photo courtesy of shawano.uwex.edu
In an effort to save on gas and help the environment, bicyclists are on the rise. With the cost of gas close to $4 a gallon, students are finding different modes of transportation.
According to Alex Kchouri, 20, music major, bicycling is a great way to get around town.
“I ride a bike because you save a lot of money on gas,” Kchouri said. “I encourage people who are commuting locally to use a bike.”
According to consumerreports.org in a comparison of gas prices from Oct 24, 2010 to Oct 24, 2011, the nation’s average price of gas in 2010 was $3.46, up 65 cents from last year.
Biochemistry major Aida Ghorbani, AGE, said, “I live close enough to school so I should ride to school.”
She added, “Even though I drive a Prius, gas prices were still getting high.”
Riding a bicycle can also relieve the worry of finding a parking spot.
Ghorbani said, “I wasn’t planning on paying for a parking pass when it is going to take me an hour to find parking anyways.”
For Ghorbani, riding her bike also helps the environment because bike riding emits zero emissions.
“People call me a hippie when I was driving a Prius, but driving a bicycle has even less carbon footprint instead of being gas powered its leg powered,” Ghorbani said.
Some riders do not want to ride a bicycle because they are inhaling more smog, but riding is actually healthier since they are increasing their cardio. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times on Sept. 6, a 2010 study in the Journal Environmental Health Perspectives looked at what might happen if 500,000 people in the Netherlands traded their cars for bicycles for short daily trips, and measured the outcome in life-years gained or lost. By increasing their exercise, bike riders would gain three to 14 months of life.
Biology major Felix Wynn, 21, a Cal Poly Pomona student, agreed.
“Riding a bicycle burns fat throughout your whole body and it’s safe on joints, Wynn said. “It’s a great cardio because you lose track of how far you have actually biked and when you look back, you have rode your bike far.”
Ghorbani said she notices a difference in her body and health.
“I felt my legs getting stronger; I could feel my overall health getting better. I felt the strength in my lungs and legs,” she said.
- Lee Vincent Ellis
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