Does anyone use a bike and trailer for carting kids around daily?!

[soootiredddd]

We only have one car at the moment as DH and I work at the same place. We can both WFH twice a week and then go into the office the rest of the time which is only 3.5 miles away. Kids go to local childminder/preschool both of which are about 10-15 mins walk away. In august DH has a new job which is an hours commute, he can get the train sometimes but will need to drive more often than not due to timings of work.

We were going to get a second car for me to get to and from work and to drop and collect the kids but with fuel prices rising so quickly I’m starting to wonder if I can manage with a combination of walking (on my WFH days) and using a bike with trailer. I’d have to bundle them both in and cycle to the childminder, then preschool and then onto work. Same on the way home. As I said I’d only need to do this three times a week. Am I mad?! Kids are 3 and 1.

I’d save the cost of buying the car (minus the cost of buying a bike and trailer) which would have been at least £5-6k, approx £80 a month in insurance/tax/maintenance/MOT and probably £75 in fuel (think I could manage to use just one tank a month). In the summer and nice weather it would be fine I think but in the dark and cold and wet it could be thoroughly miserable.

I have an electric longtail cargo bike. I love it. I can carry my 8 and 5 year old on it up a hill without difficulty. Yes, they are crazy expensive, and big, but are way cheaper and smaller than a car. The popular expensive ones are the tern gsd and the yuba spicy curry - however, I have a cheap Chinese copy, and it's pretty good!

On safety - all cause mortality is higher in people who drive cars to work than people who ride bikes.

On storing bikes - if you are willing to spend the money, tern cargo bikes are designed to be stored vertically- tipped up on the back wheel.

One last thing that I forgot to say - there's a big advantage that I hadn't thought of. No more fighting kids to get into car seats! They always want to go for a bike ride- I can only think of one day when I couldn't get my kid out the door when we were taking the bike.

I used to do this.

In the morning my DH would drop kids (1 and 3 yrs old) off at the childminders with a Burley bike trailer. He'd lock the bike trailer up in her front garden.

Meanwhile I'd cycle to work, about 6 miles away, arriving early and leaving early. Then after work I'd cycle to the childminder's, hook up the trailer, then cycle home with them.

We only live about 15mins cycle from the childminder, and worked out a safe route through quiet residential roads, ignoring the quicker but busier obvious route. It was for 3 days a week, so doable from a physical point of view. Only stopped because of pandemic and then kids starting school/nursery a walking distance from home.

It was fantastically reliable - no random traffic jams that would make me late occasionally. The exercise was great - I still cycle to work now because I genuinely love it.

We still use the bike trailer for the odd supermarket trip (can fit 3 and 5yr old plus a weeks shop in it). And it worked really well as a trolley when we took it to a music festival last Summer. Some of the Burley ones can be used as a very robust buggy too (saw quite a few being used like this at the festival).

I did the school run with a bike trailer for years. It does help that theres a cycle path behind out house running most of the way to school, so I was only on the road the the last section.

You get used to towing the extra weight pretty quickly, although the first week or two in September was always hard as we didn't cycle as much over the holidays. I didn't find the trailer affected my balance, where I never felt as comfortable with the seat on the back. I do think its worth spending a bot more on a lighter weight trailer if it's going to be used lots.

We walk, but lots of families around here don’t have cars and do this.

We've done this, and it worked really well.

When our kids were 1 and 3 we used to use a bike trailer to drop them at childminder's about 15mins away, and then cycled the rest of the way to work. We used to leave the bike trailer locked up in the childminder's front garden so that my DH could do the drop off and I could do the pickup.

We worked out a slightly less direct, but a far quieter and pleasanter route through residential roads. I never felt that my children were unsafe, and I wouldn't have done it if I did. It was incredibly reliable - no being late because of traffic - and great for keeping fit.

We stopped doing it because of the pandemic, and then the kids started school and nursery at the nearby school, a short walk away. I still cycle to work when I go to the office, because I genuinely love it, and I had never cycled to work before that.

We still use the bike trailer for the odd supermarket shop - we can fit the now 3 and 5 year old in there with a weekly shop. Plus it came in very useful when we went to a festival in the Summer, because we could load it up with all the stuff, and pull it along as we walked. Lots of people at the festival had the Burley trailers that can also be used as a very robust, off-road buggy.

We have a Burley trailer and it's great. My two just about still fit in (they're 4 and 7 but small) but we'll probably have to give it up soon. It is not heavy and folds flat for storage. Best purchase ever really.

Wow just came back to this, thanks for all the thoughts. To answer a few points/queries:
I’m quite an experienced and confident cyclist as I’m also pretty fit. Experienced off road mountain biker so I’m fairly sure I’d be ok with it physically. But also it would be my main form of exercise other than walking so I don’t mind if I get worn out!
Preschool is a 10 minute walk and childminders is 5-10 mins on from there. Also it’s flat and through residential roads. There’s one busy road where I could just get off and cross over.
I LOVE the look of those box bikes (christiana?) but my idea was to have a trailer that I could take off and leave at the childminders - I can lock it up either outside her house (safe residential area) or leave in her back garden which is secure and has a covered area. I mainly would want to do this so that I then can cycle to work a bit easier without all the extra weight.
I’m so tempted to just get a second car but the finances are really putting me off.

