During our recent home exchange in Montreal I kept seeing an odd sight. I'm a native New Yorker and I'm not sure I've ever seen something this exotic in my decades in the Big City: bicyclists stopped at a red light. Montrealers were much more responsive to traffic laws than those of us who call Manhattan home. There seemed to be about as many cyclists in traffic as car drivers, and the bike riders were generally safe and courteous. What's even more surprising is that the drivers were, too.
New York City drivers treat cyclists as a nuisance. That's unfortunate, since our small island is truly better-suited to people-powered transportation like cycling and walking than to cars, which tend to crawl through our narrow streets at a pace not much faster than pedestrians. In New York City there is a yearly "race" between a driver, a bicyclist and a transit user. The cyclist always wins.
It pays, literally and figuratively, to consider transportation modes when setting up a home exchange. In Montreal we found a swap home in a central neighborhood called the Plateau. I parked our car when we got there and only had to drive it once -- to move it for one hour during street cleaning.
The home exchangers left us two bicycles in good condition. We brought our bicycle trailer to pull the children. A good-quality bike trailer, like a Burley, can pull two children whose combined weight does not exceed one hundred pounds. I also used it to pick up groceries and a fan when we first arrived. Though a good trailer costs $200 to $500, it's a healthy and free way to get around.
Bigger kids can ride with parents on their own bicycles or a "tag-a-long" trailer -- sort of a unicycle that attaches to the adult bike's seat post so the child can pedal or just be pulled behind the parent without having to navigate through traffic.
Biking as transportation on a home exchange works best if the area of interest is compact. A country house fifteen miles from the closest store is ideal only for dedicated cyclists. A city like Montreal, with bike lanes and courteous drivers, is a great place to give biking a try. Just remember these basics:
* a helmet for each person
* a bike route map, often available on-line
* water
* a sturdy lock such as a U-lock or thick chain
SUBSCRIBE NOW
You can subscribe to this blog to receive each day's post. Just enter your email below :
No comments:
Post a Comment