A guest post by Lisa Whitaker, Project Manager for Target 2030
For years I commuted to work by bike (when I lived only 2 miles from my office), and my husband and I generally got around our local town by bike finding it both cheaper (free after you buy the bike) and more convenient than the car or bus. There wasn’t much consideration of the climate impact of my transport choice – it just made sense to me as there was little parking in town and it was usually expensive.
However, according to the Transport and Environment Statistics 2021 annual report, domestic transport was responsible for 27% of the UK’s total emissions in 2019. This is an area that we really need to tackle if we are to hold to our CO2 emission reduction targets, and involves every one of us.
The Department for Transport found that, in 2017, the vast majority of journeys over a mile are made in a car or van. Even for distances of 1–2 miles, more than 60% of journeys are made by motor vehicle. Two miles cycled on relative flat at a moderate pace (i.e. not fast enough to get sweaty) will take 10-15 mins. Which, with levels of congestion in our towns and cities, plus traffic calming measures, is probably about the same as in the motor vehicle!
So, allow me to present some options for family cycling that we have explored in the past 3 years, and hopefully convince one or two of you to fix that puncture and get out on the bike a bit more often.
A conventional bicycle, and a trailer
When we became parents in 2018, one of the first things I researched was how to cart an infant / child around by bike. There’s a long debate and differing opinions over the safety of putting a child in a seat vs trailer, and at what age etc etc ETC! But long-debate-short, we opted for a trailer and have been happily using this since he was about 10 months old (now 3.5 years).
But suffice to say, it’s been brilliant. One of the best ‘child’ investments we made. I have used it many, many times to do the weekly shop. It comfortably holds 3 large Bags For Life, stuffed full of groceries. But it is quite hard work to drag a laden trailer up hills, so this option not for everyone.
A great feature of the trailer over a bike seat, is that once you’re at your destination, you can unhitch it, pop the pram wheels on and use it as a buggy. With a seat and a young, or tired, or less-able-to-walk-around child, it would be a different experience at your destination. It’s probably wider and definitely longer than your run-of-the-mill pram, so I wouldn’t want to take him round a flea market in it, but mooching around town it’s perfectly fine.
Carbon emissions per km: 0
Carbon saved per km vs car: 119g per km (based on our current family car)
Enjoyment factor: 4/5 (it’s hard work dragging a trailer up a hill sometimes!)
Electric cargo bike
You know when you pop to the shop for a pint of milk but end up coming out with a magnum, a multi pack of crisps and a job lot of mushrooms, because they’re on sale? Well that happened to me, but in a bike shop. A BIKE SHOP!
So, we recently got a second car to make family life a little easier – except it’s not a car, it’s an electric cargo bike.
This is a ‘long tail’ cargo bike, which is very clever because it has smaller wheels and a more upright position which allows for a long rack at the back. All while being the same length as a regular bike. Now, we’d been thinking of getting one for a bit, maybe in a year once the kid gets too big / heavy for the trailer. But as it was, this one was on sale and available NOW. So boom! We’re now a 2-car family. Except one of the cars is a bike. Did I already make that joke?
Anyway, so far it’s been an absolute dream.
Pros:
- e-bikes are really fun to ride
- we’re more likely to use it than our regular bike + trailer for slightly longer journeys
- it can carry a whole heap of junk on the back, including an adult passenger and/or two children.
Cons:
- it’s a bit fiddly to set up because of the accessories (and we are the opposite of handy. So maybe footy? Ahem..)
- it’s pretty costly (well only compared to a bike, not compared to a car. Which is what it replaces)
- and the final con: we only have one. And we both want to use it all the time!!
As part of research for this blog post (and due to some bad family organisation which meant I didn’t have access to our car), last week I rode just under 14 miles each way to the office and back from my home. Thanks to the assist, I arrived relaxed and fresh, rather than the sweaty mess I would have been on my regular bike. And you don’t get these views from a car:
We also recently used it to transport my 3.5 year old and our 10 year old niece on the back, and on a separate trip my husband used it to cart his bass guitar, amp and other related stuff to a gig he played with his band. Two journeys that would definitely have been done by car in The Before Times.
We haven’t had it long enough to gather enough data to be properly representative, and it would depend on how the bike is used, over what terrain and on what power settings. But I reckon my journey to and from work was equivalent to about 17 grams of CO2, or 0.6 grams per km. That doesn’t include any embedded carbon in the food I had to consume to power the pedal part, mind you…
Carbon emissions per km: 0.6g
Carbon saved per km vs car: 118.4g per km (based on our current family car)
Enjoyment factor: 5/5
