rockmom

I process library materials for the local library system. I generally bus to work so that I can have 20 minutes of uninterrupted reading time. Biking works fine for getting to work as well. Quite a few coworkers bus and/or bike to work so it is just considered normal.

Previously, I have been a grad student and lab tech without driving.

LesterOfPuppets

Come again?

cerewa

I do data entry and computer database administration. The powers-that-be at my office are interested in eco-friendly stuff so they kind of think it's cute that I commute by bike, but most of them are not about to give up car-commuting themselves.

Considering the problems of cost/difficulty of parking in central Philadelphia, lots more people would get here by some mode of travel other than a car if they lived within 5 miles (like I do) or within a short distance of a train to central Philadelphia.

Zian

I'm a computer programmer at the university that I've attended for the past 3 years.

Robert C

It's the cost of housing. I am living with relatives in a town about 20 miles away from my school. Housing would run about least three times as much as I pay them.

To complicate it, there is about a 2,000 foot rise between the two towns. Further, the buses stop running about an hour before my classes end.

I considered moving to where I would be able to use my bicycle instead of my motorcycle; however, the numbers just don't work.

Curious LeTour

I knew what I wanted to be. I wanted to have a tiny organic farm and deliver my produce by bike, but I've given up on the idea after working on a real organic farm. I've only read or heard of 3 people in North America that have pulled it off. One in Lawrence, KS, and one in Vancouver, BC.

I've really been dwelling on this issue. I don't know what I will choose to do, and I want to live car free. I also don't want to live in a city. I love being around natural landscapes. I'm having trouble finding the right combination in life to live car free, and in a tiny cottage "not" in the city.

I just took a job with a landscaping company. I wanted to rid of my truck this fall, but they want to reimburse me for using it to travel from one customer's location, to the next.

I'm going to move, temporarily, to Oak Hill, and I will live about 6 miles southwest of downtown Austin. I'm planning to use my bike for most all personal transportation.

Every day I try to figure out what career to choose, and where to live.

Oddly enough, I own 7 acres of land that is seven miles out from a town of 15,000 people. None of them care about the environment, and there are too many religious overtones for my liking. So, I'm very reluctant to move to my property, which I was planning to have a tiny organic farm on.

jgedwa

Philosophy professor.

I am not car-free, and am not even sure I qualify squarely as car-light, but the fexibility of my job does allow me to both pick up/drop off my kids at school, and ride 19 miles into work some days.

jim

Allen

Photographer/Printer
I have a darkroom in my house.

Artkansas 

In my career I've only applied for one job where a car was required. That was making genuine hand-made "faux Indian" jewelry. I have no idea why since it would have been an indoor job. But since buying a car was a deal breaker, I didn't get that one.

In my job as a "Utility Worker B" where I was to carry objects, boxes and packages, my bike was a real boon. I could get things from facility to facility in 20 minutes. It took people driving the same distance 30-40 minutes because they had to walk to their cars and the parking lots were huge.

Now I do computer graphics for TV ads. The only impact is that I live 9 miles away, so I get my exercise commuting. My bike is safely parked in a corner of the studio with the Arkansas State Police Headquarters just yards away.

soappedaler

I make soap and other B&B products. The UPS store is 4 miles away so shipping orders is no problem with The Dummy, grocery store is next to it so usually shop after dropping off shipments. Most of my local accounts are within bike distance. One store moved 17 miles away after being 2 miles away for years. During tourist season the orders are too big for The Dummy so I have to use the car. But off season I can deliver the 17 miles on either the Dummy or the Trucker. This year I've been doing a farmers market and haul my set-up on the Dummy except when it looks like rain and once when it was so hot I couldn't take it, I'm in the Florida Panhandle. The Farmer's market is about 10 miles from my house and takes me an hour to get to.
About a month ago my husband sold his truck we realized one vehicle between us is all we need,he's a drummer and uses it to haul his equipment, last Summer he had a gig 4 blocks from our house that only required congas so I'd let him use my Dummy.

DX-MAN

OK, before I start, don't hate....

I build BSO's (bike-shaped objects) for the ultimate obscenity, Wal-Mart. You know what -- SOMEBODY, SOMETIME, SOMEWHERE has to care about making that garbage at least marginally useable for the kids. I've seen, firsthand, the results of owner neglect with these bikes; I'm not about to give them a headstart!

My bike hangs about 8 feet from my workstation, just high enough for 99% of my co-workers to safely walk under; it's been coming in the building with me since fall of 2000. Every store manager and district manager has given their blessing for me to do so. My reputation on the job may help that, I dunno. The fact that they've all known, since '05, that I don't even own a car may help, as well.

Amani576

Neat! I've helped build some BSO's myself. As you said, someone's gotta do it. We have a fellow named Guy at our store who does it. He used to race MTB's. If you don't mind me asking, which store do you work at? (#4499 here)
-Gene-

LesterOfPuppets

I used to do that at Toys R Us. One of my favorite jobs of all time, but the pay was dreadfully low so I had to move on.

BigDaddyPete

I manage a group of new wireless stores in New Haven, CT. I ride to the train from my house, and then between all four stores, usually visiting each store twice daily. I ride a lot. And because of it, I get to work faster than my colleagues in cars. I bring the bike into every store. Our target demographic is people who don't have credit or high incomes, most of them ride bikes...we share stories. They think I'm alright. My boss loves it.

