I reach my workplace, primarily/typically, by:
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My imagination (Score:2)
Since I mainly work at home, "workplace" is largely a state of mind.
"Walking" sort of fits, as in walking from one room to another, except that I don't really have a separate room for work, so reaching the workplace is more a matter of putting on my Magic Work Hat.
"A network connection" would be a silly answer, given that I reach the work server by way of a few feet of Cat6.
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How is a "few feet of Cat6" not a network connection? Your packets may not travel over the public Internet, but I fail to see how that makes them not network packets.
In time (Score:5, Interesting)
In time it's about 50% train, 50% walking, for a total of an hour and ten minutes one way.
I could take a bus for most of the walking bit, but I spend all day long in front of a desk, so the morning and evening walks really help me refresh my mind and loosen up my body. And walking through the town is way more interesting than spending the same time on some boring treadmill or gym.
Re:In time (Score:5, Interesting)
same here. I like the "decompression" time on my commutes. When I drive it isn't the same. I guess walking and using public transport takes away the aspect of being in control of my time or whatever else, but it's also helped me develop patience. Kinda reminds me of when I was in the infantry (hours of boredom/moments of terror). My favorite part of course is that I live in Germany, so drinking a beer on your train ride home isn't looked down upon so badly when not done to excess (sheiss' Azzis!)
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75% train, 25% (folding) bike, total about 1 hour. So I selected public transport.
Biking time is mostly from home to the station. Alternatively, I could take the bus to the station, or my car. Bot take twice as long to get there.
I prefer trains over car rides: it gives me time to relax or work a bit on a personal project. The bike trip is about the only workout I get during the day.
Depends on time of year (Score:2)
Depends on time of year. In the summer, I bicycle and/or walk. In the winter, I take the tram. It's roughly 6 months each, so it's hard to speak about "typically".
I can't be the only one that switches methods depending on time of year.
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Sweden. And to be honest, I could probably slap on another two months of biking or so a year, but I really don't enjoy it when it drops below 5 Celsius. I'm also somewhat constrained by using rental bikes [goteborgbikes.se] which are only available Apr 1 - Oct 31. My choice, of course, but it's quite convenient not to have to worry about maintenance and theft.
Comments on bicycle commuting (Score:5, Interesting)
I've been riding my bicycle to and from work about 80%-90% of the time for the last 10 years, typically between 5 to 10 miles each way. There are some advantages and some disadvantages to doing this.
Disadvantages include:
Co-workers look at you funny. It's getting more common now, but a lot of people think that you have to be some sort of eco-freak or wacko to ride a bike to work. This alters their perceptions of you, often in a negative way.
Showing up to work dirty, wet and/or sweaty. It sucks when they don't have a shower facility available. Plus you have to bring all your clothes with you.
Time to get to work is usually longer. Right now it takes me about 50 minutes from the time I close the door on my house until I can sit down at the first meeting of the day. This includes 30 minutes for the actual ride, 15 minutes for showering, and 10 minutes for walking back and forth from the shower, bike locker and my desk. If I just drive it only takes me about 30 minutes total.
Biking is dangerous. I've been hit by cars accidentally at least 6 times and intentionally twice. No major damage yet, but it's been close a couple of times. Plus I've just fallen down on my own a couple of times.
Advantages include:
Cost. It's not free. A good commuter bike with all the accessories you need like helmet, clothes, lights, luggage tire pump and whatnot will cost you over $1,000 And their are ongoing maintenance costs like chains, chain oil, tires, tubes, etc. But it's way cheaper than $20,000 for a car and 13 cents per mile in gas (assuming 30 MPG and $4/gallon gas) and I never have to pay for parking.
Exercise comes as part of the package when you bike to work. While it does take longer to bike to work than to drive, it's faster if you include a workout. 50 minutes of biking to work includes a 1/2 hour workout. To drive and do a 1/2 hour workout would take at least an hour and 20 minutes. And then don't forget to pay for a gym membership. It also helps enforce exercise. This may be just me, but I'm lazy enough that after a long day at work, I'd skip the gym. But my only way home includes 30 minutes of exercise. I'm almost always the most healthy person around because I get 5 hours of bike exercise in every week at a minimum. People ask how I manage to stay so healthy and eat (nearly) whatever I want. It's not genetics or a naturally fast metabolism. It's that I get an hour of cardio every work day.
Traffic is now an amusing problem for other people. I love days when there is a big game in town and traffic is at a standstill.
Bicycling rocks the house (Score:5, Insightful)
I live about 20 minutes walking from my work. About 2 years ago, I developed a wart on the bottom of my foot that persisted for months and made walking difficult and injury-inducing. My posture and gait were badly affected and, as a mid-distance runner (10K - marathon) I was getting quite out of shape. My low periods were lasting longer and my self-confidence was not what it had been. Nothing therapy-worthy, but I was not as happy as I am when I'm well-exercised.
Four months ago, a friend of mine and her boyfriend had their bicycles stolen, and I tagged along when they went replacement shopping. I got so excited in offering advice I found myself really wanting one, too. I'd considered bicycling but wrote off cycling in SF as too dangerous, even though I am a very experienced bicyclist.
