Urban areas across the country have identified bikes as a fat-burning, congesting-decreasing, transit-supporting alternative to automobiles. And Birmingham – despite a need for all these benefits – has lagged tremendously behind.
"The endless calls for increased mass transit funding have blinded the city to other means of increasing connectivity. Even if Birmingham had the sufficient resources to fund a working transit system, the city still lacks the necessary commercial and residential density to make the investment worthwhile."
"Bike infrastructure and culture can roll in as a placemaking tool that also serves as a stepping stone to mass transit," writes Wesley Vaughn.
"Birmingham has excess automobile infrastructure that could be transferred to mass transit, but until we get there, let's convert it into bike infrastructure," he urges. "The city's needlessly wide one-way streets beg for bike-only lanes that could be turned into bus-rapid-transit lanes later on."
"Bikers are typically mass transit users, too, meaning that once the city has a serviceable transit system, they will be its major supporters. Those who cannot afford a car and those who do not want to own a car alternate between bike and transit use depending on their daily needs."
Read the full story: Biking can help support mass transit
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City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
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The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello