Behind Decrease of Cycling

Cycling has always been known as a great method of transportation and a way of exercise. But recent years’ studies find a decreasing slope for the number of people who cycle regularly. This is primarily because of the increasing population choosing cars over bikes as their ways of transportation. Meanwhile, using environmental aspects of persuasion might bring people back to cycling. These are because of 1. The higher availability of auto-mobiles over the years; 2. People tend to act according to their inner conscience. One simple fact: more people find cars more comfortable than bikes. So if people are able to drive cars, they stop cycling. With the technological prosperity of the third industrial revolution in the 21th century, economic and materialistic costs of car production have rapidly declined. This is due to applications of newer technologies regarding the car industry. Meanwhile, in mass production, the higher the production number, and lower the average cost per capita. Frequent car purchases of the normal civilians support this statement. For example, compared to 20 or 30 years ago, in the East Asian area, varieties of cars run across the road. These cars are different in prices and styles, allowing more choices for the people to purchase, which increases the willingness of people to use cars over cycling. Owning and driving a car instead of cycling, has turned into an ordinary choice from being a privilege of the upper class. On the other hand, there are unavoidable facts about cycling, that it is clearly more environmentally-friendly to ride a bike than driving a car. Raising people’s awareness towards the environmental issues we are facing becomes inevitable in terms of persuading people to cycle for transportation again. This is because people are more willing to follow their inner conscience, when they are able to. To illustrate, propaganda of green policies and advertisements for cycling benefits environmentally-wise might convince people cycling to go to places is a noble act. In reality, we may see campaign teams and tiny posters–which are ironically a form of pollution–attempting to introduce people’s mind into the matter of pollution towards nature. Cycling does not stimulate any form of combustion other than cellular respiration. In other words, cycling is green. Once public education makes cycling the equivalent of protecting earth and nature, which makes one person a great person, the mass majority will hold positive views on cycling as daily transportation. It is exactly the higher availability of cars shifting people’s transportation habits from cycling to driving. Luckily, in high chance people are likely to start cycling again once education about the environment is rooted in the mass population’s minds. People choose whatever they prefer based on availability and preferences.