acorn54

i'd be interested to hear whether the people here use a bike because they can't afford a car or because it is a choice?
another question. does one even need a bike or is it because it saves time over walking. for myself i see that where i go i can go via walking but use a bike because it is fun and i think better and i like to have a bike as a possession to fix and admire for it's simplicity.
acorn

Eli_Damon

The main reason I don't drive is that, due to a disability, I cannot get a license. There are other reasons but that one is trump. Where I live, I could survive without a bike but it would be a crippled life, especially regarding social opportunities. If I moved to a city, it would be easier without a bike but a lot of the same problems would come up, albeit less frequently. There will inevitably be a time when I have/want to go somewhere and neither walking nor public transportation are feasible and I can't reliable beg a ride from someone else.

HardyWeinberg

'afford' is relative. $1k gets you a much more reliable bike than car, but it would be a serviceable car if you chose to deal w/ it.

cosmo starr

i would have to work more to pay for a car based lifestyle

acorn54

for me all i could afford to spend at the time i bought my bike was $200 plus the fact with an auto i would have to dish out $60 every month for car insurance which i can not afford so for me there is no choice but a bike
acorn

deputyjones

It is a choice for me, but is related to money as I hate to waste it unnecessarily on gas when pedal power will do just fine. Being a police officer it is amazing to me how many people just don't even think of it as an option. If I had a nickel for every person I have arrested for driving on a suspended driver's license that said, "Well how am I supposed to get to work?" I guess there is some comical irony in the fact that most people on bikes could easily afford not to be.

Eli, if you would be willing to share I am curious what your disability is that keeps you from a car but still allows you to ride a bike. Seizure disorder?

crtreedude 

Well, I have vehicles, SUV, Truck, 3 ATVs, 5 horses (at least) and could afford others I suppose.

I ride because it takes just about the same time, but I save my health and the costs involved. Also, my wife can use the SUV (we really need it - our roads ain't pavement) and she isn't capable of riding to the office and back.

cooker

I'm only semi-car free. My wife owns a car, but when she goes out of town I'm temporarily car free. I use a bike because it's handier than walking....I can go to the grocery store and return with more stuff than I would like to carry on foot. still, I also have a "bundle-buggy" (grocery carrier) that I can use if I walk. I also regularily use public transit.

I can afford a car...I just don't want one.

8bit

It's a choice, but I couldn't afford to have a car now that I've gotten used to having all the extra disposable income. I'd have to give up eating out a lot, buying fancy beer, fancy clothing, and all the toys I've gotten used to. I think that I would always feel like I was sacrificing a lot of lifestyle things that I like if I were paying for a car.

Artkansas 

My needs have varied. Right now my car is parked where it has been for the past year and a half. Afford isn't quite the reason, but rather it's a spending priorities decision. Yes, I could pay for a car more than I am now, but I don't so that I can pay off the debts from my marriage all the faster. I could have the car and pay off debts but the debts would go down slower.

When I was married, my ex and I sometimes had a 1 car family, and I calculated that the money saved by my bicycling instead of driving was the difference between being in the red and being in the black each month. Back then, bicycling was an absolute necessity. I worked 9 miles away and there was no bus service when I had to leave for work. A three hour hike each day each way simply wasn't practical.

At one point I had a 3 mile commute from my apartment to downtown L.A. I pedaled then, because parking my car was so expensive. Later I had a seven mile commute that involved 5 miles through a nature preserve. Driving the same route would be 11 miles and I wouldn't get to chase coyotes at dawn. Who could pass that up?

bmclaughlin807

Choice. I could afford a car, insurance, repairs, gas. But why? And taking the bus easily adds an extra hour to my work day over riding a bike. So I bike most days, and when my knee is bothering me, I split commute, loading my bike on the bus rack. This allows me to skip the first bus altogether, and not have to worry about making a transfer. Doing this adds about 10 minutes to my commute over biking alone.

Edit: Actually... I have a truck. I just haven't finished fixing it. The tags are paid for the next 4 years, no payments, and I don't have insurance on it, so it's not costing me anything, and I can have it fixed and drivable in a week if it's necessary.

tool boy

We're a 1 car family (of two) and my wife uses her car when she has to for her work. I have biked to work for the last 10 years and have had access to a vehicle most of the time. Enviromental, health, and a need to change the way Americans think are my primary reasons for using the bike. We use our bikes for errands and such as much as I can get my wife to. We walk for a number of things and use the bus (our bus system stinks!) on occasion. The whole idea is to make less of a dent in the earth and teach others that they can too, with little negative impact on their lifestyles. We're not always successful, but we keep trying.

tsl

I've chosen to not afford a car. It means that since I don't have to afford a car, I can work less or at lower-paying jobs. What I ended up doing is starting a business that now makes enough that I only have to work a couple of hours a day, and I work two days a week at the neighborhood branch of the public library--largely for the "staff doesn't pay fines" benefit.

