The Wall Street Journal just had a story about the popularity of homes near bicycle routes (The Wall Street Journal, Nancy Keates (08/22/2008)
"Thanks in part to high gas prices, buyers
are keenly interested in homes that are in close proximity to bike
trails, according to reports from real estate practitioners in
bicycle-friendly areas."
While
I don't think there is any defined trend like this in Phoenix I do
think using a bicycle in certain parts of the valley makes sense,
especially in the Central Core of Phoenix or withing a reasonable
distance to either business districts or other transportation.
The
city of Phoenix is, overall, bicycle friendly with bike racks on buses,
we'll see how this works with the light rail.
The Phoenix valley has a lot of bicycle routes but most of them are limited to leisure.
Few
routes exist along major thoroughfares. Its still rather easy to get
around and the drivers overall are friendly to cyclists.
What
prevents Phoenix from becoming a big cycling commuter city is the
heat. It's hot the majority of the year and this makes cycling less
appealing.
The more I ride in the city the more I see the
possibilities of traveling to work on a bicycle. We, probably, won't
be showing homes on bicycles like some of the other agents in the
article but, we do preview homes and neighborhoods on bicycles.
