But, last year Italians purchased more bikes than they did cars according to the official figures, for the first time in years. The figures are attributed to the economic crisis of the last couple of years and is said to be more largely related to a drop in car sales rather that a rise in sales of bikes.
Italyhas always been a country well suited to bikes. With densely packed cities and wide open country side, there is a lot of room for a slower way of travelling. Still dominated by scooters and small cars however, it is interesting to see that bike sales have actually been surpassing those of cars. Bikes of course are cheaper to get your hands on than a car and a lot cheaper to run as well, if you can get away with it in your daily life, so it’s no surprise that people move towards using them when the economy starts to plummet
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Its food for thought really though. If you can get away with swapping out your car for a bicycle in these times were money is hard to come by then what is the sense in not doing it? Admittedly life in theUKis slightly faster paced and the weather is less suited to a morning journey exposed to the elements, but certainly countries where the bicycle is a widely used mode of transport have consistently lower heart disease and weight problems.
Some countries have enormous bike use anyway, especiallyDenmarkandHolland. But whereas they are no warmer or dryer than theUK, they are incredibly flat and
transport in general has evolved to include separated bike lanes and superb crossings over rail and roads.
As always, thanks for reading from the team at CarLease UK.
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