What would it ACTUALLY take for you to consider biking or taking the bus, in lieu of motoring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not having children. Before kids we rented an apartment in Cleveland Park (no yard, no home maintenance) and walked or took the Metro almost everywhere. What else did we have to do besides eat brunch and workout? Nothing!
I lived for years without a car in Cleveland and Chicago as well.

I live in a fairly walkable area. I can walk to the post office, library, bank, hair salon, dentist, a few restaurants, and a small grocery store that has basics like milk and eggs.

It is not practical to use the bus to shop at Target or to pick up a week of groceries for a family of 4. My kids have activities and I work full time. My office and my home are both a block from Wilson Blvd in Arlington and are less than 3 miles apart. I could take the bus except my kids need to be places at specific times and I don’t have time to wait for the bus and then walk from the bus stop to their school. Even if a bus came every 7 minutes, it only takes me 6 minutes to drive from my office to their school.

I can use my car to carpool in my fuel efficient car and plan my errands to batch them up and shop as close and local as possible - OR I could use the bus and Metro and buy everything from Amazon. I am pretty sure having shampoo shipped to my doorstep in a cardboard box is more wasteful than a shared trip to Costco with my neighbor every 3 months.

Public transit is not always automatically better.

People actually do this, though. Many people can't drive or don't have cars, and that is what they do. Maybe "inconvenient" would be a better word.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I sweat profusely. Been that way all my life. I sweat at the drop of a hat even a teen and 20-something multi-sport athlete. Cultural norms and acceptance around sweat and resulting odor would have to change.

Also, speed limits on bike routes would have to be imposed and low enough to accommodate walkers and children.

Why do walkers and children need to be on bike routes?

Is this a serious question? Most off road bike trails are multi-use, meaning for pedestrians too. I mean the ones that go through parks or on the sides of roads separated by grass, not bike lanes within the roadway. And children bike places for transportation, too.

Yeah, those aren't really bike routes. With the "shared use" paths, the shared use is non-ideal for both pedestrians and bicyclists.

Hmm. My co-workers must’ve taken some fictional W&OD trail to/from work. Those are literally the ones that are most direct for them. If bike lanes created on streets become the norm, the entitlement of the cyclists on the W&OD will only increase.

But there are also cyclists who don't live anywhere near a trail, for whom bike lanes on streets are the most direct paths. So you do sort of need to have both. Unless your idea is that only people who live near bike paths should bike to work?

Perhaps. Like look at the ratio. Hundreds of cars today on OGR and 0 (zero) bikes.

For your logic, I don't live near a ferry and thus don't take one to work.

I do live near streets, though, and so I ride my bike on them to work (sometimes). I also live near a Metro, and take that to work. I live very close to where I park my car, obviously, but I never take that to work because the other alternatives are fine.

[Anonymous]

I can’t go to work smelling like weed. I live within walking distance of a metro station. Last time I took the metro to work I ended up smelling like weed because two people were smoking on the long escalator and in the station. I’ll go back to the metro when they enforce the no smoking law regardless of what someone is smoking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone has summed up the very reasonable objections. No way any of these can be fixed

Yes, boomers and gen X'ers must keep polluting the planet relentlessly with their personal automobile addiction until they push daisies, because their hubris won't let them admit that the way they architected things led to the current toxic built environment and relentless global warming. Got it.

Don’t blame Gen X for setting things up this way. Honestly, some of the build architecture choices around our cities and suburbs aren’t even Boomers’ fault — the interstate highway system and the development of car-friendly suburbs was the result of choices their parents’ generation made.

+1. I'm Gen-X. For most of my time in the DC area, I've taken public transport to work (bus or metro, depending on where I was living). But things change when you have kids or marry someone that (gasp) works on the opposite side of the city as you. Seems like some Gen-Zers haven't had to grapple with those realities yet.

There are open minded people in all generations who are doing the right thing (just like their are millennial or gen z'ers who drive tons too), but on average boomers drive way more than millennial or gen z'ers at similar life stages and have kept their driving rate into old age higher than the generation before them. Gen X falls close to boomers by a lot than to millennial, and gen z is coming in even lower than millennials so far.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0965856421003165

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the minority here, but I love DC buses. I live in southern Columbia Heights between the U street and Columbia Heights metros and there are many bus options. So many up and down 14th street, up and down ~11th up to Ft. Totten, the crosstown H buses. I could go on. What makes it great is that there are so many options, so while the H2 may only come every 20 minutes the H4 also takes me just about where I need to go and they both stop a few blocks from my house. I take the bus to work every day because the 8 minute walk to the stop is a nice way to start and end my work day and because the bus ride takes the same amount of time as driving.

I love the buses because they work for me. Most people in the suburbs do not have the density of options that I do. That's what is needed - more buses that come frequently and reliably. Same for the metro, though that's much harder to do.

I don't ride a bike so no informed opinions there.

I took ride buses frequently. It's great. I get where I need to go and they are available frequently. I don't have to worry about parking or something getting stolen. And I get to read a book and listen to music and relax rather than stress about driving. And it's dirt cheap (about to be free). What exactly is the downside here? If it takes me 10 minutes longer to get where I am going via bus vs driving myself or Uber, I don't care because I'm using that trip time for recreational activities anyway and not stressing about traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Biking works well for people who don't have to pick up and drop off kids, don't have to carry a lot of stuff, can roll into work looking like they just biked there and have that be professionally acceptable, live relatively close to work, don't have to do grocery shopping for a family after work, have place to safely store their bike at home and at work, have a safe route to work (bike lanes alone don't do it, unless they go door to door), and who know how to ride and bike and feel comfortable and are physically able to do so.

