Business Travelers Take to Their Bikes
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Business Travelers Take to Their Bikes
Business Travelers Take to Their Bikes
By TANYA MOHN
Published: October 19, 2009
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/bu...WT.mc_ev=click
Christopher R. Bennett, a civil engineer for the World Bank who was
out of the country for work 172 days last year, is one of what experts
say is a growing number of business travelers who bicycle while on
assignment.
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Elena Chesheva
Christopher Bennett, a civil engineer on assignment in Tbilisi,
Georgia, for the World Bank, gets around on two wheels.
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“To me, cycling is part of my DNA,” Mr. Bennett said in an interview
from Tbilisi, Georgia, where he was overseeing investment in road
construction. He travels with a bike that disassembles and fits in an
average-size suitcase, or uses bicycles he stores at hotels he
frequents. “Bellhops know when I’m coming and bring them to me,” he
said.
The number of business travelers who bike is not tracked. But based on
the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data released last
month, there was a 43 percent increase nationally from 2000 to 2008 in
people who bike to work regularly, though the numbers are still small:
786,098 last year, compared with 488,497 in 2000.
Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, said
health, being green and, more recently, economics were among the
reasons more people are cycling to work. Many riders are continuing
the habit on business trips. “They don’t want to miss a day in the
saddle if they can help it,” he said.
That was the case for Alison Chaiken, a software engineer in the San
Francisco Bay area. “I usually bicycle commute and thought it’d be fun
to do it on a business trip,” said Ms. Chaiken, who traveled to
England last fall for Hewlett-Packard, then her employer. And, she
said, it made sense. With no good public transportation from her hotel
in downtown Bristol to the company site in the countryside, and her
concerns about driving on the “wrong” side of the road, she biked the
scenic Bristol & Bath Railway Path for the week. She estimates that
she saved the company hundreds of dollars by not renting a car and
avoiding the high price of gas overseas. And she skirted rush-hour
traffic.
Recent efforts have made biking easier and safer. Hotels often offer
bicycle rentals, and many American cities have created bike paths and
lanes, improved markings on streets and installed bicycle traffic
lights. And public-private bicycle sharing programs, based in large
part on the success of European models, have begun or are in
development in more than a dozen of the largest cities in the United
States, Mr. Clarke said.
Most bicycle-sharing programs in Europe offer fleets of sturdy
bicycles at multiple locations that are ideal for “for getting around
town, from one meeting to another,” Mr. Clarke said.
But Eric V. Swanson, program manager for the World Bank, said he had
trouble in Europe because the machines at the kiosks could not read
his American credit card. “I became frustrated on several occasions,”
he said. He was in Paris during the transit strike two years ago and
“there were bikes in stands all over the city, and I couldn’t do it.”
He ended up walking the three miles to his meeting and back.
Joshua Gaughen, who travels frequently as a government contractor,
said he had faced hurdles as well in keeping up his bicycle habit. He
said he stopped taking his full-size bicycle on airplanes because it
was cumbersome and expensive. “It was just a nightmare,” he said. The
bike case or disposable boxes he used had to be unpacked at the
airport because they did not fit in the compact cars that the
government required on business trips. For a business trip to Hawaii
in March, it would have cost $450 to fly his bicycle from Virginia. He
said he recently bought a folding bike that fits into a regular
suitcase. “It’s really the only thing that allows me to keep riding,”
he said.
Mr. Gaughen and others recommend that bicyclists research baggage
policies in advance because there is a huge variation in what airlines
charge to transport bicycles.
Some avid cyclists say that the bicycles available at hotels are often
poor quality and unsafe, and that finding local bike shops that rent
can be a challenge.
George Gill recalled trying unsuccessfully to rent a bike before a
business meeting in Dallas several years ago. On the flight there, he
remembers thinking, “There’s got to be a better way.” He said he wrote
the beginnings of a business plan for a bicycle rental company on a
cocktail napkin on the plane. Now the company, RentaBikeNow.com,
offers a large selection of bicycles through local bike shops — from
cruisers to carbon-fiber racing bikes — at an average cost of about
$40 a day, in 181 cities in the United States and Canada.
But even if a cycling enthusiast finds a good bicycle, safety is an
issue, particularly in some foreign countries where laws and customs
can be quite different.
Jim Langley, an author and cycling expert, receives e-mail messages
asking about the pros and cons of bringing or renting a bike, whether
to bring a helmet or not, or how to ride without dirtying clothes.
“Many see it as a hassle, but if they do their homework, it’s worth
it,” he said. “It helps me feel more centered and sharper in meetings.
And the fastest way to get over jet lag quickly is a one-hour bike
ride. It just brings you back to life.”
