Band 6+: Cycling is a healthier and more environmentally friendly form of transport. Nevertheless, cycling is getting less popular. What are the reasons of this trend? What can be done to make cycling more popular?

Although biking is an alternative means of transportation that is healthier and better for the environment, its popularity has been recently dwindling for numerous reasons. In order to rectify this, users could try a pedal-assist bike and the government could start heavily taxing other vehicles

To begin with, the first main reason for why less people are using bikes on a daily basis is due to its physical demands. This is because the cyclist has to power the bicycle using their legs and consume a great deal of their energy. Consequently, it would be a dealbreaker for those who are limited by their physical abilities. Moreover, another common group of people in today’s society are those who are on tight schedules, which means that they would have to transport to multiple places as fast as possible. Therefore, bicycles cannot satisfy the former as it would be an arduous task and it would be considered too slow for the latter. Additionally, there are other alternative vehicles such as motorbikes that are faster and do not require any user input, which does meet the requirements for the above-mentioned demographic, making them lean towards those means of transport.

To fix the aforementioned problems with cycling, I suggest for those who are physically hindered and those who do not have time to waste to try out a pedal-assist bicycle. It still allows the user to pedal with their foot, but there are also motors on the wheels that are powered by a battery to aid them, meaning that the rider does not have to output much energy to have almost the same speed as a motorcycle. This solution rectifies issues both groups encounter whilst still maintaining the healthiness and the environmental friendliness of cycling.

In conclusion, the main reasons for the lessened popularity of biking is due to people being physically limited and having little spare time. This could be easily solved by a pedal-assist bike which is almost as fast as its gas-powered counterpart but it is a healthier and more environmentally friendly means of transport.