Biking doesn't work for me for the vast majority of these reasons. But I will admit; I am physically fit and could ride a bike, especially if I practiced, but it seems hella dangerous and sweaty and unpleasant to me. I'd rather live a mile from work and walk, which I'd do happily when it's over 30 and under 85 degrees.

There are people who do pickup/dropoff, carry stuff on a bike, look professionally acceptable, and grocery shop on a bike. So it's definitely possible to do all of those things on a bike. Especially on an e-bike! I think the most important things are a safe route and secure bike storage.

Just this week I had to pick up my kid after school at 5:30 PM in NWDC and get them to an appointment at 6:00 PM in Kensington. So no, it’s not possible. Thanks for the advice though.

How late were you?

LOL - "I schedule appointment that are nearly impossible to achieve and then complain that transportation can't get me there in time" 😂😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone has summed up the very reasonable objections. No way any of these can be fixed

Yes, boomers and gen X'ers must keep polluting the planet relentlessly with their personal automobile addiction until they push daisies, because their hubris won't let them admit that the way they architected things led to the current toxic built environment and relentless global warming. Got it.

Don’t blame Gen X for setting things up this way. Honestly, some of the build architecture choices around our cities and suburbs aren’t even Boomers’ fault — the interstate highway system and the development of car-friendly suburbs was the result of choices their parents’ generation made.

+1. I'm Gen-X. For most of my time in the DC area, I've taken public transport to work (bus or metro, depending on where I was living). But things change when you have kids or marry someone that (gasp) works on the opposite side of the city as you. Seems like some Gen-Zers haven't had to grapple with those realities yet.

There are open minded people in all generations who are doing the right thing (just like their are millennial or gen z'ers who drive tons too), but on average boomers drive way more than millennial or gen z'ers at similar life stages and have kept their driving rate into old age higher than the generation before them. Gen X falls close to boomers by a lot than to millennial, and gen z is coming in even lower than millennials so far.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0965856421003165

[Anonymous]

I’ve only read through a few pages but I’m beginning to grok that this thread is like a hundred different people saying that bicycles are impractical for them and just one obsessed OP responding to every post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve only read through a few pages but I’m beginning to grok that this thread is like a hundred different people saying that bicycles are impractical for them and just one obsessed OP responding to every post.

You're beginning to "grok"?

But no, there are multiple people responding.

[Anonymous]

Can't imagine anything, now that I have two young kids.

Also the weather here sucks. I'm not waiting for the bus or biking in freezing cold, rain, or 100 degree humidity.

I love the metro and wish it functioned better like it used to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Biking works well for people who don't have to pick up and drop off kids, don't have to carry a lot of stuff, can roll into work looking like they just biked there and have that be professionally acceptable, live relatively close to work, don't have to do grocery shopping for a family after work, have place to safely store their bike at home and at work, have a safe route to work (bike lanes alone don't do it, unless they go door to door), and who know how to ride and bike and feel comfortable and are physically able to do so.

Biking doesn't work for me for the vast majority of these reasons. But I will admit; I am physically fit and could ride a bike, especially if I practiced, but it seems hella dangerous and sweaty and unpleasant to me. I'd rather live a mile from work and walk, which I'd do happily when it's over 30 and under 85 degrees.

There are people who do pickup/dropoff, carry stuff on a bike, look professionally acceptable, and grocery shop on a bike. So it's definitely possible to do all of those things on a bike. Especially on an e-bike! I think the most important things are a safe route and secure bike storage.

NP and all of the people I know who drop their kids off at school via bike work from home. They do not look professionally acceptable afterwards unless my job is particularly strict on wearing clothes without holes and not being sweaty and having messy hair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve only read through a few pages but I’m beginning to grok that this thread is like a hundred different people saying that bicycles are impractical for them and just one obsessed OP responding to every post.

You're beginning to "grok"?

But no, there are multiple people responding.

No, there are not. Unless you organized some little group of your friends to engage in this frivolous behavior. Pretty sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Biking works well for people who don't have to pick up and drop off kids, don't have to carry a lot of stuff, can roll into work looking like they just biked there and have that be professionally acceptable, live relatively close to work, don't have to do grocery shopping for a family after work, have place to safely store their bike at home and at work, have a safe route to work (bike lanes alone don't do it, unless they go door to door), and who know how to ride and bike and feel comfortable and are physically able to do so.

Biking doesn't work for me for the vast majority of these reasons. But I will admit; I am physically fit and could ride a bike, especially if I practiced, but it seems hella dangerous and sweaty and unpleasant to me. I'd rather live a mile from work and walk, which I'd do happily when it's over 30 and under 85 degrees.

There are people who do pickup/dropoff, carry stuff on a bike, look professionally acceptable, and grocery shop on a bike. So it's definitely possible to do all of those things on a bike. Especially on an e-bike! I think the most important things are a safe route and secure bike storage.

NP and all of the people I know who drop their kids off at school via bike work from home. They do not look professionally acceptable afterwards unless my job is particularly strict on wearing clothes without holes and not being sweaty and having messy hair.

I don't understand the point about clothes without holes. It's completely possible to bike in clothes without holes, and biking shouldn't ordinarily create holes in your clothes.

For sweaty - yes, when it's hot, you will get sweaty on trips that aren't short trips, but an e-bike can help a lot with that.

For messy hair - it depends on your hairstyle and on your hair. If you have to look like you just had a blow-out, it probably wouldn't work. I don't know how many professional jobs require women to look like they just had a blow-out.

[Anonymous]

Crazy driver: "I would never ride a bike, too many crazy drivers." [delivered without an ounce of self-reflection or personal responsibility] LOL

[Anonymous]

Crazy driver: "I would never ride a bike, too many crazy drivers." [delivered without an ounce of self-reflection or personal responsibility] LOL

Ha. "Who in their right mind would bike when there's drivers like ME out there?"