Drive Month?
Bike Month is a month to get more people on bikes. But as I biked to work this May it seemed more like Everybody Drive Month.
Maybe it’s cheap gas or the season- but the roads were jammed with cars and and everyone was stressing more than usual.
It’s clear that prioritizing private cars is not working for the city- and trying to fit more of them is not the solution.
Perhaps there should be a Car-free Month to encourage cities and commuters to think about how to reinvent rush hour with using different transportation options and fewer single occupant vehicles.
While I get about 2,000 bike commuting miles per year, I still need my car for work to carry around gear. Haven’t quite figured out that one yet. My car and bike both stay at work as needed, and bike home when it fits. All my suburban neighbors still gasp when I tell them I ride all the way to Boston( 18 miles) some of the time. I tell them by car on back roads it takes about an hour, bike 20 minutes more. They still have a hard time connecting the dots, still.
The most fair and effective means to move people from cars to public or person-power transport is to raise the price of fuel to what it really costs – including the military to safeguard oil supplies, the current and past environmental impact caused by the automotive culture, the urban distress caused by interstates carving up cities, and the future impact of a warming climate. I’d guess the true cost of gas is well north of $30/gallon.