I hope there will be some traffic for this post. I want to get some feedback on a couple questions I asked in the last post. Specifically, please leave a comment and answer the following:
1) Does your employer offer any incentive (formal or otherwise) to use alternate forms of transportation, whether it's bicycle, carpool, Public Transport system, etc.?
2) What sort of incentive would it take to get you to ride your bicycle to work or on errands?
3) If there were safe places to leave your bike while you shopped/ate/socialized in public areas, would you consider using your bike?
4) When gas reaches $5/gallon, will you look for alternative means to get from point A to B, C, D and beyond on a daily basis?
5) If you live in High Point, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, or surrounding townships, what can the Triad area planners do THIS YEAR that would make you favor the bicycle over your car for short errands?
I'll post my thoughts in the first comment just to get us started.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
What do you do when it costs $100 for every fillup?
This morning I filled up my personal vehicle. It has a 28 gallon tank. Would you believe $94 to get me around 310 miles? Yep, that's my truck. I suspect that's par for many people out there driving nice big quad cab trucks, giant SUV's, and miniVans. Looks like time for a change.
I'm looking at a map of High Point, NC, and envisioning three concentric circles drawn on it: green; yellow; red. Each circle represents a distance from my house: green is a 5-mile radius; yellow is a 10-mile radius; and red is a 15-mile radius. What do I see inside these zones? First of all, I see about 90% of all the places I go in a typical month live inside these three zones. Secondly, I see the highest concentration of "points of my interest" live in the green zone. There's my post office, my Food Lion, my Harris Teeter, Starbucks ( for my wife,) my kids' daycare/school, Oak Hollow Mall, two Goodwill stores, about 15 of my favorite restaurants, a drugstore, movie theaters, bars, Bruster's, 3 Parks, my church, and about half of my family friends. So like many Americans, judging by the statistics one reads, I'm pretty average in that most of my trips are under 4 miles. Let's look at a sampling of each zone.
The green zone is the easy zone; it's a 5-mile radius of my house. Anyone can ride five miles. I can ride five miles in about 18-20 minutes, leisurely. So I could easily make my trips to the grocery store, to the movies - on rare occasions, to the drugstore, my favorite eateries and to my friends' homes. So why don't I? Even though I've got one of the most comfortable and fun bikes ever made, the Rans Street? It's because I can't quite carry stuff that rides around in the back seat area of my truck. Notwithstanding the two kids, many things I would either carry with me, or would bring back with me simply don't fit in my backpack or rear trunk bag on the rack of my bike. So while my trips are easily completed on the bike, the object of my trips are largely unattainable with the current gear. Maybe it's time to change the vehicle. The green zone should be 90% bicycle use.
The Yellow zone is a 10-mile radius. This zone contains my workplace, and a few dozen more places I like to eat. I think it also contains the SuperWalmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Babies R Us, Target, Pet Smart and maybe some more theaters and drugstores. It certainly contains a large portion of the city of High Point, and a large chunk of Greensboro. Ten miles on a bike is easily doable, I ride that and more every time I go out for a recreational ride on the Bicentennial Greenway near my house. So what keeps me from riding to work, or any of the other places listed. I'd be a little sweaty, although I could carry the things I need for work. It would take me about 45 minutes ride the 10 miles to work very leisurely, which is almost half of the mileage on the Greenway and the other half on mildly used roads. Alternatively, there's a nice path straight to my work that is actually 8 miles, but it's called US68/Eastchester and I'd share the space with nearly 300,000 people, each wearing a multi-ton vehicle and not being terribly skilled at driving with cyclists. So even though there's an alternate route that's not much further and perhaps 100 times safer, I still don't ride the bike. What's wrong with me? This zone could be at least 50% bicycle use.
The red zone is a 15-mile radius. Again, I typically ride more than that when I go out for a recreational ride, and all the charity rides are more than that. It's doable. I don't really have much need for things out this far, but even so, it's not too far to ride. This zone coud be a 50% bicycle use as well.
My other trips outside the red zone would be poor choices for the bike, like a family vacation to VA, or to the beach. I wouldn't attempt that presently with two small kids. So I'll say outside the red zone is 0% bike.
Gotta go right now, but until my return, think about a map of your area, consider the three zones, and what is within them. Why don't you ride the bike more? What would it take to get you to ride the bike more? Safer routes? Better equipped vehicle to carry stuff? Free drinks when you arrive at the destination? A $5 bill in your hand when you get there?
We'll explore these prizes later.
I'm looking at a map of High Point, NC, and envisioning three concentric circles drawn on it: green; yellow; red. Each circle represents a distance from my house: green is a 5-mile radius; yellow is a 10-mile radius; and red is a 15-mile radius. What do I see inside these zones? First of all, I see about 90% of all the places I go in a typical month live inside these three zones. Secondly, I see the highest concentration of "points of my interest" live in the green zone. There's my post office, my Food Lion, my Harris Teeter, Starbucks ( for my wife,) my kids' daycare/school, Oak Hollow Mall, two Goodwill stores, about 15 of my favorite restaurants, a drugstore, movie theaters, bars, Bruster's, 3 Parks, my church, and about half of my family friends. So like many Americans, judging by the statistics one reads, I'm pretty average in that most of my trips are under 4 miles. Let's look at a sampling of each zone.