I bought a street bicycle (track style with 8-speed internal hub and front and back brakes), outfitted myself and it with safety gear (helmet and lights), and pretty much only ride during daylight hours. I've logged over 1,000 miles and the size and scope of the city have dramatically shrunk for me. Everything is so much more accessible and there's no parking required.
My fitness rapidly came back and my commute which would be 15 minutes by car (including parking) and 20 minutes walking is 5 minutes by bike, 7 minutes if I go really slow.
I've had a couple of spills and have exchanged words with motorists (why they feel entitled to tell cyclists how to bike is beyond me; I obey signage and vehicle laws) and I revert to walking or mass transit when the weather is bad, but the small investment of a bicycle has helped me recover my health and self-confidence and has made SF more accessible than it had been the two years previous.
Every time I use my bicycle to get groceries, run an errand, or meet friends at a cafe, I'm boosting my physical and mental health and reducing my commuting carbon footprint and as someone in his middle age (mid-40s) these things are more important than when I was a strapping young lad.
I like to ride my bicycle!
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Yes! I was randomly gifted a beat up CroMo 16-spd Bianchi and went through it with a fine-toothed comb. Started riding the thing last summer and now I'm hooked. Lost 30 pounds and my attitude has changed for the better dramatically. Car is up for sale. Bicycles are amazing machines!
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Weather, Hills, Showers (Score:2)
Many years ago, I lived 5 miles from work, but there was a big hill in the way, and it was New Jersey so it was usually either hot and humid or cold and humid, so I didn't bike very often (at least there was a shower at the office when I did). For about 5 years I was commuting by train, and could have biked from home to the train and the train to the office, but usually I'd drive to the train and then walk to the office, and the weather here runs to hot much of the year, with no shower at the office.
These
Depends where you live (Score:2)
Round here nobody thinks it strange to cycle, many offices have showers (I don't think it's a planning requirement, but maybe I'll look into whether I can make it such), and it's often much faster than driving (at least cycling gives you a consistent time, even if it's slighlty longer than driving on a really good day with no congestion). Plus at £200 upwards for a decent bike it's somewhat cheaper than you're finding it.
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I rode year round for 3 years, 5.5 miles each way. Even had one job that was 10 miles. It was *awesome*. I never lost any weight, unfortunately... don't know what happened with that. Guess I didn't ride hard enough. But, I still got lots of exercise. I also had several incidents with drivers... couple of scary ones, and one fall that I caused myself that broke my left hand. That really sucked.
These days I telecommute for a virtual call center, its ok, but I miss getting out of the house. My other job is ons
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It really depends where you live. Your disadvantages are far smaller problems for me. I've cycled about 13,000km in the last 3.5 years (on the same bike).
There are about 40 bikes in the racks at work, in a building for about 150 people. One or two "cyclists" have fancy racing bikes and use the showers, most don't go fast enough to need it.
I have waterproof overtrousers (cost £10), which suffice for all but the heaviest rain. If it's really wet I'll take a change of clothes, but that happens only t
Re:Comments on bicycle commuting (Score:5, Informative)
Don't forget to let your car insurance company know that you don't commute by car. I know they knocked $1500/yr off my premiums when I switched to public transit. Easily enough to cover the cost of your bike and gear right there.
Re:Comments on bicycle commuting (Score:5, Funny)
Reading your post I am only this far in.
"Co-workers look at you funny. It's getting more common now, but a lot of people think that you have to be some sort of eco-freak or wacko to ride a bike to work. This alters their perceptions of you, often in a negative way."
Let me make one simple guess - American right?
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Intentionally twice? I find this absolutely baffling. I have two questions about this that I hope you won't mind answering:
How do you know people were trying to hit you with their cars?
Is attempted murder not a criminal offence where you live?
Intentionally once for me. (Score:4, Interesting)
I can't speak for his experience, but I can tell my own story about being intentionally run down by a motor vehicle.
It was a dark and stormless night (hehe). To be specific, it was late on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, and I was riding across town to drop some goodies off at a friend's place. We have virtually no bike paths, and those we have tend not to be connected to anything, so it's all road riding here. The road was one of those five-lane jobs (two in each direction and a suicide left in the middle), and traffic was extremely sparse. (We're talking maybe half a dozen cars total at the busiest intersection along the route.)
When that light with maybe half a dozen vehicles turned green, I rode on and was passed by the cars that had been waiting. Not far down the road one of them, a pickup truck, moved into the suicide left lane as if he was going to turn into some apartments, but he didn't immediately complete the turn in spite of no oncoming traffic. As I approached (two lanes away, riding near the white stripe on the outside edge of the outside lane), all of the sudden I saw his white reverse lights come on. He floored it and cranked the wheel around, backing hard across both lanes in my direction and continuing all the way into a doctor's office parking lot.
