How I Use My Bike Instead of My Car

We’re sharing Jacquee’s story to encourage people to think about cycling for transportation in Delaware. If you have a story about using a bicycle instead of a car to get places that you’d like to share too, we’d like to publish it. Contact us here.

by Jacquee Lukawski

I live in Bellefonte, a suburban area just north of Wilmington. Within three miles of where I live are lots of places that make me happy: J & J’s Produce for fresh veggies, Food Lion for groceries, The Ice Cream Shoppe for treats, Terra Luna for a dose of spirituality, Java Bean Cafe for my caffeine fix, and the Claymont Library for a quiet escape, not to mention Bellefonte Arts for a splash of culture. I find that riding my bike to these places is usually a pleasant experience and when I arrive, most people smile at me since they don’t often see cyclists coming into the store.

The simple addition of a bike rack would increase my enthusiasm for  some of my cycling trips. It’s a small ask that could make a big difference, encouraging more folks to opt for pedal power. While we wait for more businesses to jump on the bike-friendly bandwagon, I’ve become quite the artist in bike-lock gymnastics, securing my ride to anything sturdy enough to hold it. There’s this one guy I’ve seen who boldly brings his bike inside and leaves it by the door, unlocked. Seeing his bike still there after shopping is oddly reassuring, though I’m not quite ready to test my luck that way.

My bike becomes more useful when I combine it with transit.The train station in Claymont is only 3 miles from where I live. That would be a significant hike on foot but it’s an easy and convenient distance using a bicycle. The hills (unusual in Delaware) make my folding e-bike the MVP of my commute. I ride along Governor Printz Boulevard (using the shoulder),  lock my bike up at the station and then hop on SEPTA’s Wilmington-Newark line for a little over 15 miles. On the other end – when I get to the Newark train station – I have an inexpensive mountain bike (bought used for $40) chained up and ready to ride to the office, which is only a mile away (less than 5 minutes on a bike). 

(I was very excited for the new, very modern and beautiful Claymont train station to open; however, my only safe biking route, which uses a pedestrian bridge over 495, is currently closed in order to decommission the old station. My understanding is that it will be reopened sometime this spring.)

While there’s much to appreciate about my commute, it’s important to acknowledge the challenges as well, particularly those that deter people from adopting cycling as a mode of transportation in Delaware. One notable issue is the SEPTA Wilmington-Newark line schedule, which necessitates an early start to catch the 6:40 am train, a time when it’s still dark outside. Although the journey itself isn’t lengthy, the timing poses logistical hurdles. Upon arriving in Newark at around 7:10 am, I’m faced with a choice: jumpstart my workday, linger over a coffee, or kill some time on  the James F. Hall Trail and the “low stress” bike paths of Newark.

Another significant inconvenience is the absence of return train services from Newark until the late afternoon. This scheduling gap presents difficulties, especially on days when unexpected early pickups for my children are needed or if I’m not feeling well., If that happens, however, I can take a rideshare trip (Uber) and get reimbursed through my participation in Delaware Commute Solutions. (Having that backup “insurance” is crucial for me.) They have an app that I use which even allows you to help track your emissions savings (if that’s a thing you care about). Over only the past year and a half I’ve avoided 4.7 tons (!) of emissions by not driving.

I am fortunate to be well-off enough to own a car and – given how infrequent train service is from Claymont – I don’t have any plans to sell it. But many folks in the First State are less fortunate than I am and do not have access to a car, cannot or choose not to drive and rely on public transit and/or bicycles to get where they need to go. My heart is with them, which is why I volunteer at the Urban Bike Project, which helps folks in Wilmington who need a bike get one. 

To anyone teetering on the edge of giving cycling for transportation a try, I say dive in. Grab a used bike and start with short trips. You can practice riding your route early on the weekends to build familiarity before the busy work week begins or just try traveling locally by bike, starting at one mile or so away from your home and working up to longer distances.There’s a whole world out there waiting to be explored at the pace of a pedal, and it’s a ride worth taking.