I always knew that biking would be healthier, and more fun, than
driving. I didn’t know that it would be as time-efficient as it is —
15 minutes cross town vs 14 by car (not even counting time to park,
fuel up, etc) — or that the different sights, sounds and smells at
bike speed would yield entirely different experiences of streets and
neighborhoods I’ve ‘known’ for decades.
For longer-than-biking distances (like into San Francisco from Berkeley) the BART and bus
schedules give me point-to-point times to most key destinations
slightly longer than driving during off-peak and way better during rush
hours — with the additional payoff that my mind is my own. (Off the
transit grid is a bit more challenging, so I’m carefully studying my
die-hard biker friends like Roger and Dave, the unstoppables.)
The Sustainable Business Alliance has a tradition of taking a quick
show of hands at meetings: ‘who came by car, carpool, transit, bike,
walking.’ It’s light-hearted, to the point, and has measurably shifted
people’s behavior. A fine example of EcoFeedback in action. (Note to
self: blog more about EcoFeedback!)
PS: Here’s a cycling site with a substantial bike- (I mean blog-) roll.