Originally Posted by
GodsBassist
Preference has nothing to do with it, if energy costs make powered transportation cost prohibitive.
I've also got to disagree about cycling being a footnote in the transportation world. In most of the US that's certainly so. But again, we have societies where not only gasoline, but real estate for roads and parking is much more rare and therefore expensive, you can see a tremendous increase in 'self powered' transportation.* America is urbanizing fairly quickly, and I suspect in 50 to 100 years, it just won't make sense for everybody to have these huge honkin' machines out on the road.
*
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/07...ly-cities.html
Have you traveled across the US? Have you seen how much space there is in most places? Define a tremendous increase. What percentage of commuters are riding bikes? Is the number more tremendous than the number not riding bikes? Is the growth rate as high as it was in the 70s? It isn’t if you read the National bike manufacturers newsletter. It sounds a bit more like wishful thinking at this point. A reasonable prediction but just as likely to never happen.