The green zone is the easy zone; it's a 5-mile radius of my house. Anyone can ride five miles. I can ride five miles in about 18-20 minutes, leisurely. So I could easily make my trips to the grocery store, to the movies - on rare occasions, to the drugstore, my favorite eateries and to my friends' homes. So why don't I? Even though I've got one of the most comfortable and fun bikes ever made, the Rans Street? It's because I can't quite carry stuff that rides around in the back seat area of my truck. Notwithstanding the two kids, many things I would either carry with me, or would bring back with me simply don't fit in my backpack or rear trunk bag on the rack of my bike. So while my trips are easily completed on the bike, the object of my trips are largely unattainable with the current gear. Maybe it's time to change the vehicle. The green zone should be 90% bicycle use.
The Yellow zone is a 10-mile radius. This zone contains my workplace, and a few dozen more places I like to eat. I think it also contains the SuperWalmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Babies R Us, Target, Pet Smart and maybe some more theaters and drugstores. It certainly contains a large portion of the city of High Point, and a large chunk of Greensboro. Ten miles on a bike is easily doable, I ride that and more every time I go out for a recreational ride on the Bicentennial Greenway near my house. So what keeps me from riding to work, or any of the other places listed. I'd be a little sweaty, although I could carry the things I need for work. It would take me about 45 minutes ride the 10 miles to work very leisurely, which is almost half of the mileage on the Greenway and the other half on mildly used roads. Alternatively, there's a nice path straight to my work that is actually 8 miles, but it's called US68/Eastchester and I'd share the space with nearly 300,000 people, each wearing a multi-ton vehicle and not being terribly skilled at driving with cyclists. So even though there's an alternate route that's not much further and perhaps 100 times safer, I still don't ride the bike. What's wrong with me? This zone could be at least 50% bicycle use.
The red zone is a 15-mile radius. Again, I typically ride more than that when I go out for a recreational ride, and all the charity rides are more than that. It's doable. I don't really have much need for things out this far, but even so, it's not too far to ride. This zone coud be a 50% bicycle use as well.
My other trips outside the red zone would be poor choices for the bike, like a family vacation to VA, or to the beach. I wouldn't attempt that presently with two small kids. So I'll say outside the red zone is 0% bike.
Gotta go right now, but until my return, think about a map of your area, consider the three zones, and what is within them. Why don't you ride the bike more? What would it take to get you to ride the bike more? Safer routes? Better equipped vehicle to carry stuff? Free drinks when you arrive at the destination? A $5 bill in your hand when you get there?
We'll explore these prizes later.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Myrtle Beach, SC not too bicycle friendly, surprise
Been on vacation for a week or so, and getting back to "normal" after several days of chores and several hundred emails from work.
I spent a week in Myrtle Beach, SC and looked into renting a bike with a trail-a-bike for my son so we could spend some time exploring the area. Bad idea. The place we stayed was near the new Hard Rock Park, and frankly cars are not optional in that area. The only way to get to a place to buy food or drinks or stuff necessary for a few days w/ a baby is via a car. We had to traverse a four-lane bridge to get over the Intercoastal Waterway, then an interchange of the two largest roads in the area, US501 and 17. Everything under the sun was within 4.5 miles of our place; however there were about a million cars driven by people unfamiliar with the area and therefore very eratic in their driving. We saw more cyclists than I would have imagined, given the battle conditions of getting around. In and around the "Broadway at the Beach" area, I saw dozens of people riding bikes. They were mostly young teens using the bikes to get around without cars, but only in that specific area. They must live on the opposite side from where we had come. Also, I found a good number of folks riding along the main drag right off the beach, 17 business. Of course, they mainly rode up and down the sidewalk from shop to shop and to the public beach access. I noted most of them carried nothing, and had no provisions on the bikes for carrying anything, not even a drink. One would think if you were heading out for the day at the beach you might carry some kind of bag with a few items, or even a towel. Not so with people I watched. They usually only had a hat and presumably money to buy snacks or play putt-putt.
While I watched the few cyclists going up and down the main street, I was struck by the epiphany that one could certainly leave the house and be gone all day and carry the typical tourist kit with them on a cargo bike, like the Yuba Mundo or any bike modified w/ the xtracycle conversion. Seems to me the condo/house/resort rental places there could do their clients a great service by providing a cargo bike for their use while at the beach. Obviously, there are places, like where I stayed, that aren't very conducive to riding, but down closer to the actual beach, there's lots of places within an easy ride, and it's flat as a pancake there. I'm pretty sure I could carry the requisite cooler of beverages, sun screen, folding chair and baby tent, towels and a host of sand excavating equipment on a yuba or xtracycled beach cruiser. Even an umbrella for shade seems doable. So why don't the bike rental folks get on the cargo bike train? Is it money for the initial outlay? Are they afraid the harsh conditions of the sand/salt/rain and renters would destroy their fleet before they are paid for? Maybe they just don't know about such bicycles.