Had I been expecting it, I could likely have quick-turned a bit harder to avoid the hit, but you don't expect someone to try to injure or kill you. So, my turn wasn't quite hard enough, and I went into the side of the pickup as my bike went down. The guy continued back, crushing my front wheel, then paused for a moment before peeling out and driving off. My reaction wasn't quick enough to avoid the assault, but it was just fast enough to let me escape with a broken bike and only minor injuries (scrapes and bruises, mainly).
So, a pickup truck stops in the middle of the road for no reason, waits for the bike, throws it into reverse, and floors it across both lanes and into a parking lot. Can't get much more blatant than that. Moments after the guy drove off, a car pulled into the parking lot to check how badly I was injured. He had seen the whole thing and was virtually dumbfounded. He had never seen something like that in his life, he said, although I'd hope most people would fall into that category. I got a very close and intimate look at the pickup truck (obviously). I had a witness who saw the whole thing. So, why didn't anything come of it? The guy had an illegally obscured license plate. Without being able to ID the vehicle, the police would be happy to take a statement from me, but that was the extent of it.
The vast majority of car/bike incidents I've had are simply oblivious drivers, e.g. passing too closely or returning to your lane before the back of their vehicle has passed you. Even antagonistic drivers are often so due to ignorance, e.g. "Get on the sidewalk!" (which is not only dangerous but also expressly against the law here). Still, every so often you get a psychopath. What can you do (other than mounting a few Go Pro cameras around your bike to gather and preserve evidence)?
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+1 for riding.
It's more challenging for me, because I live about 25 miles from the office. However, I've been doing it about 50% of the time this year, and I really like it. On a decent(ish) road bike, once I'm in shape, I can make the ride in just under 1.5 hours, as compared to about 45 minutes to drive it. So I "waste" about 1.5 hours per day, but in exchange I get a great workout for free, and save quite a bit of money on gas and maintenance.
Of course, I work for a very bike-friendly company (Goo
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Used to drive, now use public transport (Score:3)
I sold my car a couple of weeks ago and now I primarily use mass transit, more specifically the bus. It has meant an average 10 minute increase in my commute from 20 minutes to 30 minutes, but I no longer have to worry about traffic etc. and it's much less expensive by far.
Seriously, take the bus. It doesn't hurt.
During the riding season, I alternate between the bus and my motorcycle. Oddly enough, my commute takes by far the longest time when I ride my motorcycle, despite higher average speeds...
Re: (Score:3)
You're being silly, that murder had absolutely no relation to him being on a bus. It could just as easily have happened in a dormitory or in his own house.
Contrast and compare to the thousands upon thousands of people every year who are killed while driving their cars, the rising problem of road rage and general aggressive behavior in traffic.
Taking the bus and relaxing seems like the better option because it is.
Prius C (Score:2)
Picked electric because hybrid wasn't an available option. The Prius C is a nice little car for tooling around the city in.
Re:Prius C (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, but 100% of its energy comes from gas in the first place, so you should've said conventional. It just happens to temporarily store some of that energy as electricity to help improve its efficiency. That said, it is indeed a nice car; I have the "liftback" model, for lack of a better name for the non-c variety.
In Soviet Russia... (Score:2, Funny)
...the workplace reaches you!
Chairlift (Score:4, Funny)
Although I sit in the office more these days, at various times my primary transportation has been to ski down to the lift, get on it, and ride it up to work. It ranges from being an exhilarating experience when the sky is bright blue after a big storm, to being bone-chillingly cold, windy and completely miserable.
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Admittedly, I go to the snow with my SO and kids, so I should be dividing that figure by 4, but it basically costs around $10k per week including accommodation, meals, lift passes and airfares. It gets a bit cheaper if you stay for 2 weeks or more - but that's one helluva big holiday. If only I were insanely rich.
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$10k per week including accommodation, meals, lift passes and airfares.
WTF? Where do you live in Australia where you need to fly to the snow? If you really need to fly, just fly to fucking New Zealand and enjoy better snow....cheaper.
(disclaimer, I am NOT a kiwi)
Missing Option (Score:5, Funny)
I'm unemployed you insensitive clod!
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Me too. It's maybe funny for us, but it's not funny for all the unemployed.
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Dear Americans! (Score:5, Informative)
A SUV is not a "small vehicle".
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It is next to a hummer!
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It is compared to a mass-transit vehicle like a bus or train.
"Small" means "personal" here.
oh, it's been done. (Score:2)
Transmat.
By metro train (Score:2)
My daily commute to work is by metro train (or subway or underground or what you want to call it).
The door-to-door time from my apartment in the southern suburbs of Stockholm to the workplace in central Stockholm is about 37 minutes, of which 25 minutes is on the metro train and the rest walking.
Motorcycle could possibly be the fastest reasonable choice as they are not as prone of getting stuck in rush hour traffic. Traveling by car would just be silly due to the traffic situation and availability of faste
Wheel my office chair down the hallway (Score:2)
Walking (Score:2)
Large vehicle (Score:2)
external combustion.
Work from home (Score:2)
I work from home most days. Getting to the office requires 45 minutes in the car to get to the airport, 4 hours on a 737, then a 20 minute taxi trip.
