BTA VeloCity Op-Ed Published
Posted by: EvanJun 27 2007, 9:48 am
The Oregonian ran a shortened version of the following op-ed today (they keep making the newsprint pages smaller).
Here's the version I submitted:
Portland Falls Short in World Bike Scene
This June, an important German conference addressed global warming. I’m not referring to the G8, which generated more hot air than action, but to VeloCity, a biennial conference that brought together over 950 people from 50 countries to map an aggressive future for bicycling.
As G8 leaders from the world’s largest economies struggled to take baby steps, the VeloCity conference in Munich showed how local elected officials, regional advocates, and federal ministers from around the globe are already acting to reduce transportation emissions – a major slice of the global warming problem.
Sadly, I was one of only twelve Americans at the conference. While some attendees knew Portland shouldn’t be bunched in with America’s failed record in using bicycles for transportation, we’re still far behind world leaders.
Munich, where 10% of all trips are by bike, is planning to hit 15% bike share by 2015. Snowy and hilly Norway, currently at 5% bike share, is promising to hit 8% countrywide by 2015. The Netherlands leads all countries with a 28% bike share, while the City of Copenhagen is aiming to build its 36% share to 50% by 2015. Portland, with roughly 4% of all trips taken by bike, and Oregon, with less than 2%, fail to make the world map of serious commitments to cycling. Portland’s Gold rating from the League of American Bicyclists seems more of a cereal box prize than an Olympic medal.
With 40% of Oregon’s global warming emissions being transportation-related, it’s time to make a serious commitment to a zero-emission solution, one that can serve more than those who can afford new high-tech cars. The international leaders at VeloCity demonstrated that increasing biking isn’t rocket science: simply build a safe and user-friendly system so people can bike places as safely and easily as they can drive. We have yet to make that commitment.
There’s plenty of evidence even car-centric Americans will use their bikes for some trips if given quality choices. The City of Portland’s SmartTrips program, modeled after an Australian program, simply provides information – maps, answers to common questions, and a bit of encouragement. The program has dropped car use by roughly ten percent, and boosted cycling by 23% to 68%. Overall, the number of biking trips in Portland has increased in double-digit percentages year after year, quadrupling since 1990.
Bicycling is also an economic issue. Europeans are realizing the value of bike tourism, a projected $15 to $25 billion a year market in Europe by 2009. Switzerland will have completed 4000 miles of rural bike routes by next year. The Czech Republic has certified over 1000 hotels and hostels as cycle-tourism friendly. And Paris will provide 20,000 loaner bikes on its streets for visitors and local residents to use by the end of the year, both to aide tourism and meet transportation needs.
And bicycling saves us money. The Centers for Disease Control estimate moderate physical activity, such as biking to work, saves us $1000 annually in health care costs. Further, moving people on bikes is a lot cheaper than moving them in cars. Plus, those who bicycle reduce the costs of global warming mitigation.
Add it all up, and national transportation directors, doctors, and business leaders at VeloCity were straightforward: there’s no reason people and political leaders shouldn’t support a big investment in cycling. That European straightforwardness was refreshing in the land of double-talk about “balanced†transportation systems like Oregon’s that invest a penny for bikes for every dollar on cars.
It’s time we step up, so that at the 2009 VeloCity conference, people from around the world will be talking about Portland as an international leader. Otherwise, we’ll get left in the dust by cities who truly take bicycling seriously.
As Christian Ude, Munich’s Mayor, said, “Only one thing is better than biking. And that is more biking.â€
Great piece Evan.
Portland's efforts…at least from the various agencies…is so timid, its embarrassing. I think the level of NGO activity here is really of note, including…of course…the BTA. We need to pressure PDOT to really push the envelope in the Bike Master Plan and then get to work.
Very well-argued Evan. We are so America-centric that often our performance comparisons on something like bicycling are only against other US states and cities. I would have guessed that Portland leads the pack on that level, but hadn't considered how far behind we might be on a global scale. Now I'm remembering the sea of bicycles I saw when traveling in Sweden, and fondly recalling a long summer bike ride through the countryside of the Netherlands. Thanks for framing our bike habits this way, and wanting to make Portland competitive internationally.
It's both heartening and gratifying that Portland is emerging as a national leader in bicycle transportation and bicycle transportation safety. In a few years, when it becomes evident to everyone that car culture–at least on the mass scale it previously enjoyed–is doomed to extinction, Oregon (in general) and Portland (in particular) will be ideally poised to exploit the opportunities presented by bike tourism. In the meantime, we must not deviate from our efforts to become a major player on the global stage of bicycle transportation. By raising public awareness and building the necessary infrastructure, we'll convert many of today's drivers into tomorrow's bicyclists.