I think my commuting days are over.

[sfa]

I've been lucky the past several years that my husband worked nights, so he was home in the morning to get the kids off to school and home in the afternoons when they came home, and only worked four days a week (two of them on weekends). So it was easy for me to commute by bike with his schedule. But he just started a job with more normal hours, working 7 a.m. to 3:30, M-F, which means I'm the one getting the kids on the bus and then hopping in my car to hightail it to work and arrive a mere half hour late. I'm supposed to be at work at 8:30, but my boss is letting me switch to a 9 a.m. start. One kid's bus doesn't show up until 8:35.

I'm really happy he's working again after being unemployed for the last nine months, so I really can't complain. But it looks like I'm joining the ranks of people who can't commute by bike not because I'm not willing to, but because I'm not able to.

Sarah

[OakLeaf]

Awww. Think of it as "on hiatus," not "over."

[Flybye]

They grow up fast enough. Think of it as an opportunity.

[Veronica]

How old are the kids? Can they get themselves off to the bus, even just once a week?

Veronica

[sfa]

How old are the kids? Can they get themselves off to the bus, even just once a week?

I could trust my 11 year old on her own pretty well (although getting her moving in the morning is a challenge!) but my nine year old is profoundly autistic and can never be left alone. Someone will still need to be putting him on the bus when he's 21. This is also why before school care is not possible--there are a couple of after-care options for him, but there are no before care programs that can take him. We talked to one neighbor about possibly getting the kids on the bus, but she has younger kids and was hesitant to take on my son (he can get aggressive and hurt himself and others).

[pfunk12]

Sorry to hear that, Sarah. I'll miss reading your commuting stories.

[shootingstar]

Do you work in an area that's close to bikeable roads/paths? Lunch hr. riding..

which has been done by some folks who work near such areas but have complex, busy personal schedules. A senior manager of a former employer, rode his bike several times / wk. during lunch. He lived out in the suburbs which was a long commute from downtown and ended up with less time for bike riding in an area he thought had lousy cycling routes. So he did his lunch hrs.

This was a bike-friendly workplace.

[tangentgirl]

Maybe your boss could let you come in even later on Fridays? Or every other Friday?

[sfa]

Good idea for the lunchtime biking--there are LOTS of trails in the vicinity that I've never explored (went on one, once, hated it and didn't go back.) and I don't even know where they go. The town where I work was designed to have walkable neighborhoods, but it was the 1965 idea of walkable, so the paths aren't great (and because the neighborhoods are supposed to be easily accessible with these paths, the roads are pretty awful--busy, fast, no shoulders). But at least there are paths. I'm also just a few miles from the start of the triathlon bike route, which would require a slightly longer than normal lunch break involving much sweatiness, but my coworkers are used to that from me.

I'll have to ask my boss about coming in late once in a while--I don't know if she'll go for it since technically she's already letting me come in late every day, but it's worth asking.

Sarah

[malkin]

Really, the kids won't need rides forever!

[malkin]

Also
Congratulations and best wishes to the newly employed one of your house!