Passing through four choices,ending in human power (Score:2)
Six weeks ago, I would have answered "My Imagination" because I was unemployed.
Two weeks ago, I would have answered "A network connection" because I was working a part time job remotely. (I still am)
Starting last week, I also have a full time job. I clobbered my knee the day before my first day so my commute has been a mix of tricky "small vehicle" driving and "network connection"
When my knee is recovered, I will start skating to work, my preferred form of "Bicycle, Walking, or other human power means". T
My workplace... (Score:2)
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Damn, beat me to it... I was gonna say, what if your workplace IS a plane or other aircraft. Living in base must be nice. Never done it myself. Commuting sucks. Living the dream...
Carpool espeically in those lanes! (Score:2)
I carpool since I am disabled and can't drive. It is about 35 miles one way for my workplace and home. :(
What? No choice for hurking big van? (Score:2)
I'm a self employed mobile marine electrician. So I guess I get to work by walking. That is, from my boat where we live to my work truck in the parking lot. But after that it is a HBV, Hurking Big Van. Not very fuel efficient, but probably uses less fuel than driving a small vehicle and running back and forth to the shop for every little thing.
Bike Commute tips: (Score:5, Informative)
1. If your workplace offers a shower, and you wear clothes more formal than can be reasonably worn for your bike commute, bring in the full week's worth of clothes on the first day of the week.
2. Alternative: If you can get away with it, bring only two/three outer-shirts and pants for a week. Bring new underwear (including undershirt,) and socks every day and mix up the outer shirts/pants each day so it's not so obvious your'e re-using. (Obviously this works best for a low-effort office job where you don't stink up or stain your clothes during the workday.)
3. If your workplace DOESN'T have a shower, and you work in a town center, check for fitness clubs nearby to see if they offer a 'bike commuter package' or similar, where you just get access to the showers.
4. In bad weather, decide if you are going to go for "stay as dry as possible" or "get wet then change". In mildish climates with less strenuous commutes, "stay as dry as possible" can be a reasonable choice, where you don't sweat under the "dry suit". In warmer climates or with more strenuous commutes, just get wet then change when you get there.
5. Look for local bike commuting promotion organizations. (Portland's powerful Bicycle Transportation Alliance - http://www.btaoregon.org/ [btaoregon.org] - is a WONDERFUL organization.) Support it. Use their resources.
6. If you can't do your full commute by bike now, look for combo public transit/bike options. When I started my current job, I couldn't do the full commute (big hill in the middle,) so I would bike two miles over flat terrain to get to an 'express' bus line, and take that in. Reverse that going home. After a while, I got in better shape to where I can now do my full 7 mile commute (home at 200', work at ~0', 450' hill in the middle,) no problem.
7. Biking can be faster! My drive in, from starting my car in my driveway to finding parking to walking to the office, takes me 30 minutes. The neighborhood bus line that passes closest to my house takes 45 minutes. My bike ride is currently 25 minutes (and falling as I get in better shape.) Yes, I have to add 10 minutes for a shower and change, but a bit better shape, and I'll be faster biking than driving. (Biking two miles then taking the express bus takes me 30 minutes, and is easy enough that I can wear my work clothes, so no shower time added. It's an express, not a miracle.)
8. WEAR A HELMET! Really. Save yourself a headache (literally and figuratively.)
9. Use Google Map's "bike" directions option to find good bike routes. Look for local city-made bike maps. Many cities have dedicated bike paths and less-busy side-streets optimized for bike traffic (fewer stop signs,) just a block or two off a main road, making for safer and more convenient bike commutes.
10. OBEY TRAFFIC LAWS! Don't piss off the drivers and feed the stereotypes of all cyclists being entitled assholes who ignore all laws. Stop for stop signs (unless you're lucky enough to live in a locale that allows "Idaho Stops" where bikes can treat stop signs as yield signs instead.) Signal. If you're in the road, act like a car (consistent 'ride line', don't weave between parked cars, etc.) If you're on the sidewalk, act like a pedestrian (stay to slower speeds, obey the walk/don't walk signs.) Either way is fine, but be consistent. Don't switch from road to sidewalk repeatedly.
11. Carry essentials on the bike: Pump, tire repair kit or spare tube, basic bike tools (tire lever, allen wrench multi-tool,) enough cash to get home if your bike becomes damaged beyond simple road-side fix (cab or bus/train,) water bottle, energy bar. I fit all of the above (minus the water bottle,) in a small seat-post bag. Never take it off the bike except to use or refill.
12. The cash is important. Don't ever rob it for other uses. Just enough to get home from anywhere along your commute (around here that's $2.50 for the bus.) That way, even if you forget your wallet, or are truly flat-broke (or have only plastic, and your form of transit doesn't take credit cards,) you can always get home. Obviously in some less-well-transit-equipped cities, that may mean $40 for a cab that can carry a bike...
Special methods (Score:3)
bike (Score:2)
2006 Diamondback topanga comp. Original chainrings. 44, 32 and (not sure, say 26). No idea how many clusters I have gone through. Current one is 25 to 11. I like the 11. Its my favorite. Before I put that on I was running out of cogs all the time. 80 psi road tyres. My commute is 10km in undulating terrain. The inner north of Melbourne. Odometer is 22910 km.
Comment removed (Score:3)
I use my Stupid Truck. (Score:4, Informative)
I'd rather have a smaller vehicle, but honestly, the cost to me to have two vehicles is more than I'd save by driving a commuter car to work, and the pickup on the weekends. BUT, I just ran the numbers again, and at $4.00 per gallon of gas, a commuter car would save me $1,430 a year (17 mpg for my truck, and assuming 40 mpg for a commuter car). Extra insurance per year is $900, so now I'm only saving $530 per year.There's no way I can get a commuter car for $530 a year, so I stick with my truck. And don't try telling me that I can always rent a truck when I need one. I USE my truck, AS A TRUCK, every week. I carry bikes, camping gear, fishing gear, lumber, dogs, yard stuff (dirt, mulch, topsoil, plants). During the fall, I use it as a truck to haul tons of mulch around, and I tend to fill up the truck with mulch easily more than 40 times.
Basically, I'm stuck with my truck.
That reminds me a grade school exam question (Score:4, Funny)
(in picture)
(a) Bus
(b) Car
(c) Bicycle
(d) RX-78 Gundam
My niece took this question to me and asked me if she was right choosing (c) Bicycle during examination. I told her she failed this technological challenge miserably. The correct answer should be RX-78 Gundam, which is powered by two thermonuclear reactors. Under no circumstance could any metabiological energy source beat a neutron-free, deuterium-helium-3 fusion reactor.
Her father doesn't allow me to talk to her daughter anymore.
Technophobia parents ruin kids, seriously.
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"50/50 for car and mass transit. Who would have thought?"
It's evened out to car being much more now, but it still underscores that slashdot has a posting/voting demographic that is largely in urban centers.
I drive to work rather than take the bus becasue I'm rural, and there isn't one. If there was, I'd use it.
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I get where I'm going by ICE single occupant vehicle not because I don't care, but because I am essentially a high-tech tradesperson covering a large territory with no mass transit. I would use a hybrid if they made one that was designed as a tradesperson vehicle (micro-van or the like) and I could convince the boss to pay for it. As it is, the hybrids that are on the market are designed as either passenger vehicles or status symbols, not work vehicles. Prius-V looks interesting, but I don't think there's e
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Absolutely!
Having broken down in some interesting places over the years (Like Las Vegas, New Mexico, and Coer de Lane, Idaho) on coast to coast trips, I see the "nobody needs to go more than 160 miles in a day" line about like "Let them eat cake."
It's silly that "drives a newly manufactured hybrid or all electric" is a bit like riding around with an even *bigger* bumpersticker that says "I Support the Environment"* --at least it is in the (relatively rich, relatively locally left-liberal) towns I've spend m
Re:50/50 (Score:5, Insightful)
I see the "nobody needs to go more than 160 miles in a day" line about like "Let them eat cake."
I see your reasoning skills are on a par with your editing skills. The argument is not that no one needs to go more than 160 miles in a day, it's that the vast majority of car users do not need to go that far on a daily basis. The average commute distance in the USA is 16 miles each way, so 160 miles gives you five times the daily range needed for this: enough to make a detour to go shopping, or to go out in the evening, and still have a lot of range to spare. If you're driving 160 miles every day then you are probably spending at least 3 hours a day driving which, unless you are working as a driver, is going to be pretty horrific from a quality-of-life perspective.
A relatively large number of people need to go that far occasionally, but may be better off renting a long-range vehicle for the times when they do. A smaller group needs to do longer trips regularly.
Your argument is a bit like complaining about people saying that not everyone needs a helicopter to get to work, because you work on an oil rig...
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Personally, I kind of like the idea that I can take my every-day car across the country whenever I want to.
Re:50/50 (Score:4)
So the car manufacturers would have to build one type of gas-guzzler for when you go on a vacation to be rented (that would probably be more expensive because it would be a niche market) and produce all electrics the rest of the time?
Personally, I kind of like the idea that I can take my every-day car across the country whenever I want to.
I'd love to have an electric car to scoot around town in, leaving my diesel for longer trips. Unfortunately here in Australia we are charged registration per car, even if only one of the cars would ever be driven at a time, so i'd need to be saving an additional $500/year on top of the cost of the second car to make running the two cars worthwhile.
(I'd also love to have a mechanic who could be relied on to remember to do up bolts after servicing... particularly those related to the front wheels and brakes. Someone is going to be getting a very angry phonecall tomorrow morning!!)
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(I'd also love to have a mechanic who could be relied on to remember to do up bolts after servicing... particularly those related to the front wheels and brakes. Someone is going to be getting a very angry phonecall tomorrow morning!!)
It's why I do my own brakes - less than 90 minutes, and usually 1/3 the cost of having them done, along with the knowledge that they're done right.
