thehum

I go to Boston University, whose campus is a mile long long stretch of a single city street. For the past year i've lived in a dorm on the edge of the mile stretch and biked almost half a mile to class every single day. This year I was shafted for the housing lottery this year but scored a spacious single on the complete opposite edge of campus just as far away from class. Friends think I'm an idiot for not doing "summer swap" to get a dorm room closer to class but I always smile and tell them I have a bike and need to use it, so I'd actually rather live farther from class. My part time job is only two miles away so I bike there every other day during the semester.

My other options include, taking the T railcar, the BU shuttle bus (both of which run along our campus), or walking. Last year walking to class took around 20 minutes, while the BU shuttle ran every half-hour and took 10 minutes. The T also took about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, biking only took 4-7 minutes, and my favorite part about biking was getting places quicker than any other form of short distance commuting means every non-biker used on campus and having fun while doing it. Standing in a crowded T is not fun. Neither is walking outside for 20 minutes in 20 degree weather.

In Boston, as in any large city, theft is a huge problem, and any college campus in boston is a gold mine for bike thieves. I use two locks (OnGuard U-Lock and Cable Lock) to secure everything on my bike and take my seat with me when I leave it outside and havn't had anything stolen. I've had friends with bikes stolen but only for silly newbie mistakes (leaving bike outside unlocked while moving into his apartment, leaving bike locked with hardware store chain and padlock overnight outside student union). Fortunately the BUPD has free bike registration in case of bike theft and recovery and encourages students to only use the Kryptonite Fugghedaboutit lock.

Of course, my 1/2-2 mile commute is paltry compared to most of your's, but it sure beats my other options.

PLyTheMan

How's that new bike lane holding up? I rode it about a week after they opened it and dodged 2 double parked cars and after 3 minutes of riding I ran out of lane!! All cynicism aside it is good to see Boston trying to build up some bike infrastructure.

I'm going to start school at U Lowell in two weeks and it's going to be about 10 miles each way, mostly down a semi busy road. Mixing it up with the 9-5 commuters should be fun when I pass the highway on/off ramps. Hilly in both directions, though the worst hill to climb is on the way back for when I'm good and tired already. For the past month or so I've been doing ~12mi roundtrip 5 days a week to work and some 30mi rides on the weekends so I'm feeling fit and pumped to be logging ~100mi a week now. Don't care too much about the rain, but the snow is going to be interesting...

Slightly off topic but, what do you guys do about footwear when it rains? I've only been caught in one serious downpour but my shoes were soaked right through the next day.

Pax

Staff at a University and my commute is a couple of miles each way. Parking a car costs $7 a day or $40 a month at a lot that's a mile from work...riding my bike just makes sense. And we have a TON of bike parking right at the door.

nd2010

32 miles each way commute on a major thoroughfare for 30 miles and local streets for the remaining 2. I try to bike the entire distance as much as possible this summer. Some days I take the train part of the way, and when I have to stay really late or go really early, I take my cage. During the school year, I live on campus so I don't have that crazy commute. It takes about 2 hours each way. Driving takes at least an hour each way because traffic and parking suck, and driving or biking to the train station and taking the train takes anytime between an hour to 2 hours depending when I get a connection. I lost over 30 pounds this summer. My road bike has paid for itself in car depreciation and $4/gallon gas savings.

uke

Yesterday I went back and forth from campus three times, for a total of about 12 miles. The last trip contained at least 15lbs worth of books. Fortunately, I only made two trips today. Since my classes are distributed throughout the day, I'll typically make two on an average day. I don't do it to save gas; I do it because it's fun. Still, if each trip would run me about a dollar's worth, then I've already saved around $5 this week. If it rains later this week, though, I'll probably have to take the car. That's going to be tricky because I don't have a parking sticker yet, which means I'll be at the mercy of empty roads...

jasonpraxis

Not only students, but postdocs, adjuncts, staff, and contract workers. Blue Collar Mountain Biking is on the right track, but doesn't (yet) have the user numbers that we idealists dream of.

Year 'round I ride in Adidas Sambas. I keep a pair of dress shoes in my desk with a couple of pair of socks.

