Do more Americans ride bike on the road or sidewalk?

It looks like a stupid question. But we already know how many
hamburgers we gulp down every year and how many hours we spend
watching the Idiot’s Box.

Then the issue of what people ride bikes where starts to make sense.
Why do 99% of Americans do NOT commute by bike? Are they afraid of the
road or what?

Of course, everybody rides on the sidewalk where I live. And yet these
things must be done according to scientific methods and sample
populations. If the samples are taken where the poor live, no doubt
the sidewalk wins. But if you go to the green areas and gated
communities, people enjoy bike paths and then the picture is reversed,
like black and white.

So while all the data is collected and everything, what’s your best
gut feeling?

BIKE FOR PEACE
htttp://webspawner.com/users/bikeforpeace

The answer is VERY specific as to how you ask the question, so the
first thing you want to decide is exactly what it is you want to know.

For example, if you want to know how many "commute" by bike on a
sidewalk/road, that's a VERY different question than how many "ride"
on a bike/road. I would guess that "ride" has a MUCH higher
percentage of people riding on sidewalks because it would include
children, who are the largest group of riders.

You'll also get very different results for rural/suburban/urban. For
example, cul-de-sac suburban might ALL ride on roads (including
children) because they cul-de-sacs don't have much traffic and there
are no sidewalks. Rural will also have more road riders because of
the lack of sidewalks.

You would also need to define "commute" to figure out if that included
children going to school.

The other obvious challenge to a question like this is how do you
define "riding". It is likely that most people do a little of each.

ComandanteBanana writes:

It looks like a stupid question.

It's definitely an offtopic question. The "uk" in uk.rec.cycling is
for "United Kingdom" (as in "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland"), not for the University of Kentucky.

You might have heard of our country in history lessons at school, if
not more recently. There probably aren't enough Americans living here
to make a statistically meaningful survey of whether they ride bike on
the road or sidewalk (or "pavement" as we like to call it)

Hope this helps. Be grateful if you could amend the newsgroups line
on further posts. Thanks.


-dan

On Aug 28, 8:53*pm, ComandanteBanana
wrote:
It looks like a stupid question.

Yes it does.

- Frank Krygowski

"ComandanteBanana" wrote in message
...

...Th en the issue of what
peopl e ride bikes where starts
to make sense.
.Why do 99% of Americans do NOT commute by bike? Are they
afraid of the
..road or what?

(I put in some because you make your response difficult to read
because you use crap softeware)

People decide on the mode of their commute by the perceived cost. They
typically choose the lowest cost transportation mode.

The perceived cost has been found to = wage rate * waiting time + half wage
rate * travel time + dollar cost for the trip

A bike has a very high cost of time for most people. They can not afford
the cost of time for a bike compared to the cost of driving.

Bikes and transit are far more expensive than cars for most people so they
don't use bikes or transit for their commute.

This is one of the results of Professor at UC Berkely who won a Nobel Prize
for determing how people make decision in real life including selecting
which commute mode they use.

"ComandanteBanana" wrote in message
...
It looks like a stupid question. But we already know how many
hamburgers we gulp down every year and how many hours we spend
watching the Idiot’s Box.

Then the issue of what people ride bikes where starts to make sense.
Why do 99% of Americans do NOT commute by bike? Are they afraid of the
road or what?

Of course, everybody rides on the sidewalk where I live. And yet these
things must be done according to scientific methods and sample
populations. If the samples are taken where the poor live, no doubt
the sidewalk wins. But if you go to the green areas and gated
communities, people enjoy bike paths and then the picture is reversed,
like black and white.

So while all the data is collected and everything, what’s your best
gut feeling?

BIKE FOR PEACE
htttp://webspawner.com/users/bikeforpeace


On my visits to the USA I am often surprised by the number of cyclists who
ride into oncoming traffic. There I am, trying to remember to drive on the
right only to be confronted by a cyclist coming towards me on my side of the
road. Why?

In ,
Frank Krygowski tweaked the Babbage-Engine to tell us:
On Aug 28, 8:53 pm, ComandanteBanana
wrote:
It looks like a stupid question.

Yes it does.

It IS a stupid question, Frank, coz it comes from a muppet with absolutely
NO clue as to what "uk" stands for.

--
Dave Larrington
http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk
I am now returned from both the seventeenth century and the Post
Office.

ComandanteBanana wrote:

My recollections from various parts of America
is that there are no sidewalks in vast swathes
of housing. Sidewalks are for walking,
and Americans don't (sweeping generalisation)
walk.

Hence the issue of riding bicycles
on them is ... tenuous.

I once walked (3 blocks) from a hotel
to a business in Palo Alto.

Given the time difference, I'd woken
early, and had plenty of time.

And the weather was good.

There were no pavements, sorry sidewalks.

A police car drew up and asked me what I was doing.

So walking is considered "unusual", at least by the police.

BugBear

On Aug 28, 7:53*pm, ComandanteBanana
wrote:
It looks like a stupid question. But we already know how many
hamburgers we gulp down every year and how many hours we spend
watching the Idiot’s Box.

Then the issue of what people ride bikes where starts to make sense.
Why do 99% of Americans do NOT commute by bike? Are they afraid of the
road or what?

Of course, everybody rides on the sidewalk where I live. And yet these
things must be done according to scientific methods and sample
populations. If the samples are taken where the poor live, no doubt
the sidewalk wins. But if you go to the green areas and gated
communities, people enjoy bike paths and then the picture is reversed,
like black and white.

So while all the data is collected and everything, what’s your best
gut feeling?

BIKE FOR PEACE
htttp://webspawner.com/users/bikeforpeace

In my area there are no sidewalks so more folks ride in the street.
As for commuting, my location is not bike commute friendly, I'd like
to ride to work but getting past the highway interchange is a bit
scary.

Eric

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:53:04 -0700 (PDT), ComandanteBanana wrote:

It looks like a stupid question. But we already know how many
hamburgers we gulp down every year and how many hours we spend
watching the Idiot¢s Box.

Then the issue of what people ride bikes where starts to make sense.
Why do 99% of Americans do NOT commute by bike? Are they afraid of the
road or what?


Possibly - due to (or as an alternative explanation for "or what") the
prevalence of laws requiring the wearing of Magic Foam Hats.