Here are some of the great reasons why biking into work can help you (and your community):
Exercise: Bike commuting provides a great way to maintain a regular exercise regiment. Although exercise is the key to long and health life, it is often lacking in many folks daily lives. Lack of exercise can lead to all kinds of problems later in life, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes.
Reduce Stress: A good morning workout also helps get those endorphins flowing, which in turn helps improve concentration and mood. Bike commuting also helps avoid that terrible stop & go, bumper-to-bumper traffic grind which is almost guaranteed to get your blood pressure up.
Energy used by transport method. (Ref) |
Money: By commuting just a few times a week, you can significantly reduce your commuting costs. If you typically drive, then bike commuting will cut your fuel and parking costs. If you normally take mass transit, then you can cut back on those farecards.
Environment: From an air quality perspective, bicycling is the most environmentally friendly form of transport. Fuel emissions are the biggest contributor to the area's air quality problems. The diagram at right shows the amount of energy burned by various transport methods. Bicycling is even more efficient than walking! If you aren't driving, then you aren't burning gas.
Time Saving: The extra 20 minutes I spend daily on my bike commute actually saves me time. Since I am exercising and commuting at the same time, I don't need to schedule extra time at the gym. Bikers are also better prepared to handle those mishaps which frequently tie normal commuters in knots, such as fender benders and those pesky water main breaks.
Reduce Gridlock: Unfortunately, not everyone can take advantage of bike commuting. Some folks are simply no longer physically fit to ride any distance. Others simply have too far a distance to commute (In this latter case, an occasional Park & Bike operation may help break up the daily monotony!). In any event, commuting using your bicycle helps to make everyone's commute a little easier by putting one less car on the road.