Getting To The Airport By Bike 62

It looks like there’s a safer alternative for the last leg that lets you make one lane change at a time. Instead of turning left onto the first access ramp off Silver Dart, you can continue straight, turn right onto Jetliner, turn left onto Airport, then take the access ramp signed for Terminal 3, keeping to the right lane. After going through Terminal 3 there’s a ramp that goes to the top floor of Terminal 1. And when leaving Terminal 1 you can exit from the ground floor, where there’s a ramp that spits you out at Silver Dart and Jetliner.

I seem to recall reading about someone who tried to ride his bike to or from a US airport, and ended up in some conflict with the police for this unorthodox behavior. I’m not sure there’s a way to get to Boston Logan airport that does not involve use of a freeway. On-the-other-hand, transit service is acceptable, though not great.

What about the return trip? How was leaving the airport on a bike?

I’ve bike from / to DIA and SJC. SFO, LAX, LAS and PDX I’ve brought a bike but used transit for travel to / from the airport.

SJC is by far the easiest airport I’ve biked to and from. The airport is directly on a nice bike path with plenty of bike parking available in the parking garage directly across from the terminal.

@LadyFleur writes about her experience biking to the airport for business trips http://ladyfleur.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/bike-commute-diaries-flying-with-first-class-parking/

Hello James:
I love your blog a lot and always look forward to new posts. Particularly, I love your posts about your lovely Dutch cargo bike. I am a new father of a two month old and am looking to maybe get a cargo bike so as to be able to put a child’s car seat in the cargo hold like I believe you have done for your daughter. Can you give me some advice on finding a Dutch cargo bike? I live in the USA, in a college town in Iowa. Did you get your bike direct from a bike shop in Toronto? Or did you have to special order it? Thanks for any info or advice you can provide.

Jeremy

So you just left that expensive argo bike at the airport with nothing more then a wheel lock and a cable lock??

What’s interesting is that air travel results in a far large carbon footprint and is worse for the environment than automobile travel. Giving up air travel while driving a car is far and away preferable to giving up driving a car but flying. Of course, the best solution is to ride your bike all the time and never go anywhere on a plane.

Right. I thought that went without saying. My choice wasn’t between flying or driving. I was flying for work either way, and I had a choice between taking a taxi, public transit, or bicycling to the airport. I try to do what I can. I try to bike instead of driving when possible. I try to take trains instead of flying when possible. I try to take turbo prop planes instead of jets when possible. And of course, I try to avoid flying/driving/trains whenever I can.

You can always look at the negative side of things. I mean, you could say that the carbon emissions generated by my body while pedalling to the airport has a negative impact on the environment. Lying in bed 24 hours a day would of course have the least impact on the environment, but we still need to live our lives, and some of us try to do what we can to minimize our impact on the environment.

I try to see the positive side of things when I can instead of always pointing out the negative.

Sorry, you must have read a different article than the one I posted above, because I don’t see a single word that mentions anything about reducing carbon emissions in this article except in your comment.

Take it easy now, and try to view it from the “glass being half full” angle. I don’t know where James was flying to, but another alternative may not have been feasible. For instance, if a Canadian employer was sending an employee to Mexico, it’s “possible” for him/her to bike there, but then they better not expect the employee to be able to make it there within a week or two, or three. And good luck trying to find a rail or bus alternative that’s going to get there in only double the time as flying. And even if you had all the time and energy available, you wouldn’t be able to bike or take a train from N. America to Europe, for instance.

Your SUV analogy isn’t really comparable here, because you’re speaking of much shorter distances, often within a city or suburb. True, the current road infrastructure would make it very dangerous and/or difficult for people to bike anywhere, but physically it could be done by most people (assuming there’s no disability, etc.). Many of these trips aren’t likely over 10 miles one way. No, most people couldn’t do 10-15 miles on their first ride. But if they rode regularly (which most North Americans don’t) this would not be an issue.

I know exactly where your coming from with the criticisms because I see it aimed at environmentalists and vegans/vegetarians all the time, for example. No, none of these groups are perfect and certainly the extremists deserve some of the criticism. But in the grand scheme of things, at least some of them are making an effort to REDUCE their footprint. The only way to have no footprint is to not exist on this planet. And heck, even dying is going to generate a carbon footprint unless you’re okay being tossed right into the backyard to rot.

Any idea if there’s an official policy on bike parking at Pearson? They had a “Bike To Work Day” and there’s a mention on their website about some employees who regularly bike to work. http://www.torontopearson.com/en/aboutpearson/environment/initiatives/

I used to bike to LAX all the time. I did not have to park my bike overnight, only for a few hours. Loved riding into the airport.

That bike looks like it is the beginnings of an awesome new airport taxi service. That might be a lot faster especially in urban areas.