Good to hear that you have free registration. That seems like a program that needs to be advocated for (as opposed to bike racks, which schools build when they're tired of cutting bikes off of lampposts), is there a strong cycling advocacy group at BU? Or does it blend into the city culture?

wjonb

Starting Monday my commute will be 18 miles round trip. I'll be carrying my laptop in a messenger bag; books, food, and a change of clothes in panniers. My university has gym lockers to rent for $15 a semester and that will keep a stock of toiletries, shoes and undergarments (should I be excessively groggy in the a.m.). My only concern this winter will be the weather wear on the bike. For the last six months I have commuted to work and have only concerned myself with tire pressure and a clean lubed chain. My maintenance schedule may have to be altered. Any suggestions?

troubleclef5

I am ready to begin my commute this fall! I'll be riding about 4 miles to the bus, then another 4 to campus, both ways. Have been driving, it's about 35 miles each way, so I'll be saving quite a bit of money, and staying in shape during a busy semester in the process! I've made the trip a few times just to be sure the bike/bus combo will work, and so far so good. I live in a great biking town, and the public transportation is doing well keeping up. Easy to use bike racks on the front of the buses.

As far as theft goes, I'm not sure what to expect. I haven't lived on campus at this school, and this is my first semester with a bike, so I plan on being overly careful. I'll be using a kryptonite u-lock, possibly with a cable combo, and taking either the seat or the wheel in with me. There is a locked room where I can keep my gear, so I won't have to carry it around with me. Thought about bringing the bike in with me, but I'd have to go up a few too many stairs for comfort.

I'm trying to figure out how to get my books off my back though! It'll be hot well into the semester, and I'm tired of the sweaty back. I'm looking at getting a rack with some sort of pannier to carry books. I'd like something that can convert to a backpack or messenger bag easily, but can't really afford something like Arkel's Commuter or Bug. Any suggestions?

senorverde

I recently graduated, but I commuted by bike probably 90% of the time to grad school while I was doing my MS degree. Since I was doing research in a lab, I had some office space so it was pretty much like commuting to a 9-5 job. I was lucky, 4 miles each way and there was a free bus run by the school a mile walk from my apartment. I could also drive and buy a temporary parking permit for $4 a day, and I had some classmates that lived in my neighborhood to carpool with. Lots of good alternatives if I couldn't ride.

I rode year-round, through the Rochester snow and salt, it was a lot of fun. I just used a backpack to carry stuff (couldn't afford rack/panniers at that point) and I stuck my bike in an unused lab. Again, since I was only doing research this was basically like commuting to a job. I pretty much just had to bring in a lunch each day, most of my books/papers/lab notes stayed in my office at school. Parking is expensive, limited, and remote, and I didn't want to put extra wear on my aging car so cycling was definitely the best option. 10 minute drive + 10 minute walk from the parking lot vs. 15-20 minute bike ride is really a no-brainer. Saved money, saved gas, saved wear and tear on my car and the environment, and lost 15 pounds.

spaceballs

Starting my 2nd year in grad school next week and I started riding again this summer. I am just going to sweat. Shower would be nice, but the facilities are across campus.

Hopefully Dallas will cool down in the next six months or so. About nine miles round trip and it doesn't take much longer than driving.

thehum

The new bike lanes IMO are a good first(albeit weak) step to make the campus bike-friendly. For one, it's narrow, and either right up against the curb or parked cars smack in door-zone central. Second, as an unintended consequence, cars do feel like they can drive faster now that there's a dedicated bike lane, which is especially bad because Comm ave is narrow to begin with. With narrow bike lanes sandwiched between parked cars and moving traffic, bikers are definately going to have to stray from the bike lane like you did to avoid hazards, which could be even more dangerous now.

Perhaps the only good I've found from the bike lanes is in the two hell intersections that join West Campus and East Campus. The first is this one:



Now there's a bike lane that starts just after that green light exactly where the yellow google line is. This is great because if I'm on a bike at this intersecion and need to go straight a lot of cars at this intersection on my left such as that minivan may have to turn right at the next big intersection and many cars and bikers find themselves in a dangerous situation when bikers are going straight and cars need to cross over to make the next right turn. With the bike lane cars should now know bikers have the right of way to head straight first before they switch to the right-turning lane.

