Pedaling a Human-Powered Approach to Urban Transportation

Cycling with transportation as its central purpose is known as utility cycling. This terminology does not include cycling that is most prominently intended for sport, recreation, or fitness. While existing with great popularity worldwide, utility cycling has less following in the United States. Throughout the world, in most richly dense urban populations, there exists a culture of cycling for transport. In a setting of energy uncertainty and a time of economic frugality, transportation is an area ripe for evaluation and adjusting in many urban dwellers’ lives. (Van Der Plas)
Variations, applications and comparisons of utility cycling:
Concerning hardware, there are some differences between a bicycle used for recreation and a utility cycle. Most commonly, the distinctions for a utility cycle are the occurrence of fenders or splash guards, baskets, racks and other cargo carriers, bells or horns, mirrors, and multiple lighting or reflecting equipment. The functional advantage of this hardware is to make a cyclist’s presence more aware on a roadway and to provide elements of comfort and safety during all operating conditions. (Van Der Plas)
There is great diversity of application with regard to utility cycling. In some instances, cycles turn heads with large parasols and awning features. For vendors, a utility cycle might tow a large cooler for beverages and other perishables. Some nations accept or even embrace the use of human powered chauffeur service; this is most often carried out by a rickshaw tricycle. This rickshaw is usually constructed with a stalwart rear-axle, situated under a seat for two, often with an awning facing away from the direction of travel and the chauffeur at the handles. Even with all of these variations considered as well as many unmentioned, their use is quite a negligible percentage of the full scale of utility cycling overall. (Van Der Plas)
Ultimately, the greatest application in utility cycling is the transportation of a single passenger, under his or her own power. (Rosen) While this varies in some parts of the world, some countries, especially those densely populated, thoroughly embrace transportation cycling. As good examples of this, the Netherlands estimates that approximately 27% of all urban travel is done on bicycle (Fietsberaad); in the nation of Japan, approximately 17% of all commuting is accomplished by cycling. (Hirotaka)
For parents that choose cycling as their mode of transportation, certain amenities are popular. Carriage trailers allow a child to sit comfortably, in a basket mounted onto a single axle. These carriages are often covered and can keep the occupant shaded from potentially unwanted climactic elements and free from the hassle of insects and debris. There are also child-restraint seats that can either be mounted above the rear wheel of a bicycle, behind the rider, or in front of the rider, above the front wheel. For parents of older children, there are trailers that allow the child to sit and pedal independently from the adult but lack a steering mechanism so that the adult can control the cycle without interference. (Wray)
In major metropolitan centers with exceptional business districts such as Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, and New York City, there exists a profession known as cycle couriering. This occupation involves delivering messages and other physical documentation via bicycle, where urban automobile traffic would negate the common speed and time-efficiency associated motorized transport. Bike messengers, as they are also known, work as private contractors, or with businesses known as courier companies. In addition to bike messengers, in these same urban centers many restaurants that offer delivery services depend on cyclists to transport their products. (Rosen)
Urban cyclist infrastructure and the socioeconomic value:
Unfortunately for cycle advocates, nations like ours and others that embrace motorways and their automotive industry with great fervor and national pride often lack the infrastructure to facilitate utility cyclists on a large scale. On the other hand, as previously mentioned, governments like those of the nations of Japan and the Netherlands have been sensitive to the value of utility cycling. By establishing policy and creating public projects for new cycling infrastructure, governments have been able to provide a higher standard of living for their citizens. (Wray)
On the socioeconomic scale, utility cycling has shown to provide urban centers with many advantages. The relief that comes with less automobile traffic is a very attractive reason to promote cycling. In addition to less congested roadways, a sizable increase in the number of cyclists in an urban center would alleviate smog and subsequent acid rain. These pollutions are due to automotive combustion exhaust that becomes concentrated in and around urban centers with heavy automobile use and industry. As well as obvious comfort and health reward, there is another facet of public health advantage. All governments pay to some degree, either directly or indirectly, for the healthcare of their citizens. Especially in nations that offer a public healthcare plan, efforts to encourage light physical activity, even if through transportation, are alluring. With a large addition of cyclists, the public health impact tends to be noticeable. Cases of respiratory complications and illness associated with lack of exercise are less prevalent where a culture of cycling exists. (Rosen)
Just as there exists infrastructure for automobiles, such as roadways, parking structures, bridges, and traffic managing mechanisms like street signs, there occur mechanisms that allow for the organization and benefit of utility cyclists. Bicycle racks, parking posts, cycling lanes, cycle-crossing signage and traffic lights are all examples of infrastructure that can be implemented to encourage new cyclists and to benefit the existing culture. An investment in cycling infrastructure also has its material advantages for a community. Less space allocated for motorized vehicle parking reduces the amount of paved surfaces needed; the advantages are tremendous. Having less pavement throughout an urban center increases the possibility for property-tax revenue for the city government by allowing for more valuable use of city property. In addition, the removal of paved surfaces can reduce the absorption of solar-radiation which could serve to alleviate the excessive heat problems cities face due in part to the massive amounts of blacktop and concrete. A less obvious but nevertheless impressive possible advantage of removing pavement reserved for automobile parking is an increase in urban air quality. This can be achieved by increasing the amount of vegetation within a city. Plant life inhales some of the gases and particles that are detrimental to our inhalation. While acting as urban air-filters, vegetation also increases oxygen levels. (Rosen)
The future of utility cycling:
As urban centers continue to expand and populate, issues such as traffic, energy, and pollution will continue to be a chief concern. (“Linking Population”) As the price and availability of oil products, like gasoline, grows uncertain and alarming, utility cycling will and must claim a certain portion of the remedy. The comforts of automobile transportation are appealing, and the auto-culture is very strong in most industrialized nations. Fortunately, many small communities and national governments are leading the way in progressing toward a solution to our future transportation concerns. Utility cycling has its place in the overall solution. (Wray)



