
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 6, 1994                   TAG: 9403070133
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV_7   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MARA LEE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

WHO'S COMMUTING WHERE

Davis, Calif., a college town in in the northern part of the state, has the largest percentage of bicycle commuters in the country, at 25 percent. Davis started encouraging bicycle use in the '60s, and now its 50,000 residents own 40,000 bikes.

Boulder, Colo., a college town with snow measured in feet and mountains measured in miles, has 10 percent of its work force on bikes.

Fleetwood Enterprises in Riverside, Calif., has 12 percent of its work force commuting by bike because of its "Mud, Sweat and Gears" program. Fleetwood offers loaner bikes for new riders, a bike repair shop, showers and lockers on site and extra days off.

More than half of all commutes in the United States - whether by bike or car - are shorter than five miles.

In Virginia, about 9,070 people commute by bike out of 3.illion commutes.

The 1989 census said about 467,000 people commute by bicycle in the country, out of 1.1 billion commutes.

by CNB