These are real Stanford testimonials on the benefits of alternative transportation. Most of these submissions were entered during our 2006 "Commute Hero Love Stories" promotion. Got an alternative transportation love story to share? We'd love to hear about it. Email us at commuteclub@stanford.edu.
I love to bike. I don't mean I love it like the people who go up Sand Hill Road on weekends to get the thrill of coming down. I mean I love to move through traffic without regard to how many vehicles there are. I mean I love to leave at 9:00 am and get to work at exactly 9:25 am every day. I mean I love getting exercise at the same time I'm getting to work. I mean I love getting $200 a year (and saving $200 on a parking sticker) for not bringing my car onto campus.
I mean I love that I'm not contributing to pollution, parking problems or traffic snarls.
I also love parking within 50 feet of my office.
I have been biking to work for four years. A member of the commute club for as long. I know there are others who have been biking to work much longer, and I salute you! But I want to tell others who are not biking to work, what they're missing.
I'm sure you haven't considered it because you see so many impediments. Maybe you're not athletic (I wasn't when I started - a bit more so now), you're not close enough (ten mile radius? or if further, take the train to the station and bike from there or if too far from the train, bike to the train and get here that way!), you need your car on campus (a bike gets around campus MUCH easier -- and faster -- than a car), you can't handle the weather (it's all about the proper attire, let me tell you!). These are all manageable.
Maybe you think you're too old (I'm 53), you're unsure (bike routes can be found that are safe), you're too tired after work (that will change very quickly as the exercise stimulates you). Again, it's only true if you keep that thought in your head.
"When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I know these excuses because I had them all too. Then one day I realized I could do myself, my workplace and my society some good with a simple act: riding my bike to work. I think of it as community service: by riding my bike I'm no longer one of those cars in your immediate path, I'm no longer using the gas that you need to drive your car, I'm not taking up your parking space, or polluting the air you breath.
And I'm getting exercise without taking time out of the otherwise busy day. So I'm being nice to me too.
One final word: ipod I have music and on my more diligent downloading days (legal, of course) I have books.
Good luck - let's all start riding!