If the infrastructure was perfect, how often would you use a bicycle?

[taterguy]

Whenever there's a thread about transportation issues people say they need their cars because it's not safe to use a bicycle.

Suppose it was safe.

Just for fun, let's suppose that there were automotive-free bike paths that led to every destination you wanted / needed to go.

How would that change your habits?

Just curious.

[lapfog_1]

1. When I lived near work...

and didn't have too many dangerous intersections or interstates to cross...
and lived in CA where the weather was decent 90 percent of the year...

I biked all the time. Good exercise. Cheaper. Also meant that I didn't go to lunch that much, but rather walked to either the cafeteria or the Officers Club (I was working on a military base).

All good except for a few times. Did it for maybe 7 or 8 years. Sometimes had to ask for a ride if the weather got nasty or I just HAD to run an unexpected errand. Drove my car when I knew I had to do something OOTO.

[casus belli]

2. Does said Bicycle come equipped with A/C?

If not, I have to be honest...probably not often.

[taterguy]

4. You need an A/C in February?

Where do you live? :)

[casus belli]

8. Oh you mean NOW?

I assumed you meant when the weather got warmer. You'd have to really be driven (no pun intended) to want to ride a bike anywhere in the midwest at the moment. ;)

[taterguy]

11. Is the weather crappy in the Midwest all the time?

Go East, South, or West young man.

[JDPriestly]

3. I don't think my knees would handle bicycling much as I would love to

if I could. Bicycling is not for everyone.

[taterguy]

5. I realize that cycling isn't for everyone. Nothing is for everyone

I don't know the condition of your knees but cycling can be good for knees. In fact, a lot of people take it up as exercise when their knees are no longer capable of jogging.

[El Pinko]

6. Whenever it's not freezing, sweltering hot or raining, if the trip is short enough.

Maybe 30% of the time. But I already use it 30% of the time...

[frogcycle]

7. whenever practical

Whenever I have worked within 15 miles of home I've used a bike whenever weather permitted

I use a bike for trips to store if i can haul everything in the baskets

and that is without safe lanes

we need a mindset that bike lanes and ramps are just a natural part of the infrastructure

if you build it, they will come

[taterguy]

10. I used to park my bike at a building named after the brother of the doctor in Field of Dreams

What a strange and cosmic world we live in.

[Angela Shelley]

9. Yes ... In my area, we have bike paths everywhere,

and since I moved here, I´ve changed my habits and use the bicycle as often as possible.

[ThomWV]

12. Never.

[taterguy]

13. Why not?

[ThomWV]

15. Because I am over 60 have arthritis, and live on one of the steepest hills in WV

Do you think the god dam things are right for every person in every place. People my age can not even walk up and down the hills in this state, add to that the balance of the aging and the physical exertion necessary and the god dam things would kill half the aging population of this state.

It is hubris to think that everyone is 20 years old or that one size fits all in any discussion.

[taterguy]

17. Take a deep breath and read the thread

No, I don't think that bicycling is appropriate for every person in every situation.

I was merely trying to gauge how much demand there would be for better infrastructure.

[eilen]

14. When it's not raining, snowing, sleeting, sleazing rain....

and the roads aren't ice, slush, or banked up 4 feet with snow. Which means an average of 60% of April through September.

I live in the North East-- central NY, snow capital.

That said, I really enjoy riding my bike. I live in suburbs and the roadways are about 4 to 6 lanes across for the major ones that take you anywhere outside the tract communities. To go to the grocery store or bike to the lake park in the village, I do have to deal with idiot drivers who don't watch and unrealistic crossings (the "walk" sign gives like 5 seconds to get across 6 lanes of a busy road).

[Marblehead]

16. I ride a bike as much

as possible when the weather is warmer. I got my wife into it and she dropped 2 sizes, she loves it now. We are in our mid 50's. I wish we had bike lanes, we don't, so I take to the sidewalks to avoid being hit. Drivers around here (NEPA) are dangerous to bikers. I am looking forward to spring so I can get the bike out.....

[taterguy]

18. What's NEPA?

[shadowknows69]

19. I think we should fix all the sidewalks and buy everyone a segway

And stiff fines for traveling by car for trips less that 3 miles.

[alarimer]

20. Probably almost never

I work outside for the most part. In Texas. So most of the year when I get off work I am far too wiped out to bike home.

[Longhorn]

21. I rode my bike 34 miles a day to work for a little while.

I only live ten miles away but that's by four-lane highway, which isn't safe, so I had to take the back roads. I also got an electric bike to help me with the hills here in Central Texas. Even the back roads are less safe these days -- winding and hilly with 45-mph speed limits and no shoulders. Also, I'm an adjunct professor and I teach at different campuses each semester. This semester, I commute about 100 miles a day.