Re:50/50 (Score:4, Interesting)
(I'd also love to have a mechanic who could be relied on to remember to do up bolts after servicing... particularly those related to the front wheels and brakes. Someone is going to be getting a very angry phonecall tomorrow morning!!)
It's why I do my own brakes - less than 90 minutes, and usually 1/3 the cost of having them done, along with the knowledge that they're done right.
When I was younger I just assumed I'd be better at everything else than everyone else too. Now I'm older and wiser I outsource the things I know i'm not good at, and the things I don't like doing (where it's reasonable to do so). Sure, I could learn more about the ins and outs of brakes, buy all the required tools and equipment to do it myself, and find a place to store it all, but it seems easier to pay someone else to do it who already has the tools and has already done the training. Also I don't have the required attention to detail to be mucking around with things as important as brakes!
I used to own a 1963 Morris 850 in the 90's when I was a poor student and used to do most of the work on it myself. I miss it sometimes, but i have better things to do with my time these days!
(The mechanic shop in question has been very good in the past, and despite the fact that they have made an error (yet to be proven) that could have been potentially lethal, I trust them to sort out whatever went wrong and will continue using them unless they handle this incident badly).
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A video that explained everything nicely to me was this one. [youtube.com]
Once you do it once you won't believe that you used to pay to have it done.
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Re:50/50 (Score:4, Insightful)
In my case it worked out to roughly $300/hr on a best case (least cost) scenario, and over $450/hr on a worst case (most expensive) scenario on both vehicles this year. I also gained piece of mind with the knowledge that it was done correctly, and not having having to go back 3 times because they didn't want to do it the way I wanted it done the first time. Shops are sometimes notorious for thinking they know your particular car better than you. I've changed at least 20 sets of brakes over my driving life, and an additional 5 sets of shoes/drum combos, among various other car work that including rebuilding 2 engines and rebuilding/replacing three manual transmissions (2 things I won't do again if I can help it, I just don't have that kind of time these days) Also:
1) I don't do "Just Brakes" or anyone like them, I do value my life.
2) There was a vibration I correctly diagnosed as a slightly warped rear disc - odds are they'd have turned it, it would have worked for about a month, and then warped again, with me back in the shop complaining about it and having to shell out more money because, darn, that wasn't part of the original brake job.
3) I didn't have to pay the 50%-100% markup on parts.
I'd say the pay rate was just fine. Oh, and those labor rates are real, btw, once you factor in how much a decent mechanic (trustworthy they'll do a good job) charges for the full job. Decent mechanics no longer accept parts they haven't sourced themselves, so you will always wind up paying that nifty markup, or so my experiences in my area with various recommended shops has wound up. I checked a good number of them for both vehicles, one's a SUV, nothing fancy.
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Your time is only worth something if you have something lined up where you will bring in x dollars in that timeframe which you would allot for automotive repairs. $80 shop rate + parts+markup. It's cheaper to do it myself since I don't have 16-18 hours of every day booked with money making endeavors... Unlike those like yourself who seem to bring in cash at all hours. My job afford me the flexibility to do more than just work/eat/sleep.
Re:50/50 (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless you have a magic money making machine where time goes in and money goes out then your whole argument is bullshit. In all likelihood, there is a limited amount of time you can sell to someone else. There's even a greater chance that any extra time you work is FOR FREE.
So your "free time" is really and truely worthless.
Get over yourself princess.
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I'd love to have an electric car to scoot around town in, leaving my diesel for longer trips. Unfortunately here in Australia we are charged registration per car, even if only one of the cars would ever be driven at a time, so i'd need to be saving an additional $500/year on top of the cost of the second car to make running the two cars worthwhile.
If the government would want to encourage electric vehicles, that would be an interesting point to do so. Things like a license plate not specific to a single car. You could switch them between your normal and electric car (only one to be used at any given time).
That would still leave you with the cost of buying a second (and not exactly cheap) car of course...
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Look to Norway for incentives for buying all-electric cars: We have 0%VAT, free public parking, free passing in toll-roads and ferries, a symbolic yearly registration fee (400 NOK as opposed to ~3500 NOK for a diesel car), and electric cars are allowed to use the bus lanes. (I usually throw in that the limit before being charged for DUI is higher, but that works better when just talking to someone than when typing it. ;-) )
Charging stations (both trickle charging and fast charging) are being built all over
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Easy there big guy. He's clearly not complaining about the price of a second plate itself.
I have a new job that will soon be within 4 km of home. I need my pickup (horribly inefficient), but not for commuting. It costs me about $900 a year to have my truck insured. I'd LOVE to buy/build an electric car to commute to work in, but the reality is it would probably cost another $900 a year to insure it. Here in British Columbia it's a lot more than just the cost of the plate. I'll need to do the math to s
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Re:50/50 (Score:4, Interesting)
You're arguing that the $30 bucks a year for the license plate is the financial burden ... not the way over priced car they put the plate on?
You must be American. Registration costs are easily an order of magnitude higher in many other places.
