Get on your bikes and ride!

Improved safety and convenience add up to increased cycling

“I have an e-bike. I am trying to use it more, but I must commute an hour, twice daily, to and from my farm.” Portlander Jen Davis goes on to say that for a decade in her youth, she got around by cycling, walking, or riding the bus. Presently, her partner relies almost exclusively on two-wheel travel, borrowing Davis’ car only on occasion.

By far, these two individuals are the exception, not the rule, when it comes to cyclists in the United States. If the world had more folks like Davis and her partner, climate change would be less of a pressing problem. Indeed, getting people on their bikes and out of their cars has been a conservation and sustainability goal since the 1970s. The few pounds of steel, aluminum, and rubber needed to put together a bike is a fraction of the tons needed for a car. Once the bike is manufactured, propelling it down the road is pretty much carbon neutral. Factoring everything together, manufacturing and pedaling the bike down the street, the carbon footprint of cycling comes to about 1.2 ounces of CO2 per mile.¹ This is about one-tenth the CO2 of driving. It is lower than the carbon produced by riding a bus and even lower than the carbon footprint of walking, believe it or not. E-bikes have twice the footprint of a regular bike because they need to be recharged, but even so, that is far lower than driving.

Given the ecofriendliness of cycling, it would seem that governments would put a priority on the bicycle as a climate change solution, but that is not always the case. A generous tax break for e-bikes was part of the original House draft of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), giving a tax credit of up to $900 against the purchase of a new e-bike. Supposedly, the cost of this tax break, an estimated $7.4 billion over 10 years, is what kept it out of the final legislation. Although most of the intention of the IRA is to reduce climate change, its final version contains a dearth of legislation or funding supporting cycling. Fortunately, tax breaks and rebates can be found at the state and local levels, usually a benefit between $500 and $1,000. Right now, I wish I lived in Connecticut, which offers a $1,500 voucher to buy an ebike.

The key to supporting cycling is infrastructure

Tax breaks and vouchers can help buy a bike, but once someone buys a bike and brings it home, then what? If the nearby streets and roads are not conducive to cycling, that bike will likely remain unused in a corner of the garage. Recent research indicates that cities, states, and counties can support cycling by creating safe infrastructure for cyclists.