Does ANYONE on here actually bike/take mass transit to get places?

[samagon]

So I'm not really riding my bike again yet, but still am managing to get to work without the car... I didn't even buy a parking pass this year for UofH. It's a 1.3 mile walk to the Eastwood transit center from my house, so I just hoof it there, and take the UH shuttle in to work. It's fine in the mornings... barely long enough to break a sweat. Afternoons however, that walk home is a total mess.

I've also started my work in downtown again, which is after my daytime work hours, and goes most nights from 7pm-10pm. I'm going to do Metro after work and just take is downtown... which leaves me getting home by either the 36 Lawndale or 40 Telephone. Thankfully, they both run late enough to ge me home after the rehearsals. Even when it cools off, I'm probably not going to take my bike just because I'd be riding home really late, and I don't want to leave my bike out unattended for that long.

Eastwood is an awesome neighborhood, but we need more grocery options. Combat Kroger just doesn't suffice.

Battle Kroger is not an option, but I guess until money comes in, no one will see the potential. different thread though.

As far as leaving your bike unattended, you should talk to someone in the building to see if there are any options to keep the bike inside while at rehearsal, I can't imagine they wouldn't find a way to be accommodating.

I still don't feel terribly safe riding my bike that late at night alone, especially if a train comes and I have to stand there at the railroad crossing and wait. With better lighting I think that will change.

Best of luck with it!

[totheskies]

Battle Kroger is not an option, but I guess until money comes in, no one will see the potential. different thread though.

As far as leaving your bike unattended, you should talk to someone in the building to see if there are any options to keep the bike inside while at rehearsal, I can't imagine they wouldn't find a way to be accommodating.

I still don't feel terribly safe riding my bike that late at night alone, especially if a train comes and I have to stand there at the railroad crossing and wait. With better lighting I think that will change.

Best of luck with it!

Exactly... it's a matter of where I have to go. From downtown, there's no need to wait on the train... just take the Polk underpass. But even with all of the new residents in EaDo, it's still not quite "safe enough" to where I'd want to be riding the bike home at 11pm. The bus is pretty easy though... I've been just waiting at Houston Pavilions which is well lit, and now has a decent crowd of people there at HOB and the bars. That's where I caught the 40 last night to get home.

I miss riding the bike everyday, but I think it's going to need to wait until after the opera finishes, at least for the downtown stuff. I did go ahead and ride it into work today though.

[kylejack]

Totheskies, there are some heavy plastic bike cover things where you can park a bike and lock it up and the bike's not even visible in downtown. They were initially at the library, but got moved during the renovation. I can't quite remember what building they got moved in front of, but that could be an option.

Still doesn't help your riding at 11 situation, of course.

[AtticaFlinch]

Totheskies, there are some heavy plastic bike cover things where you can park a bike and lock it up and the bike's not even visible in downtown. They were initially at the library, but got moved during the renovation. I can't quite remember what building they got moved in front of, but that could be an option.

The building across Louisiana from 2 Shell Plaza has a few of those. I can't remember which building it is.

[gto250us]

The building across Louisiana from 2 Shell Plaza has a few of those. I can't remember which building it is.

That is the city's public works department.

[samagon]

There's a few places throughout Houston with those, the ones that readily come to mind are there, and then also over by the Sabine lofts, where there is additional parking for the theater district.

[rsb320]

The building across Louisiana from 2 Shell Plaza has a few of those. I can't remember which building it is.

That's the old HL&P building. The COH occupies it now.

[house567]

Good story on KUHF about Metro Rail and bicycles this morning.

http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-news-display.php?articles_id=1255121652

[Ms. Pris]

I was car-free in Montrose for more than a decade and it worked very well. But elsewhere I have found it almost impossible! Maybe it would work in downtown?

[kylejack]

I was car-free in Montrose for more than a decade and it worked very well. But elsewhere I have found it almost impossible! Maybe it would work in downtown?

Its working for me in downtown, Main @ Capitol. I ride the train to work in the Med Center and I use my bike for getting groceries and etc.

[musicman]

Eastside works well too. Many around me don't have a car and utilize METRO extensively.

[samagon]

Eastside works well too. Many around me don't have a car and utilize METRO extensively.

and if the university line goes all the way up to the Eastwood transit center, that will be a great connector to increase the car free mobility of the area!

[sargento03]

I recently took the plunge and sold my car... and its working out so far. I'm primarily getting around by biking.

