Cities build new bike paths. Will cyclists come?

While some municipalities see a surge in bicycling, national figures for 2005 show the same number bike to work as did in 1990.

from the June 19, 2007 edition

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Of course, such sweeping plans often run into fierce opposition when plans affect specific neighborhoods, bike advocates note. Others see bikers as special interest groups whose limited numbers don't deserve the new attention.

"Before they completely redesign the streets of San Francisco for the 1.8 percent of commuters who use bikes, they should at least consider what the wider impacts of their plan will be," says Rob Anderson, an activist who sued the city for failing to submit a required environmental-impact statement with its recent five-year bike plan. A court agreed, forcing a two-year study. "This is Progressive Land, where they do things for political reasons and not necessarily rational ones," adds Mr. Anderson.

Still, some cities report a rise in cycling. Seattle saw downtown bike traffic increase 57 percent during the morning rush hour between 1992 and 2000. San Francisco saw a 27 percent rise in Bike to Work Day participants this year compared with 2006.

If cities make biking easier and safer, proponents say, more residents will do it.

"One of the big deterrents to bicycle use as transportation is finding convenient, theft-proof parking places," says Andréa White, who heads Bikestation. "This trend has been building for years and is now poised to explode."

The Santa Barbara Bikestation – an $80,000 self-parking garage with showers, a changing area, and a bathroom – is an attempt to meet that need. A decade after the first US facility, Bikestations have sprung up in several California cities (San Francisco, Palo Alto, Santa Barbara, Berkeley, and Fruitvale) in addition to Seattle and Chicago. Many others are on the way.

Another measure of the move to biking is the growth of Thunderhead Alliance – a coalition of state and local bike and pedestrian organizations that help strengthen local advocacy groups. They have grown from 12 member organizations in 1996 to 128 coalitions in 49 states. The alliance's Complete the Streets Campaign has helped win legislation in 23 cities and nine states, which requires that streets be designed to be safe and accessible for all users.

"Roads have been viewed as places for cars only, but complete-streets policies say roads are for all people including bicyclists and pedestrians," says Kristen Steele of Thunderhead Alliance.

The group is working with organizations in 15 more states this year that will lobby Congress for a federal complete-streets policy.

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