Commuting to school by e-bike?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are not naysayers. Op is looking at a 3-4 mile cross town commute with no easy bike paths - Adams Morgan to ITDS.

OP here.

For the record, it's Columbia Heights to ITDS - about 2 miles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The protected bike lane along Irving is very nice.

I take my two kids on e-bike to school which we lotteried into.

Pros:
- Much faster and more reliable than any other mode of transit
- Easy to park anywhere
- Easy to carry large amounts of kid stuff
- I am less tired from having to make the trip 4 times a day!

Cons:
- Traffic, cars, bikes, pedestrians it really feels like no one follows the rules
- Construction - there is nearly always some form of construction blocking part of the way that lasts years
- Safety, I do feel like it comes with a much higher likelihood of an accident
- Repairs, these are inevitable and a pain with an ebike.

We ride pretty much in all weather. I invested in good rain and snow clothes. Occasionally we take the bus when the bike is broken or it is too icy.

I use side streets, protected bike lanes when possible and I tend to ride a low speeds without much assist even though I could go much faster.

Another con is cost. We don't have an e-bikes because they are expensive and seem to crap out faster than you'd expect given the cost. We have friends who are on their 3rd e-bike in 10 years. That's like 15k in e-bikes (they aren't buying the cheapest models). And doesn't even include upkeep costs.

People are always trying to convince us to get an e-bike but the economics don't make sense for us even though I see the benefit of having a way to travel with kids that is faster than walking but more eco-friendly and convenient than a car. If e-bikes were more similar in cost to a regular bike, that would be different.

[Anonymous]

Cars are dangerous too. So is walking in the city especially some intersections. You have to take some risks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The protected bike lane along Irving is very nice.

I take my two kids on e-bike to school which we lotteried into.

Pros:
- Much faster and more reliable than any other mode of transit
- Easy to park anywhere
- Easy to carry large amounts of kid stuff
- I am less tired from having to make the trip 4 times a day!

Cons:
- Traffic, cars, bikes, pedestrians it really feels like no one follows the rules
- Construction - there is nearly always some form of construction blocking part of the way that lasts years
- Safety, I do feel like it comes with a much higher likelihood of an accident
- Repairs, these are inevitable and a pain with an ebike.

We ride pretty much in all weather. I invested in good rain and snow clothes. Occasionally we take the bus when the bike is broken or it is too icy.

I use side streets, protected bike lanes when possible and I tend to ride a low speeds without much assist even though I could go much faster.

OP here. Thanks for this.

You take two? How are they situation on the bike? How old are they, and when do you predict the oldest will be too big?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to be insane to put a child on an e-bike. Do you let them play with guns too?

the OP meant the parents are on the e-bike hauling kids, not the kids themselves.

All of it seems incredibly dangerous. As a parent it really bothers me that people do this with their kids.

"e-bike injuries were far more serious than those sustained on conventional bikes. Maa says they were more like what’s seen in motorcycle crashes. A pelvic fracture, for example, was uncommon on a pedal bicycle — only about 6 percent of conventional cycling injuries. For e-bike crashes, though, it was 25 percent.

The most alarming difference was the fatality rate. “On a pedal bike, the chance of dying from an injury is about three-tenths of 1 percent,” Alfrey says. On an e-bike, the data indicated, it was 11 percent."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/magazine/e-bikes-accidents-safety-legislation-california.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The protected bike lane along Irving is very nice.

I take my two kids on e-bike to school which we lotteried into.

Pros:
- Much faster and more reliable than any other mode of transit
- Easy to park anywhere
- Easy to carry large amounts of kid stuff
- I am less tired from having to make the trip 4 times a day!

Cons:
- Traffic, cars, bikes, pedestrians it really feels like no one follows the rules
- Construction - there is nearly always some form of construction blocking part of the way that lasts years
- Safety, I do feel like it comes with a much higher likelihood of an accident
- Repairs, these are inevitable and a pain with an ebike.

We ride pretty much in all weather. I invested in good rain and snow clothes. Occasionally we take the bus when the bike is broken or it is too icy.

I use side streets, protected bike lanes when possible and I tend to ride a low speeds without much assist even though I could go much faster.

Another con is cost. We don't have an e-bikes because they are expensive and seem to crap out faster than you'd expect given the cost. We have friends who are on their 3rd e-bike in 10 years. That's like 15k in e-bikes (they aren't buying the cheapest models). And doesn't even include upkeep costs.

People are always trying to convince us to get an e-bike but the economics don't make sense for us even though I see the benefit of having a way to travel with kids that is faster than walking but more eco-friendly and convenient than a car. If e-bikes were more similar in cost to a regular bike, that would be different.

And of course, the more you ride them and the heavier you load them, the sooner they crap out.

I really do not get why aftercare+e-bike is a better deal than hiring a babysitter. ITDS aftercare is like $350 a month per kid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The protected bike lane along Irving is very nice.

I take my two kids on e-bike to school which we lotteried into.

Pros:
- Much faster and more reliable than any other mode of transit
- Easy to park anywhere
- Easy to carry large amounts of kid stuff
- I am less tired from having to make the trip 4 times a day!

Cons:
- Traffic, cars, bikes, pedestrians it really feels like no one follows the rules
- Construction - there is nearly always some form of construction blocking part of the way that lasts years
- Safety, I do feel like it comes with a much higher likelihood of an accident
- Repairs, these are inevitable and a pain with an ebike.

We ride pretty much in all weather. I invested in good rain and snow clothes. Occasionally we take the bus when the bike is broken or it is too icy.

I use side streets, protected bike lanes when possible and I tend to ride a low speeds without much assist even though I could go much faster.

