EmZeeGee
Clintonville
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One more thing (and then I'll finally shut up); I'm clearly conflicted on this. My work is so close, yet I don't bike to it. I think it comes down to perceived risk. I perceive a lot of risk there; a hardcore cyclist would not. I wish our city was more amenable to bike transportation; I'd do it if I felt reasonably safe. I'm young, I'm fit, there's no other reason *not* to do it.
I love this video; this would be ideal:
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lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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lifeliberty wrote >>
Columbusite wrote >>
why not drive a small motor vehicle (scooter, motorcycle or microcar) instead of a large motor vehicle?motorcycle is more dangerous, so I wear gear which takes time to put on and makes it hard to grab the parking pass, can be really hot in traffic with a helmet and jacket on. it's not too bad, you do get used to it, but I find it difficult to look nice and keep a pressed shirt for work in summer, sweat with jacket ruins it.
it is easier/faster to just sit in a car and go, plus you have climate control,music
motorcycling for me ends when it snows, and this year I haven't gotten it out yet. I've been lazy with it and occupied doing other stuff so far. Hopefully this weekend it will get out of the garage.
I couldn't imagine trying to get Life in a SmartCar, that would be funny. it would be interesting to try it, but at his age I couldn't torture him like that.
Me? :) I am looking for a mini-bike. Trying to find a vintage Raleigh Twenty I can turn into a fun project. Might have to look a home built, BMX mini-velo though.
I'll say in general that as much as you hear the anecdotes about cycling being so dangerous, it really isn't. Taking some of the courses available locally can do a lot to help, in terms of confidence and negotiating traffic and learning emergency maneuvers like quick turns or emergency stopping.
But I don't pretend to know what's best for each individual. I know from my own experiences that cycling isn't always practical. Just depends on the situation. I would encourage people to seek out those opportunities to get better and more confident and even just incorporate it for the little trips. It's a great way to get around. I wish I had a mini-bike to stash in the trunk for days like this when I want a break in between shifts to grab some coffee. Would have been better than being in the hot car.
mrsgeedeck
Castle of Lions
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Columbusite wrote >>
I bike pretty much everywhere and do use COTA occaisonally. I think a good question to ask drivers is: why not drive a small motor vehicle (scooter, motorcycle or microcar) instead of a large motor vehicle?
IMO my car is fairly small. Yes, its a four door, but its not an SUV or luxury car, its a Subaru Impreza that fits in the small car spots quite easily and has the added benefit of all wheel drive which is amazing in the winter considering I don't have a garage.
I'm pretty conflicted about biking or riding COTA to work, technically I should be in the office by 7 a.m. meaning to bike I'd need to be out of the house by 6:30 at the latest or at the bus stop by 6:15 to account for transferring at Broad Street, seeing as how I'm not a morning person and barely make it in by 7 as is, I enjoy the luxury my car provides in getting me to work in under 10 minutes.
Having said that, I can normally build by travel around my trip home from work, stopping at the grocery or whatever other errands are needed between work and home and walk for anything else once I'm home.
hugh59
Aboard the ultimate power in Olde Towne East
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I have lived within 2 miles of my office since March of 2008 and I have walked or ridden my bike every day since moving in close (taking the bus twice in all that time). When I lived further out, I was still on Broad Street and took the bus every day.
Right now, our house is 1.8 miles from my job. It takes me 30 min to walk it and 15 min to bike (adding the time to get the bike out of the house and lock it up at work). When I lived down Broad Street, COTA would take 35 min on average (including the wait time on the bus).
I like walking or biking because I can go when I want; I don't have to wait for the bus. Also, I am cheap. I don't want to pay the bus fare or pay to park.
I have taken my car to the office in order to drop something off or pick something up, but I have never driven and parked for the day.
osulew
My house...in the middle of my street
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I work 4 days/week in Chillicothe and 1 in Piketon. Biking to work would be nonsense. My scooter is not terribly practical for that commute either although it could be done I suppose. It would just be a terrible idea.
subverita
Columbus
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My commute is 21 miles roundtrip. I ride because it's good for me. It's good for others. It occassionally poses incovenience to motorists, but they need to slow down and relax anyway. I take one less parking spot in a city that caters to cars. I infuse a little less carbon into the atmosphere.
I ride because doing so is quiet. I like what bicycling does for me and the world I live in.
Columbus is on the MORPC air quality alert list with increasing frequency.
According to Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2008, tables 3, 4, 7 million children are diagnosed with Asthma. I ride because I don't contribute to that.
We've turned the Gulf of Mexico into a modern tar pit.
We send young men and women overseas to kill for oil.
These are behaviors of the profoundly insane. Drill baby drill.
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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hugh59 wrote >>
Also, I am cheap. I don't want to pay the bus fare or pay to park.
