Commuting - Institutionalized

I saw a movie in which a man who had spent most of his life in prison was finally paroled. He was already an aged man.

He had become so used to his prison life that he couldn't cope with life on the outside. He wanted to go back to prison! :eek:

I think people who only drive, and not ever bike, are stuck. They think that's the only way to go. Not only that, but they are "stuck" so badly that they can't cope with anything else, like biking, mass transit, walking or a combination of these.

I'm preaching to the choir again (DANGIT!) :rolleyes:

Anyway, it's true!

Besides, I think I'm getting so used to biking, I'll never be happy with anything else.

Good point, Pete.

What you say IS true. People are trapped by a "must have automobile" mentality. I met a young woman who was telling me how difficult things have been since her husband's car was in the shop. They were struggling to both get to work and to be 'mobile'.

As it turns out, she lives on one of the most premier and practical bicycle trails in the state. It passes right by her backyard and goes right through town along some of the prettiest scenery in the city.

I suggested that she ride a bicycle for the time being. It seemed to hit her like a brick like, "Hmm.... I guess I could do that. I hadn't thought of it."

She only lives 3 miles from the school where she works!

Duh.

Originally posted by mike
People are trapped by a "must have automobile" mentality. I met a young woman who was telling me how difficult things have been since her husband's car was in the shop. They were struggling to both get to work and to be 'mobile'.
What a wonderful arrangement for automobile companies and gasoline companies. You just CAN'T (I use the term loosley) survive in the modern world without a car.

Reminds me of a conversation I heard:

Accountant: "Sir, you are in the red, financially."
Sir: "How much am I behind?"
Accountant: "$4,000 for the year."
Sir: "That's great work! Say, what do I pay you? :) "
Accountant: "$4,000 annually."
Sir: "You're fired."

We must remember that cars are sometimes necessary. I was reminded of this recently when I had to dump $1200 on my jalopy to keep it running. I fumed and fumed about such an expense for this fossil-fuel guzzling monstrosity, but I paid because I have two young children who I have to ferry about to various school functions, doctors appointments, etc.

When I don't have to use my car, I ride my bike. But when I need to transport my kids and there are distances to travel and time constraints to consider, I have to use the car.

The big issue for me is the general apathy in the United States toward energy conservation of any kind. The Bush Administration's energy policy is based solely on production and pays minor lip service to conservation. When I read the headlines about rising gas prices and consumers accusing service stations of price gouging, it really grinds my gears. If we could just take matters into our own hands and conserve, we wouldn't have to frame our lives around the price of gasoline. Getting on a bike is a great start toward breaking the chains of oil slavery.

Getting people out of cars and on bicycles is a tough task, but I believe it can be done. The best approach is level-headed one; try to get people thinking about the obvious advantages of cycling and try to get them to add cycling into their lives bit-by-bit: a trip to the library here, a jaunt to the grocery store there.

Telling Americans that cars are evil and that they must conserve energy is just so much tilting at windmills. Cars will always be with us. We cyclists need to do a better job of convincing car lovers that there is a better way, and we need to do this in a way that accepts the need for automobiles in the lives of most Americans.

Cheers,

Flash

I agree with Flash, cars are necessary sometimes, but they are highly overused in the US. Cars are great for transporting lots of stuff over long distances. But most people use them to transport one person over short-to-moderate distances.

I think the best thing cyclists can do is try to be ambasadors to the cause of cycling. Try to encourage people to ride their bikes or walk instead of driving. I've been getting my girlfriend to do this, and she seems to be really enjoying it. A few weeks ago we biked out to Borders to get some books. It's about a 14 mile round trip, and now she tells everybody how fun it was, and how it wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be. It's going to take lots of little steps to reduce the amount of driving people do in the US, but it can be done.

I'm not saying that there aren't other things that can be done. Participating in bicycle advocacy groups and helping pass laws that encourage alternative transportation are great, too. But people sometimes forget that the little things can be the most important.

andy

consider these facts:

The average American drives roughly 15,000 miles a year

Every year that mileage increases by about 2.5%

Every day there are an additional 10,000 motorist on American roadways.

For several years before I started using my bike to get around I still evaluated my car usage. First off, I drove the most efficient car that met my needs. In my case this was a Geo Metro that averaged 45mpg and was relatively inexpensive to buy and insure. I also combined errands to eliminate multiple trips. I would frequent places close to home rather than driving all over the state for my shopping and entertainment needs.

When I was attending college I would plan my classes so that I would be at school the whole day. Most of the time I could schedule my courses so that I only had to go to school 3 days a week. I would frequently meet students who drove to school for a class in the morning, went home after class, and then drove back to school for a class in the afternoon. Most of the time these students lived twice as far from the college as I did.

My point is that there are alot of things that people can do to lessen their car-dependence without ever even using public transit or riding a bike. However, I believe that most people never even think about their car usage.

The film you saw was The Shawshank Redemption, right? That´s a wonderful movie. Tim Robbins is great as a man convicted for a crime he didn´t do, spends like 20 years in prison before he escapes and make the bad guys pay. He went to Zihuatanejo in Mexico to open a hotel, his dream. I´ve would have gone biking:p
The road he drives in the end, along the pacific ocean looks so beautiful. There´s where I would take my bike for a trip.
Anders
Sweden