He Ditched His Car For A Year And Used His Bicycle

Friend of SWFBUD Steve Swiger sends over a terrific story about a guy who ditched his car for a year in San Francisco.

He used his bicycle and public transportation instead of a car. He offered three tips for U.S. cities:

1. Make alternatives more appealing: Make the roads safer for bicyclists and pedestrians with more separated bike lanes, bike racks, wider sidewalks, and so on. Improve public transport. Divert some infrastructure dollars from highways to rebuilding the passenger train network.

2. Make the public realm much more appealing to people: More places to gather, such as plazas and parks; more public art, greenery, and graffiti abatement; more public events to draw people out into the streets. Then people won't need to drive to distant places to enjoy good company and pleasant places.

3. Elect more dignified public leaders: Encourage all political leaders to walk, bicycle, and take public transit. Get leaders to tell the public the truth about peak oil and that we must start transitioning to a simple, smaller-scaled way of life.