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america's best bikable cities

furcalchick

furcalchick

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 19, 2006
2,426
5
South Florida
while doing some research for myself, i found this: http://www.unconventionalideas.com/carfree.html

here's the list.

East Coast

Baltimore

Boston

Buffalo

New York City

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

Washington D.C. : downtown D.C., and anywhere in the immediate vicinity of a metro stop. Prime places to start your search include Arlington, VA, Old Town Alexandria, Silver Spring, MD, Bethesda MD, and Springfield, VA.

New York City

Midwest

Chicago

St Louis

South

Chapel Hill/Carrboro NC

Houston: Montrose/Museum District

California

Los Angeles: Yes, believe it or not, even the "Emerald City" of car addiction has a place for non-conformists. It's the "Miracle Mile" neighborhood north of Wilshire Blvd between La Brea and Fairfax.

Sacramento

San Diego

San Francisco

Pacific Northwest

Portland: downtown, North Portland, close-in Northeast and Southeast Portland, downtown Beaverton, and downtown Gresham are all great options. Since 2001, Portland has also had a state-of-the-art streetcar system in addition to the highly popular light rail.

Seattle: there's a group called "Car-free Seattle" with an excellent website. This is definitely one of the best places in America to live without wheels.

as a person that is really interested in living car free (i'm currently car free in florida, and have never owned a car or held a driver's license, so it won't be much of a problem for me, and thinking about moving to a car free area), i think this list is a good place to start for those thinking about a car free life.
 
Providence is a pretty good city to bike around since it has small city limits and is dense. However there are some steep hills, bad drivers, and many narrow-tire-unfriendly rstreets (i.e. they contain sand, metal objects, glass, etc).

I imagine Pittsburgh would be a tough city to ride a bike in just beacuse of the many steep hills.
 
From what I've read in Bicycling, NYC has some nice trails along the rivers.

I hate driving in Providence almost as much as Boston, I couldn't imagine riding my bike around.

And also from what I've read in Bicycling, Boston isn't great for bikes, but Cambridge (across the Charles River from Beantown) is pretty good. Granted, my brother rides a folding bike from Haymarket to Kendall Square most days.
 
Houston: Montrose/Museum District


Ooooo, so very true! I even love hoofin' it around there!
I just live so far away from there that I'd have to either bike a good 30 miles JUST to get there (avoiding big streets so I don't get hit) or drive my bike up there.

I just wish my bike wasn't broken!!
 
hmmfe said:
Ummm.... isn't part of the country missing?
Click to expand...
not any part that matters. :p

LA is really a bad place to be without a car. That little one mile section is just... well not all that. It's a huge city and the public transport is lousy.

Seattle however is a fantastic place for this purpose. Lot of hills though, to be warned. Same with San Francisco. (good transport, lot of hills) expensive.
 
I was surprised to see Houston in the list of urban biking cities since the city is so large. Not every part of the city is great for cycling. I do quite a bit of road cycling. Houston does have one of the largest cycling clubs in the US but most of the rides are outside of the city.

There are some great areas to bike that cuts through the city such as Terry Hershey Park and George Bush Park which are 21.5 miles in length total and are connected. It stretches throughout the west side of Houston to Katy, and you can access local roads. Cars have no access to this trail. It's not a widely known trail and it's well kept. It's also quite hilly - a rare thing in Houston - and scenic.

http://www.pct3.hctx.net/PTerry/HikeBikeTrail.htm

http://www.pct3.hctx.net/PGeorge/HikeBikeTrail.htm
 
Downtown Boston itself is not very biker friendly at all. Motorists and taxi drivers seem to "aim" for bikes..Cambridge,Chestnut Hill,Newton and other neighboring towns do have some nice trails tho...
 
Columbus, Ohio has a slowly growing bike culture. There are people who use bicycles as their primary method of transportation, but it's not the most convenient one seeing as you have to share the road with motorists. However, there are a few trails that are really nice.

Madison Wisconsin is a great Midwest city to bike in as well. Can't believe that wasn't on the list.
 
Dallas Fort Worth is terrible. I think Texas totally missed the boat on alternative transportation in general. It is nice to see that Houston is making an effort, and I hope Dallas Fort Worth follows suit.
 
dejo said:
They always forgot about us.
Click to expand...

I love Nebraska as much as the next person, but c'mon: the plains are like a cyclist's wet dream. There are no hills, no population (ie: no cars) and a seemingly never-ending expanse of roads.

That's why you're not on the list. It's all too easy.
 
Mavimao said:
I love Nebraska as much as the next person, but c'mon: the plains are like a cyclist's wet dream. There are no hills, no population (ie: no cars) and a seemingly never-ending expanse of roads.

That's why you're not on the list. It's all too easy.
Click to expand...
Nebraska? Who said anything about the prairies? What about the Rocky Mountains? Denver has more than 650 miles of paved bike paths. Or try cycling up Mt. Evans, the highest paved road in North America.
 
crdean1 said:
Dallas Fort Worth is terrible. I think Texas totally missed the boat on alternative transportation in general. It is nice to see that Houston is making an effort, and I hope Dallas Fort Worth follows suit.
Click to expand...

i biked there for a few years growing up, terrible, terrible to bike in. if i didn't move to san diego (which is very bike friendly in many areas with bike lanes on most major streets) after that, i may have given up the bike as a child's toy. haven't been there since 1999, but fort worth public transportation is pitiful and if you don't drive, you are out of luck. too bad, as i heard sprawl and traffic in ft. worth has gotten worse from friends i met there.

only place i knew that was good for biking was the marine base and the trinity river bike path, which was just rec oriented, nothing suitable for actually going downtown. and the trolley to the tandy center (is that mall still going?) was weak, just a place to park at the edge of downtown, and riding at night, or near dark, abysmal. at least in san diego, i did errands on my bike and it was a nice area (i was in pb).

and another thing, most people think of biking as just a sport and just think the trails=bikablity. well, it's a part of it, but what about real life scenarios, like bike lanes and bike friendliness in general on the streets? also, the ability to do errands on the bikes, like getting groceries and going to the dentist were factors in this. so it wasn't just trails here. i know a bunch of people don't want to use their cars everyday, as gas prices are sky rocketing like crazy, so making our roads in america more bike friendly will become a bigger issue in coming years.
 
iBlue said:
not any part that matters. :p
Click to expand...

Well, granted there are not many large cities in the western US (outside of the Pacific coast). However, Denver is actually a fairly good city for biking although most people prefer roads and trails in the hills to the west.

I've lived in the west most of my life so I accept being ignored.
 
Why is Chicago on this list? After living in the loop and working on the south side I can say that biking is not a viable mode of transportation.
 
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