I buy the monthly bus pass for $55/mo which is a steal compared to what I'd have to pay to drive & park for a job on Gay Street. I use it to and from work regularly (which is around a 10-15 minute trip to go 1.1 miles through the city) as well as an easy way to hop to meetings that are in the Short North, Arena District, German Village, OSU, Franklinton or anywhere else relatively close by. I figure that if I'm averaging around 4 rides per day, 20 days per week, I'm only paying the equivalent of 68 cents to board the bus each time. Nice and cheap. ;)
dsigner
Worthington
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I tended to this about this with regard to getting to work, but it applies generally I think:
> Walking (no): takes too long, can make me sweaty which isn't appropriate for work
> Biking (no): can make me sweaty which isn't appropriate for work, has to involve a different outfit
> Bus (no): takes too long, I have to travel on their schedule
> Car: easy, just 8 minutes, parking is easy, gives me more flexibility - like to go anywhere I want after work (e.g., Target) that I couldn't get to other ways
unejoliefille
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I think that this is not as much of a question of who is a cyclist or who is a motorist, but more of a matter of choosing whether or not you wish to rely on oil to get around. Personally, I wanted to rely less heavily on cars for transportation, so I had to actively centralize my life in order to facilitate that. I'm not a badass that can bike 10 miles to work and march in the office wrinkle-free and flawless, but I can handle a few miles. So, I make sure I live, work, and play in the same area. I've had to give up a high-paying job and perhaps pay a bit more in rent, but that is important to me. Also, some smaller changes were necessary: combining errands that you need a vehicle for, more frequent grocery shopping to facilitate carrying your goodies on a bike, etc.
I own a car that barely works, but it gets me around when the weather is bad or I have to haul things/other people around. It usually sits idle 6 days of the week. My boyfriend also drives us around a bit, so to say that I live auto-free is a misnomer, but I would not classify myself as a motorist. I bike, walk, and ride the COTA for 85% of my trips. If Columbus took greater strides in the public transit and urban living arenas, I bet that percentage would increase for many, including myself. I am thankful for the provisions that ARE there that allow me to live my life fairly close to my ideal.
I grew up in a fairly rural area where a 20 minute drive was "close", and a 40 minute drive wasn't that bad. Now, having lived this way, I can't even fathom 30 minute commutes or having to drive to get a pack of cigarettes.
hugh59
Aboard the ultimate power in Olde Towne East
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Walker wrote >>
hugh59 wrote >>
Also, I am cheap. I don't want to pay the bus fare or pay to park.I buy the monthly bus pass for $55/mo which is a steal compared to what I'd have to pay to drive & park for a job on Gay Street. I use it to and from work regularly (which is around a 10-15 minute trip to go 1.1 miles through the city) as well as an easy way to hop to meetings that are in the Short North, Arena District, German Village, OSU, Franklinton or anywhere else relatively close by. I figure that if I'm averaging around 4 rides per day, 20 days per week, I'm only paying the equivalent of 68 cents to board the bus each time. Nice and cheap. ;)
The monthly pass is a great deal; I used it when I lived down Broad Street. They were slightly cheaper then, and I got a discount buying it from the state (and I got to buy it using pre-tax dollars).
But now I am ultra cheap. Walking or biking is free. Of course, I use the car if I need to get groceries or things like that.
DCist
UA
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I reeeeeealllyyy want to get a scooter now that I work in Clintonville. My driving commute from UA (Henderson) to work (Indianola and Bway) is only like 10 mins. But Since I owe about $3000 on my car I dont have the $2000-4000 to spend on a scooter. Ive been scouring cragslist and the like for a used one but they are almost as expensive as new and I still cant afford it :(
As for biking, I am not comfortable safety wise (especially now that it feels like 100 degrees outside too!).
I rode the bus in DC for 3 years and it was terrible. I was always late, up an hour before I needed to if I had a car, and there was no metro stop near me so I was stuck with it. And there isnt really a regular bus line near me now! If they would expand services maybe, but I dont have all that extra time!
Core_Models
Columbus
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I drive to work, that's about it. Good luck finding a reasonable bus commute to Tuttle with an irregular schedule and no adding 2+ hours to your work day because of it.
shannalafontaine
Dublin
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1. A larger part of my job involves traveling all over the city and hauling people around. I can't imagine doing that without a car.
2. COTA doesn't have a stop within miles of my house and I would hate to ride/leave on their schedule. I remember at OSU when I rode the bus from OSU to Tuttle Mall and it took FOREVER to get there.
3. My husband thinks it unsafe to travel on bike with a young child.
4. Not a lot of stuff close to my neighborhood for walking/biking safely.
5. Weather. I can't stand to sweat, I can't imagine the sweaty pig I would be trying to bike/walk anywhere.
When I was in Amsterdam last year I was amazed at how easy and nice it was for bicycling. I wish we had a set up similar where biking is much safer and the suburbs were laid out a little bit better for that option.
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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shannalafontaine wrote >>
1. A larger part of my job involves traveling all over the city and hauling people around. I can't imagine doing that without a car.
2. COTA doesn't have a stop within miles of my house and I would hate to ride/leave on their schedule. I remember at OSU when I rode the bus from OSU to Tuttle Mall and it took FOREVER to get there.
