Article Analysis Essay on Ban the Bike! How Cities Made a Huge Mistake in Promoting Cycling

Introduction

The article "Ban the Bike! How Cities Made a Huge Mistake in Promoting Cycling "was written by Lawrence Solomon. The author worked as an environmentalist in the Canada energy Research Foundation and his mission for drafting this article was the creation and providing support of a generous and open international network which led to the improvement of the streets in the cities by the creation of spaces. The role of the bicycles in the cities was among the government's policy which would promote free movement in the urban centers. Therefore, due to environmental promotion and improvement in the urban areas, this paper will summarize the article by Lawrence Solomon the "Ban the Bike How Cities made a Huge Mistake Promoting Cycling" in urban areas.

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The author was motivated by how the article will change the cities through the use of bicycles. The anticipated benefits for cycling were that the bike would ease the traffic through taking cars out of the road, it could minimize the wear and tear of the roads thus making the municipal budgeting easy and it could minimize emission of gases which could have led to air pollution. Also, the introduction of cycling in the cities could have promoted appropriate utilization of the land through the reduction of automobile parking. Cycling could have to help in keeping the peoples' body around the town fit leading to a decrease in various diseases. The bicycles have been used since the 1980s when the advocacy groups argued against the policies which would discriminate against the cyclists (Gao& Norcliffe, 2018). In those years the bicycle was seen as an appropriate technology which led to both environmental and the economic benefits around the urban centers.

Currently, Solomon has concluded that the disadvantages of utilizing bicycles in the cities outdo its advantages. In most cities, the bike lanes tend to consume a lot of the road space hence not freeing up congestion in cities. The bikes lead to an increase in promotion as there is congestion of vehicles in the towns which emit various gases that act as air pollution and they also disadvantage the business districts and neighborhoods thus draining the public purse (Gao& Norcliffe, 2018). The infrastructure which promoted utilization of the bikes in the cities has become inappropriate due to its unsustainability.

The increase in cyclist injuries and deaths in the United States has made the technology to become inappropriate in the cities. For example, the congestion of the bike lanes in the United States has led to an increase in the traffic signals whose aim was to provide the rolling of the 40-45mph speeds and the green lights. The people in cities have started to prefer the bikes to be kept away from the congested traffic arteries thus minimizing the deaths and injuries of the cyclists. Also, Lawrence provided various concerns of the local business people who depended on the metered street parking for their clients (Gao& Norcliffe, 2018). In multiple cities the street parking has been replaced by the bike lanes which have inconvenienced activities in the urban areas. Cities are building high structures for parking so that they can replace the street parking thus recovering the parking meter revenue.

Conclusion

Therefore the article "Ban the Bike! How cities made a huge mistake in promoting cycling" has led to more disadvantages in the cities which have outdone their advantages. The bikes have led to an increase in air pollution due to congestion of vehicles in the towns which is promoted by the high number of bicycle lanes. The injuries and death of a cyclist is rampant in most cities since they are hit by vehicles. The challenges which are brought by the bikes can be mitigated through various solutions like putting speed limits in the towns and minimizing the number of bicycles in the cities. Therefore, people should think of multiple strategies which would make the advantages of bikes to outdo their disadvantage.

References

Gao, B., & Norcliffe, G. (2018). Hurry-slow: Automobility in Beijing, or a resurrection of the Kingdom of Bicycles?. In Architectures of Hurry-Mobilities, Cities, and Modernity (pp. 83-99). Routledge. Retrieved from http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ID/21196/Ban-the-Bike-How-Cities-Made-a-Huge-Mistake-in-Promoting-Cycling.aspx