Keith Hold on Bike Shops, Low-Income Communities and Communities of Color

This brief talk by Keith Holt is of interest to me.  I was glad to see the Boston Cyclist's Union holding a free bike repair clinic at a farmer's market in Brigham Circle the other day.  It's a great intersection of neighborhoods, with public housing, students, communities of color, and sections with a variety of incomes all around.  His point about the importance of having a place to get your bike fixed nearby makes a lot of sense, and it a point I didn't think about in terms of acting as a barrier to cycling in low-income neighborhoods. 
 

lovely lessons from Zen Habits

Leon Babauta has a great post on Zen Habits about all the lessons he feels he and his kids are learning from not having a car and riding mass transit.  We use bikes a lot more than the T these days, but I like riding the T for all the reasons that he lists (and also don't like riding the T for some of the reasons that he lists--which shows the strength of learning to turn negatives into positives). 

Sometimes I'm surprised by all the places that we can get to by mass transit, too.  Noah and I took the blue line to Wonderland the other day, as I was doing some research for a production of one of my plays.  We wore our swimsuits and went swimming at the beach there.  We've lived in Boston for 11 years and never bothered to try taking the subway to the beach (admittedly not the world's nicest beach, but it's really not bad).  It was a lot easier, cheaper, and faster than getting there by car.

I keep saying that I'm going to take him by commuter train up to Rockport, which is a town that I adore, and we can try bringing our bikes on the bike car.  This summer, I really need to make that happen.  With the commuter rail, we can access a lot of Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, from Providence to Lowell, and all the way out to Fitchburg and Worcester.

other people think about the costs, too (on Get Rich Slowly)

Tracy showed me this fun post last month on Get Rich Slowly about the Costs and Savings of Bicycle Commuting.  The author does the calculation comparing his/her bike costs/mile to the average costs/mile reported by AAA for car use.  The author saved at close to $1,000, and that's even after figuring in the purchase of a $700 bike.  Not bad.

It's probably time to recalculate our annual transportation expenses again (though I'm not sure how to count our temporary car situation).  I think our expenses have gone down a bit--we haven't had many big bike repair jobs (I can do the basic maintenance), though we continue to have to buy helmets and lights from time to time.  We spend a fair bit on Zipcar, but that varies a lot according to the season.

Temporary Car

For the moment, we are not car-less.  Tracy's father passed away suddenly last month, while he was visiting us.  For now, we're still using his car, a Subaru Forrester.  Having the car has made it a lot easier for Tracy to pop down to visit her mom in Connecticut and help out and check in.

Having a car again reminded me quickly of how much having a car in the city adds complexity to life.  I suddenly had to figure out where we were going to park it, fill it up with gas, get the oil changed, think about insurance, keep track of keys, etc.  Over the past two years of having no car, we'd gotten used to be car-free.  There's a certain simplicity to getting around by foot, bike or T, and I like it.

Since it's summer vacation, we have been trying to make the most of having the car handy, and have taken a few driving trips around Massachusetts.  (We love to visit farms and farmer's markets.) (Though we could have done with Zipcar.)  If we're in a rush, we can use it to get to our garden and run errands on the same day.  Having a car can let you pack more into your day, and I'm certainly one to try to jam in as much activity as possible.  But I now recognize that that's not always a good thing.  I like getting places by walking or bike, because I like the pace of life that comes with that.  It's a good way to set some limits for myself of how much I'm going to try to get done in one day.

We have found a good way to keep from using the car too much.  Friends are letting us use a parking spot on their property, and the spot is a little more than a quarter of a mile away.  This helps cut out car use for close errands.  If you have to walk a quarter mile to the car, you realize you might as well just walk or bike the whole way.  Imagine how much gas we would save if everyone parked their cars at a neighbor's house five blocks away. 

I'm still grocery shopping by bike because I like the exercise, the stores are close to home, and the parking lot at Trader Joe's is always full and a little scary in a car.  I also avoid buying too much if I know that I have to pedal it home.

We'll have the car through the rest of summer, and perhaps a little into the fall.  There's always an excuse to keep it around (Kira will have field hockey practice, and the school doesn't provide sufficient transportation.  I'm attending a farming class in Lowell in the fall), but I also know we can do without it.

London Bike Super Highways

London's bike traffic is increasing dramatically, and according to this video, they're sinking serious money into infrastructure to encourage even more people to cycle.  Serious money meaning $111 million pounds!  Can you imagine an American city putting $100 million into improving bike access?  (Boston, take note.)

support Bike Lanes on Mass Ave--Boston Cyclists Union meeting April 12

There's a meeting at the Boston Public Library main branch, 7-9pm on Thursday, April 14, to talk about bike lanes on Mass Ave in some critical areas.  I can't be there, but I hope you'll help spread the word and possibly attend.

We're Not the Only Ones: T GM Quits His Car

Yesterday, the Boston Globe reported that Richard A. Davey, General Manager of the MBTA, and his wife, gave up their car for good:

Richard A. Davey has given up his car. Not just for the week, or for the month, but for good.

The MBTA general manager and his wife took the plunge into car-free living last week, donating their sole set of wheels, a sparingly driven Nissan Altima, to the Home for Little Wanderers.

 You may recall that Davey’s predecessor, Daniel A. Grabauskas, was ribbed by the Herald for commuting in a sport utility vehicle (an MBTA-owned Ford Escape hybrid) as the T was promoting a “Dump the Pump’’ campaign, because driving to and from his Ipswich home was more convenient than the 75-minute ride on the commuter rail and the Green Line...