It is very important that people learn about more sustainable forms of transportation and cities invest in creating infrastructure that supports the utilization of public transit, walking, or biking versus just making roads that prioritize the use of vehicles.

I like being the best example by not owning a car and biking or taking transit everywhere. I talk about the joys and sometimes the realities of not driving. I loan out my bike to people that want to try bike commuting and this is an easy way to try it and see if it works for their schedule and lifestyle.

Vacations, donations to community organizations, arts and recreation activities.

Human powered transportation is liberating! I am not at the mercy of congested traffic and being stuck with an unpredictable commute.

If the neighborhoods were able to improve walking infrastructure, it would draw more residents and businesses to the area. People value walkable neighborhoods and will spend more time in these spaces.

I love biking in Portland because bikes are so prevalent. 

I went to a kids story time focused on kids story books with a bike theme at Clever Cycles: Clever Cycles (900 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR 97214  clevercycles.com)
and at the end of the story time we all borrowed bikes to ride in a mini parade back to the bookstore to return the borrowed books. They let me borrow an Urban Arrow Family Electric Cargo Bike. It was raining and it was equip with full on rain coverage for the kids in the front basket! (it fits three?) It was a little tricky at first - it felt like driving the equivalent of a semi-truck bicycle, but I can see the appeal if you commute with your kids every day. Lots of storage and the electric assist was amazing! If I lived closer in I would definitely sell my car and get one of these instead!

 

Cost and ease of access are probably the greatest determining factors for choice of transportation. If cleaner and more sustainable forms of transportation are not present, people will not adopt them. Governments need to adopt and implement more rail and public transit systems and educate the public about them so more people can use these forms of transportation.

Cost savings is another benefit to switching to electric vehicles. The more simple machinery compared to internal combustion vehicles can reduce maintenance costs. One drawback will be the durability of batteries, an internal combustion vehicle can last decades, batteries degrade much faster so more research should be done to improve batteries.