Changing the way we pay for transportation

[Philliefan33]

I use my bicycle for errands when weather permits, but since I live where we have winter it's not a year-round option.

I can ride for a twelve mile stretch along a north-south multiuse trail, but heading east or west means taking my life in my hands. The roads here do not have shoulders and I don't trust all of the drivers to give the required (by law) four feet of clearance when passing. It doesn't do me any good to be in the right if I'm dead.

 

[meierlde]

Note that in Houston one could ride the side streets paralleling the main streets, in particular the ones that often had stop lights at the main streets. This does mean really getting the city map into ones head. Sometimes one has to ride on main streets but wearing outrageous(bright) colors and a helmet I did not have problems. (I had more problems with dogs deciding they wanted to chase me on rural roads). Note that one can get a rear view mirror to clamp on ones helmet also.

 

[FIYes]

Yes, a two mile bike ride is quite reasonable. However, the road I would need to take would make it unsafe. My neighborhood is not walk/bike friendly.

 

[audreyh1]

I won't ride bicycles on city streets because I don't trust the vehicle drivers so I don't feel safe. I stick to bike paths, our neighborhood which has really light traffic, and state park roads which have no private traffic and very few official park vehicles.

Uber - I know it's popular, but I don't think I'd ever use it. I don't like how they operate and I don't trust their "vetting" system for drivers.

We love public transportation in Europe and use it heavily when we travel. If we had that kind of transportation available here we would use it heavily here too.

 

[W2R]

I live in a quiet, tree lined, residential neighborhood, tucked away in an obscure little area right between the busiest commercial street in town and the biggest mall in town. There is almost no traffic on my street or nearby if I don't go too far. I could ride a bike easily inside my neighborhood, and could ride most of the way to nearly any type of business and then walk the last half block.

The only problem is that I don't feel steady on a bicycle any more, and would be likely to lose my balance and fall. Hmm. So here's a solution I have been considering for the past few years, even though it reminds some people of extreme old age: The adult tricycle.

I think I could handle that easily, and I could carry groceries or other items home in the basket. The only reason I am not doing that yet, is that I think it would be very difficult to park it at a standard bike rack and I'm not sure what I could chain it to. But some day I'll try it....

 

[Music Lover]

I think that you have hit on a very logical way of viewing the cost of local driving. Most of us are willing to pay those fixed costs (insurance, licensing, depreciation, scheduled maintenance) to possess the vehicle because we have travel requirements that are not very practical to address with other types of transportation. We may somewhat frequent trips that are 40 miles away, or 100 miles away. And several long drives each year. Those are marginally possible with rented vehicles, but it is our choice to own a vehicle.

Even though I don't drive a lot (10,000 kms a year), I'm fine with the costs of owning a car because it's the most practical solution for me:

- I'm almost a mile from the closest bus stop
- I have to haul musical equipment to gigs and rehearsals
- I sometimes need to transport a large miter saw and other tools
- Some of my friends and family live 20 to 50 miles away
- Some of the golf courses I play are 40 to 50 miles away

 

[Koolau]

Based on my bicycle advocacy experience, most of you will have a reason that biking can't fit into your lifestyle. I know for some it is true but not for most.

I always make my bicycle my first choice of transportation. I reject it often. But even frequently being a motorist, I still save in the thousands of car miles. Among my biggest savings is the 12 miles round trip to my gym, twice per week. Rounding, that alone is about a thousand miles.

BTW, I now live in a community in the east that people characterize as having streets too narrow and cars too fast etc. I am not Superman but simply educated urban cyclist.

Anyway if you are looking for a great way to stay fit and save money, I would give it a go. Lots of online help teaching safe on street bicycling practices.

I don't dispute anything said here. I think my biggest issue with biking is safety.

Honolulu put in a bike lane on our busiest surface street (pull a few fed dollars through our legislature's path and they'll pounce on it like, well, fill in your favorite saying.) One full car lane was converted to a bike lane. SO, we have this nice "safe" bike lane which runs the length of S King St. For the first 3 years, my interest was to watch the bike lane every time I drove S King and count the bikes using it. Typically it was zero, though I occasionally did see one or maybe two bikes. Now that it is being "utilized" (I see at least one bike on it almost every time I traverse S. King) I began to worry about safety. The lane is isolated from the street by 'bumpers' so it's unlikely a car would veer into the bike lane. BUT, to turn from S. King into any of the businesses along the street, a car must turn across the bike lane to enter the parking areas of the various businesses. In fact, I had to do that a week ago and just before I was able to turn, I had to wait for an SUV to do the same (left hand turn, across the bike lane.) Now, had there been any bike traffic coming from the opposite direction, it might have been possible to see and avoid it. But, the bike lane is 2 way and as the vehicle in front of me turned across the bike lane, a bike, coming from the same direction we were going, almost t-boned the SUV. It must have been doing almost 20mph. Between the bike and the SUV, they JUST managed to avoid a collision in which the SUV would have been scratched (maybe dented) and the biker would have most likely sustained broken bones. Now, to be honest, I don't know what the "laws" for this interaction are (I suspect the SUV was supposed to yield - but it's difficult to see bikes in the lane because on-street metered parking exists up against the bumper strip) but no matter who was at fault, the biker would have been injured - potentially killed.

So, if I'm making a point it would be that bikes and cars don't mix - not with any safety, anyway. You can pass all the laws you want (they only determine who was at fault after the fact.) Separating bikes from cars is the only way I see to insure safety of bikes. On a small island like ours, carving out isolated bike lanes everywhere isn't practical though we have several bike lanes of various descriptions all over the place. Most simply give a separate, but not isolated path "designated" for bikes. In this configuration, bikers seem much more aware of their vulnerability to cars and it works pretty well from what I have seen (there is a major such bike lane on my main road - worst problem I see is bikes running most of the red lights so they don't lose momentum.) The S King St bike lane gives the illusion of safety and I fear that those on bikes don't sense the danger they face at every turn in point. I'm not anti-bike, but I am for personal safety. The equation just doesn't work for me. Naturally YMMV.

Do be very careful when you ride!

 

[meierlde]

Having spend 26 years riding the streets of Houston, and every so often on saturday going the 16 miles to downtown there is a secret to picking the route. Quite often between major streets there is a secondary street that has traffic lights at the major streets, you use them. Of course Houston is also a supremely flat city which helps a good bit. This was mostly before any bike routes. (many were mapped by biking organizations in the city) Actually city riding was easier than riding on country roads because 1 the traffic is traveling slower and 2 dogs don't chase bikes in the city but they do in the country. You do need a detailed map to see the connecting streets. In other cases you might take the side street, take the last cross street to the major street, cross the intersection, and then the next cross street back to the side street.