The Benefits of Active Transportation

​October 15, 2018

​How active transportation makes a better world, and what you can do to join in

The Benefits of Active Transportation

At Wike, we believe a bicycle is a great way to participate in your community and we provide a variety of products that can help you with logging more kilometres on your bike and less on your car. The three primary motives for active transportation can be broken down into health, environmental and socio/economic reasons with each of these factors influencing the others.

Health: What better way to get exercise, than to incorporate it into your daily activities, whether that is your commute to work, bringing children to school or running errands. There are substantial health benefits to cycling to work, a 46% reduced risk of developing cardiovascular disease with a 52% lower risk of dying from it; and a 45% reduced risk of developing cancer and 40% reduced risk of dying from that. It is not just your physical health that will improve, but also your mental health and well-being. If you cycle to work, it is shown you arrive at work less stressed, more focused and are happier than those who commute via other modes of transportation: car or public transit.

Environmental: On average, a passenger vehicle creates between 4 and 6 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases every year and private automobiles are the cause of over 23% of global warming. For the average person, most trips they make during a week are only a couple of kilometres from home (work, school, groceries, and bank). Imagine the effects of trading in just one or two of these trips a week from a car to a bike. This is just the immediate effects. Every kilometre not travelled by car magnifies the environmental effects through reduced waste from maintenance and less congestion on the road.

Socio/Economic: Save on your gym membership. If you can incorporate active transportation into your commute and errands, you don’t need to set aside time or money by purchasing a local gym membership. Through active transportation you can save money, whether that is by using less gas, the costs associated with car maintenance, parking fees and if you are able to go car free altogether, the cost of a car and insurance! Plus you can meet your friends and neighbours while you are traveling and get the latest scoop around town.

Don’t put it off any longer; now is great time to start! Fall weather is upon us, so you will have a cooler commute and you won’t have to arrive at work like you were just at the gym. Construction season is nearly complete and your city has likely invested in cycling infrastructure making your commute or errands easier to complete by bike. Fall also means you are likely to find some end of season sales. Whether you are looking for a new bike or a trailer to help you with what you are towing now is the time to shop. At Wike, we currently have a selection of trailers currently on sale that will help you get started at incorporating more riding into your daily activities. Some of these items are: Junior Bicycle Trailer, Moonlite Double Child Trailer, Premium Double Child Trailer and our City Cargo Trailer.

Involve your entire family and instill the importance of active transportation in your children. Imagine the positive impact it can have for generations to come.

Happy Biking!