I got around by foot or on the bus for six years before I got the bike. My initial motivation for buying the bike was to save travel time to clients' offices. (Clients, BTW, get a kick out of me showing up by bike.) It has, for better or worse, transformed my life.

Business suffers during nice weather, like the unusually nice late November we've been having here. I ride instead. Depending on how the next two days pan out, I could have more miles in November than in any other month this year, except July. And this is my busy season.

On the other hand, I feel 20 years younger. (40 years younger when I ride in the rain.)

tehdely

I have been car-free my whole life. I never even got myself a driver's license.

Part of it is a long-standing hate for cars and how they have made our built environment hostile to humans, and another part is a rather extreme case of ADHD which makes me supremely inconfident behind a wheel. I do not feel I am capable of juggling everything involved in safely driving an automobile; it's rather overwhelming. I'm fine on a bike!

wahoonc

Choice...I cycle because I enjoy it. I would rather grab a bike and get some where near by, than crank the car, drive to the place, find a freakin' parking place... The bike is quick easy and if I see something along the way I can stop and look at it, don't do that with the car. I hope in the not to distant future to get out of car completely except for longer occasional trips. Right now I have to have my truck for work.

Aaron

AlanK

For me it's sort of a choice, but where I live (Seattle), not having some form of private transportation can be a major hinderance. For instance, biking to work takes about 20 minutes, while the bus takes about 45. So in practical terms, having a bike makes perfect sense - it's usually more efficient than the bus, and much less expensive than a car. If where you live and work is along a direct bus line (no transfers), then you can get by just fine without a bike.

As for a car, I could afford one, but just barely (I'd have little money left for anything else). As it is, I'm more content working less (about 32 hours/week) and having more free time and money without a car. If I had a car, I'd need to work at least 40 hours/week to have any disposable income.

chephy

It's a choice. Even if I couldn't drive or bike, the subway is just a two-minute walk away, and several bus/streetcar stops are not much further. My boyfriend lived for a couple of decades in Toronto without owning or needing a car or a bike.

rs_woods

I demand of myself a level of exercise that is not capable through walking. I could probably go bike-free, but I would have to start running to work every morning. If I wanted to work full-time (which I do not, I enjoy the freedom of part-time employment) I could afford a car, but why change my lifestyle to something I don't want, for a posession I don't want? I will stick to my bike.

heywood

I refuse to pay the high insurance costs. When they wanted over $100 a month for insurance I said "no".

Never had an accident, or speeding fine, nothing.

My life has improved vastly since then and know I have no debt (except mortgage) and can rent a car any time I please for 'extra heavy' stuff.

donnamb 

It started for me as health. I was physically unable to drive for a year and a half. During that time, my 18 year old car died. Since I could not drive, I did not replace it. I was finally physically able to ride a bike again last spring. I had been taking medication that caused me to gain a lot of weight, so it seemed like a great idea. Also due to the health issues, I get extremely motion sick in cars and buses, which is unlikely to improve for me.

So I bought a bike I liked, started riding to work and around the city, and haven't stopped. I decided I detested paying for a car I did not need. I've lost 50 lbs since April. I have so much energy, my coworkers want to slip me sedatives in my tea. I rode a lot between childhood and my mid-twenties, and now I feel like myself again.

Chris L

This basically parallels my situation. I could afford a car, but I just don't see the point. There were a number of years back in the '90s when I couldn't afford a car, and I did just fine without one. I really don't see the point of giving my money to an overseas based oil company that doesn't care a jot about my well-being just because everyone else does.

cooker

Funny - your finances have improved but you're still in red ink.

Daboo

Out of curiosity, what is your business? I'm thinking of doing the same thing.

I sold a brand new Saab I bought at my first job out of college. Not to mention, I quit said job, because I realized I was on the work/spend treadmill.

littledog

Having a car would be nice. Then I could transport my bike(s) to the bicycle club rides which are not accessible by bicycle. Also I could drive to bike paths in different parts of the state. However I would not have been able to afford my stable of bikes if I still had a car. So it is a matter of priorities. I gave my junker car away and have no regrets about it. I love my bikes and the health benefits that goes with it.

tsl

I love the irony in that.

It's pretty much the same with my club. By kvetching loudly, next year some rides are slated to start in the city. Of course, I've been tapped to lead them... (Be careful what you ask for.)

The other thing that has me shaking my head about my club is that of the meetings I've attended, I'm the only one who arrived by bike. There was another bike at the volunteer appreciation dinner earlier this month. But it was used as a prop and arrived in the back of a minivan.

Full disclosure: I will confess to having had ride partners pick me up twice for rides in another part of the state. Bike was not pleased with that at all. For about a week it threw its chain every time I shifted to the small ring. It stopped only after I threatened to take it to the LBS that it doesn't like.