Bicyclists behavior -- a question

[unc70]

I am trying to understand the behavior of many neighbors who bike to work here in Chapel Hill. Why do they continue to bike in awful weather (heat, cold, torrential rain) on dangerous routes and do not avail themselves of the convenient and free alternative along the exact same routes -- free buses with bike racks? Why not at least use the buses for the bulk of the journey?

Take for example MLK from downtown for four miles north to I-40. It is 5 lanes, has bike lanes in some places, but not even a shoulder in other stretches. One cyclist killed, several injured in last couple of years. A couple of major hills. Not a fun ride. I understand the need for exercise, but there are better options.

The buses run frequently on this route, the bike racks are rarely used, and the buses are FREE. So why not put the bike on the bus and make the commute faster, safer, and easier? Why the aversion to public transit?

[PoliticAverse]

1. Interesting that your busses are free. How often do they run?

Are you sure the cyclists are completely aware of this option?

I think that due to the specific circumstances involved you'll just have to ask them to see what
their actual issue is preventing them from using this option.

[unc70]

4. Fairly often on this route -- 10 minutes

There are a number of buses along this route. During commute times, they seem almost continuous depending on the stop and the overlap of routes. At peak, the spacing on individual routes are typically every 10 to 20 minutes, double that off peak.

Overall, good service M-F, thin on Saturday, limited mostly to campus on Sunday. The Chapel Hill Transit buses are free for everyone because we voted to raise property taxes and student fees to make it so about 15 years ago. I believe it is still the largest fare-free system in the world.

We do have additional bus service that does charge fares. The shuttle buses to athletic events do cost a few dollars round trip. There are also buses from Triangle Transit which provide regional service to Raleigh, Durham, the Research Triangle, and neighboring towns. These TTA buses are free to UNC students, those over 65, etc. but charge most riders. A couple of TTA routes provide service along MLK and run on nights and weekends.

It really is an amazing system.

[Warpy]

2. It's a pain in the neck to use the racks

I agree that MLK needs to be widened to support at least a shoulder, if not a dedicated bike lane. I know I'd pick an alternate route, myself, but I'm a traffic weenie.

As for cycling in lousy weather, I did it. Once you get used to a certain level of exercise, you feel lousy when you don't do it. So yes, there was the frequent spectacle of yours truly doing grocery shopping on a bicycle during snowstorms back in Mass.

[hlthe2b]

6. I think the routine, exercise, training & meditative effects explains a lot

I have nearly two years under my belt of walking 3-5 miles every morning before work and usually getting in at lest 9 miles in a day. I think there have been a small handful of days I couldn't get my morning workout in--due to schedule, sickness, or something. I felt horrible all day.

But, I am fortunate to have a protected bike/pedestrian trail to use for my walks and occasional bike rides. Traffic scares the heck out of me on a bike.

[mercuryblues]

3. Some of

them are not biking for exercise, but for training.

I live in a rural area with narrow roads and no bike lane. Every day I encounter several bikers. Every fall the town sponsors a bike race and these roads are part of the route. It is dangerous for the bikers, but I can't fault them. They are trainng on the race route. I fault the town for not selecting a safer route.

[Herman4747]

5. The dedication to the environment of some

Bicyclists is extreme. Buses still pollute

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. "Why the aversion to public transit?"

Because when you ride public transit, you're part of the herd.

I do not live in Chapel Hill, so I cannot comment on the public transit there. I commute to work daily via the Alexandria, Virginia, DASH and WMATA's Metrorail and Metrobus.

If there are problems with the Metro system, I can take my bicycle to work, as I did back in March.

I refer to time spent on a motorcycle as "quality motorcycle time." If you're on a motorcycle, and you're stuck in a traffic jam, you're still better off than the people around you, as you are on a bike.

Same thing with a bicycle. Time on a bicycle is quality bicycle time.

I couldn't care less about saving the bunny rabbits. I'm on a bicycle, and that's all that counts.

Full disclosure: I spent yesterday on a bicycle. I bought an electric guitar and a power amp at a yard sale. I got them back home on my bicycle.

Just my 2 cents.

[happyslug]

8. My two biggest weather restrictions are wind and ice.

Cold is never a problem, if you dress for it. Worse, what you need to keep warm biking in sub freezing temperatures, tend to take up a lot of room. When biking in cold temperatures you end up taking it off and putting it back on depending if you are going uphill or downhill for any long time period. Once committed to such clothing it is easier to store it on the bike then wear it on a bus.

As to wet weather, the gore-tex rain gear keeps most water outside of the gear thus almost never a problem. It is hard for a bike to hydroplane, bikes tires are to narrow. To hydroplane you have to have a tires wider then about three inches. Most bike tires are not that wide, so wet weather, if you dress for it is rarely a problem.

