In his recent article in this journal, Heath Maddox
questions the potential of public policies to encourage
bicycling (Maddox, 2001). In particular, he contests my
earlier finding that public policies were essential for
permitting the dramatic growth in bicycling in
Germany from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s (Pucher,
1997).
Although he provides no empirical evidence of his
own, Maddox summarises the views of a few German
‘experts’ he selected. On the basis of that selective
literature review, Maddox draws the conclusion that
the bicycling boom in Germany occurred, at best,
independently of supportive public policies and, at
worst, in spite of public policies that supposedly
hindered bicycling.
