I’ve been bike commuting to work for over a year now and I’ve mostly mastered the typical issues of clothing, weather, how to carry stuff, what to bring, maintenance, etc. As I try to transition to a totally car-free commute, one remaining nagging issue has been how to run errands from work.

My employer actually asked, as part of a “green commuting” survey, how to encourage people to not drive and one of the check boxes was to make a pool vehicle available for errands during breaks/lunch. The big issue there is that I work for state government and personal use of state-owned vehicles is a major violation, so I’m not sure why they’d even give us hope that might be an option. The other issue is that of the 3,000 or so people that my department employs, only about 50 of us work in the field office where I am. The likelihood of them giving us a pool vehicle for personal errands (I’m the only bike commuter in the building and there’s no mass transit access within several miles) is zero.

How do most of you manage errands from work if you bike in? I could just save up errands and drive once in a while, but I’m challenging myself to go car-free. Do you have coworkers give you rides? Do you have access to a company car or pool vehicle? Do you run all your errands on weekends with (or without) your car so there’s no conflict with your commuting? I’m looking for innovative ideas, for myself and to offer my employer.

The most obvious solution is – bike your errands. The problem there is mostly time. I work in a suburban office and the closest stores I need are about 2 miles away. I only get 15 minute breaks and covering 4 miles round trip would take at least that long, leaving me no time to do anything. I do get a longer lunch, which I need to actually eat food (bike fuel!). Altering my schedule to run errands before or after work is limited by childcare, store hours and traffic issues (if I don’t get off the road by 5PM, the traffic becomes crazy and not tolerant of bikes).

How do you manage errands and what other ideas do you have? Thanks!

Addendum - OK, I'm not looking for people to solve MY specific problems. I'm just using my examples. I'm more professionally interested just in how other people juggle this.

For personal stuff I just go early or do it on the way home. If it is way out of the way I do like you say and save up or plan accordingly. I live in a pretty small town, though, and nothing is really more than 15 miles away from my house.

What type of errands are you talking about? Paying bills? Or picking up groceries?
If you're paying bills why don't you just switch to e-payments on those? And if it's for groceries, go on the weekends. If it's for something else, well... I'd need to know what kind of errands these are.
I don't have many, but I'm a good problem solver.
-Gene-

LOL!!
The most obvious way for your employer to encourage green commuting would be to move the office to a better location.

Good question! Let's say as a few examples, getting my hair cut, picking up prescriptions, cashing/depositing a check. My bank/barber/drugstore happen to be closer to work than home. I'm a big fan of online bill paying and shopping. I do whatever I can to reduce car trips whenever possible. We do grocery shopping on weekends by car and I carry what food/drink I need for each day with me so I don't need to run out for food every day like lots of people do.

Well, since they're close, and I doubt you do them all on the same day, is there too much of a problem? If the barber is a big deal, perhaps schedule your visits on the weekend. I can't imagine you do a drugstore run once a week, but if you do, just do what you can to zip on by. And if you're running late, make sure you know a more secluded route home, or just grit and bear your defenses on the roads you primarily ride. The same goes for the bank.
Or just cut each trip to one a day, hopefully you'll avoid the terrible traffic you speak of.
-Gene-

Can't pretty much all of this be done outside of work hours/days? A hair cut? Seriously?

Can you combine your breaks with your lunchtime? Or skip them one day and take double the amount of time the next?

Not an option under our current labor contract. But, if I take your point to allow more flex time, that's something I can add to the list of suggestions.

If I have something I need to do on my lunch, I usually drive. Occasionally something comes up unexpectedly and I borrow a co-workers car.

I'm car-lite, so if it's too far I'll run most errands with the car on the weekend. However, I do make all of my stops on the way home. In addition, there are some new shopping centers in town that have most of the stores (Lowes, Home Depot, PetSmart, Hair Cutery, Omaha Steaks, banks, the post office, etc.) within a mile or so where I need to get various schtuff. I buy our groceries from Giant, which is less than a mile from home.

I don't suppose your employer would provide you with a concierge.

Can your prescriptions, depositing checks be done with US mail ?

