Integrating bicycling with public transportation was my latest contribution to the Journal News of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties.
Following publication of the above article Paul Feiner, supervisor of the Town of Greenburgh asked me to co-host his weekly radio program on WVOX. Our guest on the show was David Yarnold Executive Director of the Environmental Defense Fund. The show went very well with a number of callers. I also had the opportunity to ask David a lot of questions live on the show.
Just two days ago one of my friends sent me a joke. A woman asked of her husband to take her to an expensive place for the evening. He responded to her request by taking her to a gas station. The price of fuel is now a frequent dinner table conversation in many American households and the people who want to change need the help of federal, state and local governments. It is easy to ask people to bicycle to work and ask children to bicycle to school. However such a request will be irresponsible as much of the US has no infrastructure for safe bicycling other than for recreational bicycling at designated places. Perhaps, many cities around the USA should follow the example of Portland, which is bicycle friendly and has even provided bicycle parking facilities at the airport for its staff and the general public. And in Portland there are people who bicycle to the airport and park their bikes there.
It's going to be a long haul to accommodate bicycling on most roads in the USA. Nevertheless, a start some where is better than no start at all. We have a lot to learn from the Europeans and there are hundreds of Americans and organization who are pushing for commute-bicycling . What I have suggested to the local towns is to make a beginning by providing bicycle parking facilities at train stations and all other public places (includes supermarkets and shopping centers) as a standard provision. At least when there are facilities to park a bicycle, some folks may be inclined to ride their bikes to the market place. When a segment of the population starts using the bicycle to commute, others will be more inclined to follow their example. Local towns should then take greater initiatives to extend existing bicycle paths to roads and build bike paths along secondary highways. We got to start somewhere, don't we!
I have joined the Greenway Committee in our local town. I would try to play an advocacy role by asking the town to extend bike trails and off-the-road bicycle trails to connect to roads so that folks can bike on these trails for commuting as well.
Finally, what can be more satisfying than turning a hobby like bicycling to help others to improve their health and help the environment at the same time. Or better still we need more people like Brian LaFave.
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