“With gas at more than $4 a gallon, maybe cycling’s an easier sell now! And parking a bike is a snap. No more circling for a space.”
-KQED producer Marjorie Sun

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There are more than three hundred public radio stations across the US, and they’re buzzing with creative and talented reporters and producers who make it their mission to bring local audiences stories about the regional issues that affect their lives. I’m Aaron Henkin, your host here at the NPR Station Showcase with PRX, and each week on this podcast we’re happy to highlight the best and brightest of those local stories. This week we tune in to KQED in San Francisco, California, for a report about the slow but steady increase in the number of people who are opting to leave the car at home and bike to work. Marjorie Sun filed the story for the KQED environmental science series QUEST. Here’s a little Q & A with Marjorie…

First off, my compliments to you for actually getting on a bike and reporting on what it’s really like to pedal around the midst of urban vehicular traffic! Tell us a bit more about what you took away from that experience… it sounds like the ride made you a bit nervous?

I think I’ll design a t-shirt emblazoned with a bike and the words, “I Survived!” Not only were cars and ambulances whizzing past, but drivers are tempted by so many distractions nowadays. (And the pavement was really bumpy and jarring, a big complaint among veteran city cyclists.) The good news is that starting July 1, California drivers over 18 years old are barred from using handheld cell phones. Teen drivers are prohibited from any kind of cell phone use. I like Click and Clack’s saying: Hang Up and Drive!

You reported that in San Francisco 2 percent of people are biking to work… At first that didn’t sound like much to me, but then I thought about the size and population of the city, and realized that’s actually a lot of bikes on the road! Do you think those large numbers of bikers are having an effect on the awareness of car drivers? Is it getting safer to bike because drivers are more used to seeing bikes on the road?

It’s definitely gotten safer to bike in San Francisco. The number of collisions between bikes and cars are down from a decade ago by nearly 20% even as the number of cyclists has increased. But the reasons for the drop haven’t been well studied. The San Francisco government has only recently begun to collect and analyze data that could answer the kinds of questions you raised. Bike lanes sure help to raise awareness among drivers.

What do you think makes biking to work such a tough sell for people? Fear? Inconvenience? Laziness?

Could be all or some of the above… hard to say without survey data. Here are some clues by a federal study. Of the millions of people who bicycle in the U.S., nearly a quarter of them say they cycle for exercise and another quarter say it’s for recreation. Only 5 percent said they bike to work. So lots of people clearly like to cycle… just not to work. But with gas at more than $4 a gallon, maybe cycling’s an easier sell now! And parking a bike is a snap. No more circling for a space.

So, how about you? After putting this story together, have you been trying to bike more and drive less?

I have. I’ve cycled for exercise for years. But now I’m riding my mountain bike more to do errands and to get more places rather than jump in the car. I’m saving money, getting even more exercise, reducing my carbon footprint and having fun all at the same time!

You can hear more stories from KQED and the QUEST series online at the Public Radio Exchange. That’s where producers from around the world share their work. Log on, write your own reviews, and have a say in what ends up on the radio, at www.prx.org.