Interesting facts about bike commuting

A recent newspaper article entitled Power Down: A numerical look at cars vs. bikes prompted me to search the California Bike Commute website for "FACTS ABOUT BICYCLING AS A COMMUTE OPTION." (their caps, not mine)

Here are just a few of the facts I found in their bike facts PDF file. You can visit their site for the whole list.

• Only 1.67% of Americans commute by bicycle. 

• In Japan, 15% commute by bicycle 

• There are approximately 139 million automobiles in the United States. 

• The number of bicycles in the U.S. is estimated to be about 103 million. 

• One hundred bicycles can be produced for the same energy and resources it takes to build 

one medium-sized automobile. 

• The average cost of a new car in the U.S. is $13,532. 

• The average cost of a new bicycle in the U.S. is $385. 

• In China, bicycles outnumber cars 250 to 1.  

And here's some good news:

• The number of bicycle commuters doubled between 1983 and 1990, according to the 

Bicycle Institute of America. 

Interesting facts about bike commuting