Why Tokyo Is Home to So Many Cyclists But So Few Bike Lanes

It’s estimated that about 14 percent of all trips in Tokyo are made by bicycle. That’s an admirable figure in its own right; in the U.S., by comparison, most big cities have a bike share (for commuting at least) in the low single digits. Factor in that Tokyo has very little bike infrastructure—just about 10 kilometers of bike lanes and dedicated paths, according to Byron Kidd, who runs the Tokyo By Bike blog—and such a high bike travel share seems all the more impressive.