Cool... a CNN senior video editor's article on going car-free
 

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/11/19...ex.html?hpt=C2

On the front page of CNN?! Ok, which one of you hacked their servers :thumb:

yeah, I just stumbled upon this..probably around the same time you posted. What's weird is the comments are like a day old (but we're only just now seeing the article) and they're largely PRO-bicycle! ...Well, now that it's on the main page and the weekend's over, expect the usual comments in 4-3-2-....

I love some of these comments that say that riding a bike near to 3-ton vehicles is crazy. As if heavy vehicles don't have brakes and steering wheels. Heck, if right of way were dependent on weight, I guess the only sane drivers on the road would be those who drive 18-wheelers. The idea that cyclists shouldn't be on the road is, frankly, stupid.

Its all well and good, but the guy bicycles 5 minutes to work. The only way more people are going to commute or use bicycles for everyday errands is to do away with the concept of suburbia, something that is not going to happen soon.

ouch, 5 minutes... what is that a 15 minute walk.

Although it is only 5 minutes, more importantly he has gone car free... so he has to also deal with transportation issues beyond his "commute."

Actually, it is very likely going to happen soon. The recent spike in oil prices and the recession that followed have already reduced the number of motorized vehicles on the road. As it is, with oil prices high and likely to rise even higher due to the 2008 peak in global oil production, suburban commuters are being and will continue to be hardest hit, since they often have larger homes to heat and longer drives to work with little choice in terms of alternate transportation.

I'm considering buying a house next summer, but to be honest I wouldn't buy in suburbia even if they paid me to live there. The smart money folks are selling their suburban homes and moving into (or close to) the city.

Yea, but he doesn't talk about that. And that's the problem. The easy out of "I live farther" was left in the video.

I think people know that replacing their car with their bike is hard. They may think it's harder than it is. It's definitely hard though. So saying "it's easy" isn't helpful. Saying "it had only positive effects on my life" is probably the kind of argument you want to make. Such as: "I'm the same me, but skinnier and with a little extra spending money."

Sure, but in this guys case he could easily just walk. If I lived 3/4th of a mile from work I'd walk. I love cycling, but not enough to deal with the bike when I could just hoof it.

I agree... I regularly walk 3 miles just for the heck of it... a mile is nothing. If I lived that close I'd love to walk it.

I just did a little experiment with Google maps and I think it illustrates one issue of our society that strongly encourages driving... I used the same start and end points and then shifted the modes in google maps...

Driving, it is only 6.6 miles (and much of it direct freeway) it would take 11 minutes.
Using Public Transit, the route is largely the same as driving (using direct freeway) but could take up to 2 hours depending on the bus schedule.
Walking, the route increases to 8.8 miles (can't walk the freeway... the shortest route) and could take up to 3 hours, depending on my pace.
Cycle it, and the suggested route increases to 14.4 miles and will take just over an hour according to Google maps.

I see this sort of dichotomy all over the place... the "powered mode," driving, usually has the clearest shortest route... while all other transit methods end up taking some "secondary" route... and hence end up "second best."

Now in reality I can probably get the bike route to be shorter... as it is permitted for me to use part of the freeway... but bear in mind... it is "permitted." The automobile still gets "first routing."

What I saw in Oulu Finland was just the opposite... bike paths were the shortest route, while automobiles had to "go around." This prioritized cycling and walking. Of course, obviously, in some cases that short route is the only route.

Actually, the distance doesn't matter all that much ... 5 minutes vs. 15 or 20 or 30 minutes ... the hard part is getting out the door, so good for him.

I completely agree. It's not as bad here, but we get it too. The quickest route has typically been carefully designed for cars, and other users go largely ignored. Since we have next to nothing in the way of freeways (the "small town attitude" has protected us from that) there's typically a sidewalk if you want to put up with 40-50mph traffic noise 4 feet away. Of course, that does you no good when you need to cross the street where they've allotted no space to wait in the middle, and created no crossing point for the next 4 blocks.