Comments on: Be green, healthy and rich by giving up on your car

By: Queercents » Blog Archive » Public transit: is it worth the time & money?

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:26:08 +0000

[...] 25 miles between my bed and my office, I don’t have the frugal options of walking to work or riding a bike. If I drive and the highway conditions are good, my commute is roughly an hour per day, which is [...]

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By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:23:57 +0000

Icarus - this is going to sound weird, but I heard about a study two years ago that found cars are more likely to drive closer to bikers when those bikers are wearing helmets. It's all about appearences - if you look like you know what you're doing, drivers are more likely to leave you less room on the road. If you look like some kind of wacko, drivers are more likely to steer clear from the biker. That said, I always wear a helmet! And wearing pink clothing seems to do the trick as well! :0) M

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By: Fabulously Broke

Fabulously Broke — Sat, 31 May 2008 15:44:24 +0000

I wish Toronto was more bike-friendly, because ever since I started biking in Montreal where the trails are large and totally worth it, I’d prefer to bike over public transportation

It just isn’t safe on the roads for bikers..

Thanks for the post – I’m linking to this in my next round of link love!

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By: Paris

Paris — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:09:19 +0000

Re: cycling safely in cities – I live in a profoundly bike-unfriendly city, but get around just fine. One trick is to exploit the infrastructure that is already there – the route you drive is probably not the one you want to cycle as in a car you will favour roads with higher speed limits. On a bike you will want to find the residential streets which parallel those roads. There will be fewer cars and they will be going slower. Sites like http://www.mapmyride.com are good for figuring out alternate ways to get where you want to go in your neighborhood and include things like hill elevation that don’t matter in cars but do matter for cyclists (doesn’t matter Chicago but a lot of other places it does!).

This sort of strategy can get you out cycling safely faster than waiting for a bike lane to be installed.

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By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:36:21 +0000

Good point, Martinique! Some observations from the Netherlands: it requires an infrastructure geared to cycling, for instance separate cycling lanes (or at least parts of roads marked for bikes. And bike parking facilities, at office buildings, railways stations and so on. My wife and I cycle to work (my wife 4 days a week 2 times 15 km, me 5 days a week 2 times 9 km), and it rains not nearly as often as one would think, given the Dutch weather. As to gas prices: 4 US dollars per US gallon works out at EUR 0,68 per liter at the current ecchange rate. The actual price in the Netherlands is between EUR 1,55 and EUR 1,65 per liter.

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By: Echoparkgal

Echoparkgal — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:06:54 +0000

Actually sold my Camry 2 weeks ago. It feels pretty darn good to carpool with my girlfriend 3 days out of the week. We share gas/car maintenance and will be putting the extra "gas" money to our summer vacations. The buses in Los Angeles aren't as efficient as SF Muni, but I feel less stressed out and have more time to read, listen to music and talk to the people around me. We are looking into city bicycling and working freelance jobs closer to home.

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By: Martinique

Martinique — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:23:31 +0000

Best cities for cycling article here:
http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6610,s1-2-19-17083-1,00.html

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By: Martinique

Martinique — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:23:02 +0000

I'm glad you liked this post. Many cities are sitting up and taking notice of the importance of making streets safer for everyone including pedestrians, childrens and cyclists. There are now organizations such as Safe Routes to School among many others which lobby for pedestrian-friendly and bike-friendly cities nationally. Also, check out the recent article in bicycling magazine about some of the best cities for cycling in the U.S. Even if you don't live in one of these cities it will give your a sense for the kind of action that people can take to make their cities safer. And try to remember when you're staring down an SUV that you are far more likely to be injured as a passenger in an automobile than a bike, statistically.

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By: icarus

icarus — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:11:42 +0000

good ideas. my only concern is safety – so maybe cities seem pretty dangerous for bikers. do you know if there are initiatives to make that any safer?

also, you pasted the quote (“but people use their cars nearly ninety percent of the time for those short jaunts”) twice.

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