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Inky makes excellent points in this blog. I am 35 years old and have 2 young children. I have always preferred living in cities and working close to home was a requirement because I never cared for long commutes. I live in Milwaukee, WI and I bicycle year round.
Last year I decided that I was going to bicycle commute instead of using the car. While I have not been totally car free, I have only used 4 tanks of gas in the last year. I put my kids in the trailer behind the bicycle and we can get just about anywhere.
This is possible only because of choices that I have made about where I live. IMO, I have more free time and convenience because of it.
Suburban living and interstates exist due to the desire for people to live in isolation. If there was a greater trend towards city living and higher population densities, you would find more areas that are cost and time efficient for the pedestrian or bicyclist. I would argue this would in turn give you more and better quality social interaction, less crime and higher overall quality of life.
When you have always lived a certain way it is difficult to see the other side. It is well worth considering bicycling over a car and the changes it would require in your life.
You would have the benefit of living closer to other people and therefore better social health.
You would have the benefit of less commute time and traffic and parking woes, therefore, less stress and better mental health.
You would have the benefit of more exercise on a regular basis, therefore better physical health.
You would have the benefit of less maintenance, initial purchase, insurance cost with respect to a car therefore better financial health.
You would have done something to change your life, therefore expanding your horizons and making you a more well rounded person.
You would be contributing to sustainability with respect to natural resources and being respectful of the world around us so that future generations can enjoy the planet as much as you have.
These concepts are not about being a hippy. They are of manner and respect. If your only argument is I have always done it this way or it is not convenient for me.. Ask yourself one question "Why?" then maybe you will consider an alternative.
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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
I guess you won't truly understand but I actually enjoy driving o_O
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Glad you're happy with your switch, Inky.
I too love riding my bicycle but unlike you guys in New Mexico, a person would be very hard-pressed to ride a bike year round in my country:
![[image loading]](http://motortestmagazine.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/snowstorm.jpg)
Living in the Canadian prairies means sprawled out, newer cities all built around the automobile. Public transport is terrible, bike paths and bike lanes are limited or non-existent, and everything you do will be a fair distance away from your front door.
Plus you get the ignorance of a population growing up in those kinds of conditions. Bikes aren't particularly common nor welcome on the road.
I once got hit by one of these:
![[image loading]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2294/2106095345_226ea58b05.jpg)
Dude swore at me and drove off. Meh.
I love visiting older or larger cities as it seems the urban areas are so much more conducive to foot-traffic and cars actually become more of an inconvenience than a necessity. If I lived somewhere like, say Vancouver or Hong Kong (lulz, both Asian cities), I think I would still own a car but only use it for out-of-town trips. The thought of doing that makes me happy.
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I like to bicycle for leisure, not for going to work and other places. Also it is nice that you are so "eco" friendly with your bike when you get warm temperatures all year round. I like my car and I intend to keep on driving for the rest of my life. I don't mind paying for gas, gotta enjoy it before it is all used up.
I really do hate bicyclists who abuse the rules of the road by being a cyclist or a pedestrian whenever they want to. I also hate the fact they tie up traffic, cause accidents and also push people walking on paths off the path so they can cruise through.
I think bikes should need to be licensed to drive on the roads and banned off walk ways. Maybe even ticket them more frequentley if at all for breaking traffic laws.
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On April 27 2011 23:57 Flaccid wrote:Glad you're happy with your switch, Inky. I too love riding my bicycle but unlike you guys in New Mexico, a person would be very hard-pressed to ride a bike year round in my country: Living in the Canadian prairies means sprawled out, newer cities all built around the automobile. Public transport is terrible, bike paths and bike lanes are limited or non-existent, and everything you do will be a fair distance away from your front door. Plus you get the ignorance of a population growing up in those kinds of conditions. Bikes aren't particularly common nor welcome on the road. I once got hit by one of these: Dude swore at me and drove off. Meh. I love visiting older or larger cities as it seems the urban areas are so much more conducive to foot-traffic and cars actually become more of an inconvenience than a necessity. If I lived somewhere like, say Vancouver or Hong Kong (lulz, both Asian cities), I think I would still own a car but only use it for out-of-town trips. The thought of doing that makes me happy.
