So, how do you roll?

[William]

Just setting up an informal unscientific poll to get an idea of the car/bike ratio of the forum. So, how do you roll?






W.

[cp43]

Just setting up an informal unscientific poll to get an idea of the car/bike ratio of the forum. So, how do you roll?






W.

Not sure I understand the question....

How often do I ride vs drive? Not as often as I'd like.
How many cars do I own vs bikes? 1 car, ~12 bikes. (and one moto)

:)

edit -- it wasn't a poll when I first replied. Voting now. :)

[Spaghetti Legs]

I answered with first option as I work in a different town than I live in but I use my bike for running local errands as well.

[JAGI410]

Own 3 cars, work from home, bike whenever I can, drive when I have to.

[p nut]

Own and commute by car, but hope to someday be able to commute via bike.

[David in Maine]

My wife and I have been able to share one car for more than 20 yrs. I commute to work by bike and we have prioritized out housing decisions to keep this possible. Hard to estimate how much money we have saved over the years. Current commute is 5 miles round trip so easy to do even in the cold Maine winters.

David

[gasman]

I think making the poll took longer than to respond 😁

Nicely done William .

[prototoast]

Options 2-4. I work from home most days, but once a week, I go in to the office where I bike to public transit.

[sokyroadie]

Car?? I don't own no stinkin car - Dodge 2500 Diesel quad cab 263,000 miles. I do my part for the environment. :banana:

I have commuted by bike B4 but not possible now. I also live in the boonies, so no mass transportation.

[Red Tornado]

Own and commute by car, ride bike for fun/competition.etc. Used to commute to work by bike 2-3 times per week but employer put the kibosh on that.

[dustyrider]

I own a car and a truck and walk to work. 4ish bikes are for on and off road fun!

[rccardr]

Incomplete scenario.

Retired, own a car, drive more miles on the bike each year than the car.

Done.

[R3awak3n]

Own a car but commute by either subway or bike depends on what I feel like that day.

[cabriggs]

Mainly commute by car but sometimes do a split commute where I drive to a friend/colleague's house and we bike from there. If I biked all the way from home it would be 5 hours commuting round-trip and that's just too much for one day. Doing it this way takes about 3 hours or so including the drive portions.

[Mike V]

Own a vehicle. It get driven maybe 3500 miles a year.
Drive my work provided truck to where I'm working 60k+ a year.

Bicycling is my recreation.

[Steve in SLO]

Car:motorcycle:bike ratio (reduced)
1:1:4

[rain dogs]

No car... thankfully haven't owned a car for soon coming up 20years... recycled it in 2001 never looked back. Goal is 40years bike-only/car-free

Currently walk to work cause it's so close to home, but if we don't walk somewhere, we ride. I miss bike commuting. Only public transit we use regularly is highspeed train.

[oldpotatoe]

Retired as well..nanny 3 days a week..no way to do that without a car..ride for fun..

[jet sanchez]

I commute to work by bike about 95% of the time----pretty good for living in Toronto, our winters can be brutal----my commute is 20kms, round trip.

My wife takes the train to work, walks to the train station.

My wife and I own a car but use it maybe twice a week. It is a good little Toyota Matrix that we have put 30 000kms on in the past 8 years.

We should probably get rid of it and use an uber when we really need a car but we have two young boys and jumping in the car to get to swim class or whatever is pretty easy.

I am hoping that the Matrix lasts another 5 years and then, when the kids are both in school all day, we can go car-free. I was car-free for 8 years and it was just lovely.

[William]

Thank you for participating folks! Just interesting to get a bit of a handle on how many folks own/use vehicles on the forum (of those who responded). Over 90% so far which is not really a surprising number to me. Around 8% of those responding (so far) are car free. I'm sure there are probably a few more that would prefer to be car free but circumstances likely make that hard to do.



Well done!:banana:






W.

[Ozz]

Own car....commute by bus most days (working in Seattle) and carpool with wife when working out of Bellevue office. Need car a couple times per month to meet with clients, then I drive.

I live 10 miles to Seattle office, 2 miles from Bellevue office.

Commuting is a waste of time (imho) so we decided to always live close to work. We are fortunate that we do...

Own 3 cars (mine, my wife's, and car for kids). We put less than 10,000 per year total on all of them

[XXtwindad]

Just setting up an informal unscientific poll to get an idea of the car/bike ratio of the forum. So, how do you roll?






W.

Good idea for a thread. Informative. I put down (since I was limited to once choice, I think) "own car" "commute by public transit" "cycle for recreation."

When I train people in SF, I like to take public transport. Driving in San Francisco is an effin nightmare. I train people in the homes in the East Bay, so that mandates using a car.

[XXtwindad]

No car... thankfully haven't owned a car for soon coming up 20years... recycled it in 2001 never looked back. Goal is 40years bike-only/car-free

Currently walk to work cause it's so close to home, but if we don't walk somewhere, we ride. I miss bike commuting. Only public transit we use regularly is highspeed train.

Damn! Living the dream! Good for you. Quick question, Lawrence. Do you have kids? That's always a factor.

