To reduce our car use, my wife and I live less than 5.5 miles away from both of our jobs. We regularly ride our bikes to work. On Monday, however, my wife crashed and bruised her knee and shoulder enough that she can't ride to work. The fastest bus route takes 1 hr. 12 min. to go 5.5 miles If her knee didn't hurt, she could almost walk to work faster So until she heals, she's taking the car to work.

If we had a tandem, I could ride her to work and then ride over to my job.

Going car free is still a struggle in the suburbopolis of San Jose. Props to those of you who've figured out how to do it in sprawling urban wastelands.

Glad she wasn't hurt too badly, and I hope she feels better soon.

That tandem commute sounds like a fun idea, though. Wonder if there's a place that would rent you one while she heals...

ouch. the downside of riding a bike... you can fall and it hurts!

now to preach the car-free lifestyle: you could ditch the car, and when an incident like this pops up, rent a car for a couple weeks. say 2 weeks at $200/wk = $400, which is waht, 1/2 or 1/3 of basic yearly insurance on any junker? or take a cab. short-term expenses would peak on occasion but long-term i bet you save $$.

cheers

Ha, you're right. We could've rented a car. Didn't cross my mind since we still have a car of our own. Man, there really are no excuses NOT to go car-free Thanks...

Bike Friday makes a bike that goes from a tandem to a single bike, and it folds. You could do tandem to work and solo to your work.

If storage and expense are factors that make you feel less inclined to buy a tandem there is another option: a "tandem bar." that connects the bikes. Check out the link:
https://estore.websitepros.com/144057...Cycle+Products

I used to live carfree in San Jose. It did take forever to get anywhere on the public transit. I briefly had a 7-10 mile commute that was nearly 3 hours by bus... So infuriating.

This is probably the biggest reason I plan on always keeping at least one car, and a car with an automatic transmission at that. I've seen it many times that people get injuries (or surguries) where they are capable of driving an automatic, but their car is a manual-trans. So they're left with no way to get around on their own until they heal.
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Well, I always found it interesting reading about how many ways there are not to go car free.

Then comes the invasion of ways around the current problem from people who are motor free.

I think planning is the best way to stay car free.

Personally San Jose, car pooling, craigslist, taxi /walk/bus, and walk and bus to work would I be looking at.