Bicycles aren't a possibility during the first year when it's not safe to put babies in trailers - and even then, not sure how we're going to handle exposing him to the absurdly aggressive Connecticut drivers. Bus is certainly doable with a carrier, but we don't have the most reliable system and I'm less willing to risk being stranded in the cold/dark than I used to be. Ride share services won't sneeze at a child under a year old, and even the old standby of walking gets complicated when you add infant accoutrements.
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| Always stroller life |
One day last summer I waited with Squish at a bus stop by daycare for fifteen minutes before deciding to just walk home. There I was, sunburned lady trudging down the sidewalk with a baby strapped to my chest and three bags on my arms, trying to shield his bald head from the sun with one hand and feed him a pumped bottle with the other. It was a hot mess moment that I could have avoided entirely in an air conditioned car.
We're lucky that we have a car, and that we don't always have to use it: we have enough flexibility in our schedules to make bus and walking feasible. I have had a few multimodal rockstar days, like when I took baby to daycare on the bus, ride shared to a meeting, bike shared to a doctor appointment, walked to work, and carpooled home.
But this required meticulous planning and several bags with milk/pumping equipment/helmet/sunscreen/laptop/diapers and more. The cavalier urbanism of a younger me is gone, and that's not all bad - urban design isn't good if it only works for childless twenty-somethings with strong calves.
Which brings us to my working wishlist for multimodal parents
- Frequent, reliable buses with sheltered, well-lit stops
- Protected bike lanes and separated bike paths
- Well-maintained and connected sidewalks
Anything else?