You're just not dedicated enough
![[image loading]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CQGgyAWtflg/0.jpg)
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I find riding a bicycle to be incredibly wasteful and short-sighted. Big Bicycle has you all convinced that you need two wheels, handlebars and brakes to get around. Well excuuuuuse me. The bicycle industry wants me to think that my unicycle isn’t good enough, and that I need all their “luxuries.” Sorry, corporate fat cats, but I wasn’t born yesterday and I’m not going to suborn your greedy exploitation of the American working class. I won’t simply say, “okay…” and fork over my hard earned American dollars to the Bicycle Industrial Complex, who’d have us believe that it’s alright to use double the rubber tires of a unicycle, or that I need a giant, smelted metal frame whose production pumped tons of bilious gas into the atmosphere. I mean, it’s only the environment, right? Who needs it? As long as we get to cruise around on two wheels like celebrities, munching on cliff bars and supplementing our nalgene water bottle collection.
Well, not this patriot. My father and grandfather didn’t die face down in the shit so that some yuppies could come and pave the world in bicycle paths. That’s how it starts, you know. First they want their own paths, then their own drinking fountains, bathrooms and schools. That’s right, these free-wheeling bigots would take us back to Plessy v. Ferguson. Well, that’s not MY America. I’m taking back the streets. I traded in my beloved unicycle, Martin, for a 1985 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z, and I’ve spent the last few days modifying it to be well below emissions standards. I leave it idling 24/7, hoping to pump out enough toxic smog to smoke these eco-terrorists off our streets. I’m going to miss Martin, but in this new future, we all have to make sacrifices if we have any hope of defeating the bicycle menace that threatens to consume us all.
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On April 27 2011 13:02 nA.Inky wrote:
Ayeh - there are many trips that I would wager that I could beat you - easily - on my bicycle while you are in your car, for the simple reason that you could easily lose your speed advantage just by looking for parking. Why mention this at all? Well, you mention visiting a friend "5 minutes away." Those are precisely the kinds of trips where a bicycle excels.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
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Good for you, sadly, not everyone has the luxury to chose that, 30km one way to work in the north of sweden. And the bus schedule sucks unless you work shift at the papermill (bus arrives 2 hours before normal workdays start), or you're going to school (bus arrives 2 hours after normal workdays start).
On April 27 2011 23:36 Eeryck wrote:Suburban living and interstates exist due to the desire for people to live in isolation. If there was a greater trend towards city living and higher population densities, you would find more areas that are cost and time efficient for the pedestrian or bicyclist. I would argue this would in turn give you more and better quality social interaction, less crime and higher overall quality of life.
You forgot that it would end world hunger! =)
Any new living that is built is going to be built with todays standards, wich means it will be relatively luxurius and therefore relatively expensive until something newer is built. And getting a building permit isn't just said and done, you need to buy up the land, make sure nobody who already lives closeby has any complaints (A new building would block the view to the tree we call "city park"!).
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My family recently spent about two months without a car, and it was an... interesting experience. Basic necessities could easily be found within walking distance, however most luxuries simply were too far away to access without a car. Particularly unpleasant were the few days I spent somewhat ill, as I had no way to actually get to my doctor, should my condition worsen.
I think a lot of us could use our cars a lot less than we currently do, but I can't imagine that most of us could simply cease using our car entirely.
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How are you supposed to visit or take your girl out?
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I really dislike living in the suburbs. I'm 18 and I didn't get my driving license so it's really inconvenient for me having to walk/take the bus everywhere. The bus system here it so inadequate, a bus comes every 30 minutes, and that only applies to the main streets. No buses for small streets, because there's not enough traffic. A trip that would take 15 minutes by car turns into a 30 minutes for me, sometimes 1.5 hours if I have to switch buses (whoever handles the scheduling for buses in this city is terrible, buses don't get to the same intersection within 10 minutes or some reasonable time). Toronto is practically designed to fit the car.
