Bike Lanes / Fahrradwege

We returned our car on Monday and so are now relying completely on buses, bikes, and our feet to get from one place to another. As great as I think the bus is, it's not always the most convenient option. For example, to get to Roggenbauer's house in order to say farewell, we'd have to walk to our nearest bus stop and wait for the #3 bus. We'd ride that for three stops before getting off. From there we'd cross the street and walk around the corner to another bus stop where we would wait for the #25. We'd ride that a couple stops, and then get out again, continuing the journey by walking on a path through a field with a great view of the castle for about ten minutes before arriving at Rogenbauer's doorstep. Or, we could skip all that, and ride our bikes and be there in about ten minutes total.

A bike is a pretty handy thing. There are a number of different routes you could take to get to Roggenbauer's depending on your mood. One route would take you along busy streets with bike lanes marked by a solid white line on each side. Another route would take you on quiet side streets to a bike/walking path (clearly marked with signs for bikers and pedestrians) alongside the road. A third route would take you on side streets to a bike/walking path and then to a dedicated bike path which runs between the pedestrian sidewalk and the street.

It's much the same wherever you want to go in Salzburg with a variety of routes and a variety of bike paths to get you there safely without having to be a part of car traffic. Because of it, people ride bikes here a lot: kids, teens, business people, retirees. They go grocery shopping, swing into the old city, go to the post office. Biking is a part of life, not just a leisure time activity, and why not? It's efficient transportation, it's easy on the environment, and it's good exercise.

I've so enjoyed using my bike here that I would love to have a bike back in New Jersey. But to where would I ride it? Certainly not down West Delaware Avenue and over the train bridge to the grocery store because the traffic, especially at commuting time, is just crazy. I wouldn't ride my bike down Main Street. I wouldn't even think of heading out on Route 31.

So unless I load up my bike into the car and head to Princeton or Washington Crossing where there are public canal tow paths on which you can walk and ride for miles, I don't really see myself getting on my bike ever. And riding on a tow path isn't quite the same as the purposeful riding that I love to do here. It's a shame that there are few accommodations for bikes in much of the US. I think that it could be as popular to ride a bike there as it is here!