[torquer]

I thought this thread was going to be about unidirectional tires, but that may be because I just installed some GP 5000s which tell you which way to roll.
My own commute starts with 1.5 miles between house and commuter train station.
Walkable, but who has time in the morning?
Bike and car ride take about the same time, maybe bike is faster in the morning (downhill, mostly and parking is easier). Won't be riding in tomorrow, though, with temps in the mid-teens forecast.:eek:

[rain dogs]

Damn! Living the dream! Good for you. Quick question, Lawrence. Do you have kids? That's always a factor.

I don't have kids, and I'm sure that is a factor... however, our good friends have kids and have also been car free for similar time.

I should clarify, I use cars now and again, I just don't own a car. I do have my own opinions re:car usage but.....:no:

One big key was I was a member of a car co-op for nearly a decade, I actually really need a car (van) quite often for work (or in my opinion I do/did) and that was there both personally, but mostly as a business member. I rent sometimes. Same with my buds mentioned above. I still limited usage to about once a week with planning.... maybe less. Here... much less.

I learned long ago, sharing my experiences can really be off-putting to many people... I dunno... but I can say that the amount of times I've problem solved my way out of using a car, cause I just didn't have easy access to one, has surprised even me. Between bike trailers, a little muscle and not being too proud to avoid the unorthadox, most can be done.

I've moved a small fridge on my bicycle :):):)

It's weird. I get in a car and I immediately think "I wish I was on my bike". My butt actually get more sore in car seats than bike seats - true story.

Some day I think I'll need to own a car again... maybe tomorrow, but until then I just love riding my bike so much, for anything.

[SPOKE]

Sales rep for a company that manufactures carbide cutting tools for the machining industry. Cover 3 states so commuting by bicycle just won’t work since most days I cover a 100++ miles. The bicycle is for fitness and fun these days.

[pdonk]

Live downtown work in the suburbs. Could commute by a combo of streetcar and subway with a walk at either end, but drive everyday as I need a car at the office and the public transit option would take nearly 50% longer than driving.

[Octave]

Haven't used a car to commute to work in my life, including when I was a PhD student living 25mi from the lab in Chicago. 90% of the time it was bike commuting, the other 10% was train (when the roads were black ice and blizzards were running the show).

Now I live about 10mi from work, commute by bike 100% of the time. Don't own a car. All errands are done with a bike rack and a backpack. All travel is done by bike or train, usually a combination of the two.

Own and commute by car, ride bike for fun/competition.etc. Used to commute to work by bike 2-3 times per week but employer put the kibosh on that.
Out of curiosity, how did your employer "put the kibosh" on you commuting by bike?

[Red Tornado]

Haven't used a car to commute to work in my life, including when I was a PhD student living 25mi from the lab in Chicago. 90% of the time it was bike commuting, the other 10% was train (when the roads were black ice and blizzards were running the show).

Now I live about 10mi from work, commute by bike 100% of the time. Don't own a car. All errands are done with a bike rack and a backpack. All travel is done by bike or train, usually a combination of the two.


Out of curiosity, how did your employer "put the kibosh" on you commuting by bike?

It wasn't a concerted effort against me personally.
A little background first.... When commuting I entered our building (a manufacturing facility) through our tool room. It had a nice place to store my bike and the guys even cleared out a cabinet drawer for me to store my stuff in during the day and to keep my warm-up pants (not walking thru a heavy mfg shop in, as a few guys put it, "bike panties" lol) in. Changed from bike shoes to sneakers and could take designated walkways to the gym shower without breaking the safety shoe rules.

Early this year the rules were changed. No one allowed outside the office area without long pants. The issue of my situation (entering bldg with bike shorts) and others similar (guys leaving gym/weight room and exiting bldg wearing shorts) were addressed - no longer allowing it. Even visitors are told ahead of time - women cannot wear skirts on the floor. Also there are now no longer walkways where you can go without safety shoes. Step out of the office you have to have safety shoes or covers on. If I enter the building through any door but the front offices, I have to already have safety shoes on.

There's nowhere outside to keep long pants/safety shoes, and I would technically be breaking the rules if walked just a foot inside my normal entrance in cycling gear. I was told there were people around who will report you and discipline would be carried out. Not going to enter through the opposite end of the building (front offices) all sweaty, change in front restroom (plus find a place to store clothes) and walk my bike through the building (no where in front office to keep bike - and no one wants it up there as well).

Not worth my job to break the rules. So I had to say goodbye to an extra 50-75 miles per week.

[PeregrineA1]

We have 5 cars for 2 drivers in our house. Well 2 econo cars-one of which I commute in 3-4 days a week and one that gets driven 2-3 times a week. Bike commute 1-2 days a week as schedule allows. Then we have truck for hauling stuff from the home improvement store/nursery etc. and vacations-we like to explore the west on the back roads and dirt roads. And we have 2 “toys”-a 1974 914/6 and a 1958 VW that has been transformed into a Baja Bug. The bike count is around 24-4 mountain bikes, 1 gravel bike, 2 travel bikes, 2 touring bikes, and a bunch of road bikes. Most cycling is for fun.


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