"Why I don’t ride my bike to work anymore"

[bobco85]

After reading and re-reading his article, it seems to me that he didn’t use (or maybe know of) all the available resources around him to help with bike commuting, like a coworker, local bike group (made of local riders who themselves commute and probably know the best routes), or even website. Although his current job seems to have him commuting in all different parts of the city, he could have sought assistance instead of just giving up.

If only he had a Confident City Cycling class, he probably wouldn’t be saying stuff like, “I always ride the curb and try to stay out of the car paths,” and “in no way would [the roads with bike lanes] get me from my home to any former places of business without using roads with no bike lanes,” (there are on-street bicycle routes available).

Although Kansas City’s bicycling online resources don’t seem to be as vast as those in the DC area, I did find some including info for bike commuters and maps. Here are some links
BikeKC site (links are on the right column for a bike map, bike parking, and even commuter resources): http://www.kcmo.org/CKCMO/Depts/PublicWorks/BicyclePedestrianProjectsandPrograms/BikeKC/index.htm
KCBike.Info (local blog): http://kcbike.info
Kansas City Metro Bicycle Club: http://www.kcmbc.org/content.aspx?page_id=0&club_id=368691

(Warning: pun alert!) All in all, I really think he needs to just tri harder!

[oldbikechick]

@rcannon100 51013 wrote:

Boy, I dont know…. lots of the author said struck true to me….

I agree with a lot of what is said here. I commute by bike because I love it, but it is also very easy and enjoyable because of the infrastructure. I’m on the bike path almost the entire way and have a shower, private office, etc at work. And I don’t do the kid drop-off. If I had a lot of obstacles, would I still commute by bike? Hard to say. I agree that advocacy organizations and gov’ts in the DC area have done a great job and by putting the infrastructure in place, have enabled a lot of people to commute by bike who otherwise who not. How does this compare to other places?

At my previous job (in Switzerland), there was similar work infrastructure (shower, etc), less biking infrastructure, but a great route on back roads and drivers who were generally very good about sharing the road (due to very good enforcement of cyclist and pedestrian rights). So again, few obstacles made it an easy choice.

Prior to that (in Belgium), I was a student, there was no work infrastructure (where I was interning), little biking infrastructure and terrible drivers, but my bike was my only vehicle and I had no patience of public transportation, so I biked everywhere. I also had no kids or sense of mortality at that time

Long, long ago as an exchange student in the Netherlands, needless to say, biking infrastructure was fantastic and it would have been very difficult NOT to commute by bike. That wasn’t an option, really. Everyone rode their bikes without thinking twice about it.

So, the better the infrastructure (and enforcement of safe driving and sharing of the road), the more biking. It also helps if we live within a reasonable distance of our workplace.

[PotomacCyclist]

His choice of residence also plays a part. He chose to live out in the suburbs, far away from convenient bike infrastructure. Not faulting him for it. Just pointing it out. Others in his area and in other cities will make an effort to find neighborhoods closer to work and to bike trails. While that won’t make it easier for the author to bike commute, location will make bike commuting much more convenient for other people in his region.

[lancito brazofuerte]

So nobody’s going to hit the low hanging fruit and make a joke about how he must not be a good triathlete cuz he can’t even transition from commute-work?

[mstone]

My main thought after reading this thread is, “back off”. It’s fine to make a reasoned argument for why improved bike facilities are of value even if they aren’t used/useful for everyone, but it is counterproductive from both a personal and a policy perspective to analyze and criticize his situation and decision. (Put more bluntly, from the outside this response makes the bike community come off like a bunch of out-of-touch nutjobs.)

I can relate to the article because as much as like biking to work, it’s really hard and I don’t get to do it as often as I’d like. It costs me roughly 2-2.5 hours over driving, and since I’m not willing to put the kids in day care for an extra 2.5 hours so I can ride a bike, that means it’s a burden on my wife to both drop off and get the kids on days I bike, and means I pretty much can’t bike and do any kind of after-school activities with the kids. I really like to bike, and I’m fortunate enough that both me and my wife have jobs with enough flexibility that I can bike sometimes, but change either job or throw in some other complications, and it would cease to be an option at all. Sure, maybe I could put together some crazy/heroic multi-modal commute from hell, but at that point it ceases to be a fun activity and becomes an irrational obsession. Change the factors a different way, and maybe I’d be able to bike every day without it being a big deal. Effective advocacy would acknowledge that different people have different circumstances, and what works for some won’t work for others–and then would simply leave it at that.

[jabberwocky]

My objection is less with his decision not to bike commute (I think thats totally legitimate), but more with the whole tone of “it just isn’t possible for most people in most cities” the article had.

[mstone]

@jabberwocky 51062 wrote:

My objection is less with his decision not to bike commute (I think thats totally legitimate), but more with the whole tone of “it just isn’t possible for most people in most cities” the article had.

Um, even in Amsterdam the majority of people don’t commute by bike. I don’t think there’s anyone with a reasonable expectation that most people in any American city will ever commute primarily by bike. So, what, most of those people are wrong and should be commuting by bike, but have illegitimate reasons not to? Again, focus the advocacy on making things better for those who want to bike, make it easier for people to try it, and just stop talking about whether other people should be biking. Acknowledge and embrace the fact that this will always be a minority form of transportation, and argue on the merits of that reality: even with a small fraction of total transportation funding, a small fraction of available right of way, and a small fraction of total users, increased non-automobile commuting has large impacts on the efficiency of movement, quality of life, and nearby environment for both those biking/walking/etc and those still in cars.

