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The table
below shows the number of bikes and cars per thousand people in a group
of countries. As might be expected, The Peoples Republic of China has the largest
number of bikes, but when normalized by the population it falls behind
both The Netherlands and the United States in per capita bike ownership. This
difference reflects per capita income in the these countries.
Clearly
cars dominate personal transportation in the US. In The Netherlands, the number
of cars per capita is about 60% of that in the US and the number of bikes
per capita is almost double the US number. Transportation studies indicate
that in Dutch cities such as Gronigen as many as 50% of journeys are made by
bike. This city has bike route connections to neighboring towns and a mixed
traffic flow in the city center. |
