Awesome article in Friday's (May 4, 2007) Wall Street Journal by Nancy Keates entitled "Building a Better Bike Lane - Bike-friendly cities in Europe are launching a new attack on car culture. Can U.S. catch up?"
Based upon their already fantastic success and the fact that they are redoubling their efforts, I'd say the answer is no, the U.S. isn't going to catch up anytime soon. But let's hope that some U.S. cities, including our own area, give it a good try. The in-depth article provides a wealth of information. The pictures come from the article. Enjoy!
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.
Wonderful article, so good in fact that I passed it around the office. All I got were blank stares.
I'm a DC bike commuter, at least to get from point A to B downtown during the day. It seems that riding here is reserved for the hardcore, and bike messengers. My girlfriend and I get the oddest looks hauling groceries on Dutch Fietsen. Maybe it's our dress-typical workwear, not the more common racer or tourer. In Europe's cycling cities, bikes are like cars, whereas here they're viewed as recreation that you *can* use to get to work or the store.
What a great day it'll be when we have bicycle traffic jams in Washington, as they do in Amsterdam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj8uzIYUPEQ
Posted by: anonymous | May 07, 2007 at 10:01 PM
Living in Copenhagen, riding my biking every day to work, and working for the Copenhagen Metro as editor of the customer magazine, I think this is a very exciting discussion. I've lived in the US - and I still remember how much I missed my bike back then. But also, that I would never dream of riding the bike on Manhattan's streets. Good luck, it's worth a try.
Posted by: Erik | May 07, 2007 at 03:24 AM