Yesterday Mayor Cockrel signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Act.  He joins a growing list of other Metro Detroit signees that have done the same, including:

• John Hieftje (Ann Arbor)
• Marilyn Stephan (Berkley)
• Daniel Paletko (Dearborn Heights)
• Robert Porter (Ferndale)
• James Ellison (Royal Oak)
• Gretchen Driskell (Saline)
• Brenda Lawrence (Southfield)
• Norma Wurmlinger (Southgate)
• Cameron Priebe (Taylor)
• David Flaisher (Township of West Bloomfield)
• Mark Steenbergh (Warren)
• Paul Schreiber (Ypsilanti)

Part of this agreement includes the following:

We will strive to meet or exceed Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming pollution by taking actions in our own operations and communities such as:

2. Adopt and enforce land-use policies that reduce sprawl, preserve open space, and create compact, walkable urban communities;
3. Promote transportation options such as bicycle trails, commute trip reduction programs, incentives for car pooling and public transit;

There’s no surprise that many of these Michigan cities have taken the lead on bicycle facility development.  Some have not.  For those communities that have not seen the light — or made the commitment to improve biking — this may be another justification to help push them along.

Newspaper articles on safe cycling often make experienced cyclists  cringe.

That’s not the case with today’s Free Press article:

As the youngest of Gordie Howe’s sons, I was raised by someone who grew up during the Depression in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where temperatures hover at minus-20 all winter. My dad ate oatmeal three times a day, walked or skated five miles to school, and lived in a two-bedroom house with 11 siblings and no indoor plumbing. Popular toys were rocks and sticks.

So when I decided to begin commuting to work on my bike, my dad wasn’t impressed. He merely said, “Watch out for cars.” Good advice.

In the article Howe notes that the U.S. News and World Report “ranked biking to work the No. 1 way to improve your life in 2009.”  He also mentions donating to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen bike shop, which we noted earlier.

by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm

A recent study by the University of Tennessee’s Obesity Research Center documents the relationship between obesity rates and active transportation (i.e. biking, walking, and public transit.)

The study’s lead author, David Bassett, co-director of the Obesity Research Center and professor in the Department of Exercise, Sport and Leisure Studies, said more people are thinking about transportation issues to save gas and money. On top of that, Americans are obsessed with losing weight, and the latest statistics show about one in three U.S. adults are obese.

“Many people blame this on things like technology, TV, Internet and sedentary jobs, but what we found was that there are other industrialized nations who have similar, high standards of living, who do not suffer from obesity to nearly the same extent that the U.S. does,” he said. “I truly believe that the transportation modes in various countries are important in explaining international differences in obesity rates.”

This study’s results are just another justification for building more biking and walking infrastructure in Metro Detroit.

And it also supports the Safe Routes to School concept, especially given the amount of childhood obesity in Michigan.  In 2007, 12% of children in Michigan were obese (>20% overweight.)

Unfortunately many of those responsible for transportation decisions have little experience or background in health.  Improving community health is not on their radar.  But one thing road engineers are good are is understanding numbers — and this study provides them.

• In 2000, Europeans walked an average of 239 miles per person per year.  Americans walked 88 miles. And while Europeans biked 118 miles per year on average, Americans rode only 25 miles.
• In Atlanta, every hour per day spent driving was associated with a 6 percent increase in the likelihood of being obese.

One caveat is the results do not prove causality.  However, the authors note the results “suggest that active transportation could be one of the factors that explain international differences in obesity rates.”

High oil prices prompted Americans use their bike more than their car.  Last month we wrote about the falling price of oil and how people were still biking more.

Since then the prices of oil has dropped even more.

Still, the October driving numbers are down according to the Federal Highway Administration:

Americans drove more than 100 billion fewer miles between November 2007 and October 2008 than the same period a year earlier, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters, making it the largest continuous decline in American driving in history.

The Secretary noted that Americans drove 3.5 percent less, or 8.9 billion fewer vehicle miles traveled (VMT), in October 2008 than October 2007, making it the sharpest decline of any October since 1971.

Of course during this downturn, bike commuting and public transit ridership have increased.

And, these changes are not just due to high oil prices.  (more…)

www.pedbikeimages.org / Dan Burden

Ever wonder how many people are biking or walking to work in Metro Detroit?  How do we compare with the bike friendly cities of Chicago and Portland?

Fortunately the U.S. Census publishes statistics on how people get to work. The below numbers are from 2007, which is before gasoline hit $4 a gallon and encouraged increased bike commuting.  We look forward to seeing the 2008 numbers.

Note that the Metro Detroit error margins are generally +/- 0.1%. For cities, the error margins are much larger which makes comparing these numbers somewhat precarious.

One conclusion that can be drawn is women don’t bike to work as frequently as men, but especially in some areas such as Wayne County, Southfield, and Grand Rapids.  Even in more bike friendly cities like Ann Arbor, Chicago, and Portland, women workers are much less likely to bike to work.  There is no corresponding gender difference among those walking to work in many of these regions (the City of Detroit is an exception).  In Metro Detroit, women  walk to work more often than men (1.6% vs. 1.4%).

Another conclusion: Detroit has much room for improvement compared to places like Ann Arbor, Chicago, and Portland.

One question we have is how does the Census Bureau count workers that use bus bike racks?  Are they counted as public transit commuters, as bicyclists or both?