Wind and ice are different stories. Snow is rarely a problem unless it has been packed down into ice. A tailwind is never a problem, it can even get you to where you a biking quicker. Headwinds are another strory, but rarely a problem if less then 10 mph. Above wind speeds of 10 mph you start to run into resistance that will slow most bikers down. Please note l mean constant wind speeds not gusts, gusts are just something you endure till it dies and then you continue on. Winds have to be over 20 mph before winds stop my biking, but then I try to figure out a way to bike where the wind is not blowing that hard. Except in thunderstorms winds tend to stay under 10 mph.

Ice is another problem, ice leads to a loss of traction. The best solution ti ice is studded tires. In winter I use two bikes, one with studded tires and one without. On most days where the snow has been removed I use the bike without studded tires, on days where heavy snows are expected (over six inches) then I switch to the bike with studded tires. Under six inches of snow not worth switching to studded tires, you rarely have ice as the result of such storms along the east coast.

Studded tires do have one huge drawback, you can feel the increase roll resistance di to the studs. That is why I switch between the two bikes (I use to just change tires, but I now have a second bike so I just leave the studded tires on one bike).

As to buses, I find that waiting for one, in bad weather, takes more time then biking. I grew up on the last streetcar line in Pittsburgh and took it to High School, college and beyound, but it came every couple of minutes (it was rare to wait more then two minutes for the streetcar, and if it was packed, wait less then a minute for the next one). You could not fit more people on those streetcars let alone a bike.

I now live in an area where bus service runs once a hour or less. Sorry, it is just faster for me to bike then to wait for the bus. In fact I could bike to my work and back before the first bus had picked up anyone. Thus given the lack of frequency, switching to the bus makes no sense to me. On the old streetcar routes, they now permit bicycles but NOT during rush hour, not enough space for people let alone bicycles. Buses have bike racks and are used, but only on routes where biking is slower the the bus including waiting and loading times.

Sorry, in most cases bus transportation is not that much of an improvement over biking, even in bad weather.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. "As to buses, I find that waiting for one, in bad weather, takes more time then biking."

When I had my "bike to work day" back in March, it took me no longer to bike from my home in Alexandria to my workplace in downtown DC than it usually takes on the combined DASH-Metrorail-Metrobus system. The secret is "not waiting." If you're waiting, you're stationary. If you're on a bike, you stop for red lights and stop signs (you do, don't you?), but most of the time, you're in motion.

[happyslug]

10. Stop signs? Red Lights? and other red illusions?

On my ride there are four red lights and only two stop signs. The Stop signs I end up slowing down and coasting through for they are low cross traffic intersection (one is on the old Streetcar route through my part of town, that route goes along the River, a river that subsequent to the streetcar being built, was crossed by a bridge bypassing the whole route of the old Streetcar, but the stop sign remains 70 years after the Streetcar stop running).

On both stop signs it is NOT worth stopping unless an automobile is also in the intersection, if that is the case I stop. These stop signs are on streets that 50 year ago were busy, but have not been busy since at least the 1980s (and the old Streetcar route since the bridge was built in 1914). Both intersections provide a wide view of the cross street and its traffic so it is not a problem to slow down and continue once you see there is no traffic (when I go from the side streets where the stops signs exists, to the main street, where there is NO stop sign, I stop and wait for traffic to clear before i enter the main street). This is typical of most Stop Signs, low volume intersection one can coast through if you are careful.

As to the red lights, I stop if they are red, but ride through them if they are Green. There are at nasty intersections with to much cross traffic and turning traffic to go through when the light is red.

Remember the traffic rule, Stop signs are safer then Red lights. There have been numerous studies that shows that to be true (Studies where Stop Signs were replaced by Red Lights and the number of accidents increased tremulously and then dropped when converted back to stop signs). Red lights are installed for traffic flow not safety, thus you have to be careful when biking through a red light for the timing of the light is NOT geared for bicycles.

The reason Stop signs are safer then Red lights is that people assume if they have a green light, it is safe to go through the intersection. With a Stop Sign that assumption disappears and people tend to be more careful when they have to stop for a stop sign. Thus you have to be more careful with Red lights then Stop signs, for car drivers are less careful when it comes to Red lights then when it comes to stop signs.

My experience is you have to judge each intersection on a case by case basis. Many intersection, a person can "run" through, but many more you can not. Intersections with little cross traffic you can "Run" the red light or stop sign, after determining that no one is in the intersection. On the other hand, most intersections have extensive cross traffic and turning traffic, which you have to watch (and anticipate high speed traffic racing to run the red light themselves). You can "run" them, once you know who has the right of way under any combinations of signals. On the other hand in most cases you are better off stopping and either waiting for the Green light OR determine that the cross traffic is not moving and only then going through the intersection.