Sadly, the same situation exists at that next intersection but coming from the other direction. Except now One out of the Four sides that cars enter the intersection from is a stop sign while all the others are lights, which leads to traffic jams every day during rush hour without fail. The new bike lanes helps here the same way as in the last intersection.


here's the next intersection from the POV of the side with a stop sign(when this photo was taken the stop sign wasn't even there due to construction.)

It's summer now and the campus is eerily empty and I still feel unsafe riding in the bike lane. I can only imagine what it'll be like in two weeks when the school year starts. Even with all my complaints, the bike lanes, which were part of a BU campus "beautification" project that also included plating hundreds of new trees on along Comm ave sidewalks, are a good step in the right direction. Sadly, the congestion due to construction did cause a bunch of collistions last year. I guess we'll see if the project helped at all this year. IMO, BU should spend less money "appearing" to be bike friendly and offer things like better placed updated bike racks with covers or "defensive biking in the city" seminars, etc.

As for me, I'll use the bike lane when I need to but won't hesitate to hog a car lane if in the "door-zone." And as a side note, I use the esplanade, a wonderful carless walk/bike path along the charles river to commute to work.

apree

I will be commuting from Sacramento to UC Davis starting in September. It is about 16 miles each way, mostly a bike lane or a bike path, with just a small portion on a rural road without sidewalks or bike lanes.

I rode it once on my one-speed cruiser, but haven't tried it yet on my new Marin Belvedere. My boyfriend has been riding his bike to summer school regularly, and we're going to be riding to school together this fall. The Amtrak is only $4 a ride if you buy a 10-ride ticket, so that is going to be our backup in case it is rainy or whatever.

I'm currently shopping for pannier bags or some other system to hold my stuff. I get extremely sweaty so my plan is to bring clothes to change into and take a shower in the locker room once I arrive at school. I hope that will work!

uke

Aah, I remember Commonwealth Ave. Part of me misses Boston, but I don't miss living in a less congested city. I definitely feel more comfortable riding here than I would have in C/B, had I had a bike there.

YULitle

I bike to school. It's about 11-12 miles from where I live down a two-lane highway with a nice broad shoulder. It's only slightly hilly and over all uphill on the way there. I try to go three days a week, of the five that I have classes. I could take my car, but riding is a bit more fun. I haven't been able to recently as my wife took it up and now I have to find equipment so that we both can. I'm looking forward to being able to start again after labor day.

There isn't a theft problem that I've seen. I haven't had anything of mine stolen.

The best part of riding to school is the weather. It's pretty good. That and I feel more focused after a decent ride.

lil brown bat

Some bike infrastructure would be great, but that ain't it. The lane is, as you've noted, only for a few blocks; it's full of sewer grates; there are long stretches of no-parking zones beside it where people park with impunity, and others where they just double-park right in the lane. It was a stupid, stupid idea.

Wiggle

I used to have a 25 minute walk to school, I look forward to during that into a sub-10 minute bike ride

geetlord

I also commute to grad school in Ann Arbor daily about 12 miles round trip. Last year was my first year living up here after moving from Florida and I was able to ride all winter with no real problems, granted I felt safer riding a bike in the snow than I did driving my car in it.

I really like how well riding to class lets me wake up and I can stay much more focused in classes.

dr_bovine

Couldn't agree more. I completely ignore the lane going over the Pike in either direction because it is dangerously in the wrong place (especially westbound, which is essentially lines guiding you to your likely death). Gotta love the new pavement though.

BU actually has a few heated, locked bike rooms on campus, which is nice ... but I think they are only available to staff/grad students. Now if they would only fix the shower in my building ...

thebeard

I go to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A lot of kids started riding this year, and it's a love/hate situation for me. I'm really glad that a lot more people are doing it, but at the same time, I'm not. There is hardly any room to park. Most of the racks are filled up with department store/garage-fodder mountain bikes. Lincoln is a pretty bike-friendly city, but sometimes I almost die going down the sidewalks I have to go down due to the one-way, the opposite way, streets. I always have to bail in the grass and my little 700c's don't really like all the hidden bumps.

