Why More Women Don't Bikecommute

[mtbxplorer]

?Time? main barrier for women cycling to work - Workplace Savings & Benefits

Your thoughts?

[Storms85]

It just sounds like excuses from people who don't really want to ride their bike to work. I'm sure if you ask any of the people who are overweight and never exercise if they'd like to start working out and eating better they'd all say they want to, but most will just make excuses instead of actually doing it. Same thing. The people in this article "want to", but don't make it happen.
I don't know what would motivate people more, but I ride my bike to work when the weather and my schedule allow for it, and I love it. I'm so much more awake and I feel great when I get to work, even if it is only a four mile ride. I'm not a morning person by any means, so I get my bike and everything set up the night before so I can just roll it out the door in the morning and go.

[deanna]

My reason for not riding is safety. There is no way for me to get from my home to my employer w/o riding through multiple neighborhoods that fall into the "top crime/homicide" areas of town before dawn. Even the guys I know who commute wouldn't ride it.

[cyclelicious]

I live in the suburbs and work in a city. My drive to work takes me 1.5 hrs (on a good day) because its mainly by highways. It would take much longer if I rode my bike.

Lack of bike lanes makes for an unsafe riding in traffic, weather and temperature, lack of facilities to freshen up after a long commute are just a few reasons bike commuting is currently not feasible to me and many other women.

[thekarens]

Ditto on the safety issue. My office is 28 miles and the majority of them are freeway/high traffic, otherwise I'd love to ride my bike to work.

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[Nakedbabytoes]

I commuted by bike for years, and was carfree for about 10 years total. Commuting for me had nothing to do with gender, but I lived within a mile of the grocery store and 5 miles straight down a side street to get to my insurance company job in an office building that allowed me to park my bike in(as long as I "sold" my vehicle parking spot for it).

Once I had a child, it got tricker to commute mainly due to weather as I live in a good town with many intercity dedicated bike trails and downtown bike lanes. I still do when I could but I bought a car and drove most of the time after that.

I think if people are able safely, they will make the best choice for them. Since the ladies tend to haul the kids, I think it lends itself to being more difficult for us to commute if we can. But heck, my hubby literally works 2 miles straight down the bike trail(house on trail, work on trail!) and he hasn't once commuted by bike in 10 years! Whereas I cargo bike 200lbs of groceries once a week(plus other random cargo bike errands) more than 10 miles that includes side streets and stop lights(and bike trail) simply because I WANT to....not because it is easy!!! Lol.....I think want has a lot to do with making it work as well.

[Smudge13]

My wife works for a very upscale furniture store. Think $5,000 bedroom chairs, $50,000 bedroom suites. As much as she wants to commute by bike, she doesn't have the facilities at the store to be sales floor ready.

She has to have a certain physical appearance for her clientelle to even talk to her. They have no showers on site and even if they did, she'd have to keep a wardrobe at work.

I'm lucky as there is a locker room on my floor and I wear a uniform.(Navy) I can also keep my bike right next to my desk.

I think the social pressures placed on women's physical appearance can make commuting by bike very difficult unless their place of work has great facilities...

[mtbxplorer]

I know bikecommuting is not feasible for many, whether due to distance, kids, other jobs/responsibilities, bad neighborhoods, traffic, etc., but it still seems inexplicable that of those who can/do bikecommute, most are male. At my workplace we can dress casually, have showers, have some flexibility on hours, less traffic than many places, no dangerous neighborhoods, but still, one of 10 bikes is mine and the rest are the guys'. On the plus side, in winter, women typically make up 100% of the bikecommuters at my workplace. I guess the more inexplicable part is the 590 other people of either gender who don't bike.

[mtbxplorer]

Portland OR bike count reports 31% on bikes are women. Not bad.

Bike Counts Are Up In Portland » News » OPB

[RandomGuyOnABike]

At my workplace, there is a 1/5 (male/female) bicycle enthusiast ratio from everyone I've talked to (I'm the outcast, heh)..

We have a metric !@#% ton of bike paths / lanes around this part of Ohio, so that isn't a real concern, but the two major ones are 1) Safety, and 2) No campus facilities.

If my company had showers in each of our buildings (7 buildings total, spread over about 3-4 miles), we would see ALOT more people commuting by bike, especially since we have alot of people that live & work in the same city. It would really save on gas, and provide a health benefit to the insurance people.

[sandmangts]

I am lucky. My office is 6 miles from my home. The ride is all downhill on the way to work and it is cool in the morning so I hardly break a sweat on the way in. No need for a shower. On the way home I throw on some shorts and hit the canyon on the way. Mostly up hill, 11 miles with 9 of that dirt. I do it almost every day. I have ridden a bike at least 10 miles for 137 days out of the 156 days that have passed since January 1st. I have saved at least $700 bucks by not driving just on gas. I am 27 pounds lighter. I wish everyone was as lucky as I am .

[kinsler]

Interestingly when I was a bike commuter my main motivation was lack of time. I last rode to work when I was an ortho surgery resident living in Hawaii and I started to ride to work on days that I figured I wouldn't make it home in time to get out for a ride. At first it was a bit hard to motivate because I'd have to get up around 4ish and be out the door not later than 4:30, but I really enjoyed it. Plus the commute home was a lot less painful on a bike than driving my car. It typically took me 45-50 minutes to get to work which was 12-13 miles away.
Now that I'm staff and living in El Paso I haven't ridden in once. There's a 1200 foot climb one way to work and to go around the other way would be dangerous coming home. Plus I find it kind of hard to motivate that early and I've converted back over to mostly mountain biking. Next time I move I'd like to find a location that makes bike commuter more reasonable.

[edubfromktown]

My GF bike commutes ~2 days a week (where I do more like 4 days/wk). We are both fortunate enough to work < 5 miles from home in a safe area with lots of paths and trails to choose from and a secure place to park the bikes during the day. I'm stoked that she gets on me when it is raining and says we are biking into work today

[Jill Marie]

I ride to and from work almost everyday, even in the rain...and snow.

If I dont ride its because I have to use the car right after work for something. There are many reasons why someone chooses not to ride to work. Maybe its lack of changing area, storage of clothes or bike, whatever. May not always be a bad reason why they dont do it.

[LuxFox]

I bikecommute to work daily when roads are clear around here. I live in Breckenridge, CO and it is almost impossible to ride a bike in the Winter around here (roads, paths, and trails are snowed or iced over).

[Vah_Nay]

I ride to work, mostly on a greenway and then into downtown. The ride is not long but the last part is uphill and I always break a sweat just as I'm arriving. I don't have a shower, but I do have an elaborate grooming ritual in the bathroom. I just ordered some special eco-friendly wipes that are very refreshing.