Is Detroit is the Future of Bicycle Friendly Communities? | The Bicycle Blog of Wisconsin

I might just take my next bicycle vacation to Detroit after watching this inspiring video produced by my old college friend Donna Terek, now of the Detroit News. While Madison, with all it’s bicycle paths, bike lanes, and B-cycle bike share system might fit the League of American Bicyclists’ (and most people’s) definition of a Bicycle Friendly Community, Detroit appears to be a genuinely friendly city for people who want to ride bicycles. The difference is more than semantics.

I’m not saying Madison is not a friendly community, it is. And while I am sure lots of people who ride bicycles in Detroit would love to have all a bike share system like Madison B-cycle, and all the bike lanes (Detroit does have 170 miles of bike lanes), paths and other cycling amenities that Madison boasts, Detroit appears to have developed a wonderfully diverse, grass roots, urban bicycle culture that should serve as a DIY model of how to grow bicycling for free, even before you have the bicycle friendly infrastructure.

[Keep reading at The Bicycle Blog of Wisconsin]