But be that as it may, you also incur insurance costs and depreciation costs, making having multiple cars infeasible for most people.
The point I think many here are trying to make is that if you can only afford one car, you may want one that can do more than take you to and from work; even if that is 80% of your use, the remaining 20% can be quite important.
Or, put it another way, 80% of the time I don't need an oven either, and induction cookers use less energy. But I don't want to replace my stove with an induction cook plate, because the remaining 20% is important to me.
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Most cities and towns have provisions to keep cyclists and cars separate, and many (maybe even most) make a genuine attempt at making it possible to commute by bicycle. Unfortunately, this does not mean all.
In the town I live, there are some long stretches of bike path that go downhill. Excellent, even a bad cyclist can pick up some speed. And at the bottom of the hill you find yourself staring at a 90-degree turn either l
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My lifestyle dictates that I have a truck. Sure I could move to high density housing and give up fishing, hunting, exploring, firewood getting, boating, camping, etc, but I'm not interested in even considering that. I moved to a small mountain town because I want to live in a small mountain town and enjoy it.
If I drive my truck to work every day, an aerodynamic bed cap won't make much of a difference at the speeds my commute will allow. I'm on other side of town (tried to live closer, but this side of to
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or 3) make small trailer-towed gensets, so you can keep the batteries charged while driving long distances. Even better if they could be rented.
You don't need a whole new car, just a tow-able power source.
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Ignore that comment. I accidentally hit submit after double-checking the numbers but before editing. Modern microturbines are 30% efficient. ICEs are in the 40% range.
Re:50/50 (Score:5, Insightful)
A relatively large number of people need to go that far occasionally, but may be better off renting a long-range vehicle for the times when they do. A smaller group needs to do longer trips regularly.
It's not just about range. It's about load too. And, most of all, to have the freedom to go somewhere when you want or need to, without first renting a vehicle and taking a taxi to the car rental place. Yes, my truck is a gas guzzler. But I can also fit my two large dogs in the back, or some bags of mulch and a fruit tree or two, or I can go visit my friends who live 100 miles away, or buy furniture from a yard sale, or load up for an impromptu fishing trip, or ...
Without having to plan days in advance. Cause my car can do that - now.
What's needed are hybrid/electrics that aren't just meant for short passenger trips. Because even if that may be 80% of the driving, most drivers want something that handles most of the remaining 20% too. What cars give people is freedom.
What today's electric/hybrid cars provide isn't freedom, but fettering.
The argument that you can rent a car when you need it doesn't hold water, because most of us don't plan everything in advance. It's like saying that you don't need an internet connection or printer. If you need it, you can always go to the library to use Internet and Kinkos to print out. That may be true for some, but it doesn't help when I want something done right now.
Again, it's about freedom, and people are willing to pay for that.
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OK, this is something that super-duper gets on my nerves. I use a gas-powered vehicle because I need to for work, not to get to work, and I need to go long distances daily. Businesses depend on me daily to keep them in operation. Police, hospitals, pharmacies, and clinics depend on me daily to keep their computers, networks, printers, and sometimes medical imageing equipment working, so indirectly lives are at stake.
Back in the 1980's there was this thing a lot of people had so that their small car could o
Re:50/50 (Score:5, Insightful)
Back in the 1980's there was this thing a lot of people had so that their small car could occasionally take a bigger load like say a fruit tree and 1000lbs of mulch or some furniture... what was it again? oh yeah, a fucking utility trailer. Works like a charm, takes up less room than an oversized truck, doesn't burn extra gas when it's capacity isn't needed.
If you only occasionally need the extra capacity, do yourself and everyone else a favour and get a car sized for the majority of what you need it for then get a utility trailer, rent a truck, or get delivery for the 2 times a year when you need more capacity.
Who modded this insightful?
First of all, what electric car is approved for a tow hitch? That kind of kills it right there.
Plus, you seriously think I should transport my dogs on a utility trailer? ... economical, practical, nah, blabbering from someone who got a wild idea and let his ego get in the way of analyzing the impact of what he said.
And always drive around with it in case I decide to buy something that can't fit in the coupe? Except that I now can't park most places?
Or should I perhaps even buy two utility trailers, so the first one can be dedicated to extra batteries so I can extend the range to go see my friends who live an hour away?
That sounds
Utility trailers can be useful. But first of all you have to be able to pull one(!), and even then they're only useful for a few specific things. Which is precisely why you don't see them on every other car.
Get over your ego and do a real analysis of what you need.
That's what I did, and you obviously did not.
My analysis led me to the conclusion that an electric car isn't a choice for me if I want to have the freedom to do the things I do. Your analysis led nowhere because you didn't do it.
Re:50/50 (Score:5, Insightful)
So get a small gas-powered car. If you read again I was saying to get a car that fits your needs most of the time, not specifically an electric. if our old 80 HP tercel could tow a utility trailer, so can the current crop of 100-140HP subcompacts
The dogs go in the car, where they're safer than in your truck bed.
