Benefits of Bike Commuting

• Bicycling can be a fun, dependable and very low-cost mode of transportation. Bicycling also burns about 500 calories an hour, so you can commute and stay fit at the same time. (www.511.org)
  
• Bicycling reduces your stress and improves your health. Bicycle commuters get to work on time more often, and are often happier and more productive employees. “Physical activity appears to relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety and improve mood… Regular physical activity may reduce the risk of developing depression…Physical activity reduces the risk of premature mortality in general, and of coronary disease, hypertension, colon cancer, and diabetes mellitus in particular. Physical activity also improves mental health and is important for the health of muscles, bones and joints.” (“Report on Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, 1996)
  
• “Bicycle commuting is a positive alternative to garage-highway-garage journeys that isolate commuters and clog roads. More cycling means less traffic, cleaner air, and fewer accidents.” (Bicycling/Moving America Forward , Bikes Belong Coalition, September 2005)
  
• Bicycling is often faster than other modes of transportation for distances over three miles. In congested situations it is often faster for distances up to five miles. “On a bicycle, you can travel on secondary roads and paths, often arriving in less time than if you'd driven through rush-hour traffic!” (www.focol.org/greenways/bike/BWDFlyerFCG.doc)
  
• Bicycling saves you time – the time it takes to search for car parking, the time spent at gas stations since you won’t need to fill up, and the time wasted sitting in traffic.
  
• Bicycling saves you money:

• The cost of operating a car for one year is approximately $5,170 (AAA Mid-Atlantic, www.bicyclinginfo.org)
• The cost of operating a bicycle for a year is only $120 (League of American Bicyclists, www.bicyclinginfo.org).

• Bicycling is energy-efficient:

• If one out of 10 commuters switched to walking or biking, we’d save 2 billion gallons of gas a year.
• Every transit commuter who bike rides to the station saves an average of 150 gallons of gas per year.
• Every car commuter who switches to biking and transit can save 400 gallons of gas a year. (Marin County Safe Routes to Schools Fact Sheets)

• Bicycling reduces polluting emissions.

• A short, four-mile round trip by bicycle keeps about 15 pounds of pollutants out of the air we breathe. (WorldWatch Institute, www.bicyclinginfo.org)
• Motor vehicles are responsible for roughly 50% of all greenhouse gases and 75% of the smog in the Bay Area. Cycling can play an important role in improving air quality in the Bay Area. (www.baaqmd.gov)
• If one out of 10 car commuters would switch to walking or biking, we’d reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25.4 million tons a year. (www.nhtsa.gov)