Works Cited:
Fietsberaad, Dutch Ministry of Transportation “Cycling in the Netherlands”, Print/PDF, Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat 2009
Hirotaka Koike, Akinori Morimoto, Kaoru Itoh, “A Study on Measures to Promote Bicycle Usage in Japan”, Department of Civil Engineering, Utsunomiya University Velomondial Conference Proceedings, Amsterdam 2000
“Linking population, poverty, and development” Web, 02 June 2010 http://www.unfpa.org/pds/urbanization.htm
Rosen, Paul "Cycling and Society (Transportation and Society)" Print, Ashgate 30 September 2007
Van Der Plas, Robert “The Bicycle Commuting Book: Using the Bike for Utility and Transportation” Print, Motorbooks International, September 1989
Wray, J.Harry “Pedal Power: The Quiet Rise of the Bicycle in American Public Life” Print, Paradigm Publishers 31 January 2008

Rocky Mountain High...

I just returned from vacation. I spent a week at the Grant Teton National Park and Yellowstone with my two best friends. While there I climbed mountains, rock faces, boulder slides, saw so much wildlife, and enjoyed beautiful scenery. In addition, I reveled in the clean, thin mountain air. It was by far the best vacation I have ever had. I feel rejuvenated and fortunate.

When I arrived home this morning, at and hour past midnight, into metro-Detroit, I immediately felt the difference in air quality and humidity as the doors let in a deluge of thick, stinky and petro-chemical laden tropospheric cocktail, not fit for respiration. It looks like reality has hit home, but I have some great memories. I can still appreciate Michigan's hiking opportunities.

Au revoir,

Michael

New Leadership in Lansing

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2010/election_2010_governor_elections/michigan/election_2010_michigan_governor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_gubernatorial_election,_2010
http://mpc.detroitchamber.com/eDetroiter/Friday/Granholm
http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/05/filing_deadline_spurs_new_atta.html
http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/05/podcast_new_round_of_mudslingi.html
http://blog.mlive.com/capitolchronicles/2010/06/gov_candidates_clueless_about.html
http://lonelyconservative.com/2010/05/michigan-governor-jennifer-granholm-promotes-van-jones/

I just posted too many links; I know. What is to come for our state? There are three major candidates, but no one seems poised to take control of the race for governor. I am concerned about the future of Michigan. Soon to be ex-governor Granholm insists that her administration took great steps to ensure future prosperity in our state. However, our economy remains at the bottom of the American barrel, and employment rates have yet to rise.

Who might you vote for and why? I feel so lost as to whom I can place my trust in.

~Michael

Black tea steeping in the Gulf of Mexico

I think that this spill is just a symptom of a greater problem. Sure, this is the most dramatic symptom that American citizens are aware of because it is an immediate detriment on our livelihood. However, our need for fossil fuels, oil in particular, makes our economy fragile and has obvious environmental and less obvious human impacts. We are involved in one war that is arguably in attempt to secure a region of the world where we could consume its oil resources. This war costs thousands of lives annually, and hundreds of billions of dollars. The amount of sulfates that enter the air due to gasoline combustion are very harmful to urban centers, and all inhabitants downwind of these concentrated communities of exhaust emitters. This causes respiratory disease and acid rain. The threat of anthropomorphic climate-change is yet another example of a symptom to the worlds biggest problem. Our societies depend on fossil fuel consumption. Is this appropriate? Are there alternatives?