Richard Florida of The Atlantic highlights a new report finding that the good people of Amsterdam use their bikes more than their cars on a daily basis, making the bicycle the primary mode of transportation in the city. As a fellow Boston biker, he recognizes the big improvements that have been made for bicycle commuters in the city over the past decade.

From my four years in the city, I'll have to agree to some extent. The Comm. Ave. bike lanes were definitely a huge help to those of us riding, making drivers more aware of our presence and finally getting us some respect on the roads. Not to say it was a perfect experience - cars would still double park in the bike lane, swing their doors open without looking, cut bikes off - but I felt like things did improve.

BU did a good job taking advantage of this too, responding to students' needs for more bike racks across campus as more and more of the student population used their bikes to travel up and down the mile and a half stretch of Comm. Ave. that BU dominates. But as Florida notes, U.S. cities still have a long way to go get where Amsterdam is - just watch the video with his post of bike commuter traffic in Amsterdam and try to find anywhere in the North America that looks like that.

I think there are two issues that really need to be addressed for Boston to make a big step. One that they are already doing is creating bike lanes and bike/pedestrian pathways that can service the entire city. The Esplanade and new Greenway are good first steps in creating this kind of infrastructure as major bike/pedestrian traffic areas, and then creating bike lanes along the major thoroughfares of the city like Comm. Ave., Beacon St., Mass. Ave., and others will help encourage people to commute with bikes rather than cars. If there's a strong push for more safe (and secure) bike parking areas across the city, I think Boston will be on the right track in improving its infrastructure to become a great biking city.

The second part I think needs to be education - teaching both drivers and bikers how to ride safely on the road together. Part of this could be done as a section of drivers' education courses - when 16 year olds are getting their drivers licenses, include a portion of the time covering both how to ride a bike safely in the city, what the bike laws are, and how to drive in a car while safely driving on the road with bikers. Another effort could also be made by the city's universities to offer a low-credit course or two on biking, including information about bike safety, laws, and maintenance. I'm sure with the ever-increasing number of college students who are riding bikes as a means of transportation in one of the biggest college towns in America, such a push would be welcomed and ultimately be a big success.

Boston has the rare potential to be one of the first cities in America to embrace biking as a true alternative to commuting by car or public transportation, becoming both a greener and fitter city in the process. I can only hope it takes advantage of it.