The British Are Cycling, The British Are Cycling!

Even though my route to work is almost all bike lanes, I suspect that everyday I ride into work, I almost die. The ostensible “bike lane” is full of trucks unloading, cars turning and parking, guileless pedestrians, joggers—well, I’ll spare you a long kvetch, but American urban biking is still a game of inches and not for the faint of heart, which is really too bad. We’re a country that uses too much oil and doesn’t get enough exercise. Bicycle commuting is a convenient way to address both problems at once. Which is why American cyclists and would-be cyclists should eye the United Kingdom with envy.

With only 2 percent of trips taken via bike, the UK isn’t exactly the Netherlands yet, where almost a third of all trips are pedaled. But in the endorphin euphoria that follows the Olympics and a Tour De France victory, the Brits are investing in a bike infrastructure at a pace that Americans can only dream of.

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that $247 million (£160 million) will be spent to improve biking infrastructure, both in the big cities and in rural areas. According to The Times:

A pot of £42 million announced by the [Department for Transport] last year will today be increased to £94 million, topped up by a further £50 million from local councils. Another £4.8 million, to rise to £20 million in 2015, will be spent on redesigning 14 key stretches of A-roads to make them safer for cycling.

Over $46 million will be spent on a “superhighway” connecting Leeds and Bradford, which was announced today. In light of the low number of bicyclists, to call the 14-mile cycleway aspirational would be an understatement.

But once upon America also dreamed of bicycle superhighways. In 1897, a cycleway from Pasadena into downtown Los Angeles was planned and even partially built. That was before what was good for GM was good for America, before Ford was buying railway to tear it up and before Southern California led all of America in forming an breakable car addiction that Motherboard’s Brian Merchant speculates will lead to America’s dystopian demise.

The recent past was bad and the future isn’t exactly bright. Even starting a bike-share program in New York—sponsored by a bank—was denounced as a step toward totalitarian socialism. Has Lance Armstrong’s fall from grace really turned us against biking so badly? Just listen the horrible tone of this video: listen to the apparent delight in announcing that a cyclist was killed by an SUV.

Ugh. I can't get through it. Given the choice between hearing Dorothy Rabinowitz "speak for all citizens of New York" and getting constant royal baby coverage, I'll take the royal baby. Actually, could I just take the bike lanes, and the Brits can keep the baby?

How do the British bicyclists have it so good? It's all about the narrative. In America, bicyclists are just renegade Europhile hippies with a total disregard for Dorothy Rabinowitz's fragile sensibilities. But the British discussion is totally different. Since the British government pays for health care, it has more of an incentive than the US to keep its population healthy. When health experts estimate that the NHS “would make savings of £4 for every £1 invested in cycling,” deficit hawks and Michelle Obama-types with the gall to say obesity is unhealthy actually agree.

So maybe socialism and biking are intertwined. At any rate, it's a reminder that as long as I have my wits about me each morning, biking to work is actually prolonging my life. It's still fun for me, but it's also nerve-wracking and I don't blame anyone who doesn't want to hug the shoulder on rural highways as cars whip past at 65 miles per hour or dodge car doors on the city street. The United Kingdom willing to bet that biking is a viable means of transportation in a developed nation, if only someone provides a safe place to ride.