In a city like Austin, we have well-marked and extensive bike trails and lanes but the average person only uses it for recreation because aggressive cars still make it feel too dangerous. The green paint I’ve seen in a few places here, and more extensively in places like Portland, helps make cars more aware but the impatience is visible… we can’t expect non-hardcore bike riders to participate without farther improving safety and convenience.

Biking is often only practical when combined with some other transport like bus or rail. In Austin is the buses only hold two bikes and during peak hours those slots can be filled, making the commute by bike/bus carry a risk of being late to work. Even our Car2Go car share program can’t carry a bike. Or we need bike share programs so you’re not stuck with your bike.

To involve more of the population in bike riding we need more clearly protected bike lanes (even a few bike-only streets and long paths), higher frequency of public transport with higher capacity to carry bikes, car share vehicles with ability to carry bikes, a bike share program, showers at workplaces, and active encouragement from the city and employers. Combining lessons from cities like Copenhagen and Barcelona and modifying them to fit the logistics of our US cities could really make biking more appealing to everyone.