Will Bosworth

In a city where it can sometimes take 30+ minutes to crawl in a car less than a mile, the ability to safely get your kids to school, band practice, art class, creation/engineer camp, swimming or play-time on time is nice. Being able to knock out some chores while they’re doing their thing is also clutch. And, grabbing stuff—dinner, tomorrow’s dinner, toiletries, fun-free-thing-on-side-of-road etc.—without pre-planning is incredible.

Although Somerville is a bike-able city by most standards, an enormous number of my neighbors don’t consider bicycling a viable mode of regular transportation. My advice—to people who already bike, are considering it, or don’t yet—is to get an power-assisted cargo bike. They’re incredibly useful machines that provide enormous flexibility, don’t take up much space, don’t cost much to own, and are fun.

I have a Tern Quick Haul Long, and it rules! There are plenty of brands and dealers, and most of them are great. For extra support, my family also uses Nemo, a mobile bike repair company that will come fix your flat tire if needed. They’re really nice and resourceful.

Here’s some things I’ve done with my cargo bike recently:

1. Dropped my kids off at camp, and later picked up a friend’s kid who needed help moving people around
2. Grocery shopped a week of groceries
3. Lugged my guitar and amplifier to band practice
4. Carried one of my kids and her trumpet, and my other kid and her soccer ball to combination music-practice / soccer time.
5. Picked up an air conditioner from the hardware store
6. Carried plants home from work
7. Picked up large load of paper towels on way home from work
8. Picked up multiple bags of mulch from the gardening store
9. Carried a broken bike to the bike store
10. Arrived to home/work/shopping/leisure/chores un-winded and un-sweaty throughout the summer, without experiencing traffic or train delays

When I was younger (two years ago), I rode an acoustic (no motor assist) cargo bike. It was great, and came with even less ownership cost, as well as the extra smugness that comes with riding out of the saddle all of the time. Alas, my kids got bigger and hills did too. At first I was sad to become a regular cargo bike owner, but that wore off quickly after I raced to through a quick day of drop-off, work, mid-day doctor appointment, work, grocery store, home, band practice. There’s simply no better way to zoom from Somerville to Kendall Square, to Copley Square, back to Kendal, back to Somerville with a stop in Union, and over to Everett. You’d spend more time just looking for parking, or maybe $150 in taxi’s. (Should we invest more to make public transportation better? Yes, And!).

Oh, also: get rain pants before you think need them.