Bicycles Paving The Way To City-Friendly Transportation

Many different forms of public transportation are on the radar in big cities. One of their largest obstacles is coming up with smart and environmentally-friendly ways for people to get in and out of the city without the headache, congestion and emissions that pile up whenever personal vehicles are the transportation of choice.

Image by Guerrilla Futures

Thankfully a number of ideas are making forward progress. Take Los Angeles for example, where recently the Metro retired their last diesel bus, thus becoming the world’s first major transit agency to operate only using clean fuel buses.  Then there’s the big news about Vice President Biden announcing a $53 billion high speed rail system for the U.S.

But what can individual cities do in order to make their transportation greener on an immediate basis? Well, that’s where bicycles come into play. Believe it or not, bicycles can pave the way to city-friendly transportation. Setting up “car-free” days where only pedestrians and bicycles are allowed on certain streets gives people the idea of what it would be like to be less dependent on big oil. It also gives people the freedom to get around the city like they probably never have before (unless they live someplace like Copenhagen).

Therefore many cities are beginning to offer different events and specific days where bicycles are the transportation of choice. This not only provides people with an eco-friendly way to get around, but a healthy way as well. Here are just a few of the cities who have some type of bicycle day:

1) San Francisco Sunday Streets

2) Portland Sunday Parkways

3) Guadalajara Car Free Sundays

4) New York City’s Transportation Alternatives

5) WOBO: Walk Oakland – Bike Oakland

6) CicLAvia 2011 – Los Angeles

7) And of course, Bogota, Columbia’s Ciclovia

Ciclovia: Bogotá, Colombia from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

We know there are many more cities that have car-free days and bicycle days that open up the city for active transportation. If one of those cities is yours, please leave details in the comments below. We want to let people know more and more options are becoming available and cities are taking steps towards environmentally-friendly transportation in the here and now.

Though in the long run, don’t you think cities should be car-free more than just one day a year? World Carfree Day is a great idea, but what about the rest of the year? Opening transportation options up to people so they can opt for more environmentally-friendly choices is a good idea. It will make big cities more accessible and less polluted.

And don’t forget to check out the Climate Rides of 2011. There’s NYC to DC in May and the California Climate Ride in October. In the meantime, pull out your bicycle and get moving on one of the most city-friendly, active and carbon-free forms of transportation around.