@11stonesomething DH would happily cycle to the station but there’s only a few a day that have the right connections and some days he is working off site where there is no station nearby. He could probably get the train 1-2 times per week but I can’t guarantee those would coincide with my days in the office.

I just used bike seats front & rear, no need for an expensive trailer for a 10 minute cycle. We had some form of cycle cape for the rear seat for the very occasional wet days. Older child on front seat wore a raincoat which covered their knees.
A trailer or Christiana bike wouldn’t have fitted through the access to safe routes over the common whereas with bike seats I could go anywhere

Hmmm yes good point about bike seats. That’s an option. But my eldest is heavy, 16kg, and youngest is already 9kg and I’m concerned that I would be more likely to have an accident with a lot of extra weight on the actual bike.
Also sorry forgot to mention, people have asked about whether my eldest could scoot and she couldn’t unfortunately, she has dyspraxia and a gross motor delay and is nowhere near even reliably holding on to a scooter while it’s moving let alone actually scoot one, bless her!

We've had a trailer for the past year and a half and it's been great! We don't have a car so do everything with it. It's great for cargo too.

We are thinking of getting a box bike now with electric assist as 4 year old DD can get a bit heavy. For a 3 mile commute it's a no brainer to get either a trailer or a cargo bike.

We used a bike with a trailer a lot until DH had an accident (hit by a car which misjudged how fast he was going and turned in front of him. DH was knocked off his bike and the trailer was overturned on a roundabout.

DH was quite badly injured and now can't physically cycle. DD in the trailer was completely fine even though she'd been upside down in the middle of a roundabout.

[quote parietal]Also these are fab - very common in Denmark & again they can take childseats with a harness and have a roof to keep the kids dry.

christianiabikesuk.com/the-models/families/[/quote]
Given the price of those I'd go for a small second hand small car!

The roads where I am are too narrow and too busy. A neighbour bought one but gave up using it pretty quickly due to a combination of the large queue of traffic that built up behind her, the number of potholes and the hills. In fact if you google second hand ones you'll find quite a few as new or very little use ones for sale in London. I think that tells you how useful they are

We live at the top of a very steep hill, in the alps. Everyone uses electric bike and adds trailer or child seat no problem.

The tfk velo 2 or Thule trailer are the most popular. Both fit up to x2 5/6 year olds, and can add wheels instead if you need large double for hiking or walking. They sell very well secondhand so you would get probably 70/80% of new price back in a few years if you sell

We have this on the front, and a Hamax on the back, with almost the same weight kids. You’ll be fine!

threo.co.uk/product/front-mounted-child-bike-seat?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=14399583113&utm_term=shotgun%20child%20bike%20seat&utm_content=541194617685&ga_loc_physical_ms=1006886&ga_network=g&ga_device=m&ga_placement=&ga_adposition=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4peL7sun8wIVh5ftCh3p4Ax0EAAYASAAEgIHbPD_BwE

We have a Dutch bike (www.bakfiets.com/) with electric assist. Got it using the cycle to work scheme. We bought it 5 years ago when our youngest was 1.5 and still use it on the school run now they are 10 and 7 (normally they cycle, with all their school bags in the bike). sometimes, depending on logistics, they are both picked up in the bike. The Dutch bike is really easy to cycle, even if heavy, as it is well balanced. When I don’t have children in it I just switch to eco or no electric mode. Advantage of the Dutch bikes is you can see what the kids are up to, as they are in front of you, and they are higher off the road. We have done several 1000km on the Dutch bike over the last 5yrs. Though an expensive initial purchase (we got instead of a 2nd car) it was well worth it.

I should add we bought from a uk supplier, hence cycle to work scheme applied, not direct from the Netherlands.

For weight, mine are 16kg and 20kg and you don't notice it, until you go up a slight slope and then you most definitely do.

I find the trailer helps balance the bike though, so I drop to a really low gear, and just go very slowly (while the kids complain "you're not going very fast mummy - quicker! ) Still, it's good exercise.

If you would like to test out a trailer I know of a really good company that hire out bike trailers, they are super helpful with questions around your bike and what trailer would be best for you. I have hired loads of times, sometimes for a holiday but sometimes just to use daily and it's great. They are called Kids Bike Trailers www.kidsbiketrailers.co.uk/

Someone I know has a Babboe Curve e-bike to do the school run instead of a second car.

Bikes with electric assist are the best alternative to second car, especially as the children get older. Cargo bikes are popular here but they are heavy without assistance.

I think in your position I would look for a second hand trailer to give it a go. 10-15 mins walk would usually be less than 5 on a bike. If you enjoy taking your family round by bike and think it could work for you, you could always look into getting an e cargo bike later. Always go electric if you do, kids only get heavier! I took my two to school about 4 miles away for years until we moved closer and they cycled themselves. I still use our Nihola e trike all the time even tho the kids don’t go in it anymore. Taking instruments, PE kit etc to school and for doing the shopping. I love it! It really is a second car for us, but we we do live in a small city with expensive parking and lots of cycle lanes, so it genuinely is easier to get around by bike. Good luck!