3. My husband thinks it unsafe to travel on bike with a young child.
4. Not a lot of stuff close to my neighborhood for walking/biking safely.
5. Weather. I can't stand to sweat, I can't imagine the sweaty pig I would be trying to bike/walk anywhere.
When I was in Amsterdam last year I was amazed at how easy and nice it was for bicycling. I wish we had a set up similar where biking is much safer and the suburbs were laid out a little bit better for that option.
Our suburbs could be laid out better to facilitate other options. That said, Columbus has a lot of image and perception issues when it comes to other options outside of the car. A large slice of the city is pretty well designed to facilitate biking or walking across a wide range of skills and abilities. This is mostly the older core which was built largely around transit to begin with. Start moving to the edges and it becomes very difficult to consider even small changes due to the infrastructure and significant investment one has made on house, family, career etc.
yurtgirl
far, far south end
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when i lived in Grandview I walked/cycled all the time. now that I'm a suburbanite (not really my choice but that's where the beau has his house and, well, i chose the beau) I must drive. I long for the urban days I had but The closest bus stop is about 2 miles away, and the semi trucks on my road would make cycling almost suicidal. I am considering a motorcycle which would be more economical, but the jury is still out on that choice. On certain occasions we do the park and ride into town when time isn't much of a concern.
Talcott
Clintonville
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I drive to work, which isn't too far away, but a bit too much to walk. If I could walk to work in an hour or so, I'd do so in a heartbeat (even in the summer, it's not going to be too hot at 7:00am), but I think it'd take me about 2-3 hours to walk up there (I should try it on the weekend some day), and that's a bit inconvenient. I've thought about biking, especially since it's right up High St. but I'm concerned about getting out of the Crosswoods bottleneck on a bike at rush hour. I'm also not sure if there's anywhere I could put my bike when I get there.
I'll walk pretty much anywhere within a mile or two, unless I need to pick up something heavy. I'm only a few blocks from Kroger, so I just tend to make small grocery trips through the week (and I live alone, so I don't need much in they way of food to begin with).
Beyond that though, I usually will drive instead of taking the bus (I'd like to bike more, but need to get a bike first ;-)
I really enjoy riding the bus, and did so daily when I was working downtown, but I can't ride the bus as often as I'd like because I rarely have cash on me. The monthly pass is a great deal if you use the bus the commute (the route to Crosswoods is not timed well for me), but it's a bit expensive if you only use the bus a couple of times each week. I have the same problem with the weekly and daily passes. What I want is a COTA debit card. If I could put $20 on it, and use it for bus fare whenever I wanted to go somewhere (with or without a discount), I'd get one in a heartbeat.
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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Talcott wrote >>
I drive to work, which isn't too far away, but a bit too much to walk. If I could walk to work in an hour or so, I'd do so in a heartbeat (even in the summer, it's not going to be too hot at 7:00am), but I think it'd take me about 2-3 hours to walk up there (I should try it on the weekend some day), and that's a bit inconvenient. I've thought about biking, especially since it's right up High St. but I'm concerned about getting out of the Crosswoods bottleneck on a bike at rush hour. I'm also not sure if there's anywhere I could put my bike when I get there.
I'll walk pretty much anywhere within a mile or two, unless I need to pick up something heavy. I'm only a few blocks from Kroger, so I just tend to make small grocery trips through the week (and I live alone, so I don't need much in they way of food to begin with).
Beyond that though, I usually will drive instead of taking the bus (I'd like to bike more, but need to get a bike first ;-)
I really enjoy riding the bus, and did so daily when I was working downtown, but I can't ride the bus as often as I'd like because I rarely have cash on me. The monthly pass is a great deal if you use the bus the commute (the route to Crosswoods is not timed well for me), but it's a bit expensive if you only use the bus a couple of times each week. I have the same problem with the weekly and daily passes. What I want is a COTA debit card. If I could put $20 on it, and use it for bus fare whenever I wanted to go somewhere (with or without a discount), I'd get one in a heartbeat.
I believe there has been some good discussion on YB! in the past about getting around that area and some of the back ways in.
0Angle
A brewery or my kitchen or my bicycle.
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The Missus' office is moving from Parsons and Main to the Rhodes tower. She bought a bike (I hate to call it a turd from Target, but if it looks like, smells like...) with the intention of bike/bus combo to work, ride home. I hope she can do it.
I drive when the distance is too great to ride (New Albany to work, Zoo with kids, Costco or whatever) to get bulky, heavy conspicuous consumption stuff, got stuff that I can't take carry on the bike like a keg, or cat litter + kid, or going somewhere with the whole family (wanna get a pedicab to haul the family or kegs). As far as downsizing the car, we were a one car family until the second pregnancy. Last Mother's day my wife bought a bug, because "The Prius is too big"
I always ride to work, I don't have to wear a suit and I can ride in any weather & I never drink and drive (Oh, did I mention that I drink?)
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