While I am not "car free" by any means, I still end up handling most errands on Saturdays or on our every-other-Friday off work (we work a 9/80 schedule).

OK, this is not about when I get my hair cut. Just substitute whatever meaningful thing you need to do during the work day and tell us how you do it in combination with bike commuting. That's what I'm asking. I want ideas I can take back to my employer to help make biking more practical for people.

That's all stuff I do outside of work hours, as does everyone else in my workplace. I do those things on weekends or on the way to or from work.

Not everyone is off work in time to go to the bank. This morning I got to work before the bank opened and left after the bank closed. I needed to close my account (crappy bank) so I did it on my lunch break on my bike.

PS - the bank is not open on Saturdays.

EDIT- And I have time to do it because I never take my lunch break. But my employer lets me eat while I work so I am lucky.

My work is right in the downtown area. My bank, barber, and many other errands are literally walking distance from where I work. I realize that doesn't help you in any way.

I used to have a pseudo-government job, so I know what you are dealing with in relation to use of government resources (ie, vehicles) for personal applications. I once got lectured about a rental car I used during a business trip because I added some time off to the end of it to make a mini-vacation, and even though I didn't expense those days I allegedly benefitted from the government rate and was told I should have turned the car in at the end of the trip, then rented a new one for personal use. I thought that was ********.

I am at a loss, given your specific situation, for recommendations to your employer. There probably isn't anything they can do that isn't going to end up being cost prohibitive. About the best you could hope for would be a documented policy on schedule flexibility so you can leave early on days you need to do errands, or be able to extend a lunch break, just with the understanding the time will be made up. That should be a workable solution.

In my aforementioned government job we actually were given extended lunches two days each week under the premise that the extra time was used for physical fitness. If you were riding to/from your errand, that would qualify.

I find it odd that r e t a r d e d is a blocked word here. It isn't profane.

I guess I don't think much about that, not being on the M-F workweek; I work every Sunday, and am off every Tuesday. Solves the problem for me most of the time, and if there's still a conflict, I pre-arrange a late arrival with mgmt.

Ordinary stuff, I either do on the way home or beforehand in the morning. The kids like going with me when they can.

Might be tough if you're locked into a schedule. My solution is to use flex-time to my advantage:

Start at 07:00
End at 15:00
No breaks since I can snack at my desk, 15 - 20min lunch.

It ultimately comes down to where YOU choose to live, work and do business.

Maybe purchase an e-bike or moped and keep it at the office ? I've known a bike commuter who drove his car to work Monday and left the car there until Friday afternoon. It was also his portable lockerroom with clean clothes for the week.

The hardest thing for me is doc visits. They are generally not scheduled at my convenience and are pretty far from my office. For things like home repairs/service calls, I usually take a work-from-home day.

If you're a real man and get your haircut at a barber instead of a beauty salon, you'd know that barbers typically close around 4:00, or whenever they feel like it.

I think the suggestion to drive to work on Monday and leave the car at work all week is a pretty good one, especially if you're a two car family. You'll still have a car at home if needed in the evening, and you'll have one at work if the need to run out at lunchtime arises.

It would be ridiculously expensive to own a second car that is not being used to commute to work. You'd be better off financially paying someone to run your errands for you at lunch (or cabbing it) than owning the second car just to leave around as an errand runner.

Do you actually have time to drive an errand that far away during a 15 minute break? I know suburban traffic moves faster than urban traffic but usually a bike is just about as fast as a car for trips of that distance, especially when you consider the time spent to park the car and walk from the parking lot into the mall/store.

Eat faster? Eat during your errands? Ie if you go to a drugstore and need to wait 10 minutes for them to have your prescription ready eat your lunch in the meantime.

I'm fortunate in that I work in a downtown urban area so if I need to do anything at lunch its usually in walking distance and if not certainly a short bike ride.

But if longer lunches would help you maybe that's an idea for your employer if its possible to skip your breaks and add them to your lunch time.

+1

Sometimes I go weeks w/o driving, but driving once a week is pretty common and convenient for me. I could rearrange things I'm sure, but my life is complicated enough that I don't much contemplate living car-free just yet...