There’s no doubt about it, cargo bikes have revolutionised family outings for our family. On weekends the car is generally left at home, and a boring old outing to the park often turns into a half day family adventure of new routes and experiences.
However, with a new routine in 2022: a child starting school, we didn’t envisage the utilitarian value of the bike being so valuable… having a cargo bike for school drop-off and pickup.
A long walk or tedious drive turns into a very easy, short ride
For those of us that send our kids to one of Australia’s thousands of public schools, there’s generally no choice as to where you go, someone has gathered population data from the ABS and drawn a line around some streets, that’s your zone, and the school community you’ll become a part of.
We fall on the outer extremities of our ‘zone’. Still only a 850m flat commute. 850m feels close but in the morning rush of getting a couple of kids ready, mum and dad getting ready, and having to all start either our work or school days by 9, every minute counts, and the return trip by foot can be 25 mins of more, particularly with a 5 year old dragging their heels.
Short car trips are my worst nightmare. The 30 seconds of driving falls into car parking anxiety when the few car parking spaces are filled by all the other parents from school, plus it just doesn’t feel right firing up the car for such a short trip.
The drop off by cargo bike really is a dream. 3-4 mins by bike in the fresh air, 1-2 mins getting helmets off and backpacks on and a kiss and a wave goodbye, 3-4 mins home and the school run is complete in under 10 mins.
With many parents working from home these days, its easy enough to log in to work for 30 mins before school, do drop off and be back at your desk in less time than it would take to queue up for a coffee in the city.
Those other errands become so much easier
Without the problems of finding car parks and with plenty of storage space, those errands that feel so tedious become super easy to incorporate into your drop-off routine. Picking up a loaf of bread or a parcel from the post office adds mere minutes to your journey, giving you time back for more important things.
After school activities become fun
Tennis lessons, piano lessons, dance lessons all become part of the adventure when they can be incorporated into a school pickup by cargo bike. Even that awkward 30 minute gap between a 3pm pickup and a 3:30pm activity becomes easy to fill, just go for a bit of a ride!
Many years of value in a cargo bike
people sometimes ask how many years of use they’ll actually get out of a Tribe Bike. Now that we’ve started a new, school age chapter in our lives I can safely say, ‘many years’. Our Tribe Cargo Bike is more useful than ever and I can’t see that changing any time soon!
