Maybe increasing the numbers of cyclists is easier/cheaper than we think, this from the UK Guardian:
How to become a cycling 'ambassador'
A new cyclists' initiative has become a buzzword in US bike advocacy, but what does it mean to be one?
What does it mean to be a cycling 'ambassador'? Photograph: Scott Markewitz/Getty Images
I'm trying to get the images of the Ferrero Rocher ad out of my head (the euro-kitsch classic in which those almost inedible bonbons are handed round by flunkies at an embassy party: "Monsieur, with these Rocher, you're really spoiling us"), because actually the cycling ambassadorial role is a fine and noble one.
Just this week, a bike shop in Portland, Oregon – which is widely seen as a countercultural cycling nirvana in the automobile-loving US – launched an initiative it's calling "21Ambassadors". According to the mission statement:
"To ride a bicycle is to be part of a community, to share a common experience, as much as it is about good health and helping the environment […] We believe that as a community we should support each other in bad times as well as good. We, the 21 Ambassadors are here to help you. When tires flat and spokes break, when chains fail and gears groan, when you need a hand, we hope to be there to assist."A kind of cross between Bicycle Repair Man and the Big Society, cynics might say. But Kyle Von Hoetzendorff of 21st Avenue Bicycles is getting plenty of applicants, within hours of the launch of the programme, ready to make the ambassadors' commitments:
• To stop and offer assistance to fellow cyclists.
• To follow all rules of the road and set the standard for exemplary riding behaviour.
• To carry their Road Aid kit with them on all rides.
How to become a cycling 'ambassador' | Matt Seaton | Environment | guardian.co.uk
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