Policy solutions on wheels

Where I come from, people don’t ride bikes. Unless you’re the rare health nut trying to get a workout or someone who can’t afford the costs of driving, you wouldn’t be caught dead pedaling around town. However, cycling can jeopardize more than social standing. Motorists’ lack of respect for two-wheeled, carbon-neutral transportation is so great that ending up flattened on the pavement is a risk not to be taken lightly. \nMy father epitomizes our town’s attitude when he says he’d like to ride more, but he’s afraid his old-school refusal to don biking shorts and a helmet will lead everyone to think he’s homeless. So he, and the vast majority of residents, rely on their automobiles even when they’re headed somewhere only a few blocks away.\nWith this background in mind, it comes as no surprise that I invariably find myself making a double-take upon seeing men in suits and ties biking down my street here in Bloomington. It seems everyone’s on a bike in this part of the city. Without pretentious regard to what the neighbors might think, students, teens from town, women wrapped against the rain in plastic ponchos and professionals with briefcases in their handlebar baskets have declared their affinity for the bicycle’s many benefits.\nThat so many people from all different rungs of the socioeconomic ladder would be willing to part with their automobiles says something powerful about the culture Bloomington fosters. The diversity of the people hitting the road on their bikes indicates biking isn’t just some counterculture crazies’ fad, but something Bloomington has successfully promoted. How?\nFor starters, many streets too busy to allow bikers unhindered access to the road provide clearly marked bike lanes. As I’d seen before coming to Bloomington, most people are rightly concerned about the dangers of riding when aggressive motorists challenge them for space on the road.\nEven better, the Bloomington Bike Project makes bike ownership plausible for any Bloomington resident. Those willing to invest at least eight hours refurbishing a frame they find on-site can ride it way for free after they’ve learned how to maintain it. For those who have a little cash but no time, the Bike Project also sells quality cycles its volunteers have cleaned up at a relatively low cost.\nBloomington is to be commended for putting bike ownership within reach of all its citizens and for ensuring that they’ll actually utilize the bikes they own by giving them safe access to city streets. It’s environmentally responsible and, even more important, economically egalitarian. Transportation is a basic need of all people. And with gas prices spiraling upward, fewer and fewer will be able to drive to their places of employment or out on errands. Bloomington’s encouragement of biking is a step toward an ideal social policy designed to help the environment while making transportation easier.