Turning Madison Into Copenhagen

On Wednesday The Cap Times had an article which described Madison's bike friendliness, which, bicycle advocates say, has stagnated. This may very well be the case. I no longer use a bike as my primary mode of transportation as I did back in the 1990s. Indeed, my two-wheeler is in a state of severe disrepair. Still, I was glad to see the bike path bridge over East Wash go up and have no problem with my tax money going to help make this town more friendly to bicyclists.

Now, having said that, I found the article to be a bit disingenuous in spots. Take this passage for example:

Those same businesses are now flexing their collective muscles, teaming with traditional bicycle advocates in a major push to make Madison a model for two-wheeled transportation -- rivaling European cities like Copenhagen, Denmark, where fully 40 percent of trips are made via bicycle.

And this one as well:

For $20 million -- the cost of one interstate highway overpass -- Burke says he could create a world-class bikeway system in Madison that would boost the percentage of commuters from 3 percent to 20 percent.

Let's begin with the latter. Now, I don't know if the issue I have with this statement is due to the way Mike Ivey of TCT wrote it or whether it was what John Burke, the President of Trek Bicycles, said but what I get out of this is: you spend $20 million a certain way and - POOF! – you instantaneously have 20% of commuters on bikes. According to an article at bikeportland.org from last month, Portland (Oregon – an urban panacea for bikers in this country with a great bike infrastructure) only has 4% of its commuters on bicycles and hopes to hit that Burkean goal of 20% by the year 2030. Again, maybe the above was written poorly by Ivey but Burke is also quoted as saying, "Believe me, I've seen it happen all over the world; if you build it they will come." Maybe they will but it is worth noting in discussions that this won't happen overnight and without a lot more than $20 million.

Much is made of Copenhagen for having a large percentage of its population on bicycles (the article claims "40 percent of trips are made via bicycle") instead of driving and, as with the first passage I quoted, many people want Madison to become like its Danish counterpart. To reiterate, the problem with the article is that it promotes the overly simplistic equation of Madison + $20 million = Copenhagen. But there's more going on in Denmark than merely having a bike-friendly infrastructure.

Take, for example, the price of gas. In 2005, a gallon of gas was $5.93. Last July when gas prices were at record highs here in Madison, the worst it got was around $4.25/gallon. At the same time in Copenhagen, gas was over $9/gallon and it stayed that way even as gas here fell in price in the fall of '08. I can't find what a gallon of gas in Copenhagen costs today but this chart shows the price in other countries. Here in the States, we're averaging $2.71/gallon while it's $6.81 in Germany and a whopping $7.24 in The Netherlands so I'm thinking Denmark lies somewhere in the $6.50-$7.50 range. Gas is taxed heavily in European countries which leads to such high prices. And this certainly plays a role in determining how many people utilize a bicycle.

In addition to the price of gasoline, the price of other aspects of owning a car is also pretty steep. Check this out:

Fees and taxes for automobile purchase add 200 percent to the price of a new car. There are few parking spaces, and the ones that exist are very expensive.

Perhaps the most significant line from this article: "In addition to good planning, the local and national governments use a big stick when it comes to trying to keep people from relying on cars." (Emphasis mine.)

There is much more to the 40% claim about Copenhagen than "build it and they will come".

Concomitant to building bicycle lanes and putting out bike racks, European cities invest much more in public transportation than we do. The article doesn't address this issue but it's worth noting because Europeans understand that bicycles aren't the be-all-end-all answer to people's transportation needs.

None of this is to say that Madison shouldn't try to become more bike-friendly. I am happy to say that I helped The Dulcinea's youngest son learn how to ride this summer and he loves to head out on his two-wheeler and explore. It'd be great to have more bike paths and lanes for him as he gets older and takes his bike farther. (Plus I'd like to get me a new bicycle as well and I'd certainly use them.) However, there's more to getting people to leave their cars at home than simply adding bike lanes and racks. The city government will have to become more coercive. Taxes will have to be raised. In addition, Madison and developers will have to make parking more scarce and more expensive. And public transportation will need to be overhauled to be more convenient.

Madison can't do it alone. If the city takes what are perceived to be draconian steps to promote automobile independence, people will leave. If Madison started charging a 100% tax on cars but outlying communities didn't, you can bet that Fitchburg, Verona, etc. will see a bumper crop of new residents. Changes will have to be both local and national.