A recent newspaper article entitled Power Down: A numerical look at cars vs. bikes prompted me to search the California Bike Commute website for “FACTS ABOUT BICYCLING AS A COMMUTE OPTION.” (their caps, not mine)
Here are just a few of the facts I found in their bike facts PDF file. You can visit their site for the whole list.
• Only 1.67% of Americans commute by bicycle.
• In Japan, 15% commute by bicycle
• There are approximately 139 million automobiles in the United States.
• The number of bicycles in the U.S. is estimated to be about 103 million.
• One hundred bicycles can be produced for the same energy and resources it takes to build
one medium-sized automobile.
• The average cost of a new car in the U.S. is $13,532.
• The average cost of a new bicycle in the U.S. is $385.
• In China, bicycles outnumber cars 250 to 1.
And here’s some good news:
• The number of bicycle commuters doubled between 1983 and 1990, according to the
Bicycle Institute of America.