OP here. Thanks for this.

You take two? How are they situation on the bike? How old are they, and when do you predict the oldest will be too big?

They are 8 and 5. It's by weight. The weight limit is around 140. My kids are pretty big. Together they are around 110. I'm hoping to get 1 to 2 more years. Hopefully then the older will commute to middle school on public transit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cars are dangerous too. So is walking in the city especially some intersections. You have to take some risks

Kids in cars are strapped in and surrounded by air bags and a two ton steel cage. Kids on bikes have nothing except their crappy little plastic helmets (and sometimes not even that).

[Anonymous]

I commute by bike (don’t take my kids) and your questions are very route dependent.

Did you try the route on your own?

+1 on checking with the Facebook biking group, you’ll get better advice there. And rent a bike if you don’t have one yet and do the route yourself a few times before adding kids to the mix.

This way you’ll also get an idea if your kid can do on their own. It depends on age and the kid.

In general, as a commuter, you’d be traveling at a time when cars are also in a hurry and they have even less patience than at other times of day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I commute by bike (don’t take my kids) and your questions are very route dependent.

Did you try the route on your own?

+1 on checking with the Facebook biking group, you’ll get better advice there. And rent a bike if you don’t have one yet and do the route yourself a few times before adding kids to the mix.

This way you’ll also get an idea if your kid can do on their own. It depends on age and the kid.

In general, as a commuter, you’d be traveling at a time when cars are also in a hurry and they have even less patience than at other times of day.

Or in the dark when visibility is worse!

What does your DH like so much about ITDS? Maybe we can rebut his beliefs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cars are dangerous too. So is walking in the city especially some intersections. You have to take some risks

E-bikes *are* more dangerous than cars or walking though. Driving a car through city traffic at rush hour is pretty low risk -- you aren't going to hit high speeds and are unlikely to encounter other vehicles even able to go quickly. And in a modern vehicle with properly functioning seatbelts, car seats and boosters for kids, the odds of your kids being injured is slim to none. It's low risk driving. Annoying, slow, and gas guzzling -- sure. But not really risky.

Walking can also be risky because, as on a bike, you are vulnerable to cars doing scary things to you. But pedestrians can mitigate risk by staying on sidewalks and in clearly marked crosswalks, and obeying traffic signals. A pedestrian can easily stop and wait if they see a car coming, and is more easily able to scan for cars that pose a threat because they are moving more slowly than someone on an e-bike. Walking is slow, but it is precisely the low speed that makes it safer than an -bike.

An e-bike has you traveling faster than a pedestrian or even many regular cyclists, but in traffic. In the event of a collision, the only thing protecting your child is a helmet. It is riskier than a car or walking.

The safest commuting method is probably public transit. It also has the benefit of being omg the cheapest and most environmentally conscious. But one problem I'm DC is that unless your home and destination are convenient to metro, or are on the same fairly efficient bus line, it can be really slow and sometimes unreliable. But it's very safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cars are dangerous too. So is walking in the city especially some intersections. You have to take some risks

Kids in cars are strapped in and surrounded by air bags and a two ton steel cage. Kids on bikes have nothing except their crappy little plastic helmets (and sometimes not even that).

I don't think there is enough data to really know what the odds are at this point. You have to consider the behavior in the whole context. With an ebike I am probably living a less vehicle centered life, traveling at much lower speeds, on much less busy streets. I am an adult experienced rider, not a child. And I am using a well maintained ebike that I am not modifying to go higher speeds. The odds being quoted in those sensationalist articles are not considering the use case we are discussing here.

Nonetheless, I do think it carries increased risks compared to other transit methods. I wish there was better data to know what those odds are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cars are dangerous too. So is walking in the city especially some intersections. You have to take some risks

Kids in cars are strapped in and surrounded by air bags and a two ton steel cage. Kids on bikes have nothing except their crappy little plastic helmets (and sometimes not even that).

I don't think there is enough data to really know what the odds are at this point. You have to consider the behavior in the whole context. With an ebike I am probably living a less vehicle centered life, traveling at much lower speeds, on much less busy streets. I am an adult experienced rider, not a child. And I am using a well maintained ebike that I am not modifying to go higher speeds. The odds being quoted in those sensationalist articles are not considering the use case we are discussing here.

Nonetheless, I do think it carries increased risks compared to other transit methods. I wish there was better data to know what those odds are.

TBH, I don't think we need detailed stats to understand the compatible risk. It's going to be person-dependent because there are many variables. You have to be able to evaluate your own variables.

A daily car commute on freeways is very risky. A daily car commute through Capitol Hill streets is not.

An e-bike commute with an experienced cyclist on protected bike lanes and paths where kids are wearing helmets is pretty darn safe. A daily e-bike commute along a 4-lane road with a novice cyclist is not.

People have to look at their situation and make the best choice for them. For some reason people who use e-bikes can be very pushy that it's the right solution for everyone. It's not. My family, for instance, commutes on foot about 60% of the time, and by car 40% of the time. This is the best combo of speed, convenience, expense, safety, environmentalism, and lifestyle for us. I have no doubts about our choices.

[Anonymous]

I'm not understanding why you can't take the C61 bus to Franklin St and then walk.

[Anonymous]

You can try out a bunch of different types of e-cargo bikes for free via the WABA Cargo Bike Library: https://waba.org/library/

The Bunch bike can easily carry multiple kids.

(I commute to work via e-bike year-round. DS commutes to HS via analog bike almost every day. 11 miles for me, 9 miles for him round-trip. It's by far the fastest mode of travel for us.)