Cycling Amsterdam by Alfredo Borba (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Amsterdam is home for 1.1 million people with over 1 million using bicycle as means of transportation. Amsterdam is the cycling capital of the world, classified as a developed city (capital of the Netherlands). This signifies that one country could be a developed economy and used bicycles as main source of transportation (take Japan also as an example).
This is how a road in Edsa Manila Philippines looks like:
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| Heavy traffic on the EDSA in Makati City by Scandi (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons |
And this is Amsterdam:
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| Cyclists in Amsterdam, The Netherlands by Steven Lek - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10554436 |
The benefits of cycling in the community are enormous.
1. Bicycle is an exercise tool, it helps you burn calorie, keeps you fit while bringing you to your near destination.
2. Using a bicycle reduces carbon footprint; when you are using a bicycle it means that you are not using a car. We cannot remove cars from the road, but when you want to buy something in the grocery store, does it make sense to use bicycles instead of cars? It would be really amazing to see cities filed with smooth moving bicycles instead of traffic-congested cars.
3. Owning a bicycle is cheaper compared to a car - it reduces the pressure of owning an expensive car. This means that by owning a bicycle you can be mobile just like cars (well cars a very comfortable for long rides, while bicycles are good for short distances).
To rip the benefits of cycling, the government and private sector should start to invest in cycling-friendly roads, and who knows we might be the next cycling capital of the world.
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