I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike

"The US Chamber of Commerce says more bicycles have been sold than cars over the past 12 months." Why?  That's easy.  Advances in nanotechnology have made light but uncommonly strong bike frames cheaper and more abundant.  The increased supply due to falling technological costs coupled with increasing demand due to rising U.S. incomes leads to increased sales of bikes...

...ok, I made that up. 

Bicycles are back mainly because the sharp increase in gas prices has made them a practical alternative, said Paul Gaiser, owner of Scooter Commuter in Bethesda, Maryland.

See, economics is easy.

Comments

[John W]

A free ENV-ECON t-shirt to the first ENV-ECON reader that correctly names the old-school band that inspired Tim's title.

When we get shirts we'll be sure to send you one!

[Tim Haab]

Old school?!? That would make me...well...now I'm depressed.

[Chris B]

How "old" school are you guys, anyway? Did someone record a bicycle song before Queen?

[Tim Haab]

That's just John's idea of old. Now go stand by your mailbox and wait for your t-shirt.

[Tom]

At the end of the article is the big reason:

"The superstar status of cycling champion Lance Armstrong, who has won the Tour de France seven times, has also helped spark interest in the sport."

[John Whitehead]

Old school? I just spend 2.5 hours with 100 19 year olds. When I mention any band I get the look that says "shut up, old man, we grow weary of your ancient references and your tired examples of cartels and gas lines in the 1970s, we don't believe in inflation or OPEC or Seinfeld." Or something like that.

[TFox]

I'm curious what fraction of bicycles sold in the US are used for transportation, as opposed to recreation. I'd thought it was close to zero, but these things can change...

[Tim Haab]

I used the movie Wall Street as an example in class the other day. Out of 34 students, NONE had ever seen it!

[Crice]

Of the approximately 21 million people who reported riding a bicycle in Jan 2003, about 14% used them primarily for personal errands, 4.6% used them primarily for commuting to school or work, and 3.3% used them for work. The balance used them primarily for recreation and excercise. See http://www.bts.gov/programs/omnibus_surveys/household_survey/2003/february/entire.pdf

[M1EK]

And the idea that they're now a "practical alternative" is true only for a few. The massive subsidies to suburban sprawl have ensured that MOST Americans can no longer feasibly use a bike for transportation even if their weather conditions and physical condition would otherwise permit.

This ties in with the "the market will save us from Peak Oil" mantra. Unwinding 50 years of subsidized suburbia cannot happen quickly, and it cannot happen cheaply. Most of my colleagues at my last job lived in far exurbia and had no option to bike to work, and gas at $20/gallon wouldn't make it any easier for them to bike to work - economics cannot trump physics (or geography, in this case).

I can and do bike 10 miles a day as a commute, weather permitting (2.5 miles one way, I go home for lunch when I can). Over reasonable terrain I average about 15mph. Some people are willing to spend 40+ minutes one way commuting in a car. With that much time I could easily handle a 10-mile one-way commute. Crappy weather days I ride the bus and then spend ~40 minutes on a stationary bike at the gym anyway so that I can have my daily allotment of donuts. Maybe I'm weird.

And out of my 250-student lecture, only one student had ever heard of Black Flag and two had heard of Henry Rollins (he came to campus on a spoken word tour a few weeks ago).

[Chris B]

Sorry, forgot to put my info in the previous post (12:12pm).

So when can we expect the Env-Econ t-shirt design contest to begin? ;-)

[Tim Haab]

I think it just did. Send design suggestions to me here at tim@env-econ.net.

[M1EK]

Chris B,

My cow orkers at the last job would average a 1.5 hour commute each way to work (i.e. 15 or 20 miles with some hilly terrain) on very unfriendly roads out in the exurbs (no low-traffic collectors to use as I enjoy in the city; you're funneled out to major arterials if you want to go ANYWHERE). While I occasionally commuted this far at a previous job (I'd go a day or two a week on my bike), there's no way you can sustain it 5 days a week unless you're single, in superb shape, and have no friends or other hobbies.

[David]

Just saw this on CNN.

Last year there were almost 19 million sales.

This year there are almost 20 million sales.

Wow. A 5% increase. Bikes are back, baby.