wipekitty

What's your favorite (car-free) way to get around? Do you have a favorite bicycle or style of bike? Maybe a great transit system, or an e-bike, or scooter? Maybe walking is your thing.

Tell us all about your favorite ways to get around!

Mobile 155

It used to be my road bike if I was heading for any hills. My Klein with TT bars for long flat ride. My Peugeot for a coffee shop run and my MTB for exploring, going to the store and in the dirt. However I am being converted to E-bikes slowly but surely. As I get older those long climbs take more out of the legs and a battery and motor can put some life back in them.

Machka 

Probably my favourite method of car free utility transportation is walking. I'm fortunate to work in a part of the city where I can walk most places I need to go fairly quickly and easily ... even visiting Rowan in hospital when he was there. It's also convenient because I don't have to do anything with my bicycle when I get where I'm going. I can just walk right in. And I like walking.

Jim from Boston

Your favorite (car free) way to get around

Quote:

Originally Posted by wipekitty

What's your favorite (car-free) way to get around? Do you have a favorite bicycle or style of bike? Maybe a great transit system, or an e-bike, or scooter? Maybe walking is your thing.

Tell us all about your favorite ways to get around!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Machka

Probably my favourite method of car free utility transportation is walking. I'm fortunate to work in a part of the city where I can walk most places I need to go fairly quickly and easily ... even visiting Rowan in hospital when he was there.

It's also convenient because I don't have to do anything with my bicycle when I get where I'm going. I can just walk right in. And I like walking.

Just a few minutes ago I posted to this thread of yours,"Is living car free commmon where you are?":Boston has been recognized as one of America’s most walkable cities, and for short distances, walking is very practical. However, I sustained a fractured sacrum from a cycling accident a few years ago, and walking can be uncomfortable. For any distances of more than about 100 yards or so, I actually use two canes.

Nonetheless, I walk, and even have a weekly Sunday morning perambulation of a couple of miles through our neighborhood.
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Bicycling is my favorite commuting modality, and luckily, cycling does not aggravate my injury, as does walking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

And I have equally pleasant driving and mass transit alternatives…Sometime ago I tried to schematically diagram the comparisons between my three transportation modes:….

Overall Satisfaction:
BIKE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>TRAIN>>>CAR

Intensity of Focus:
BIKE>>>CAR>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>TRAIN

Convenience:
CAR>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>BIKE>>TRAIN

As @Machka noted, when walking one does not have to worry about stashing the bike, for example when running errands

wipekitty

Since I didn't post here yet...

I'm partial to single speed road bikes for getting around. In my 20s and early 30s, I rode fixed, but now I mostly use a freewheel. I like the simplicity of not having to fiddle around with derailleurs - it allows me to be a bit lazy with my transpo bike. Sometimes I walk, though my significant other is a bigger fan of walking than I am (I'm a bit lazy and like my wheels.)

I was a big fan of Denver's RTD transit system when I lived there, especially for longer distance journeys (my commute was, at one point, 35 miles each way). The regional buses were nice and plush - great for getting work done or taking a relaxing nap - and had plenty of room to transport bicycles!

Back in college, I did a lot of rollerblading for transportation. I'd be afraid to try that now.

reppans

tandempower

If I have the time, I like to walk/hike for hours. It's like meditation while getting exercise. I also like to bike for hours, but it's riskier because if something breaks you may have to walk the bike home and if you're 10+ miles from home when it happens, you could be walking for 5+ hours. Walking/hiking in the shade of the canopy is good in all temperatures and seasons, but if I am going somewhere in the city with insufficient shade, I try to wait as late as possible and walk back after dark if necessary. It's cooler then anyway.

350htrr

I prefer my E-Assisted bike for pretty well ALL of my car free getting around... 1/2 the sweat, 2X the speed...

Machka 

The bus system is my current second favourite way to get around. I wish it were a train rather than a bus because I prefer trains to buses, but it is what it is, and they are actually going through and replacing a lot of the buses so once or twice a week, we get a nice new one or a big articulated one.

I'm finding it interesting, in a passing, casual interest way that the older buses had a lot of seating, and there are still a few of those in the system. I like them because I'm almost guaranteed to get a seat to myself.

But then, they brought on a set of buses a number of years ago which seemed to be half storage and half seating. People end up standing in or next to the storage areas, and all the seats are full because there are so few.

Now, the newest buses seem to have returned to the many seats, smaller storage area setup ... and that's good.

cooker

For recreation, before I got a dog I did more biking for exercise but now I go for longer walks. I keep thinking I might start running again and she could easily handle that. For work commuting, bike is my favorite mode. Either my tour bike or Bike Friday, with a similar non-aggressive road bike set up, eg. drop bars at seat height, medium width slick tires. For shopping and local errands most destinations are too close to make it worthwhile to bike to, or easily accessible by transit, so I use a mix of walking and bus/subway. I enjoy all of the above.

Sir Lunch-a-lot

If it is not super busy, I quite enjoy taking the LRT through the downtown. There's just something about going for a train ride now and again...

I bought an old CCM with Coaster Hub a couple of years back, intending to upgrade it to modern parts. Fortunately, I came to my senses and simply overhauled what was already there. For short rides close to home, that thing is quite fun to ride - something I did not expect at all.

Am I right in thinking that is a handle (in the museum picture) for dragging the folded bike around like luggage? If so, that is AWESOME!

indyfabz

Depends on what I am doing, where I am going and who I am with. So sometimes it's walking, possibly with a public transport component. (E.g., bus to the movies, then walk to dinner and back home.) If I have a lot of stops to make, I like walking better since I don't have to lock up the bike at each stop. But I will ride if the ground I have to cover makes walking impractical from a time standpoint. Sometimes it's riding. Ultimately, I think "car last" nearly all the time. An exception is when I know starting out that the task isn't bike or ped friendly, such as picking up 105 lbs. of kitty litter for myself and a friend.

I-Like-To-Bike

I know from your other posts on BF that you have a very nice and expensive custom made bike. Do you use another bike for your trips around the Philadelphia area that require locking up the bike out of sight?

indyfabz

I use my Surly LHT to commute/get around. I never lock it up out of sight. I would rather have foot traffic.

wipekitty

Ha...I did that once ('once' is the key word) with my bike trailer. It was quite the workout

fietsbob

a lift, a little help from my friends..

reppans