In Australia, the bicycle sales have outpaced cars for eight years running. As the Earth Policy Institute reports, that discrepancy is even larger on a global scale. 130 million bicycles hit the road in 2007, compared to 52 million cars. Perhaps more significantly, the difference is growing. “Overall, since 1970, bicycle output has nearly quadrupled, while car production has roughly doubled.”

The Earth Institiute tracks bicycle production as one of twelve “Eco-Economy Indicators.” According to the Earth Institute:

Bicycle production measures our ability to provide affordable transportation, reduce traffic congestion, lower air pollution, increase mobility, and provide exercise to the world's growing population.”

...Promoting the bike as a clean and efficient alternative to the personal automobile is a practical way for cities to reduce traffic congestion and smog. To simultaneously confront those problems as well as climate change and an emerging obesity epidemic, government leaders and advocacy groups are working to bring cycling back to prominence in the urban transport mix.

Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Freiburg, Germany, and Bogotá, Colombia are the shining examples the Earth Policy Institute references for bike-infrastructure, -friendliness, and -ridership.

The picture in the U.S. has not been as rosy. Cycling has dropped 32% since the early 1990s with fewer than 1% of all trips made by bike (compared to 36% of work commutes in Copenhagen, for example). However, there is hope on the horizon:

Aided by $900 million a year in federal funding for promotion of biking and walking for 2005 to 2009, the installation of bicycle facilities—including parking, bike-friendly roads, and designated lanes—is proceeding at a record pace. Indeed, plans in the 50 largest U.S. cities would, on average, double their bicycle and pedestrian routes; New York City alone will quadruple its bike network to 2,900 kilometers by 2030.

Bicycle-sharing systems modeled after the wildly-successful Vélib in Paris are beginning to spring up in the US. Washington D.C just launched their Smart Bike program and Portland, OR shouldn't be far behind. Initiatives such as these will make urban cycling cheap, easy, and very visible. Combined with improved routes, growing bike advocacy, and skyrocketing gas prices, this could very well be the dawn of a new national bike era.

See also: Bike-Sharing Programs Coming Our Way
Bikes Outsell Cars in Oz
U.S. Car Sales Crash in 2008
Higher Fuel Costs Create Healthier Habits
Boston Bike Czar, Cheap Tech, Better Riding

Photos via flickr by BikePortland.org & by aussiegall.

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