I’ve actually been making use out of my Twitter account lately. Mainly, it’s to watch every move of Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman (the illustrator and author respectively of the original BOOK form of Coraline.. P. Craig Russell was the artist for the graphic novel). Just kidding, though those two are Twitter-sluts, I swear!
Anyways, I digress. I was paging through various updates and came upon one very interesting one from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance that simply asked “Would you trade in your car for a fully-loaded, hand-crafted, Fort Collins-built commuter bike and trailer?” and sure enough, those great beer-brewing bike bums New Belgium (founded bike a Bike Friday owner, no less!) are offering a free (and rather stylish-looking) bike outfit to anyone willing to simply let go of those blasted cars. Sure, if you’re carting around a buncha kids, you might have a good excuse, but you single folks got nothing. 😀
If you still think I’m nuts, consider this great calculator that can help you really look at the TRUE costs of car ownership.. and what you could do with the money you save. It’s really startling. If it surprises you, think about the majority of your rides. Could you car share or bus instead if you’re not into getting wet or being cold? Are some of your trips within walking distance (many are– to the corner store, for example). Review the National Household Travel Survey and you’l find the car’s value begins to wane a bit.
But hey, if a cool free bike won’t convince you, I certainly won’t. Just wait until we get to Europe’s gas prices. According to one source, out of 141 countries, we were 101 in gas prices which means that 100 were worse. This means the majority of the world is trending towards higher prices. Have we any reason to think this won’t be the case?
foldable walter 