I will say that the place we stayed did offer bikes to rent. There were about 10 Sun bicycles, single-speed cruiser types, with torn seats and rusted seatposts lying on and around an old bike rack. In addition there were about a dozen Next 20 inchers scattered about nearby. Unfortunately, the property was less than 5 acres, was bounded on one side by the Intercoastal Waterway, and on two other sides by roads leading to the Hard Rock Park, which were quite busy, with no markings for bike lanes, or even sidewalks - where most Beach cyclists seemed to ride. The last side of the property was adjacent to a lonesome road leading away from a defunct outlet mall, curving back into what looked like a questionable residential area. It was not a ride I would have taken my kids on, even if the resort had any provisions to carry them along in their rental fleet, which they did not.
I suppose overall I was disappointed in the rideability of the area. It was not at all like the bicycle-friendly Hilton Head, SC area. Again, even an area rife with bicycle lanes and separate paths and with nearly a hundred rental shops to choose from, not one bike I've seen there had anything more than a basket on the front with which to carry things. While Hilton Head is far more bicyle-friendly, it's got room to grow as well.
If you know of a nice bicycle-friendly destination for a family vacation, by all means leave a comment. I'd love to explore it!
I spent a week in Myrtle Beach, SC and looked into renting a bike with a trail-a-bike for my son so we could spend some time exploring the area. Bad idea. The place we stayed was near the new Hard Rock Park, and frankly cars are not optional in that area. The only way to get to a place to buy food or drinks or stuff necessary for a few days w/ a baby is via a car. We had to traverse a four-lane bridge to get over the Intercoastal Waterway, then an interchange of the two largest roads in the area, US501 and 17. Everything under the sun was within 4.5 miles of our place; however there were about a million cars driven by people unfamiliar with the area and therefore very eratic in their driving. We saw more cyclists than I would have imagined, given the battle conditions of getting around. In and around the "Broadway at the Beach" area, I saw dozens of people riding bikes. They were mostly young teens using the bikes to get around without cars, but only in that specific area. They must live on the opposite side from where we had come. Also, I found a good number of folks riding along the main drag right off the beach, 17 business. Of course, they mainly rode up and down the sidewalk from shop to shop and to the public beach access. I noted most of them carried nothing, and had no provisions on the bikes for carrying anything, not even a drink. One would think if you were heading out for the day at the beach you might carry some kind of bag with a few items, or even a towel. Not so with people I watched. They usually only had a hat and presumably money to buy snacks or play putt-putt.
While I watched the few cyclists going up and down the main street, I was struck by the epiphany that one could certainly leave the house and be gone all day and carry the typical tourist kit with them on a cargo bike, like the Yuba Mundo or any bike modified w/ the xtracycle conversion. Seems to me the condo/house/resort rental places there could do their clients a great service by providing a cargo bike for their use while at the beach. Obviously, there are places, like where I stayed, that aren't very conducive to riding, but down closer to the actual beach, there's lots of places within an easy ride, and it's flat as a pancake there. I'm pretty sure I could carry the requisite cooler of beverages, sun screen, folding chair and baby tent, towels and a host of sand excavating equipment on a yuba or xtracycled beach cruiser. Even an umbrella for shade seems doable. So why don't the bike rental folks get on the cargo bike train? Is it money for the initial outlay? Are they afraid the harsh conditions of the sand/salt/rain and renters would destroy their fleet before they are paid for? Maybe they just don't know about such bicycles.
I will say that the place we stayed did offer bikes to rent. There were about 10 Sun bicycles, single-speed cruiser types, with torn seats and rusted seatposts lying on and around an old bike rack. In addition there were about a dozen Next 20 inchers scattered about nearby. Unfortunately, the property was less than 5 acres, was bounded on one side by the Intercoastal Waterway, and on two other sides by roads leading to the Hard Rock Park, which were quite busy, with no markings for bike lanes, or even sidewalks - where most Beach cyclists seemed to ride. The last side of the property was adjacent to a lonesome road leading away from a defunct outlet mall, curving back into what looked like a questionable residential area. It was not a ride I would have taken my kids on, even if the resort had any provisions to carry them along in their rental fleet, which they did not.
I suppose overall I was disappointed in the rideability of the area. It was not at all like the bicycle-friendly Hilton Head, SC area. Again, even an area rife with bicycle lanes and separate paths and with nearly a hundred rental shops to choose from, not one bike I've seen there had anything more than a basket on the front with which to carry things. While Hilton Head is far more bicyle-friendly, it's got room to grow as well.
If you know of a nice bicycle-friendly destination for a family vacation, by all means leave a comment. I'd love to explore it!
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