[CPTJohnC]

@dasgeh 51001 wrote:

Agree with jabberwocky.

Though the kids and errands thing is completely BS. Kids LOVE riding. There are lots of options for bringing them along. You could even do something like a trailer and leave it at daycare, so as not to impact the rest of the ride to work. Driving is a lot more variable than riding. I know when I’ll get home every day when I ride. Driving, depends on traffic, and can range from 10 minutes to 45…

I have to disagree with your view on riding with kids: 1st) Some kids love riding, but not all. Most kids who like riding are likely to enjoy riding in good weather, but not necessarily in all conditions/ all seasons. Obviously there are some exceptions, but travel by bike when shuttling kids is definitely less convenient/practical for MOST people (admittedly, not all). 2d) larger kids don’t fit in trailers, but can’t keep up reasonable speeds over longer distances (in my experience — I admit I’ve never known a kid who rides distances with regularity – but I’ve seen kids biking to school with moms and dads, and they’re SLOW) I know there are alternatives, like tandems and cargo bikes, but those are also not always great solutions. 3d: Not all daycares (not even most, I suspect) would be so cool with you just leaving your trailer in/around their space everyday. Again, it might work for some, but not for most, I suspect.

I completely agree with your point on ride time variability versus other modes of transport. It’s funny how a flat bike tire, which takes 10-15 minutes to fix, is unacceptable delay, while a mechanical failure in a car, which requires a tow truck, and several hours to repair, is completely acceptable and understood.

Americans are very car-centric — almost all other forms of transportation are seen as second rate, even when they are demonstrably superior. I will never forget the amount of flack I took for riding a motorcycle as my commuting vehicle. You’d have thought I was doing something immoral or borderline illegal. Now I bike, drive and use mass transit with relatively equal frequency. Each has its place.

[CPTJohnC]

@UrbanEngineer 51012 wrote:

When I have to go out to a job site, I’ll ride my bike. Those who cab it, they’ll bill those cab rides to the job. $10 here, $20 there, over the timeline of an entire project, many workers doing it…That’ll add up. I might have some sweat on my brow at the project meetings, I might not be dressed in a suit like most everybody else, but my commute is charging the client $0. That sounds profitable to me.

But does your client and employer agree? If they do, great. But in many environments, the extra $10/20 per meeting is largely irrelevant (esp. when I’m billing that client $300-500/hr for that meeting) versus the ‘appearance’ of ‘unprofessionalism’. It isn’t a question of the reality (is being a little sweaty really unprofessional? Will I really be that much sweatier if I ride my bike than if I walk from the parking lot to the bldg — in august, the answer to that might be “no”) but rather of people’s expectations and perceptions. It’s kind of like when the lawyer shows up driving a beater car — people
start to question his capability — after all, if he can’t afford a nicer car… likewise, people perceive bikes as transportation for the poor or otherwise ‘disadvantaged’ or for freaks.

[Justin Antos]

“It would be a huge undertaking to create a movement to divert millions of dollars of infrastructure funding to create miles and miles of bike lanes”

This seems a little defeatist. Most cities spend billions on infrastructure, not millions. The paint and bollards to create the 15th St. Cycletrack cost $100,000 per mile – a fraction of the cost of a road equivalent.

[Greenbelt]

@Justin Antos 51083 wrote:

“It would be a huge undertaking to create a movement to divert millions of dollars of infrastructure funding to create miles and miles of bike lanes”

This seems a little defeatist. Most cities spend billions on infrastructure, not millions. The paint and bollards to create the 15th St. Cycletrack cost $100,000 per mile – a fraction of the cost of a road equivalent.

There’s a ton of overbuilt pavement lane-miles in Kansas City. Lane diets and bike tracks would be inexpensive — paint, pylons, bollards, a bit of curb work. Cheap.

[UrbanEngineer]

@CPTJohnC 51068 wrote:

But does your client and employer agree? If they do, great. But in many environments, the extra $10/20 per meeting is largely irrelevant (esp. when I’m billing that client $300-500/hr for that meeting) versus the ‘appearance’ of ‘unprofessionalism’. It isn’t a question of the reality (is being a little sweaty really unprofessional? Will I really be that much sweatier if I ride my bike than if I walk from the parking lot to the bldg — in august, the answer to that might be “no”) but rather of people’s expectations and perceptions. It’s kind of like when the lawyer shows up driving a beater car — people
start to question his capability — after all, if he can’t afford a nicer car… likewise, people perceive bikes as transportation for the poor or otherwise ‘disadvantaged’ or for freaks.

Stop bringing reality into my little ideal world.

I’m lucky in that I work as an engineer designing sustainable buildings and am the associate work horse and not the talk $$ with the client type. My job makes it more acceptable to show up places dirty and/or sweaty, as part of my job involves going into construction sites and mechanical rooms and getting dirty. Clearly this is not the case for all professions.

That said, most of my work is paid for by tax dollars, and whether my client or employer agree with my biking isn’t nearly as important to me as whether or not those who pay for the job, being the tax payers, agree. Why charge the tax payers for a trip when I can get there for free? Do tax payers agree with paying a bit more on tax payer funded projects so those involved can get places without getting a bit sweaty? The transportation expenses on a project may be a very small percentage, but small amounts multiplied over many thousands of times will result in big dollars.

[Author]

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