Also, I don't think all these new freshmen have heard an "on your left" or a bicycle bell before.

Other than that, I have a really easy commute. I have to be at two different campuses, but I live almost directly between them. I think downtown campus, at least to the teacher buildings, is just over a mile (12 city blocks). East Campus, to my east, is roughly a mile and a half to two miles.

Easy.

Max

Aeneas

PhD Candidate riding 5.4 miles each way to campus. Started this summer when gas prices skyrocketed and to get some much needed exercise. AFAIK, theft is a minor problem on campus, mostly because it is Long Island and there's not much in the way of bicycle-friendly infrastructure around. Most people on bikes are kids pedaling toys and low income people pedaling adult sized toys. There are some decent bike racks around campus, and some really crappy ones, the U is working to replace some of the worst. What I do anticipate is that come Tuesday (or whenever the first day of classes is) I'll have to get more assertive about filtering at the couple traffic lights approaching campus.
When not commuting by bike, I generally drive and park in a rather distant lot (free) and walk to my building. Generally I enjoy the walk, but it takes about the same amount of time to drive, park and walk as it does to ride. I'm not sure what the winter will hold for me... generally winter doesn't really kick in on Long Island until mid December, so other than some upgraded lights, I am not sure what I'll need for safe riding this fall.
I've found that since I'm in lab most of the day, and a computer is provided, I don't have to carry all that much. Nonetheless, I prefer the pannier route to the messenger bag route for the conveyance of my essentials. Typically I carry all the requisites, plus a shirt. Deodorant and some shoes stay at my desk.
I'm hoping to get some wrench time with the Campus Bicycle Cooperative this fall, but that will depend on how my thesis research and writing progresses.

wils0nic

I want to give Boston/Cambridge a shot later this fall or spring, albeit commuting to school and not college. I'll probably just have books and stuff, nothing else.

Tom Stormcrowe

I'm commuting to and around campus by bike this year. 5.2 miles in and another 3 or 4 miles around and 5.2 home. Commuting on Purdue campus is a bit of an adventure. I'm not sure which are worse, the oblivious drivers or the oblivious pedestrians. Tomorrow, I have a 10 minute break to make it across campus from one class to another and I have to fly to do it. I'm getting pretty good at dodging meat pylons and cars with Fraternity plates.

Thisisit

I feel like I've replied to this before, perhaps a similar thread.

Undergrad, 3rd year at Brock University. 8km each way, I take a scenic route typically. Roads are good except the winter. Some bike lanes, some one ways, no roads with above a 60km/h speed limit. A decent climb up the Niagara Escarpment just before campus wakes me up in the morning.

Don't see too many other commuters, just fair-weathers and those who live very close. I commute through the winter, but am lucky that I'll be heading to New Zealand the 3rd of January and avoid most of the Canadian snow.

Ride a fixed gear conversion 90% of the time. Occasionally I'll take my roadbike, Specialized Allez, if the weather is nice and I want to go really fast. And I may ride my Surly Long Haul Trucker a few times this year since it was just completed.

Tom Stormcrowe

This is my <10 minute dash I have to make,through the throng:



It's interesting, to say the least!

BBnet3000

im currently commuting to class, i live off campus in Albany, NY.

2.5 miles each way i think according to my GFs bike computer. takes like 15 minutes.

i ride a mountain bike and most of my commute i stick to the sidewalk. bikes seem to be half and half on the sidewalk and the street for the router i take (along a main road, some of it has a decently wide right lane to have a bike on it, some of it doesnt). not a great city for bikes.

i go back after each class unless i have another in a row, so on monday/wednesday i ride 15 miles total and tuesday/thursday i ride 5 miles total, and friday 10 miles. (over the summer i was riding quite a bit for leisure after work, now that school has started i think the leisure riding is going to be only on weekends)

the winter will be the real test, im going to end up buying a balaclava i think, i will see if i can pull it off. (we have bitterly cold blowing wind all winter here)

also i just started this week, i was planning to drive whenever it rains, but parking is such a pain in the ass im thinking of looking into some rain gear