When I was a kid I rode my bike to school. School was only a few blocks away, I could walk the distance in about twenty minutes at a moderate pace over the short cut, (a charming walk in the woods north of Dundas.) The shortcut was too rough for a bike, though so I rode it up and down the sidewalk. I still made the journey in half the time and all was well. This was in the days when we kept our school notes in our desks and had to carry at most a couple of notebooks home. I could do that with a plastic basket that mounted on the front of the handlebars. And naturally, after the first snowfall, my bicycle went in the shed until spring.
Now I'm older. I travel several kilometers to work and back. I sometimes carry home a week's worth of groceries for two people from two or three stores. Well, I used to do that when I had a car. Now I visit fewer stores, take two or three days to visit more and have to use a bundle-buggy to carry everything, which is a damned nuisance for me and everybody else on the bus. At first I thought of getting a bicycle. But as I thought that option over, here's what occurred to me.
- I coudn't use it between November and April or when it rained more than slightly.
- It wouldn't be safe to use if the wind is too strong.
- I could carry home about half what I could pack in my bundle-buggy, even with a large back pack. And a large back pack would be liable to tip me over.
- I couldn't ride with a passenger, not safely or legally.
- I couldn't visit friends more than a few kilometers away, it would take too long. (And most of my friends live in the next city.)
- Likewise, if I tried to commute to work that way, I'd lose a lot of my day to just going to and from work. (At least on a bus I can read.)
- On roadways, (where bicycles actually belong), I'd be slow enough at my fastest to be a hazard to cars.
- Being hit by a car could injure me quite severely, even kill me.
- On sidewalks, I'd be going fast enough to hurt somebody quite badly if I hit them.
- If I hurt my knee or elbow or even a hand or foot, I couldn't use a bicycle until it was better.
- Bicycles are much easier to steal than cars.
- I wonder why bicycle drivers all seem to be so arrogant. Would I end up like that?
- I don't need my pants cuffs chewed up by a bicycle chain.
- Bicycle maintenance was a pain in the neck compared to checking the oil every so often in my old car and taking it in for servicing.
- After exercising by driving a bicycle, I bet I'd stink of sweat! That wouldn't be very nice for the people I'm coming to see, especially at work!
All-in-all, a bicycle isn't nearly as good a transportation solution as a private car. Granted that they cause less pollution. (However, this could be improved by changing the engine normally used in cars for any of several that are much more efficient.) And for those who can ride them safely, they work somewhat, if the driver doesn't have much at all to carry or very far to go, as long as the weather is fair. At any other time and for any other purpose, bicycles are impractical. Some bicycle drivers try to use them in bad weather and for very heavy and clumsy loads anyway; frankly, I'm surprised they aren't at least ticketed on a regular basis for dangerous behaviour.
I've been taking the bus for several months now. If you can get a seat, it's more comfortable than a bicycle. They share some of the problems of bicycles, however. (And the same goes for street cars and subways.)
- Buses are slower than cars because they don't go directly where you want to go. They pause at bus stops every few meters and to turn a corner you have to get off the bus, cross a street and wait for another bus.
- It's a pain in the neck carrying cargo on a bus, for you and everybody else. Some city bus lines won't let you carry more cargo than you can hold in your hands.
- And you have to pay every time you go somewhere on a bus. Depending on how far you go, (and the car), the price of the gas you'd burn in a private car could be less than us fare. (Granted, it can also be less.)
Now buses can go in foul weather, (although after walking to the bus stop and waiting for it in that foul weather you might as well have ridden a bicycle.) You can use them if you're injured, somebody else does the maintenance and you won't get all mussy or sweaty, (if the weather's nice.) And of course they're more energy efficient at transporting people than private cars. They are not as time efficient however and they can be crowded and unpleasant.
As for taxis, they share all of the advantages of private cars, all of the pollution problems of private cars and they're very, very expensive. For transportation, taxis are a non-starter, best used for special cases.
When I can afford a new car, I'll get one. Hopefully it'll be a hybrid or possibly bio-diesel. But if you want to keep me out of my private car you'll need to find me a form of public transit that combines the advantages of both. Preferably without the disadvantages of either. It might not be environmentally correct, but it's the bottom line for this little otter!
