Multi-Moding

Have you thought of going multi-modal?

An oft-uttered excuse for leaving the bike at home on workdays is distance. “I’d love to ride, but you try cycling to work from Frankston without conking out halfway down the Nepean Highway!”

But more and more cyclists are discovering that it doesn’t have to be so, and have begun travelling for part of their journey by car or train, and cycling the rest. Michael DeKlerk drives from his home on the Mornington Peninsula to Brighton and then cycles the 16 kms to work. “It saves me parking fees, I miss out on the slow gas guzzling part of the car trip into town, and I keep fit,” he says.

Teacher Paul Tobin began cycling almost ten years ago. "I began in 1998, on Ride to Work Day, actually,” he says, citing the easy accessibility and health benefits of cycling to work. “It’s great exercise, and when I get to work I’m ready to go, less frustrated, and I get fewer colds.” Paul regularly rides from Malvern to Flinders St, and then takes a train to Essendon. “The trains going out from the city in the morning are often empty so taking the bike is no issue.

Planning Manager Stephen Frazzetto has also been a ‘mixed commuter’ for ten years; with the financial benefits as the main incentive. “I ride a third of my commute from Ascot Vale to Mulgrave, and reckon I save about 22 dollars a day in CityLink tolls and Zone 2 rail passes.”

For Sunbury resident Sally Ryan, the principle pleasure of commuting is the precious ‘outdoor time’ it affords her. “I love watching the seasons change, the bird life, the sunrises and sunsets behind the city skyline and against the water.” Something to think about next time you’re stuck in traffic!

Story by Alice Williams, first published in Bicycle Victoria's Ride On magazine, Aug-Sept 2007

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