Avoiding Prius for some of the shortest trips

Here in Columbus you have to ride the bicycle with other traffic since there are no bike lanes for the most part. So, biking is not an option for me. I cannot walk because there aren't any sidewalks where I live. So, I don't walk. I take the bus to work. I would love to live in a place again where I can ride my bike (that is sitting in the closet) and walk.

 

With my other Prius, I didn't let it get to me... since the warm-up cycle was progressively shorter with generation and it meant there was an extreme effort to reduce emission.

So, the approach was to organize short-trips into "do all this while I'm out" errand running... which is more efficient from a time perspective anyway.

Of course, with the PHV model, short-trips are quite the opposite. I look forward to having an excuse to do those tasks that were previously annoying chores.
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I am finding I get better MPGs on the shorter trips ( 1~2 miles ); more EV mode.

 

I would rather avoid the Prius for shorter trips, but it doesn't work out to be all that practical for me.

 

I'm not familiar with your area, but look up your city laws and learn to ride with traffic.
Bicycles are considered vehicles and they belong in the street, on the same side of the road, following all the same rules as cars.
I live in Houston and commuted to downtown via bike a few days a week for a while. 13 miles each way. Sometimes I had bike lanes, sometimes not. You just "take" a lane. Some people are a*holes but you learn to deal. Generally it's safer than riding on the sidewalk where you have to worry about people pulling out of driveways are turning in from the street where they just wont see you.

 

+1

This is the way it's been for years. Bike lanes are not necessarily the best solution and riding on the sidewalk turns you into a pedestrian...

 

I have a beach cruiser that I don't mind riding around for short trips. It has a basket, which is convenient if I have to carry groceries or something like that. With the recently purchased Prius, I am VERY wary of parking next to other cars in parking lots. My previous Sentra was like a punching bag for other drivers.

 

1/2 mile trips? I walk.

I live in a residential area and the last trip BACK from the gas station I had it up to 60mpg. It was exactly 4 miles, SLIGHTLY uphill.

This morning I came back from McDs, 1 mile, all EV.
Battery was only down 3 bars.

I do use the EV button, but the Prius is new, therefore the battery is new, so probably as it gets older I won't be able to match those numbers.

 

A basket? You must be much older than I thought.
I find a small hydration pack works well for the little stuff, and the big stuff goes in the panniers. I used to do the family grocery shopping by bicycle, and regularly transported around 80 pounds about ten miles. After some experimentation, the best weight distribution method seemed to be to put the heaviest stuff (gallon milk jugs) up front in the low-slung bags, and the lightest but bulkiest stuff (boxes of cereal and 24 packs of toilet paper) in the back. Fragile items like bananas, eggs, and bread can be stuffed in your jacket.

Generally, cities are built for cars. It's a long, slow process, but city planners are coming around to the idea that walking and cycling are legitimate forms of transportation.

I happen to live in one of those rare places where cycling on the sidewalks is legal. It's still controversial, but cyclists are rather stuck in the middle - they don't really belong on the sidewalk, and they don't really belong on the roads. Bike lanes help, if they are properly planned, but the ideal solution is for bikes to have their own roads. I've been advocating for this at the city level for a few years - the current transportation department head is the first of many to see the merits of the idea, so we'll see what happens.

Another of my apparently radical ideas is to divide up the transportation budget according to mode share. If public transit moves 15% of the commuters, for instance, public transportation should get 15% of the total transportation budget. As the percentages change each year, the budget will change accordingly. Not surprisingly, the car people, who get 99.8% of the budget now, yet move only 70% of the travellers, are not at all keen on the idea.

The other option is 100% user pay for all modes, but then the average driver's costs would roughly double, so that's not exactly popular, either.

 

hyo silver - Send your city planners on a field trip to Copenhagen
This video pretty much sums it up although it is mostly looking at intersections but you can see the cycling 'roads' also.

 

In winter I walk to the pharmacy/mail box/supermarket for a light trip.

Spring to fall I'll either walk or use my bicycle and will cycle to go across the city* if the trip isn't time-sensitive, which is usually isn't.

* Small city, maybe 1.5 to 2 miles each way.

 

Quite often I take my Prius on short trips. The grocery store is just over a mile away. I don't know what my lifetime average is, but right now I'm sitting at 53.9 mpg.

If you have alternatives, why not? But on most trips I buy too many groceries to either carry while walking or by biking, so it's not an option for me.

 

It's fine to walk or bike if you don't want to do a short trip in your Prius, but don't get into your other gas-powered car as that makes no sense.

 

Especially if the only reason is you may impact your lifetime average and MPG bragging rights. Walking and biking are great options. I do it all the time....