Joys of bike commuting rediscovered

After reading all the bike commuting stories on this NG over the last few
months I was getting itchy feet to start doing it again myself.
Unfortunately my job requires me to drive most of the time so that I can
shoot off to customer's sites during the day. Some days though I know I
have a blank appointment book, and I take the risk that there will be no
emergency so ride my bike to work. I am also a bit of a wuss when it comes
to cold weather and rain, so I was a cager all winter.
But, spring has sprung, and I decided that today was the day to get back to
commuting on the bike.
Ahhhhhh, there is something very satisfying about coming up behind a loooong
line of traffic stuck at traffic lights, and just breezing past.
I have been training all winter, mainly on an indoor trainer, so I am still
pretty fit and was able to maintain a similar speed to the traffic at times
(about 40kph). I also made sure I claimed my lane, staying about 1 metre
out from the gutter, and noticed how very few people (one truck and 1 P-
Plater) tried to squeeze past me.
The trip only took 15 minutes longer than driving (over 25Km).
I arrived at work feeling invigorated and refreshed and am looking forward
to the trip home.

BruceA

On Fri, 2 Sep 2005 10:42:22 +0800, BruceA wrote:

Ahhhhhh, there is something very satisfying about coming up behind a loooong
line of traffic stuck at traffic lights, and just breezing past.

Even when I'm slower over the entire trip, I find commuting by bike so
much less stressful that it's ridiculous. Perhaps it's so bad in a car
because you know you /could/ be doing 60 instead, but are burning that
expensive smelly stuff instead.

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BruceA Wrote:

Unfortunately my job requires me to drive most of the time so that I
can
shoot off to customer's sites during the day.

Yeah, that can be a problem. My job's changed a bit so one week in
three I'm on call, with a minimum fifty minute cycle to the nearest
site and a 70 minute commute to the other that raises some issues.

During the thrashing out of arrangements I made it perfectly clear that
I do not have a car at my disposal and they'll have to find some other
way to get me in to work.

Cab vouchers :-/


--
EuanB

On 2005-09-02, EuanB wrote:
Yeah, that can be a problem. My job's changed a bit so one week in
three I'm on call, with a minimum fifty minute cycle to the nearest
site and a 70 minute commute to the other that raises some issues.

During the thrashing out of arrangements I made it perfectly clear that
I do not have a car at my disposal and they'll have to find some other
way to get me in to work.

Cab vouchers :-/

I don't see a problem -- use the bike to get in to work at the start of
the morning, and use the cab vouchers to get to the site if necessary.

Or am I missing something?

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Michael Warner wrote:
BruceA wrote:
Ahhhhhh, there is something very satisfying about coming up behind a loooong
line of traffic stuck at traffic lights, and just breezing past.

Even when I'm slower over the entire trip, I find commuting by bike so
much less stressful that it's ridiculous. Perhaps it's so bad in a car
because you know you /could/ be doing 60 instead, but are burning that
expensive smelly stuff instead.

takes me about 30 mintues to commute to work just about any mornen on the bike.

takes 30-50 in the car and 40mins-1.5hr on the bus. stress? huh? not any more

and at lunch time i can hop on the bike and do stuff i haven't a chance with out it =D
lunch time is very, very useful now =) no longer am i stuck at my desk because all
the good food is on the other side of town!

cheers,

Kim

Cab vouchers :-/

I don't see a problem -- use the bike to get in to work at the start of
the morning, and use the cab vouchers to get to the site if necessary.

Or am I missing something?

Hmmm, cab vouchers. I never thought of that option. Thanks very much for
the suggestion.
I have a couple of customers in country towns, but I could easily rent a car
for visiting them.
I hate being a two car family, seems so unnecessary when the only thing I
need the car for is to get to work and back and a few trips to customer
sites during the week.

Bruce(seriously considering the alternatives)A

On 2005-09-02, BruceA wrote:
I don't see a problem -- use the bike to get in to work at the start of
the morning, and use the cab vouchers to get to the site if necessary.

Or am I missing something?

Hmmm, cab vouchers. I never thought of that option. Thanks very much for
the suggestion.
I have a couple of customers in country towns, but I could easily rent a car
for visiting them.
I hate being a two car family, seems so unnecessary when the only thing I
need the car for is to get to work and back and a few trips to customer
sites during the week.

Well, let's do a quick check.

Hiring a small automatic car from Budget, Richmond, is $43.76 a day. If
you want the excess reduction, that's another $22 per day, or $65.76.
Since it's for work purposes, you could probably claim it on tax (or get
the GST back, depending), for an approximate cost of (at a guess) $46 a
day (depending on tax bracket).

In comparison, to keep the car in the carport is $1200 or more per year.
That's around 2 car rentals per month before you'd need to look more
closely at whether it's worth buying or renting (at 2 or less per month,
renting is cheaper ... but there's also the issue of getting there,
etc.)

In short: how often do you need to take the car out to customers?

Bruce(seriously considering the alternatives)A

Ditto. The biggest sticking point I have is my family; my mother, in
particular, is dead set against me selling my car. :-/

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BruceA Wrote:

Cab vouchers :-/

I don't see a problem -- use the bike to get in to work at the start
of
the morning, and use the cab vouchers to get to the site if
necessary.

Or am I missing something?

Hmmm, cab vouchers. I never thought of that option. Thanks very much
for
the suggestion.
I have a couple of customers in country towns, but I could easily rent
a car
for visiting them.
I hate being a two car family, seems so unnecessary when the only thing
I
need the car for is to get to work and back and a few trips to customer
sites during the week.

Bruce(seriously considering the alternatives)A

Cab Charge Card. More convenient, More secure than vouchers. Your sig
is on the card so in theory only you can use the card whereas anyone who
picks the book of vouchers up in the pub where you dropped it can use
them.

There was a cabcharge voucher scam running in WA a few years ago. Cab
fare of say $30. Driver writes out cabcharge docket for $40. Splits
the overcharge of $10 with the passenger by giving him $5 cash. All
charged back to the passenger's employer. (Note this works with both
vouchers and cards).

In my job, I''m entitled to have a car, but I don't because it would
restrict my riding. When I need to go to meetings I borrow a vehicle
from a colleague or cab it. I use my own car very occasionally to go
to and from work.

Steve(call me a cab)A


--
SteveA

"Stuart" == Stuart Lamble writes:

Stuart On 2005-09-02, EuanB
Stuart wrote:
Yeah, that can be a problem. My job's changed a bit so one week
in three I'm on call, with a minimum fifty minute cycle to the
nearest site and a 70 minute commute to the other that raises
some issues.

During the thrashing out of arrangements I made it perfectly
clear that I do not have a car at my disposal and they'll have to
find some other way to get me in to work.

Cab vouchers :-/

Stuart I don't see a problem -- use the bike to get in to work at
Stuart the start of the morning, and use the cab vouchers to get to
Stuart the site if necessary.

Stuart Or am I missing something?

Yeah, on call as in out of hours; i.e. I'm at home. That means finding
a taxi in Dingley Village, could be a bit of a challenge at 02:00 in the
morning.
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)

On 2005-09-02, Euan wrote:
[getting taxis when necessary]
Yeah, on call as in out of hours; i.e. I'm at home. That means finding
a taxi in Dingley Village, could be a bit of a challenge at 02:00 in the
morning.

If work's paying, I still don't see a problem; you can call for a taxi
at any time; only adds a couple of bucks to the fare ... there's a late
night surcharge as well, but again, only a couple of bucks ...

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