#20ReasonsToBike: More urban cycling saves everyone money

Former Vancouver Chief Planner Brent Toderian is approaching his tenth year of living without the financial burden of car ownership, but refer to his family ‘car-free’, and he’s quick to make an important distinction.

“When we got rid of our car in 2009, we went ‘car-less’. I never say ‘car-free’, because the car is still part of our multi-modal lifestyle. We’re members of multiple car-shares, we take taxis, and we occasionally rent a car,” he says.

For his entire adult life, Toderian considered himself ‘car-lite’, hanging onto a vehicle for the occasional Ikea run or skiing trip. But with the proliferation of car-share, his family lost their last excuse to continue owning one.

The resulting benefits of a ‘car-less’ household are myriad, but few are as quantifiable as the dollars and cents most people sink into a depreciating asset that sits unused for 95% of the time.

Continue reading on dailyhive.com

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Join the conversation on Twitter by using the hashtag #20ReasonsToBike

NEW: “When people ask me why I like bikes, my short answer is always, ‘because I like successful cities.’ So my appreciation for urban biking is born of pragmatism around the real challenges cities are facing.” My interview in @DailyHiveVan @modacitylife: https://t.co/5Un9hLAUpo pic.twitter.com/KvyNd1WTIl
— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) July 3, 2018

Great language. It shows you support smart car use but don't need the burden or the damage having/storing/using a permanent vehicle in ownership. Very nice phrasing. Non-threatening to tall. Gonna pass this along to everyone!
— Clarence Eckerson Jr. (@PurpleClarence) July 4, 2018

Think bike lanes are too expensive?“The kinds of figures we’re talking about—that would actually save public money—are rounding errors in most transportation budgets. So cities are literally wasting money by not investing in smart bike infrastructure.”https://t.co/jkmUsu7KK3 pic.twitter.com/OrqGCsXrlD— Modacity (@modacitylife) July 4, 2018

Even higher. The recent @angusreidorg poll results showing massive numbers of people in Canada wanting more protected bike lanes miss one thing: kids.

100% of ppl under 16 are averse to talking on phones with pollsters & would roll their eyes & say “Duh” to that question.... pic.twitter.com/hCZ8MCJsZt
— Anders Swanson (@SwansonAnders) June 28, 2018

Providing more opportunities for more families across more neighborhoods of the Portland region to live car-free or car-lite is a massively important anti-poverty initiative, to say nothing about the impacts on climate, air quality, affordable housing and public health. https://t.co/Wny0iImLNk
— ODOT's Freeway Expansions will make traffic worse. (@nomorefreeways) July 3, 2018

#cycling gets you there, good for the head and body, very little #environmental destruction, and saves everyone money https://t.co/JI8MuccM2c
— Richard Baschak (@rbaschak) July 3, 2018