by Laura McCamy
EBBC member
Stand on any street corner in Berkeley during the morning commute and you will see a steady flow of bicyclists, going to and from every direction. Berkeley ranks second in California and fourth in the US, with 8% of workers commuting by bicycle, according to 2010 census data tracking bicycle commuting. The next closest East Bay city is Oakland, with 1.8%. Davis was number one in California and the US, with a 22% mode share (proportion of commuters who choose the bicycle as their primary commute transportation). The League of American cyclists has collected the data on other US cities on their blog at BikeLeague blog on bike commute data.
The census numbers for Berkeley are probably low since the data tracks only commuting/ The large number of Cal students who get around by bicycle are missing from this index, as are the many, many people in Berkeley who use a bicycle to ride to transit, go grocery shopping, run errands, visit friends and drop off their children at school.
In fact, some of the most dedicated cyclists in Berkeley are parents and school aged kids. Hopping in a car is understandably tempting to harried parents, but many in Berkeley find cycling with their children a is a better choice. Amber Evans’ son, Kyle Troll, bicycles by himself to school now that he is in 6th grade. She was impressed with how quickly he learned to navigate the route on his own.
Kyle got started biking to school at Thousand Oaks Elementary, where there is a strong culture of cycling. Parents organized Bike Trains: groups of children riding together with adult supervision, creating safety in numbers. On a recent morning, a bike train set out for Thousand Oaks with Enno, 10, Theo, 9 and their moms, Mimi and Allison. Theo has been riding the 1.5 miles uphill to school on his own wheels since kindergarten.
As the bike train heads towards school, the riders conscientiously stop at each intersection and make sure it’s clear before proceeding. The parents model looking both ways and being conscious of safety. They are paying particular attention now because the boys have just begun riding home from school on their own.
Asked how Enno and Theo feel about riding on their own, Allison says, “They LOVE it.” She relates how, because it was pouring rain on the first day the boys were to ride home by themselves, her partner went to pick them up in a car. They were adamant about cycling home on their own, even in the rain.
At Thousand Oaks School, principal Julianna Sikes is excited about kids bicycling and walking to school. A recent Safe Routes to School Grant will provide funds to make improvements to the streets approaching the school (and three others in Berkeley). “I would hope it would encourage more kids and families to walk and bike to school,” Sikes says. Rachel Davidson of Transform notes that a goal for this year is to “see the walking school busses and bike trains expand at the various schools we are working with.”
Through bicycling, young people get a much greater measure of independence than they do when they have to rely on an adult to drive them everywhere. Amber relates how Kyle recently had a play date where a friend rode to their house on her bicycle and the two of them rode to 4th Street. “He initiated and had his own adventure,” she says. “I expect that to be much more the norm in the future.”
The reason behind the high mode share and the high number of young people cycling in Berkeley may be one and the same: Berkeley has great cycling infrastructure, with a network of traffic calmed streets and pathways that allow cyclists safe access to most areas of the city. EBBC Executive Director Renee Rivera, when asked to contrast the current cycling climate with her experience when she was a student at Berkeley High, notes “all the traffic diverters made biking in Berkeley so easy and safe even when I was in high school over 25 years ago.”
Cameron McRae, 14, a current Berkeley High student, appreciates “all the bike lanes and bike paths in Berkeley. It’s easy to get around.” He and his sister, Amelia, 17, have been riding to school for years, since their mother, Linda Currie decided to put the family on a low carbon diet. Now, at an age where previous generations might have seen getting a driver’s license as a rite of passage, she doesn’t see the need for a car. “I feel that I can get around anywhere that I need to using BART and bike and walking,” Amelia says, adding, ““I like that bike riding sometimes ends up being a lot faster than driving.” In an era where gas is expensive and most of her friends don’t have cars, the allure of the gas-guzzler has lost its luster.
The strong participation of young people in Berkeley’s bicycle culture is vital. Long time East Bay cyclist Svante Rodegard notes that in his native Sweden, “everybody biked from childhood to death,” creating a culture where the bicycle is an accepted and widely used mode of transportation. Americans who to ride as children then abandon their bicycles once they are old enough to drive a car create what Svante calls “lost generations” of cyclists – adults who can’t pass on the pleasures of cycling for transportation to their children.
In Berkeley, where bicycling culture is flourishing on strong roots and infrastructure, the next generation has already discovered the delight and independence of getting around by bicycle. As Amber Evans notes, bicycling is “a joyful way to get around” this beautiful little city.