Besides safe roads, another consideration for me is the facilities where I work. When you ride on days when it's 90 to 104 degrees with high humidity, you need a place to shower and change. I was washing up at the sink in the women's restroom, changing in the stall, and trying to stay out of the way of the students. One day, I got caught in a thunderstorm and arrived at work soaking wet, just a half-hour before I needed to teach a class. Another day, one of my panniers slipped and dragged along the road, wearing a hole into it and causing me to lose some stuff. I also kept having battery problems. It may be better now but a couple of years ago when I was trying this, the technology just wasn't that great. The bike weighs a ton so when the motor didn't work, I was in serious trouble trying to climb the hills.

I gave it a good shot and still have the bikes and wish I could make it work but I just live too far away in too hilly terrain. We live a little out in the country and my husband built a shop for his remodeling company so I don't see us making a move any time soon.

We went to Germany two years ago and I was so jealous of all the people who leisurely rode their bikes in street clothes on dedicated bike paths and lanes!

[wellstone dem]

22. I'd definitely bike more

I live close enough to work to walk the days I don't need the car. Two days a week I travel to other offices, more than 50 miles away, so I couldn't bike then. I'd bike to my folks house, 10 miles away, I'd bike for shopping. It's the cars that drive me nuts.

[robcon]

23. Rarely. I just bought a bicylcle for exercise with my friend.

But it's not practical for transportation. Weather/distance is the problem.

[RandomKoolzip]

24. It's currently 20 degrees here in Chicago. There's ice and slush on the ground.

THe wind blows so hard some times that it literally feels as if the moisture in your eyeballs is hardening into ice. It's been like this for the last two months and it'll be like this for the next two as well.

AND STILL....I ride my bike 6 days a week.

And not just for practical purposes (small trips to and from work, which is a mile away). I ride it for fun, too, on the Lakefront trail. The beauty of the ice floes against a low grey sky is something that honestly stirs my inwards.

I try to ride the full 13 miles to school every day on my bike as well, but some days it's just too shitty out to ride that far; my toes freeze up, my hand get to numb to brake, etc.

I try to ride at least 10 miles a day. And I run outside too - this has been a LOT harder than riding the bike, since the sidewalks have been a total fucking mess since January. BUT I STILL DO IT.

I try to use my car only when absolutely necessary.

[taterguy]

25. Almost everyone tries to use their car only when it's absolutely necessary

You just have a higher standard than most.

Good for you

[KG]

26. i'm a bicycle rider, but wouldn't want to ride to work to my grey collar job. in leiu of a bike,

i'd prefer the availabilty of an effective, efficient mass transit system. i dont mind riding a bus.

[Edweird]

27. I use a bicycle everyday by necessity in the most cycle hostile place I've ever seen.

South Florida.
That being said, I'm a downhill/freeride mountain biker and was a BMX'er as a teen, so cycling daily isn't all bad.
It's good conditioning for the upcoming season. I won't be huffing and puffing as much.
The people here are absolute scum, though, and have no consideration or respect for fellow human beings.

[taterguy]

30. You can find absolute scum in any location

The folks where I live are mostly indifferent, a few really nice ones and a few assholes.

Of course you can be a decent person and still hurt someone. Some idiot opened their car door right in front of me. I dodged them and when I turned around to see who it was I realized that it was my favorite English teacher from high school.

[LWolf]

28. Seasonal, as time permitted.

It would take me an hour to get to work, and an hour to get home. Plus more time to clean up and change once I got there. If I had no errands to run, the weather was not too cold, hot, or windy to make the trip reasonable, and the days were long enough to do so in daylight, I would ride the bike frequently.

Too cold = below freezing. Too hot = 90 and above. Too windy = can't pedal into the wind. I rode my bike to work once in the 80s, planning to make it a regular habit. A 30 minute ride, no problem. Except that I forgot about the afternoon wind. In the part of the Mojave desert that I lived in at that time, a southwest wind blew everyday, without fail. Mornings were breezy but manageable. Afternoons were brutal. I was out on the highway, facing into the wind, trying with all of my might to make the pedals go forward. And standing still. I had to drag the bike home on foot, and I never rode it to work again.

In my current location, we sometimes go weeks at a time in the winter where the temperatures never climb out of the 20s. It was -6 when I left for work one morning last month.

Lastly, daylight: I live rurally, and there are no street lights anywhere. I like it that way. It means that I have an incredible view of the heavens at night. Perhaps a bike could be fit with a light that would allow me to see a bike lane; it's really dark out there even with car headlights. If the light were good enough, I'd ride in the dark, assuming it was above freezing. I don't expect I'd be able to see too far ahead, though. Deer collisions would be expected. I see them daily on the way to and from work, and they frequently cross in front of me.

I'd ride to town to shop if I could get some sort of cart to drag my groceries home in. Frankly, I'd rather teach my horse to pull a cart. She can pull more than I can, and I don't want to have to make frequent, lengthy trips to town. Would there be horse-safe lanes in this infrastructure you envision? Horses can't travel at the same speeds a bicycle can for any distance; I couldn't ride her to work, but we could make a weekly trip to town and back for provisions.

[Tindalos]

29. I've never liked bikes much

They have bike lanes in my town, but I take the bus or walk everywhere (no car). If they made the roads safer for cyclists/pedestrians, I'd probably walk more.