Biking long distances and lots of sweating every morning aren’t appealing to everyone. Let’s face it, biking to work isn’t easy. Most workplaces don’t have showers, proper and safe storage for your bike and other belongings might not be available, you probably have more than 5 miles to travel to get to work, there are almost certainly high stress portions of your journey, and just about everyone you work with drives.
For most people, all of these factors and more make it difficult and unattractive to bike to work. As a matter of fact, it can be a huge pain in the butt. While Bike Erie is working to make commuting to work by bike less stressful and more feasible for everyone in Erie through the Bicycle Friendly Employer program, it’s not going to to happen over night. 
So what can you do in the mean time? Consider biking for short trips and errands as wells as combining different forms of transportation such as using a park-and-ride AKA driving part of the way to work and biking or walking the rest of the way. Every EMTA bus is equipped with bike racks from April 15 to November 15 each year. Check out this video on how to use EMTA bike racks.
Another option is to drive to work and to bring your bike with you, so that you can bike to nearby locations for lunch, bike to meetings, bike to grab a few groceries, and bike for all other errands. Whether you’re starting at home or at work, we highly encourage you to think about what trips and casual journeys you are taking and consider if you can bike or walk for these trips, especially short trips that are a few miles or less.
Our challenge to you: figure out what short distance trips you drive for and try biking and walking for these trips. Additionally, we encourage you to pick a day, such as Fridays (Car-free Fridays!) to regularly bike to work each week, every two weeks or some other period of time. No matter the day or frequency, starting somewhere is key.
If you’re not sure how long it will take and/or what the best route is, we encourage you to utilize Google maps by selecting the bike option to figure out your route as well as testing your route on the weekend or after work to see how long it will take and to gauge the relative safety of the streets. Check out our Bike Routes, Lanes and Paths page for more ideas.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Highway, a 2009 survey showed that 40% of all trips are two miles or less. We think that walking and biking are great options for most of these short distance trips. Whether you’re going to the doctor’s office, grocery store, visiting friends or family, or getting a bite to eat, try biking or walking instead of driving. We think you’ll find that you’ll feel happier and healthier and enjoy the benefits of saving money that you would have spent on gas, maintenance and other vehicle-related costs. Remember, big changes require small steps.