AAA Roadside Assistance For Bicyclists?

Recently, the American Automobile Association, began offering their Roadside Assistance program to bicyclists in Oregon, and parts of Idaho.  Yes, that’s right the American Automobile Association is offering roadside assistant service to bike riders.  This is the same organization that in past years had opposing funding for bike infrastructure and mass transit, and of course had pushed for more and wider highways.  Although this isn’t the first service of its kind to be offered in the U.S., this recognition of bicyclists as a business opportunity by AAA sure seems like a sign of the times.  A sign, that the view of bicycling as simply a leisure item is changing, at least in Oregon and Idaho.

It is likely AAA saw the growing demand for this service in Portland as it has evolved the U.S.’s most bicycle friendly city.  Portland’s efforts to expand and build a variety of bicycle infrastructure including, bike lanes, bike boulevards, bike boxes, and on-street bike parking help it to steadily increase ridership numbers to the point that in 2008, 8% of commuters reported they use a bike to get to and from work.  Although this percentage is great for a U.S. city, it is still small compared to Copenhagen or Amsterdam where the percentage of people commuting by bike rivals or surpasses that of the those who commute by automobile, but the point is that by building infrastructure to accommodate bicyclists it is possible to encourage new ridership.

If this service were to make it to Wisconsin, it will likely have meant that both Madison and Milwaukee have significantly improved their bicycle infrastructure.  More important than the service itself would simply be the indication that our bicycle infrastructure is improving, and ridership is growing.  Can it be Wisconsin’s turn next?