I really miss living in Hong Kong. A car is a true hindrance, financially and time-wise. You'll pay up your ass to pay for a parking spot and there's no space for you anyways, good luck finding a spot. But the density there is so high that everything you need is a 5 minute walk max. Public transport is everywhere and runs all the time.
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Hope life's treating you well Ink <3
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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
On April 28 2011 05:54 EsX_Raptor wrote:
How are you supposed to visit or take your girl out?
Give her a ride in the trailer attached to your bike, obviously.
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this is nice and all and i agree of course, but the problem is every ford/honda/car brand XYZ ad is going to reach many times more people than would read a blog like this. to me the real problem is that people don't drive cars because it's good for them; they drive cars because selling cars is a profitable business and they are bombarded by advertising and social pressure to drive. it's alarming that people in such a powerful country aren't able to decide for themselves that their economy should focus on producing decent public transportation instead of trying to market a dangerous, wasteful product such as cars.
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I have been car free since 2009. I will never look back. I now get to work 1 less day per week with the money saved. I actually have time to live life now. It's great. I am also a minimalist and I like living the simple life. Selling the car really helped. I think I read somewhere that it costs something like $8,000 per year to own an average car. This includes gas, insurance, repairs, and I believe depreciation. My work is a 30 mile round trip 4 days a week. It takes about 1 hour each way. And it's 2 birds with 1 stone. I no longer own a gym membership. Biking a minimum of 120 miles per week is plenty of exercise  If I can do this surely it should not be a problem for people that live within 5 miles of work, which most people do in the city. Plus you can always do the bike/public transit if you live far away.
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On April 28 2011 01:14 JackMcCoy wrote:
I find riding a bicycle to be incredibly wasteful and short-sighted. Big Bicycle has you all convinced that you need two wheels, handlebars and brakes to get around. Well excuuuuuse me. The bicycle industry wants me to think that my unicycle isn’t good enough, and that I need all their “luxuries.” Sorry, corporate fat cats, but I wasn’t born yesterday and I’m not going to suborn your greedy exploitation of the American working class. I won’t simply say, “okay…” and fork over my hard earned American dollars to the Bicycle Industrial Complex, who’d have us believe that it’s alright to use double the rubber tires of a unicycle, or that I need a giant, smelted metal frame whose production pumped tons of bilious gas into the atmosphere. I mean, it’s only the environment, right? Who needs it? As long as we get to cruise around on two wheels like celebrities, munching on cliff bars and supplementing our nalgene water bottle collection.
Well, not this patriot. My father and grandfather didn’t die face down in the shit so that some yuppies could come and pave the world in bicycle paths. That’s how it starts, you know. First they want their own paths, then their own drinking fountains, bathrooms and schools. That’s right, these free-wheeling bigots would take us back to Plessy v. Ferguson. Well, that’s not MY America. I’m taking back the streets. I traded in my beloved unicycle, Martin, for a 1985 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z, and I’ve spent the last few days modifying it to be well below emissions standards. I leave it idling 24/7, hoping to pump out enough toxic smog to smoke these eco-terrorists off our streets. I’m going to miss Martin, but in this new future, we all have to make sacrifices if we have any hope of defeating the bicycle menace that threatens to consume us all.
5/5
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This is going to sound really stupid but I still would like some advice.
I drive to work(3.5miles) purely because I do not want to be sweaty and dirty when I arrive since as management I have to be looking immaculate. But my freshly-ironed shirts cannot exactly be transported in a backpack or something of that nature, do you have any advice?
Bear in mind I live in Fresno where I will be working five 12-14 hour days a week during the summer where temperatures reach 110 degrees Fahrenheit, so I find it difficult to ride my bike and remain clean.
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Does your company have a cleaning service like "purple tie" or something. If so leave some freshly ironed clothes at the office. Im in Cali also. Your not going to be sweating much on a 3.5 mile trip if you have a decent bike (road bike, fixed gear etc, something other than a 10 year old huffy). You can always freshen up in the bathroom before work, ie bird bath. Maybe your work even has showers?
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EPT
