Reply to DC bike group says fewer now riding bikes to work than in 2012 (?!?!)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a few questions for the people who are determined to prove that families with kids can replace cars with bikes in DC if we just build more bike lanes and encourage biking.

- What do you do when your kids outgrow riding on your cargo bike but are still not really safe to ride a bike on their own behind you? I have a 7 yr old now who is already borderline for the back of a cargo bike. She can ride a bike on her own and I'm happy to take her own on certain trails and less-busy streets near our home during off peak hours. But I would not feel comfortable having her ride on her own bike in front of me during normal commuting hours to school -- there is too much traffic and drivers are so impatient that time of day and I don't think she has the awareness needed for that yet (it stresses me out sometimes and I'm and adult).

- What about the time and logistic crunch? My kid has an activity at 4:30pm one day a week. It requires some gear and that she change clothes from her school uniform and the venue doesn't have a place to change. Right now I pick her up from school on foot and then we walk home, she changes, and then I drive to the venue which takes about 15 minutes. On a bike it would take closer to 25 minutes. Even if I bike home from school cutting that commute in half over walking, I don't know how we'd get to the activity on time, plus I think the bike would be a little unwieldy with the equipment. And currently I often do grocery shopping while she's at the activity and then bring the groceries home in the car, but I don't see that being as feasible if we were on a cargo bike.

I like the idea of switching to a cargo bike in theory and if it were just me going to work, it would be a nobrainer (I currently take public transportation or walk to work though, so it wouldn't get a car off the road). But with a middle grade elementary kid it just doesn't make a ton of sense -- she's not a toddler who can easily pop on the back of a cargo bike and in a year or two that will be out of the question. And when I look at our schedule I ony see a few places where a bike would meaningfully compete with a car. For some things it's out of the question -- I can't take a cargo bike on a freeway to get her to her swim lessons or gymanstics camp. For other things like the weekday activity I just described it just seems inconvenient and inefficient.

I hear people raving about their cargo bikes around DC and especially other parents saying how it's replaced their car in so many ways and it makes life easier. The one thing I think would be nice on a cargo bike is grocery shopping (right now I either do it on foot and only get as much as I can carry or I take my car). But that's just once or twice a week, max. For everything else it makes more sense for us to walk (and let our kid scooter or bike if she wants but under our close supervision on foot) or drive.[/quote]

I don’t have all the answers for you except to say that there are very few people claiming that you can/should NEVER drive. Just that we should make biking possible for many more trips.

In answer to some of your questions, obviously if we had better biking infrastructure you would feel safer letting your child bike on her own. In terms of logistics, you just invest in some gear (like panniers) to hold clothes etc. And often times biking is as fast or faster than driving, or you just build in an extra 15 mins. For example my bike commute downtown from the Hill is about only 5 minutes slower than driving and about 20 minutes faster than metro. [/quote]

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