It's bike to work week here in Wyoming. Finally.

It seems we celebrate the bicycle as a mode of transportation later here than anywhere else in the U.S. Some folks say it's because of our climate, but that wouldn't explain why Alaska, Wisconsin and Minnesota go with the flow and honor the bicycle when everyone else does–throughout the month of May.

Oh well, this isn't meant to be a rant. Anytime anyone makes the effort to bike to work is OK with me.

One of the many activities Friends of Pathways have planned this week is a talk by Rutgers Professor John Pucher, one of the world's leading experts in non-motorized travel behavior research. The talk will be held this Thursday evening, June 14th, at 7 pm at Snow King. Free admission, free beer and a cruiser bike raffle should bring out a good crowd.

A quick browse of Pucher's web page on Rutgers' website reveals a tremendous amount of comparative research about bicycling trends and policies around the world. Of the many publications available for PDF download, one titled Why Canadians cycle more than Americans caught my eye.

Last time I checked all of Canada is farther north than every one of our states, except Alaska. There goes the harsh climate excuse.

In his report, Pucher jumps right in, tackling the climate issue in his introduction:

Canadian metropolitan areas have bike shares of work trips about three times higher than American metropolitan areas. Just as a cool climate does not prevent cycling, a warm climate does not necessarily ensure it. For example, the Yukon Territory–roughly the same latitude as Alaska–has a bike share of work trips more than twice as high as California (2.0 vs. 0.8%) and more than three times as high as Florida's (0.6%).

For policy wonks and stat freaks, Pucher's research is chock full of interesting comparative data. For me, the most thought provoking question wasn't why Canadians bicycle more than Americans, rather it was why both the U.S. and Canada lag so far behind Western Europe

where the bike share of travel averages about 5-10% of urban trips, but reaches highs of 20% in Denmark and 32% in the Netherlands.

As Pucher points out:

Cycling is an integral part of the urban transport system in most Western European countries, a sharp contrast to North America, where it is a distinctly marginal mode.

Of course, some American cities do a better job of integrating cycling into the urban transport system–Portland, Oregon being a great example. In my opinion, it can be done, it just takes public demand and political will.

Here's hoping Pucher's talk will motivate the folks in Jackson Hole to take the next step(s) toward improving our cycling infrastructure.

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