Riding Isn't Just Good for Us, It's Good for All of Us

Seattlest has found a reason for everyone to welcome bicycles on the city's streets. The origins lie in Virgin Vacations' (has anyone asked The Name Inspector to do a write up on Richard Branson's desire to cater to virgins?) naming of the world's 11 most bike-friendly cities.

Unfortunately, Seattle didn't make the list (Portland came in at number 2), which uses five criteria created by The Bicycle Friendly Communities Campaign to judge a community's bike friendliness: Engineering (Are there enough designated lanes, signals and other infrastructure?), Encouragement (Does the city promote bicycle use?), Evaluation and Planning (Deliverables people, you've got to have deliverables), Education (It's not just about bike maps.), and Enforcement (The community has to use "enforcement to encourage cyclists and motorists to share the road safely.").

But Seattlest isn't going to use this as an opportunity to rant and rave about the rights of cyclists on the roads or the need for the city to actually pay for the implementation of the recently passed Master Bike Plan in order to make the thought of riding bikes more attractive or, dare we dream it, safer in this city.

Instead we'll just point you to The Bicycle Friendly Community program. It says that communities that are bicycle-friendly increase the perception that the city's residents enjoy a high quality of life, which increases property values, business growth and brings in more tourism dollars. See? When Seattlest rides our bike (in today's head-wind driven, driving rain), we all benefit.

On the bright side of things, there are three Bicycle Friendly Communities in Washington (one is even within riding distance of Seattle): Vancouver, Bellingham and Redmond.

Picture is courtesy reverendkomissar who put it, yup, in Seattlest's Flickr Pool. Thanks!