September 16-22, 2004

cover story

Pedal Push

180 miles of bike lanes, 40 miles of bike trails, 4,900 cyclists: 1 very bikeable city

If we only had: More bicyclists

by Brian Howard

Why do we want them?

Bicyclists are kind of like trees: The more you have, the healthier your city, even if the benefits aren't immediately apparent.

For starters, the more bicyclists you've got tooling around, the fewer tons of pollution you have choking up the view of the skyline. According to a 2001 study by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB), if each resident of a typical metropolitan area of 100,000 people replaced one car trip per month with a bike trip, it would cut carbon dioxide emissions by 3,764 tons per year.

Increased bicycling "eases traffic congestion and makes parking easier, with fewer people in cars competing for spots," notes LAB spokesman Patrick McCormick. And Philly could definitely do with a little less gridlock in both of those areas. "It should be good for business, too. If you're riding, it's much easier to park your bike and run in and check out a record or blouse you see in a window than if you're driving by at 30 miles per hour."

Granted, part of this effort involves persuading the existing population to go bicycular, but we'll get to that. And you'll be hard pressed to find a critical mass of pedestrians and motorists who agree that Philadelphia needs even one more cyclist, but that's because, speaking as a cyclist myself, most cyclists ride like total douchebags. We'll get to that, too.

What do we have to offer?

As a relatively flat city situated between two rivers, Philadelphia is emminently bikeable, boasting 180 miles of paved bicycle lanes, according to Thomas Branigan, project manager of the city's Bicycle Network Plan. The idea is to eventually have 300 miles all told.

And there's plenty to bike to. "What's unique about Philadelphia is that it's this urban environment with all these metropolitan things going on, and within biking distance you have all these green spaces," says Alex Doty, executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

And you might not be aware of it from the scant coverage it gets locally, but the U.S. Pro Cycling championship held here each June is huge, says Doty, already drawing some 300,000 spectators.

What more can be done?

If I had a nickel for every time I've been in the "bike and bus only" lane on Chestnut, only to have to swerve out of the way of some jackass motorist, I'd need a big fat sack for all those nickels. Barring the invention of some sort of weight-sensitive spike mechanism to thrash the tires of vigilante drivers, perhaps some police enforcement of bike lanes would make cyclists feel they're not under attack when obeying the law and actually riding on the street.

Of course, if I had a nickel for every time I saw a cyclist carelessly run a red, weave through a line of 20 cars, or ride the wrong way down a one-way street well, you get the picture. If more bike riders acted like traffic laws applied to them, maybe the police would actually enforce them and maybe, just maybe, motorists wouldn't be such dicks.

Practical matters aside, Philadelphia could take a huge step in making itself a more bicycle-friendly city by hiring a bicycle czar. "It's a position that can be at least 80 percent funded out of federal transportation money," says Doty. "It's a position that would likely generate income. This person would be responsible for identifying further projects that can be funded by federal transportation money." The czar could also work with companies to encourage their employees to cycle, figures Doty.

If the Bicycle Commuter Act ever passes the U.S. Congress, companies will be allowed to extend the same sort of tax-free fringe benefits to bicycle commuters that they can currently offer for public transit and parking. Imagine the boost to a city's economy if bicycle commuters suddenly had an extra $100 in their paychecks every month?

Imagine the campaign:

To encourage bicyclists to discover the city, imagine a series of space advertisements in cycling and outdoors magazines that spell out Philadelphia's cycling assets bluntly: a bike helmet with stats — 180 miles of bike lanes, 40 miles of trails — stenciled on the side, or a cyclist's chain-greased leg with the same stats tattooed on the calf.