Look, I don’t want to waste money on gas anymore than the next person. I don’t drive my F350 dually any more than I need to. The gas in that F350 is the same gas from Oct-21 when I returned from my last camping trip. Since then, it is used for feeding hay and a few around town jobs. When I bought my Maverick, I was on the fence about buying the hybrid or the conventional ICE. Knowing that the hybrid only gets a few MPG better highway, I opted for the ICE. The ICE I can fix or repair daily (FORD), if necessary. Also, I did not feel warm and fuzzy about the transmission that comes with the hybrid. If I had the option to drive them each before I ordered, I might have changed my mind and got the hybrid.
Were going on a week long camping trip next week for spring break. Yeah it gets terrible MPGs. I might slow my roll down to 60 vs 70 that I usually tow at. This will likely increase my MPG about 10%.
Once again…a bike isn’t a full solution. But I guess that since some people live 60 miles from work, we should nothing for the hundreds of thousands of people who live much closer to work. You need a car. Great…use a car. But I don’t get it…you said that high gas prices could spur innovation and change. But I guess we will never get there since anybody who isn’t a eral or ocrat won’t accept innovation short of 100%. Accomodating cycling isn’t any part of solution to address the problems.
YOu live 60 miles from work. I live 10 miles from downtown. In the suburbs. Where huge ass pickup trucks ply the streets. With one driver, no cargo, and a nice pretty bed liner that we would never want to get dirty by putting dirt or rocks in it. If I had a street that had a protected, dedicate bike lane on it, I could get downtown in half the time it takes me to go there now, because we seek out less traveled streets. A direct shot would make it more attractive for many people to opt for a bike over a car. That saves gasoline. Instead, “Infrastructure” focuses on fossil fuel powered automobiles.
When I was working, I contemplated riding my bike to my office sometimes. My office was 13 miles from home. But a bike route to get there was over 20 miles one way…because the only way you could get a “safe” crossing over a highway was to take side streets 5 miles out of your way to avoid being on an overpass with no shoulder and people in their phone booths heading to work.,
You might not do it. Bears might not do it. A lot of people here might not do it. But many WOULD do it. If it was available. But…100% or nothing.
That’s right, how much of your daughters life could a bike replace such as going to work, dropping your grandson off at daycare, grocery shopping, going to Target and other running around? My guess is for most Americans 5% tops.
Why do you care what other people drive? They may have to pick up kids after work, have a boat, RV or need for a pickup truck for their business or weekend projects. My neighbor is a younger guy he had a GMC 2500 four-door that he drove to work everyday but has three daughters he would bring to soccer, dance, cheer and the first two years he had the house was doing projects every weekend. You would see him and think he was just some selfish asshole wanting to drive a big truck, but unlike you he couldn’t afford to pay someone to pick up mulch, pick up dirt for the garden, pick up material couple times a month from the Home Depot and everything else he hauled.
I know…if ya can’t fix it all 100%, then don’t even think about it. Because I’m talking about promoting alternative transportation that could reduce our dependence on oil. I’ll still drive a car when I need it. But damn man…you may never touch a bike to go to work or run an errand. But what if 10 of your friends did…that’s going to lower the demand for gasoline. You know what happens when demand falls, don’t you? It SHOULD help lower the price of the gas that you put in your car or truck, no matter how big it is.
KC, how much of your daughters life could a bike replace such as going to work, dropping your grandson off at daycare, grocery shopping, going to Target, visiting you and other running around?
50%? 20%? 5%? 1%? This is an actual question, not rhetorical.
LOL… How much does a casual ride reduce oil consumption? My wife will ride her bike to the library, then meet her friend at Dunkin and come home to drive to Target and Trader Joe’s (and pass the library and Dunkin on the way). She didn’t save any oil but got a little exercise, soaked up some vitamin D and saved a stop at the library.
Well, KC is a big fan of government regulations and safety devices on cars, unless he’s a hypocrite he’d be all for paying thousands more for bike safety such as airbags for bikes, designated bike trails and keeping bikes of roads and streets.
I would like to see that video to see how they measured that. Given the many long commutes in this area, I find it hard to believe that cycling would be the fastest on balance for commutes to work. I am guessing that whoever did that chose a method to make the cycle look the fastest.
For a reverse example, on balance public transit in Los Angeles will on balance take a lot more time - if it works for you at all. However, if you happen to live near one subway or light-rail station and work near another, it will be great for you. If somebody weights people like this in a challenge the public transit will look great.
And, just speaking for myself, I do not think cycling would work for me even if had a very short commute which was cyclist friendly. I bring my bag with my laptop to and from the office and also bring my lunch, so that would be a challenge. And, even if I did not do that, I would perspire, especially in the summer months, and would need a shower and change of clothes upon arrival.
It was a car related site. And it was pretty light hearted, but the bike was 6 minutes faster than the car
I have a trunk bag on my bike. Others have the bag with panniers. That helps carrying things. Colorado is very bike friendly and my friend there worked at Ford Aerospace. He rode his bike ever day. Their office had lockers and showers. So someone could clean up once they got to work.