I live in the Fourth Ward, which is just a few blocks west of downtown (bordered by Montrose, Midtown, and Downtown), so I'm pretty much close to a lot of things. Grocery shopping and running errands is no problem.

As far as the sweat factor, I carry a small towel in my backpack, but so far I have rarely sweat (the breeze always cools me down even though it may be warm... ask me in the summer and I may have a different answer!).

For groceries, I have a milk crate that I attach to the back of my bike when I'm going to purchase something. The milk crate (which everyone loves!) actually holds a lot.. I can easily carry a week's worth of groceries.

It is definitely a different lifestyle, but so far I think the benefits are soooo worth it... better health and more money (no gym, no insurance, no gas). For some reason, I always see people I know in the streets, so I'm forced to stop, talk and socialize (never happened when driving by at 45mph!).

I have mixed feelings about Houston METRO system. I'm taking it this week to go to Westchase for a continuing ed class. From my place (near downtown) to Westchase it takes a full hour compared to 20min in the car. That is a bit ridiculous, but on the bright side I am able to catch up on my reading while on the bus so it is not time fully wasted. The hour also includes the time it takes to walk to and from bus stops (which totals a good 25 minutes). I think the main improvements we need in our transit system are increased frequency and increased routes.

BTW, I love Google Maps transit and bike directions, they are life and time saver!

[LTAWACS]

I dont do it now but I would love to.

[ricco67]

I recently took the plunge and sold my car... and its working out so far. I'm primarily getting around by biking.

I live in the Fourth Ward, which is just a few blocks west of downtown (bordered by Montrose, Midtown, and Downtown), so I'm pretty much close to a lot of things. Grocery shopping and running errands is no problem.

As far as the sweat factor, I carry a small towel in my backpack, but so far I have rarely sweat (the breeze always cools me down even though it may be warm... ask me in the summer and I may have a different answer!).

For groceries, I have a milk crate that I attach to the back of my bike when I'm going to purchase something. The milk crate (which everyone loves!) actually holds a lot.. I can easily carry a week's worth of groceries.

It is definitely a different lifestyle, but so far I think the benefits are soooo worth it... better health and more money (no gym, no insurance, no gas). For some reason, I always see people I know in the streets, so I'm forced to stop, talk and socialize (never happened when driving by at 45mph!).

I have mixed feelings about Houston METRO system. I'm taking it this week to go to Westchase for a continuing ed class. From my place (near downtown) to Westchase it takes a full hour compared to 20min in the car. That is a bit ridiculous, but on the bright side I am able to catch up on my reading while on the bus so it is not time fully wasted. The hour also includes the time it takes to walk to and from bus stops (which totals a good 25 minutes). I think the main improvements we need in our transit system are increased frequency and increased routes.

BTW, I love Google Maps transit and bike directions, they are life and time saver!

What finally made you take the plunge?

Knowing a few people that don't own cars, they routinely rent cars on weekends when they have bigger trips planned ahead of time.

The hour that it takes to go from Midtown to westchase usually comes from having to deal with 610/ Westheimer and having frequent stops. If any metro line that needs the "quickline" is Westheimer due to it being such a long street with, what has to be, a decent amount of ridership.

[sargento03]

What finally made you take the plunge?

Knowing a few people that don't own cars, they routinely rent cars on weekends when they have bigger trips planned ahead of time.

The hour that it takes to go from Midtown to westchase usually comes from having to deal with 610/ Westheimer and having frequent stops. If any metro line that needs the "quickline" is Westheimer due to it being such a long street with, what has to be, a decent amount of ridership.

These are some of the top reasons in no particular order:

1. Environment: Everyone knows we waste so much energy, oil, etc. I know that me not driving my car will not help at all (especially since I sold it to my parents so now they have two cars when before they had one!). But the idea is that individual action turns into collective action, which results in political action that results in change. I'm now starting to spend some time finding ways to get involved with these issues at the collective/political level. Also, one less person driving, means one more person in public transit or out in the streets, which increases ridership, (and in my opinion, the cool factor of our city) etc, etc.

