the gf), i try to race the subway and beat it on the way to work.
to me, i'm very curious how efficient mass transport systems are. i think from 7a-7p M-F they're super efficient, but outside those hours they're horribly inefficient.