Originally Posted by
Coluber42
I agree that bicycle commuting isn't realistic for a lot of people (although it is realistic for plenty of people who don't do it currently) because they live so far from where they work; and in lots of places, even using a bike for short trips is dangerous and not feasible, or even basic shopping is also fairly far away.
But any discussion of long term goals for efficient transportation needs to include long term development planning. An important goal in my mind should be bringing residences, workplaces, and shopping closer together so that more transportation options are viable. In far-flung suburbs where most people work at least 20 miles away and most shopping is 5-10 miles away, driving will always be the most convenient option. (Not that plenty of people aren't capable of riding 5-10 mi to the grocery store, but if you are just making dinner and realize you're out of bread or something, are you going to take two hours to go get it?)
Building denser, more walkable communities closer to where jobs are is how you get a variety of transit options to be viable. Most people around where I live could conceivably bike to work, or take public transit (and they usually have several choices of routes), or carpool with a coworker who doesn't live too far away, and in many cases even walk. Whichever way they get there, it's a choice. For people who spend an hour in the car on the highway between the subdivision and the office park, it isn't much of one.
+1
It sounds like the author of the article is from Shoreview, MN where I lived for about 11 years from the late 80's to the late 90's. I live in Minneapolis now so I could spend a lot time talking about cities vs. suburbs, commuting from one to the other, etc.
Suffice it to say that Shoreview is very much what you might picture when you think of a suburb. It wasn't incorporated until the late 50's. It has a population of about 25,000. There is no real city center or downtown. It's most visible landmark is a cluster of 3 large television antenna towers. Sidewalks are scarce.
There are some nice things about Shoreview. It's a fairly easy (driving) commute to Minneapolis and there are several lakes around. Back when I moved there they had an extensive plan for recreational trails that they've made good on.
Less than a year after moving there, I collided with a couch that had fallen off a truck on the interstate and totaled my 10 year old car. Not only didn't I have a car, I was a recent college grad and never had purchased an adult bike. It was a couple of days until my parents were able to loan me a car they weren't using. I'll never forget how trapped I felt in my apartment.
So after a few months after getting a new car, I bought a road bike. This was 1988. And I did in fact commute with it from Shoreview now and then. I had to wear a tie to work at the time and back then I thought the guys on Miami Vice really knew how to dress. One of my favorite outfits was white pants, a pastel blue shirt and a pink tie. That's what I wore on my commute. Not sure spandex is really any more ridiculous. It's all just the whims of fashion.