Again…I’m not saying the bike is the solution to everything, but it CAN be a part of a solution. But as I said, it seems that unless it can handle 100% of every situation, from soccer practice to hauling mulch to towing a boat, then it just can’t be considered.
There was an uptick in cycling during the pandemic and I have met some people who now bike to a bus stop, put their bike on the front of the bus for the commute to work, and then ride the bike home. And finally…while a bike won’t address 100% of the issues and therefore no money can be spent on infrastructure, they seem to work quite well in the Netherlands.
And finally - for the sweat issue - there is this thing called an “ebike”. some models have throttles to assist but most have pedal. Set it on a higher mode and constant speeds over 20 mph are possible without breaking a sweat. A bike battery can be charged in less than 2 hours from a 110 volt outlet. You still can’t take the kids to soccer practice or tow a boat, but for day to day commuting, it can help reduce the amount you drive your car, which results in lower gasoline costs to you and lower demand for gas, which could lower the price of gas overall.
Oh yeah…with enough people cycling when they can, roads won’t deteriorate as quickly, which means you might even get a tax cut for the taxes used for street maintenance.
Near my office in downtown, the repainted the lines to accommodate bike lanes. Now cars have only one lane each way, use to be 2. Bikes rarely seen on the road. Traffic now sucks because there is no turn lane and cars said f it and started driving on the bike lanes to get around turning cars.
HOw many people used to park in what became the bike lane, basically making that street two lane. BUT…when you have a slapdash approach to cyclining infrastructure, this is what you get. Put a bike lane on the busy street. Why not use a street one block over. Also…we ride downtown a LOT. And we hardly see cars… And speed limit downtown is 25. Because of lights, intersections and stop signs, it rarely moves at 25 mph. If anything, drivers are far more accommodating downtown than they are in the suburbs.
But again…why must it be discounted or ignored because not everybody would use it? If you could get 10,000 people to cycle more than they drive, it would reduce congestion and gas consumption. Hell…in Amesterdam they prioritize bikes and have “car lanes” instead of bike lanes. And the cars must yield to the bike. And yet - they seem to be doing just fine
but we remain car centric and find that it’s far easier to bitch about the President making gas cost so much and doing little to alleviate traffic or promote alternative transportation.
Then don’t fucking ride a bike. Drive your truck and bitch about the high price of gas. But since there isn’t a solution that is 100%, then do nothing. The battle cry of the right.
I would venture to guess that had the guy been on a commuter ebike, he would have been 12 minutes faster, wouldn’t have been exhausted and wouldn’t need a shower. BUT…everybody knows that we still haven’t found that single solution to reduce our reliance on gasoline, so let’s just bitch about the president and the price of gas.
I originally responded to butler’s comments about high gas prices leading to innovation. Obviously, we don’t want innovation unless it fixes 100% of a problem. I pointed to cycling as a viable alternative for SOME people. But…since EVERYBODY can’t use it, don’t do it.
ON a side note…the typical response to traffic and the like is to widen a road. When I live in Dallas, Central Expressway was two lanes each direction and pretty much stopped all the time. They widened that freeway to 3 or 4 lanes each direction and…traffic is just as slow as it ever was. Seems to be that way on most newly widened roads…UNLESS we charge a toll to use it. Then people will tend to avoid it.
Lol… Nobody said that, people who want to ride their bike to work and arrive exhausted and needing a shower should.
How many times did you ride your bike to work when you had your job?
How many days a week does your daughter ride her bike to school or work?
Your solutions always involve somebody else actually doing it, not you.
I don’t drive a truck, my sedan is getting around 31 mpg. The people bitching about high gas prices are lefties because it’s hurting low income people. You should tell those whiners to stop driving and buy a bike.
Obviously there aren’t enough or more people would use them. YOu can’ drive your truck too. I haven’t said ban cars…I just provided an alternative to an automobile. It won’t fit everybody. I swear, if we were tasked with putting a man on the moon today, we’d never do it because over time we seemed to have shifted from a “can do” to a “can’t do” philosophy. We are quick to spot the problems wtih cycling or with public transportation…even walking. But to address reducing our reliance on gasoline, it seems to be “drill baby drill”, and then OVERLOOK the downside to that.
Christ…I said in my original post that Cycling isn’t the total answer. Here’s what that looked like:
I THOUGHT that this might recognize the down side. Why is it we are quick to find the downside of any alternative, but can’t seem to find any downside to cars?
I ride a bike most places, but I still own a car. But to you I’m being a hypocrite because I own two mode of transportation and use the one that is the best fitting for that trip. Please cite where ever said get rid of cars. But you put some bullshit stiff out there about my daughter for some unknown reason. I give up. I can’t think of the 100% solution to reduce our dependence on gasoline. What’s your 100% solution? “Let’s go Brandon”.
