General Facts

• Half of all travel in America is three miles or under - within easy biking distance for many people.

• The American family spends roughly 20 percent of its annual income on transportation.

• While Americans take only 5 percent of their trips on foot, Europeans and Japanese take 20 to 50 percent of their trips on foot.

• Nationally, 70 percent of all state and local law enforcement activities are expended on traffic management issues and 20 percent of state budgets are eaten up by cars.

• Each year 43,000 Americans die in motor vehicle-related accidents and another 2 million people suffer disabling injuries. One-fifth of the 43,000 killed each year are pedestrian and bicyclists.

• The gas tax covers only 60 percent of our road costs. (the rest of the money is coming out of everyone's taxes, even if you don't own a car)

• Average number of car ads in Bicycling magazine: 12 (based on last six issues)

• Bicycles are a highly efficient alternative to cars. Bicycles require only 22 calories per passenger kilometer, compared to rail at 549 calories per passenger kilometer and cars at a staggering 1,153 calories per passenger kilometer.

• In December 1991, the President (Bush) signed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), which gives states and local jurisdictions greater flexibility in satisfying citizens' transportation needs. The law gives greater weight to bicycling as a means of transportation. "Pedestrian walkways and bicycle transportation facilities to be constructed under this section shall be located and designed pursuant to an overall plan to be developed by each metropolitan planning organization and State and incorporated into their comprehensive annual long-range plans."

• Bicycles exceed ownership of autos worldwide.

• In Cuba, where there is a U.S.-imposed economic blockade, no cars are newer than 34 years old. Bikes are very popular for commuting. They cost about 130 pesos ($25), have no gears, and are imported from China and assembled for credit mostly by college students.

• The story of the bicycle movement from the 1970s to today is that many excellent plans have not been implemented. Former president Carter encouraged pro-bike legislation, much of which died in Congress. When Reagan took office in 1979, a new study done under his administration entitled "Transportation Policies through the Year 2000" does not mention the word bicycle once in its 527 pages. All federal pro-bike programs were wiped out with the argument that oil had become cheap again.

• Bike theft is increasing three times as fast as other larcenies in cities.

• A 1973 federal government study proposed that the Department of Transportation establish a permanent, centralized Bureau of Bicycle Transportation to organize and direct bicycle related matters and to offset the influence of the auto and oil industry. It was never created.

Commuting Facts

• Americans pay $85 billion each year in benefits for free parking, instead of encouraging businesses to give rebates to workers who arrive on foot, on bike, or use mass transit.

• The typical cost for a regular commuter to own and operate a bicycle in the U.S. is $20-$300/yr. The typical cost to own and operate a car: $3,303-$6,523/yr.

• Bicycles are not welcome in the average American office building.

• The most dangerous time to ride a bike in the city is between 3:00 and 6:00 pm.

• Car commuters use over 7,200 British thermal units Btu/passenger mile; rail commuters use as little as 1,146 Btu/passenger mile. Freight carried by truck uses nearly 1,900 Btu/ton-mile; freight carried by train uses less than one-fourth that amount - 443 Btu/ton-mile.

• One fully occupied train car can remove as many as 100 passenger cars from the road during rush hour. While car traffic accommodates about 750 passengers per meter-width of lane per hour, surface rapid rail will carry 9,000. In locations without rail service, bicycles can carry 1,500 persons per meter-width of lane, at least twice as many as cars.

• The fact that autos hold more than one person is practically irrelevant since urban autos average about 1.3 passengers per vehicles.

• The avg. transportation velocity of city buses is 13 mph.

Urban Planning Facts

• Every bike rider not only removes a car from the road but also frees a park-and-ride space; a bike rack costs $250, a parkind lot $20,000 per space to build.

• Every year we "invest" $25 billion of federal taxes in auto-dominated transportation.

• A billion dollars invested in mass transit produces 7,000 more jobs than does the same amount spent on road construction.

• In built-up areas of the country, we devote more land to our cars than to our homes, wrapping the nation in 38.4 million acres of roads and parking lots, a vast blanket of concrete as big as Rwanda.

• Number of bikes that fit in one car parking lot space is 14.

• The bicycle as an urban vehicle offers: no pollution, less congestion, quieter streets, and a healthier populace.

• In most major European cities, regulations prohibit additional land-taking for motorized transportation. Also on the rise is the creation of pedestrian/bicycle-friendly areas of downtown urban areas called "auto-free zones."

• in northeast San Francisco, there are 117 households per residential acre; 83 retail and service jobs per acre; and people drive an average of 2,670 miles per capita per year. In the San Francisco suburbs of San Ramon and Danville, there are 3.8 households per residential acre; 0.4 retail and service jobs per acre; and people drive an average of 10,000 miles per capita per year.

• Using parking lanes as an obvious choice for a bike lane in cities is always voted down because of loss of meter money.

• People with autos make about 1,000 round trips under five miles per year. Average velocity for short trip urban driving is under 20 mph.

• Almost ALL early auto advertising pictures the auto as a cross-country vehicle. It has been the unexpected proliferation of the cross-country gas auto in the urban environment that not only made the street untenable for bicycles and streetcars, but finally for the 80 mph monsters themselves.

• Traffic engineers and city planners still see bicyclists as a problem, when in reality they are a solution.

• Suburban sprawl results in higher infrastructure costs as budget-stressed local governments must provide services - not only roads but also sewers, water pipes, and utility lines - to larger geographic areas. Taxes are forced up as a result of such growth, putting economic pressure particularly on fixed-income residents and often forcing them to move.

• Light rail is more cost-effective than freeway construction. Estimates for urban freeway constuction range as high as $1 billion per mile, while new light rail costs only $10 to $16 million per mile.

• Use of rail encourages development to be more compact, generally in nodes around rail stops. This results in more efficient land use, preservation of farmland, a more cost-effective infrastructure, and conservation of energy.

• A moratorium on new roads and parking lots can spark a renaissance in our now-decaying towns and cities by redirecting development and investment to existing urban centers. Employment would soar to refurbish old buildings, depave areas for gardens and parks, and creating infrastructure for bicycling, walking, and rail trolley transit.

• In Africa, between 60 and 80% of urban dwellers use some form of public transport, walk, or use bicycles. A similar situation exists in Asia. Source: The World Bank

• In American cities, close to half of all urban space goes to accommodate the automobile, leaving more land devoted to cars than to housing.

Environmental Facts

• In a single second America's cars and trucks travel another 60,000 miles, use up 3,000 gallons of petroleum products, and add 60,000 pounds of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

• A person cycling along a busy street is exposed to higher levels of pollution than the general ambient air of the city because of particulate matter kicked up by car tires and circulated by air turbulence and from car exhaust. And since cyclists are exercising and elevating both their pulse rates and respiration, they are more susceptible to these relatively high levels of roadside air pollutants than the general pedestrian.

• According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, six of the seven chief air pollutants come from automobiles.

• Motor-vehicle generated ozone costs us an estimated $9 billion per year in health costs, lost labor hours and reduced agricultural revenues.

• Motor-vehicles are the biggest single source of atmospheric pollution worldwide. Automotive fuels account for 17% of global carbon dioxide releases, 2/3 as much as rainforest destruction. Motor-vehicle air-conditioners in the U.S. are the world's single largest source of CFC leakage into the atmosphere, and subsequent destruction of the ozone layer.