Bikes over Cars
9 Ways to Effect a Cultural Shift
This is the second of two articles that argues for prioritizing bikes instead of cars. The first gave six reasons biking is better than driving. This article will describe 9 small adoptable policy/community actions we can introduce to upend society’s nasty transportation default.
But first, we need to recognize that societally, we are addicted to cars
That is a true statement. The more we use cars, the more we want to use them.
The more roads there are, the faster and further we can drive, and the less pleasant our built environments become for other types of transportation.
To favor other modes of transportation we need to make conscious adjustments to our transportation behaviors and infrastructure.
How to induce a Cultural Shift?
There’s no one solution to fix our overdependence on cars but we can make plenty of small changes to decrease our dependence on cars.
Here are nine suggestions to effect a meaningful shift in transportation culture.
1. Ciclovia
In Bogota, Colombia, Sunday mornings feature Ciclovia, a time when streets are closed to car traffic, and people can walk, bike, run and socialize in the streets. It has been going on for ~50 years and “La Ciclovía has become a much-loved program, with about one-quarter of the city’s population making use of it every Sunday.” 1
2. Pico y Cedula
Again from Colombia: during Covid lockdowns, cities needed a way to quickly, easily, and fairly limit the number of people in public places. They developed a system called “Pico y Cedula” where only the people with odd numbers on their ID cards could go out on certain days. The following day people with even numbers could go out. Pico y Cedula was easy to control and took no time to set up since most people already had ID cards. 1.2
Imagine if we did the same with license plate numbers.
How easy it would be to set up a system that could remove 25-50% of cars on the roads at any given moment.
What a great way to increase ride-sharing.
Yes, I understand there would be difficulties. Namely: lack of alternatives in rural areas, distrust between strangers, people not knowing their neighbors, and a preference for privacy and personal spaces over shared ones. But putting in place something like “Pico y Cedula” along with a rating system and planning map akin to Blablacar, Uber, or Lyft could dispel most of these counterarguments.
3. Increase Tax on Gasoline and Tax Car Purchases
Taxes are anathema to Americans, but that doesn’t mean they don’t work. Increase the price of gasoline, and car manufacturers will have immediate incentives to develop smaller, more efficient cars like in Europe. If gas prices get high enough, people may reconsider taking their car on short trips, or they’ll carpool more often.
Why not also add a tax on car purchases?
It can be graduated based on car size, with larger, heavier cars at a higher tax rate since they generate more air pollution per mile driven.
According to several different case studies, the European Environment Agency (EEA) states: “Where there were appropriate levels of taxes and incentives in place, consumer adoption of lower CO2 emitting vehicles followed.” 1.3
4. Increase Mixed-use Urban Cores
Urban zoning is a controversial topic.
Zoning was created to design uniform neighborhoods, control traffic patterns, and—when done right—allow room for a city to grow. Zoning implementation had several unintended consequences and unfortunately contributed to increased income inequality and racial wealth disparities. 2
While it is reasonable to keep undesirable smells, noises, and pollution generated by industrial activities away from residential areas, there is an increasing preference among urban planners for combining commercial and residential zones.
When urban areas become denser and more efficient car usage goes down.
Personally, I like picking up groceries on the way home. In the food deserts of America, this is impossible.
Here’s a startling example of how urban sprawl deprives Americans of transport options:
In Europe, there is a commercial service called BlaBlaCar. It is a ride-sharing website that allows strangers to travel together.
The site handles payments and drivers can screen passengers before agreeing to get in a car together. When I first heard of the site, I wondered why I’d never heard of it in America. Then I realized that our cities are too spread out. Without a dense urban core, it is harder for drivers and passengers to meet.
BlaBlaCar is dead on arrival in the American city.
Since urban zoning is a vast subject, I recommend you read Jeff Spark’s book Walkable City.
Or you can watch his TED talk here.
Alternatively, if you want a fast and easy number to evaluate how your neighborhood ranks in terms of walkability, check out its “walkscore” here.
5. Kill Single-Family-Home Regulations
My home city of Ithaca, NY has long had a housing problem. There just aren’t enough places for everyone to live. As a result, rent there is much higher than in the surrounding areas. This leads to gentrification and deepens the divide between those who live in the county’s rural areas and those who live in its urban ones.
According to Peter Champelli of the Ithaca Voice:
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines affordable housing as housing that costs 30 percent or less of a household’s income. “Rent Burdened” means you pay more than that. 72 percent of renters in Ithaca fall into this rent burdened category. That’s compared to 67% in 2015, and 61% in 2010. 3
It’s easy to point the finger at the local college and university for bringing so many students to the area. That the higher education establishments attract so many new students to the area every year certainly plays its part in the problem.
