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From Beth Hamon, co-owner, Citybikes Workers' Cooperative:

It's not just about bicycles.

In order to transition to smarter, healthier and more liveable cities where there are greater transportation choices, we not only need more and better bicycle facilities, but we also need a greatly expanded transit system. Smart cities should feature amenities for bike-riders AND pedestrians. For 80 years we've built highways to "grow" automobile usage, and yes, that IS a form of social engineering.

Now it's time to GROW bicycle usage and greater pedestrian access, and re-engineer our cities back to a safe, friendlier, more human scale. I believe that the best way to do this is to expand public transit on the local level and rail transportation on the regional level. Make these options attractive and user-friendly. Place them near businesses and schools and connect them with more residential areas, and grow the demand for them. If that's social engineering, so be it.

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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