How do you move? Do you walk, bike, or use public transit? Join the Office of Sustainability and participate in the College’s first official event celebrating the different modes of transportation that the College community uses to commute to campus. On April 9th, during Sustainability Week, let us know how you move by using #CofCMoves and why you move the way you do!

We asked Professor Martin Jones of the Math Department why he bikes.

Back when I was in graduate school, I bought a ten-speed steel frame bike.  It was a fairly top-end bike back then.  I still have it and ride it everywhere today.  In 1997 I was getting ready to spend a sabbatical year in Costa Rica.  I decided to sell a lot of stuff including my television and my 1976 Pontiac Catalina.  I hardly ever drove that old bomb.  It had grass growing under the tires.  One time I started it up (a feat in itself) and turned on the AC.  A family of ants had made a nest in my AC unit and they came blowing out the vents.  When I got back from Costa Rica in 1998, I just decided to do without a car.  It was the best decision that I’ve ever made other than going vegan.  I live downtown, so my commute is only about five minutes, but I use my bike to ride everywhere, Folly Beach, Mt. Pleasant, to go shopping, and for fun.  The freedom of not being tied to a parking space is one of the great things about biking.  Also not having to pay car insurance, repair bills, parking and for licenses is pretty nice.  If I need to go out of town, I rent a car. Yes, I face some challenges.  The connector is not really suited for bike travel.  There is so much debris in the breakdown lane.  I would hate to think what would happen if I were riding there when some of that stuff came flying out of someone’s bass boat.  Also, drivers in Charleston at times seem pretty hostile to cyclists.  I think everyone who drives a car should spend a day riding around town on a bike just to see what it’s like to have to avoid debris and drainage grates while trying to negotiate traffic.  I don’t think most motorists realize what a challenge cyclists face.  The laws are written so that cyclists have to follow the rules that cars follow, but this is for the cars’ convenience, not the safety of the cyclists.  I would love to see improved bike lanes around town and over the bridges.  It would certainly encourage more folks to bike to work.  Despite these challenges, I think biking is great exercise and a very convenient and environmentally friendly way to commute.