2. Health: One day I was at the gym on a treadmill, and I got to thinking about it.... What if instead of driving to the gym I would just WALK to the gym, touch the walls of the building (never step inside), and turn around and walk back home? Interestingly, I would get the same benefits of getting in a car, driving 10min to the gym (20min roundtrip) and spending 30-45min exercising... I was like "Why am I spending money on going to a place to workout when biking and walking its free!!" I know many people go to the gym for other reasons (bulk up or what not), everyone is different, I wasn't there to bulk up, so it was useless to pay to go do cardio. The health factor is automatically built in when being car-free. I have already lost about 5lbs in the first month and I'm already a pretty slim guy so I hope I don't end up looking like a toothpick. This week for example, I took METRO from westchase...even though the entire trip takes an hour or so, 20 of those minutes were spent walking to/from bus stops...so although I did get home later, I had already done my exercise.

3. Financial: There is a website that talks about the exorbitant amount of money we spend on driving (insurance, gas, maintenance, registration, inspection, parking, etc). I read somewhere that the average Houstonian spends like 27% or 30% of his/her income in public transportation. There is an automatic 20%-25% raise for you!

4. I think the most important reason is that I just didnt' need it. Again, all of us are different and I have friends that I can't see being able to live normally without a car (one, for example, lives in the suburbs, works elsewhere, has two kids that he constantly has to shuttle around). Its absolutely impossible for most people to live without a car. But, there are also many of us that really could live without a car...so why not? I'm new to this so I don't know, I may break down one day and run to a dealership and get a car...but I can almost guarantee that if I do that I will drive away from that dealership with a smart car or something much more reasonable...if I can live comfortably w/out a car then I definitely don't need my old SUV back.

[DefenDallas]

A round of applause for Sarge! Eschewing the auto in one of America's most notorious car-opolises is no small task, but it's one small step toward a consensus against auto-dependence. I'll bet it's easy getting a bike in/out of those completely-low-floor rail cars. I like to take DART rail to school at UTD, but that involves driving to the station, parking, taking the train for about 12-15 min., getting off, then waiting for the shuttle that takes me to campus; a process that takes at least 45 minutes (if I get to the station just ahead of my northbound train, which runs only every twenty minutes off-peak), opposed to simply driving, which takes only twenty minutes. I could leave my car and walk to a bus stop, which would eventually get me to the station, but this would add another thirty+ minutes to my travels. So I usually drive. Utilizing mass transit in Texas involves buses, trains, and automobiles (but not John Candy...zing!).

[samagon]

Awesome Sarge!

I wish I could do the same!

Every time I read about more people on the streets on a bike, it reminds me of part of an article I read:

“Increased physical activity among any group is surely a good thing for public health, though bicycling itself is a somewhat risky mode of transportation, and collisions with automobiles frequently result in serious injuries and fatalities,” he says. “However, there’s a large new scholarly literature that shows that there’s a nonlinear positive relationship between the number of cyclists on the road and the safety of cycling — this is the ’safety in numbers’ hypothesis.”

In other words, getting more cyclists on the road could decrease the number of cycling fatalities, which in turn would see more people’s health improving from the exercise.

http://www.miller-mccune.com/health/bicycles-and-the-immigrant-effect-14744/

interesting that they didn't do an article on the 'new scholarly literature' as that alone is worthy of reprint anywhere, but anyway, the more people on the roads on bikes, the more used to us drivers will be, and the safer we will all be! it may even inspire some of them to do what you've done, or at least to do as much as possible on their bikes

[Subdude]

Awesome Sarge!

I wish I could do the same!

Every time I read about more people on the streets on a bike, it reminds me of part of an article I read:

http://www.miller-mccune.com/health/bicycles-and-the-immigrant-effect-14744/

interesting that they didn't do an article on the 'new scholarly literature' as that alone is worthy of reprint anywhere, but anyway, the more people on the roads on bikes, the more used to us drivers will be, and the safer we will all be! it may even inspire some of them to do what you've done, or at least to do as much as possible on their bikes

I think you are right - the more people ride the more drivers will get used to looking out for them. That said, there may be some critical mass of bikers necessary before the average driver considers them a normal part of traffic.

[samagon]

I think you are right - the more people ride the more drivers will get used to looking out for them. That said, there may be some critical mass of bikers necessary before the average driver considers them a normal part of traffic.

right, and the same is true of people actually considering bicycling a viable alternative. the more they see on the road, the more confident they become that they can do the same thing themselves.

[DefenDallas]

I found a no-excuses guide to biking to work via Infrastucturist. Pretty much common sense pointers.

There's also an amazing time-lapse of "bicycle rush hour" in The Netherlands. Sadly, I can only provide a link, for my posting skills are n00bish, and I can't figure out how to embed a freaking YouTube vid onto my posts. A penny for your PM?

