Today is Bike to Work Day here in Boulder. This annual tradition was started back in 1977 and has been going strong ever since. According to the official site, last year’s statistics are pretty interesting.
- 7,137 people signed-up for Bike to Work Day
- 1,670 (nearly 25 per cent) of those who signed up biked to work for the first time
- 144,759 car miles were saved by those who did not drive and instead biked, teleworked, carpooled, walked or rode transit on Bike to Work Day
With the average American car typically getting between 15-40 miles per gallon; that represents 5,264 gallons of gas. One barrel of crude oil, when refined, produces about 19 gallons of finished motor gasoline. So, Boulder commuters avoided using the rough equivalent of 277 barrels of crude oil—in just one day.
It will be interesting to see how Boulder measures up this year. What would the statistic look like if more than just 2% of the local population participated? (Which is likely, as I participate daily by walking to work, but have never registered).
The weather is perfect, the bike lanes are everywhere and many of us are interested in creating some new habits that might diminish our dependence on the oil that has been so overwhelmingly present on our minds and in the media these days. We hope that you too can leave the car in the garage or parking space and find a new way to get where you need to go.