By TANYA MOHN
Published: October 19, 2009
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/bu...WT.mc_ev=click
Christopher R. Bennett, a civil engineer for the World Bank who was
out of the country for work 172 days last year, is one of what experts
say is a growing number of business travelers who bicycle while on
assignment.
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
Elena Chesheva
Christopher Bennett, a civil engineer on assignment in Tbilisi,
Georgia, for the World Bank, gets around on two wheels.
Readers' Comments
Share your thoughts.
* Post a Comment »
* Read All Comments (1) »
“To me, cycling is part of my DNA,” Mr. Bennett said in an interview
from Tbilisi, Georgia, where he was overseeing investment in road
construction. He travels with a bike that disassembles and fits in an
average-size suitcase, or uses bicycles he stores at hotels he
frequents. “Bellhops know when I’m coming and bring them to me,” he
said.
The number of business travelers who bike is not tracked. But based on
the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data released last
month, there was a 43 percent increase nationally from 2000 to 2008 in
people who bike to work regularly, though the numbers are still small:
786,098 last year, compared with 488,497 in 2000.
Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, said
health, being green and, more recently, economics were among the
reasons more people are cycling to work. Many riders are continuing
the habit on business trips. “They don’t want to miss a day in the
saddle if they can help it,” he said.
That was the case for Alison Chaiken, a software engineer in the San
Francisco Bay area. “I usually bicycle commute and thought it’d be fun
to do it on a business trip,” said Ms. Chaiken, who traveled to
England last fall for Hewlett-Packard, then her employer. And, she
said, it made sense. With no good public transportation from her hotel
in downtown Bristol to the company site in the countryside, and her
concerns about driving on the “wrong” side of the road, she biked the
scenic Bristol & Bath Railway Path for the week. She estimates that
she saved the company hundreds of dollars by not renting a car and
avoiding the high price of gas overseas. And she skirted rush-hour
traffic.
Recent efforts have made biking easier and safer. Hotels often offer
bicycle rentals, and many American cities have created bike paths and
lanes, improved markings on streets and installed bicycle traffic
lights. And public-private bicycle sharing programs, based in large
part on the success of European models, have begun or are in
development in more than a dozen of the largest cities in the United
States, Mr. Clarke said.
Most bicycle-sharing programs in Europe offer fleets of sturdy
bicycles at multiple locations that are ideal for “for getting around
town, from one meeting to another,” Mr. Clarke said.
But Eric V. Swanson, program manager for the World Bank, said he had
trouble in Europe because the machines at the kiosks could not read
his American credit card. “I became frustrated on several occasions,”
he said. He was in Paris during the transit strike two years ago and
“there were bikes in stands all over the city, and I couldn’t do it.”
He ended up walking the three miles to his meeting and back.
Joshua Gaughen, who travels frequently as a government contractor,
said he had faced hurdles as well in keeping up his bicycle habit. He
said he stopped taking his full-size bicycle on airplanes because it
was cumbersome and expensive. “It was just a nightmare,” he said. The
bike case or disposable boxes he used had to be unpacked at the
airport because they did not fit in the compact cars that the
government required on business trips. For a business trip to Hawaii
in March, it would have cost $450 to fly his bicycle from Virginia. He
said he recently bought a folding bike that fits into a regular
suitcase. “It’s really the only thing that allows me to keep riding,”
he said.
Mr. Gaughen and others recommend that bicyclists research baggage
policies in advance because there is a huge variation in what airlines
charge to transport bicycles.
Some avid cyclists say that the bicycles available at hotels are often
poor quality and unsafe, and that finding local bike shops that rent
can be a challenge.
George Gill recalled trying unsuccessfully to rent a bike before a
business meeting in Dallas several years ago. On the flight there, he
remembers thinking, “There’s got to be a better way.” He said he wrote
the beginnings of a business plan for a bicycle rental company on a
cocktail napkin on the plane. Now the company, RentaBikeNow.com,
offers a large selection of bicycles through local bike shops — from
cruisers to carbon-fiber racing bikes — at an average cost of about
$40 a day, in 181 cities in the United States and Canada.
But even if a cycling enthusiast finds a good bicycle, safety is an
issue, particularly in some foreign countries where laws and customs
can be quite different.
Jim Langley, an author and cycling expert, receives e-mail messages
asking about the pros and cons of bringing or renting a bike, whether
to bring a helmet or not, or how to ride without dirtying clothes.
“Many see it as a hassle, but if they do their homework, it’s worth
it,” he said. “It helps me feel more centered and sharper in meetings.
And the fastest way to get over jet lag quickly is a one-hour bike
ride. It just brings you back to life.”