[AtticaFlinch]

I found a no-excuses guide to biking to work via Infrastucturist. Pretty much common sense pointers.

There's also an amazing time-lapse of "bicycle rush hour" in The Netherlands. Sadly, I can only provide a link, for my posting skills are n00bish, and I can't figure out how to embed a freaking YouTube vid onto my posts. A penny for your PM?

Outside the primary train station in Amsterdam, they have a parking garage strictly for bicycles. Not a bike rack, a parking garage. Their dedication to bicycles in that city is almost overwhelming.

[samagon]

I found a no-excuses guide to biking to work via Infrastucturist. Pretty much common sense pointers.

There's also an amazing time-lapse of "bicycle rush hour" in The Netherlands. Sadly, I can only provide a link, for my posting skills are n00bish, and I can't figure out how to embed a freaking YouTube vid onto my posts. A penny for your PM?

found this on the infrastructurist site:

http://www.infrastructurist.com/2010/05/07/how-cul-de-sacs-are-killing-your-community/

considering how easy it is to travel around in parts of town pre-cul-de-sac, it makes total sense, and the image says it all.

[kylejack]

Yes, the Netherlands is like my bicycle fantasy world. When I visit I'm going to rent a bicycle and have so much fun.

[kdog08]

Bought a bike about a month ago and use it for exercising and short trips. I live basically at Richmond @ Yoakum and use my bike to go to the grocery store, nearby retail, and food places. I'm loving it so far. My phone has an app that calculates your distance and I've biked about 150 miles in a month.

[Subdude]

I found a no-excuses guide to biking to work via Infrastucturist. Pretty much common sense pointers.

There's also an amazing time-lapse of "bicycle rush hour" in The Netherlands. Sadly, I can only provide a link, for my posting skills are n00bish, and I can't figure out how to embed a freaking YouTube vid onto my posts. A penny for your PM?

Odd coincidence, but last night I went to a lecture about bicycling and they showed that same video.

The lecturer's point was that there are three groups: committed cyclists who will bike no matter what, convenient cyclists who will bike on protected routes, or when the weather's nice, or on holiday, and finally those who don't bike at all. For cities trying to encourage biking the trick is to reach out to the latter two groups.

[kylejack]

As a committed cyclist, I can agree with that. The cool thing is that reaching out to them probably benefits we committed cyclists the most.

[sargento03]

Sooo, I feel so embarrassed... but I have to admit that I couldn't go longer than 2 months w/out a car. I just got a new car this week. For the most part, I had everything figured out, but it was hard doing the going out/dinners/bars thing. Dressing well and riding on a bike was out of the question, so that meant taking taxis and the cost/benefit of taking taxis or having a car was about the same.

However, now that I was able to be car-less for a period, I have realized how little I need it, so I think I will keep up my biking.

CRITICAL MASS TONIGHT!!

[jgriff]

Sooo, I feel so embarrassed... but I have to admit that I couldn't go longer than 2 months w/out a car. I just got a new car this week. For the most part, I had everything figured out, but it was hard doing the going out/dinners/bars thing. Dressing well and riding on a bike was out of the question, so that meant taking taxis and the cost/benefit of taking taxis or having a car was about the same.

However, now that I was able to be car-less for a period, I have realized how little I need it, so I think I will keep up my biking.

CRITICAL MASS TONIGHT!!

There are somtimes when it's just worth it to have a car. I've gotten my driving down to around 50 miles a week and I could go without it completely but why would I want too? I enjoy driving on the weekends. A drive down Memorial and Allen Parkway on a nice day is fun. I got a pedometer so I could finally get a good estimate of how much I walk a day and was amazed to find that it's around 7-10 miles and that doesn't include walking around the office.

[ricco67]

Sooo, I feel so embarrassed... but I have to admit that I couldn't go longer than 2 months w/out a car. I just got a new car this week. For the most part, I had everything figured out, but it was hard doing the going out/dinners/bars thing. Dressing well and riding on a bike was out of the question, so that meant taking taxis and the cost/benefit of taking taxis or having a car was about the same.

However, now that I was able to be car-less for a period, I have realized how little I need it, so I think I will keep up my biking.

CRITICAL MASS TONIGHT!!

There is no reason to be ashamed of caving into buying a car, you gave it a great effort and ultimately found out it wasn't for you.

Driving out for dinner is fine, as long as you don't drink and drive. If you do then you will find out it IS the price of a small car to get you out of it.

I'm curious as to what kind of car you got, though.