But, knowing where the problem comes from doesn’t necessarily help fix it.
And this problem is general. I only mention Ithaca because I’m familiar with it.
“After the Great Recession [2009,] new home construction dropped like a stone. Fewer new homes were built in the 10 years ended 2018 than in any decade since the 1960s.” 4
So, there’s a supply crunch – why don’t we just build more houses?
According to Atticus LeBlanc at Forbes, “Single-family zoning remains the biggest single obstacle standing in the way of rapid and cost-effective housing creation.” 5
What is Single-Family Home Zoning?
Single-family zoning is a type of legal classification that restricts the kind of residential housing that can be built on a property. Under these restrictions, only single-family detached homes can be built, forbidding multifamily residential housing, such as duplexes or condominiums, which are common in more densely constructed areas. 6
Since single-family homes are one of the major reasons for increased urban sprawl, building structures that allow a higher population density will allow cities to more easily decrease car use and be serviced better by bike.
6. Increase Parking Fees
Does parking downtown in your nearest city suck?
Do you try to avoid it as much as possible?
Well, you’re not alone. But maybe it’s such a pain because parking fees aren’t high enough.
Counterintuitive right?
Yet, a low parking fee means people will leave their cars in prime commercial zones far longer than necessary. Meaning it is harder for you to park your car when you arrive.
It might cost you a little more per hour to park on the day you go downtown but the experience of quickly finding a close and convenient parking space may easily be worth it.
Here’s an example of a city in the Netherlands trying to implement a high flat fee for parking in desirable locations in the city center or by the sea. It is specifically intended to reduce car congestion.
This and other great ideas can be found in Jeff Spark’s book Walkable City.
Or you can watch his TED talk here.
7. Get Rid of Minimum Parking Lot Requirements
Many American cities have silly requirements for new buildings. The requirements vary in each city, but generally speaking, any new building needs to create a certain number of parking spaces to accommodate their anticipated employees/customers/residents.
See here for an in-depth article about parking lot requirements by 501 (c)(3) non-profit StrongTowns whose mission is to “replace America’s post-war pattern of development, the Suburban Experiment, with a pattern of development that is financially strong and resilient.” 7
Briefly put, parking requirements are why America has so many enormous parking lots. Because the parking lots are so big, developments need to spread out more and more, leading to urban sprawl and cities that are only navigable by car.
But cities can drop these requirements. They could even begin moving in the opposite direction and tax asphalt surfaces.
Just an idea.
There are a few more good ideas about ways to fix the parking problem in this article by City Monitor.
8. Improve Public Transport
Cities and governments already subsidize car ownership and use when they create and maintain free public roads. They should do the same with bus/tram/metro lines.
Rides on public transport should be cheap, reliable, safe, and convenient.
That public transportation will make enough money to be sustainable on rider fees alone should not be assumed. But looking at the global picture, reducing wear and tear on roads by getting more cars off of them, reducing air pollution, plugging more people into the local economy, and reducing the amount of money leaving the community to pay for gasoline will have a long-term beneficial effect.
9. Bike/Electric Bike Vouchers
The city of Angers in France has a program where it will help pay for your bike.
Each household has the right to financial aid for buying a new bike, limited to 25% of total price.
The subventions are the following:
- Electric bike <200€
- Electric cargo bike <400€
- Traditional bike <50€
- Cargo bike <100€ 8
Why not do this everywhere? Why not include used bikes as well? Or give vouchers for bike repair?
Those who must use a car will gain from easier-to-use inner cities. And those who think buying a bike is too expensive will be drawn in.
The Counterarguments
Rural Folks
There’s no argument against this. Sometimes cars are necessary, more so if you live in the country. Still, trips can be minimized or shared. And it wouldn’t be a bad thing to foster small-town life again. Think of America in the fifties.
Back then, you didn’t need to live in a megalopolis to hold down a job.
Would that be so bad?
People with Handicaps
Some people are fragile or have a handicap. Reducing car ownership could only be good for them. Driving to the inner city would become easier and more pleasant.
Handicap parking spaces can be maintained in places of priority, as they are now.
City Workers – Tradespeople and Delivery Drivers
A tradesperson or delivery driver may need access to a vehicle. But just imagine how much easier their jobs would be with 50% fewer cars in the street.
Does the tradesperson need a utility truck? If they don’t have too many tools, a cargo bike might be able to hold them all. As for deliveries, in a dense city, bike delivery makes more sense.
I see more and more delivery bikes in use every month.
Do you think these 9 changes could do enough to start a real cultural shift? Have you seen other cities doing something not listed here to improve bike usage? Do you have any counter arguments that I’ve missed?