Above: George uses a Big Boda to haul four other Big Boda's back from the papyrus weavers. Using the bikes as part of our project helps us spread the word in the community, and generate more sales. 

WorldBike adoption will ideally take place in conjunction with infrastructure and educational policies favoring bicycle transportation. Our peer organization ITDP is a good place to start if your primary interest is the policy side. Focus should be given towards raising awareness and respect for environmentally-friendly travel, revising traffic codes to favor pedestrians and bicycles, de-paving, reducing distance of trips through growth policies, and green-travel incentive programs. In addition, the long-term goal of establishing a viable domestic manufacturing industry would improve economic benefits and reduce manufacturing footprint. (Are bamboo bikes the answer?) Up to 50% of the current cost of a bicycle in the developing world represents the container shipping and handling. 

Widespread implementation of a bicycle economy is supported by social and community services, which must be developed in conjunction with the local marketplace for WorldBike. These include: bicycle security, available maintenance and parts, financing and access (bicycles can cost between 20 to over 100% of rural household’s annual income in Africa (Afribike 2007)), rural infrastructure such as paths and bridges, and critical mass of adoption. In addition, gender roles may discourage women from using bicycles, even though they are often the primary haulers of fuel, water, food, babies, and the primary providers of health care for children.

One of the primary sustainability considerations WorldBike can address in the future is extended producer responsibility. This includes product take back, modification, or recycling at the end of the product lifecycle. Educating local distribution and repair facilities to repair and reuse damaged components and frames and identifying local recycling facilities will be key. In many parts of the developing world, this type of reuse is already widespread and culturally the norm. A formalized training course for local distribution partners would be beneficial in this regard, while also serving to create relationships and strengthen distribution channels. While an eco-effective “cradle to cradle” approach may not be fully attainable, the WorldBike technology and philosophy offers a substantial reduction in the waste remaining at the end of the product life cycle, especially compared to automobiles or other forms of motorized transport.

The bottom line is that bicycling is the most energy efficient form of transportation ever devised. Pound for pound, bicycling consumes one-third the amount of energy as walking the same distance. Worldwide, bicycles outnumber automobiles two to one and their production outnumbers automobiles three to one (Ryan 1999). Bicycles are a key alternative to reduce the environmental impacts of automotive dependence and fossil fuel consumption.

Table 17: Transportation – Consumption

Bicycle transportation offers an excellent opportunity to improve the household economic conditions in developing countries. Relatively low purchase and maintenance costs provide vastly improved transportation and self-reliance. Many of the worlds poor are forced to walk everywhere, spending time that could be used to generate income, learn skills, or meet household needs. As a result, vital trips to schools, markets, employment centers and health services are often skipped. Bicycling is 3 times faster on average than walking and far less costly than taxi. In African countries where bicycling is common (40% or more of all trips) 25% of all jobs are linked to the local bicycle economy (Afribike 2007).

WorldBike technology fills a niche in introducing an effective human powered means for the transportation of people and goods. WorldBike’s open source design principles and company ethos are well aligned towards achieving their mission and vision for the wide-spread implementation of high-capacity bicycles. Integrated into a systems approach for development, a WorldBike powered economy could effectively address a host of sustainable development issues.