Intermodal

I've been putting this off with excuses. I forgot to look at the weather forcast. I have to pick something up at the store after work. Whatever.

One morning last week I woke a half-hour late. Usually when I'm late I hop in my car. This morning I said to hell with it. I'm tired of paying for gas. I'm tired of scrounging for free parking on the edges of downtown, a practice that usually eats up the time I saved by driving. I'm tired of commuting by auto when I told my insurance company that I wasn't. Instead of getting in my car, I grabbed my bicycle and rode to some place where the bus stops more frequently. I've wanted to try this for a long time, but I've been putting this off with excuses. I forgot to look at the weather forecast. I have to pick something up at the store after work. Whatever.

The KCATA system supports intermodal transport by providing buses and bus stops with bike racks. There's a whole page on kcata.org that explains how to use bikes and buses in combination. Since I'm doing this a lot, I also dug up a page on traffic laws and cyclists at the Missouri Bicycle Federation. I've added both links to the "City Links" list in the right-hand column.

My new bike and bus commute looks like this: I bike from my home near Armour Boulevard to "The Filling Station" coffee shop at 30th and Gillham. This was much faster than taking a bus to 31st and Gillhan and walking to the coffee shop. After coffee and quiche I bike to Crown Center where a bus to downtown arrives within five minutes. Waiting for a bus near the coffee shop could have taken as much as fifteen to twenty minutes. A short while later, the downtown bus drops me off a few blocks from work. I guess I could bike all the way from the coffee shop to work. I choose not to. For one thing, I'm a beginner, so hills are still a bit of a problem. For another, I'm not crazy about the idea of biking downtown during rush hour.