Commuting - Savannah

Ennyone been to Savannah, Georgia? I went there saturday to show my son the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

It's totally flat. 80 degrees in late October. Traffic: very calm with lots of one-way streets. And plenty of bicyclists.

I don't remember seeing any of the colorful "road warrior" types.
Even my wife mentioned that she didn't see "that type" of cyclist in Savannah, with the "fancy, expensive" look, like in Atlanta. Most were your common, everyday "around town" cyclists. Lots of bikes were locked up around the place in front of businesses.

One of the neatest things I saw was the "pedicab". It's basically a tricycle modified into a cab, the driver pedalling in front and 1 or 2 passengers in the rear. The two "cabbies" I saw were an older man, about 60 yrs. old, and a young woman, about 20 yrs. old.

It's amazing to me that a city could be so bike-friendly that even a pedicab could make enough money to flourish! :)

Originally posted by Pete Clark
Ennyone been to Savannah, Georgia? I went there saturday to show my son the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).



It's totally flat. 80 degrees in late October. Traffic: very calm with lots of one-way streets. And plenty of bicyclists.



I don't remember seeing any of the colorful "road warrior" types.

Even my wife mentioned that she didn't see "that type" of cyclist in Savannah, with the "fancy, expensive" look, like in Atlanta. Most were your common, everyday "around town" cyclists. Lots of bikes were locked up around the place in front of businesses.



One of the neatest things I saw was the "pedicab". It's basically a tricycle modified into a cab, the driver pedalling in front and 1 or 2 passengers in the rear. The two "cabbies" I saw were an older man, about 60 yrs. old, and a young woman, about 20 yrs. old.



It's amazing to me that a city could be so bike-friendly that even a pedicab could make enough money to flourish! :)

That's incredibly cool. :D

About the "pedicabs" (henceforth referred to as "cyclocabs"), it really sounds like a more economical proposition than a normal car-based taxi; you don't need to worry about maintenance or operating costs, and you get to spend the entire day biking around town. You can easily take care of errands while you're out around town; and, most importantly, people like open-air transport...look at the number of convertibles and cars with sunroofs, and how popular horse-and-buggy rides are.

Besides; if you average five bucks for a ride, and give ten to fifteen rides a day, you can *easily* support yourself as a cyclist cabbie. :D

Thats cuz the guys in Savannah are MTBrs. And they all come over to SC and kick our asses.

For more on pedicabs/cyclocabs and other workbikes, check out some of the discusion groups at ihpva.org
Regards,
Raymond

Savannah is a great town! Like to go there for long weekends. Just walking around the riverfront. Had some great cottage pie at one of the pubs along the river. Of course needed some Black and Tans to go along!!!

Great pizza joint as well. Had some Feta Cheese pizza. Out of this world!

We went up there because my wife's father teaches Art and Photography at a Prep School down this way and we became friends with one of his students that attended SCAD. So we ended up getting a "locals" tour.

Not much of a town for mountain biking, but great if you're a masochistic commuter. Lots of traffic, but most seem cogniscent (sp?) of cyclists.

L8R G8R:D

Feta cheese pizza, one of my favourites! Far as I know, only one restaurant here serves it and I always order that when we're there. :D

Yeah, I was in Savannah once. Back when I was a teenager, my family was headed to Plastic World (disney world) in the box on wheels (RV) and we stopped there for a break. We walked around by the river and ate dinner. Then we got back in the box and drove on down I95.

I would have liked to spent some time there though. It looked cool, even to a teenager. Nowadays, one of my interests is City design and planning and Savannah is often mentioned as model city.

Originally posted by Matadon
About the "pedicabs" (henceforth referred to as "cyclocabs"), it really sounds like a more economical proposition than a normal car-based taxi; you don't need to worry about maintenance or operating costs, and you get to spend the entire day biking around town.

They've got those in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. I was looking at that as a job a couple of years ago, but they guy who runs them has a habit of ripping people off. :(

Yo Pete,

Where any of those pedi/cyclo cabs you saw built by "Tipke"?

If so, chances are, I built the wheels!

Ride, even if someone else is pedaling
Pat

Yeah, I went down there twice for vacations over the summer. It's a nice place (hot, hot, hot!) with a pretty bicycle-friendly atmosphere. But, then again, a lot of southern cities are that way, aren't they? The southern kind are so laid back... ;)

velo

Originally posted by pat5319
Yo Pete,

Where any of those pedi/cyclo cabs you saw built by "Tipke"?

If so, chances are, I built the wheels!

Ride, even if someone else is pedaling
Pat
"Tipke?" Wow, I wish I had had a closer look at the trike before Miss Tummy Button, the operator, came back. Wifey
was standing by, shotgun ready, you know! ;)

I used to live in Savannah! its a great town. not to bike friendly once you get out of the historic district though....

They got pedicabs here in NYC too. They compete w/ horse drawn carriages around Central Park, but you can catch them around the other tourist areas too. Hmmm...might be a good way to get paid for riding and a good way to meet horny young tourist women.

I used to live in Savannah! its a great town. not to bike friendly once you get out of the historic district though....
I used to live there, too! I agree with you 100%: historic district is bike-friendly, rest of town is not. Though I did manage to make it out to Tybee and back a number of times without anything worse than getting caught in the rain once.

Awesome! I'm surprised you made it riding on 80. I wouldnt ride that road except for on weekdays at like noon.

Awesome! I'm surprised you made it riding on 80. I wouldnt ride that road except for on weekdays at like noon.
Sometimes young and dumb will get you a long way....

This was '92, so it may be much worse today. But with my walkman turned loud enough to drown out the occasional redneck, it was tolerable. It was part of a strict regime of "all play and no work" that included a lot of midnight frisbee in the squares, sleeping until noon, et cet. Many of my best friends were SCAD students, BTW.