Why It’s So Hard to Change People’s Commuting Behavior

Re:Why It’s So Hard to Change People’s Commuting Behavior by Finnucane on Tuesday December 24, 2019 @11:28AM (#21873063)

I live in New England and ride to work pretty much every day. I've had to make some adjustments--for instance, it factors into shopping for clothes, having all-weather gear, and so on. Fortunately my ride is only about 3 miles each way, so it's not a hard ride. In fact, traffic around here is bad enough that driving takes the same amount of time. And being on the bike so much less stressful than being in the car.

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Re:Why It’s So Hard to Change People’s Commuting Behavior by btrettel on Tuesday December 24, 2019 @02:06PM (#21874193)

Yes, I've pointed out to people that cycling doesn't necessarily take longer. At my previous apartment cycling and driving were comparable mainly because cyclists can park closer than drivers. Many drivers seem to think that counting the time spent parking is cheating, but as far as I'm concerned door-to-door time is what matters.

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Re:Why It’s So Hard to Change People’s Commuting Behavior by Noos on Tuesday December 24, 2019 @11:16PM (#21876765)

One of my old jobs was the next town over, fifteen minutes by highway. It was impossible to bicycle. If I were to work in the industrial park in my city it would take an hour or so. We have a lot of distribution centers and factories on the outskirts of town because no one wants to live next to a mushroom farm or distribution center, yet they provide a lot of jobs.

A lot of you guys don't understand that not everyone is a wealthy 24 year old knowledge worker and can just live in the downtown and bicycle everywhere. People have cars because they enable you to even find work.

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Re:Why It’s So Hard to Change People’s Commuting Behavior by btrettel on Tuesday December 24, 2019 @11:34PM (#21876830)

I'd recommend reading this post I made elsewhere here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21872976

The easiest way to make cycling work is to pick where you live based on where you work. The default is to pick jobs or where you live that are convenient for driving. That won't lead to a good bike commute, as you've found.

> A lot of you guys don't understand that not everyone is a wealthy 24 year old knowledge worker and can just live in the downtown and bicycle everywhere. People have cars because they enable you to even find work.

I think most cyclists get that. For me specifically: I'm in my 30s and currently a PhD student. While I am rich from a global perspective, few people in the US would consider me wealthy. I usually live a few miles from where I work in a relatively cheap neighborhood.

And, as I pointed out elsewhere here, in my case cycling definitely saves me money. In fact, that's a major reason why I'm a cyclist.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21874175

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