Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Democrats Out-bike Republicans at Political Conventions

According to The Denver Post, "Nearly three times as many riders took advantage of the [Freewheelin'] bike-sharing program during the Democratic National Convention [(DNC)] in Denver than during the Republican counterpart in St. Paul, Minnesota, last week, according to program officials. About 5,550 riders pedaled 26,583 miles during the DNC, while 1,973 rode about 15,141 miles during the [Republican National Convention], the group Freewheelin reported Monday."

If this is the first you're reading on this, I posted about Freewheelin' earlier.

To be fair, it's worth pointing out that the first day of the Republican National Convention was substantially trimmed due to Hurricane Hanna. However, there is interestingly a gap between the ridership of the two parties at the conventions. Bicycling is not an issue to be politicized though. I'll follow that up with: as the Green Party says, "Neither left nor right, but ahead." Bicycling is an issue which helps societies move ahead.

Bicycling is a health issue. It's a mobility issue. An environmental issue. It's just fun. With Presidential elections in the U.S. just about 80 days away, it's time that bicycling gets the priority and funding it needs with the next person in the White House so that it becomes a respectable and safe mode of transportation for a lot of us United States-ers.

2 comments:

Phil Lepanto said...

While I hate to admit it, there is another critical factor here on the stats: There were fewer people at the Republican Convention than there were at the Democratic Convention.

Are the FreeWheelin' bike systems remaining in place? Does the United States now have three municipal 3rd Gen Bike Sharing programs?

Paul DeMaio said...

Yes, Phil. The Freewheelin systems are staying in place, albeit with only 70 bikes each. So yes, the U.S. is now up to three 3rd gen. bike-sharing programs.