No, I think you should plan ahead. Why should you inflict higher emissions, overcrowded parking lots, and higher risk of injury in case of an accident on everyone else just so you don't have to plan ahead 1% of the time?
Re:50/50 (Score:5, Insightful)
Physically smaller vehicles fill up parking lots less because they take up less space.
I don't know where you live, but where I live, parking lots have white lines marking the parking space. An SUV takes up exactly the same number of parking spaces as a Th1nk.
Of course, in your world, many small cars would take up two spaces, because you also need a space for the utility trailer.
As for the environmental impact, have you factored in the environmental impact of the additional rental cars and taxis needed?
Or that people with small cars drive to the store far more often than I do in my big SUV?
To buy groceries transported by not-so-eco-friendly means, where I go out and pull up carrots, onions and fruit from the garden my SUV made easy?
Or the environmental impact of causing traffic jams because a car not designed for pulling a load will be struggling with both acceleration and hills?
The most environmentally friendly driving is when people don't have to hit their brakes and can go at cruise speeds. Driving an underpowered car defeats both - for other people.
The next time a Prius pulls out on the road in front of me and takes 20 seconds to get up to the 55 mph I was doing, or holds back the entire line because it's slower than a semi-trailer going uphill, I want to stop the driver and charge her for the gas she just wasted.
The situation isn't black and white. What's certain is that if the "eco-friendly" cars had been a better alternative in all ways, they'd rule the road. They don't, despite economical incentives from the governments.
One day, we will have eco-friendly cars that can replace what we drive today. But not today. "Are we there yet" has to be answered with "patience", not a lie.
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Re:50/50 (Score:4, Insightful)
I have a Toyota Matrix plus a utility trailer. Works like a champ. If I ever need to haul over 1,000 pounds, I'll pay for delivery. A delivery bill once every three years is far less expensive than a $30,000 truck. So yes, this post is insightful.
You have a petrol powered car with enough torque to pull a utility trailer. Not a hybrid/electric.
And you probably don't have a pack of dogs, an orchard, a wood workshop, friends who live at the other end of the state, or go fishing and skiing.
Just because something works for you, you can't extrapolate to conclude that it will work for everyone, or even most people.
Look at the sales of and resale value of hybrids and electric cars. There's your answer - they don't work for most people, or they would have bought them. It's that simple.
Glad it works for you, now bugger off.
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pack of dogs, friends on the other end of the state, and fishing or skiing is not going to be a problem for this combination. Matrix is a station wagon with a taller cargo area.
Having an orchard or woodworking shop would be actual reasons for needing a truck, but is a stark contrast to 90% of the oversized trucks on the roads around here. Around here almost all of the trucks are used for passenger vehicles in the city or suburbs to drive to work or the mall.
I can't say for others but I have never argued tha
Downhill Flyfishing! (Score:5, Informative)
Are you trying to say you can't go fishing or skiing in a Matrix? Because I find that hard to believe. Every fishing rod I have seen you can disassemble, and there have been these handy inventions called ironically enough a "ski-rack".
Or are you trying to actually say you can't go fishing AND skiing, to which I must assume you mean cross-country and ice fishing, otherwise I guess you might be right as downhill skiing and fly fishing would definitely be at the harder end of the spectrum of things to do, but I don't think that has any relevance to what kind of car you drive.
As to the whole "Glad it works for you" sort of comment, I would guess they used it right while you did not, in that I would go out on a limb and say your average, nay the OVERWHELMING majority of auto consumers are not a dog pack owning, orchard farmers with distant friends.
If fact I would say that MOST truck buyers never really use their trucks for their intended purpose of doing work and hauling stuff, but like the idea of owning one regardless.
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10+ hours driving at high speed within a day, that's pretty irresponsible ;D
As soon as they can fix distance on a charge to about 200 miles with a reasonable recharge on a "gasstation" style charger, it wouldnt matter too much.
Just needs infrastructure.
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We actually could get by on a car with a 160 mile per charge range, but only for commuting. But, with two of us, she'd take the electric as she has the longer commute, and my car would be used for road trips.
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Because that wasn't on real world conditions (And proof by a Euro Trash You Tube video come on!) .
The Prius isn't a racing car, it is a riding car. Yes if you race the Prius you are not going to get good MPG because the car is going all gas, and that energy is going to keeping the car up to speed and charging the battery. The M3 was designed for racing, so the bulk of the energy goes to the wheels.
So yes, the M3 will beat the Prius on racing. Also you can say a train gets better miles to the gallon per p
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3600 pound internal combustion engine status symbol with a slightly oversized alternator should not count as electric.
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My grandpa used to fly to work. Grandma drove him to the airstrip (not airport), he flew to an airstrip near work where a coworker picked him up. Reverse in the evening, buzzing the house so grandma would know it was time to drive down to the airstrip. I thought that might have been a Big Fish story but I found the logbooks. MTWTF, rinse, repeat week after week. The 60s were a different time. An upper middle class engineer could support a wife and kids, own a nice ranch house, and commute to work in h
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Ferry to town, taxi to the airport, plane to the mine where i work (one week on / one week off).
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