FlatSix911

I worked for Bernie Madoff ... now retired ...

tuind13

I review federally-funded (HUD, mainly) projects to make sure they don't have an adverse impact on historic buildings. Occasionally I have to go to meetings on the other side of town. A few years ago I used to take the car to those. I'd have to re-arrange my entire morning to be able to drive to the meeting without arriving hours early or pay for parking by the hour at work. After the meetings, I'd need to drive home and drop off the car, then walk to work. It took forever. I finally got wise and started riding my bike everywhere and now I don't have to figure out where to park at work before the meeting. It takes probably less time to bike to the meetings, and when I get there I can park right by the door, rather than at the bar a block away. (edit - not sure how that's a good thing....)

Our office reviews every federally funded, licensed, or permitted project in the state, regardless of the agency. Besides all of the recent stimulus spending, HUD threw the state about 10x the funding they usually get. We are swamped with work, and since everything needs to be "shovel ready" and most folks getting the cash aren't familiar with the environmental review requirements, they send us really bad info to review and expect a turn-around time that's completely unrealistic. If they don't hear back from us in a couple of days after sending it in, they call for a status check. We're spending incredible amounts of time on the phone and trying to walk people through the process, fending off politicians who call thinking they can light a fire under the lazy state workers, and on top of all that our office has been closed every other Friday for furlough days.... Honestly, I'd lose my mind if it weren't for the opportunity to ride the bike to work and back and to daycare and back and de-stress for a bit. So, I'd say the whole car-light thing is keeping me off the six o'clock news.

Another added benefit - if we have an out of town meeting we have to take a state car. My coworkers realize I don't drive that much and are much more willing to do the driving when we go someplace. I have no idea why my driving 15 miles an hour on the interstate scares them. ;o)

Curious LeTour

Very nice arrangement! I've been wondering about self employed people that use bikes very often.

DX Rider

That's only two.

There is a company out of Cambridge, MA that specializes in delivering farm fresh produce using trikes. All of the riders have other jobs in the company as well, accountant, web designer, the owners, and the bike mechanic all make deliveries.

The produce is grown on an organic farm in Dartmouth, MA. I have no idea how they get the produce to the warehouse in Cambridge, since it's about 50 miles. I would assume by truck.

This is their website - https://metropedalpower.com/


I don't know why some people do, your just doing what you have to do to get by. It's not like your responsible for the quality of the bikes they purchase.

BianchiDave

I’m a police officer and I live only 2 miles from work. Living without a vehicle is easy for me but for my wife it is different. She stays at home with our two kids and needs a car to get them around the city for school, parks or to grandma’s house.
We have had one car since 2007 and it is great not just financially but environmentally friendly also. We strongly believe in the saying “living within you needs” and that it takes all of us to make a difference.
(Oh her car is a hybrid)

coffeecake

Don't give up...I hate it when our city office rolls over and plays dead when it comes to tearing down historic buildings. So many historic things have been destroyed in order to make room for eyesore condos here.

DX Rider

Around here it's the trees and wildlife that are the enemy. It used to be a mix of businesses, homes, farms, and woodlands. Now anyplace that has enough open space is being turned into sub divisions. What's even more foolish is that in this economy, no one is buying those houses. So we have entire 100 house subdivisions that are almost devoid of occupants. The town I live in just forced some contractors to finish the street work, because they built houses and didn't follow through with any of the infrastructure they had agreed to install.

I'm talking about installing sewage, storm drains, sidewalks, streetlights, and fire hydrants. Instead, they were just moving onto the next area and building more houses without bothering to complete the previous project.

The only areas not in jeopardy of becoming urban sprawl are wet lands areas, which are being seriously disputed by developers. The fact that the town is fighting the developers is new, there are lots of neighborhoods that were built on swamp land. Actually it's probably the ensuing problems that developed in these neighborhoods that has caused the town officials to stop ignoring wetland violations.

It's gotten so ridiculous that I found out a couple of years ago that one of my neighbors was in talks with a developer to build on land that I own. When she told me what she was up to, I asked her how she was planning on proceeding with that since it was my property and I wasn't interested in selling the lot.

She didn't know that and had apparently gone so far as to hire a lawyer in an attempt to have the land declared abandoned or something of that nature, so she could purchase it. She should have actually asked the people in the neighborhood regarding who owned the land. She has since been forced to sell her house and move out of the neighborhood for financial reasons, I don't miss her.

Greed is a powerful motivator.

Jerseysbest

I'm a cartographer working for a gigantic Federal agency.

coffeecake

Oh man, I could go on at length about all the empty houses around here and the lack of rental housing. It's just so ... wasteful. And the developers that have given up and put them up for rent want ridiculous amounts. But to get back on topic, I'm a graphic artist at a small sign shop. Four of the seven employees here do not have drivers' licenses and only one drives regularly to work. On nice days there are four bikes parked outside So it's definitely not impacted my work at all - if anything it helps being a cyclist since the bosses are car-free.

DX-MAN

4231, dude. Nice to know my bud and I aren't the ONLY ones....

Sad, isn't it? What's worse is that I would take a $2.50/hour pay cut to do the same thing @ the LBS. Actually, with the GM restructuring (we have a truck plant here), I'm pretty close to starting pay for new line workers at the plant.

rockmom

Are you one of the officers who patrols on a bike? Or are they still doing that?