to think that this might go some way to sorting the school run problem?

[Dontsshme]

Would you use one of these if it didn't cost you anything? Assume no outlay and the school gets a subsidy or at the very least some good publicity?

Is it just me that thinks that 1.5 miles isn't actually that far really? I mean, if I had to walk there and walk back to get the car to go to work it would be pointless, and I'd drive, but it isn't the sort of distance I'd think 'better take the car, that's too far to walk'.

Ours is 1.7 each way, so if we walked both ways twice a day I guess that's approaching 7 miles.

Which I find too far and so does my 6yo, really - and it isn't a nice walk either, it's dangerous in places.

HopALongOn - no, I don't think 1.5 miles is very far either. That was my point, really.

I've seen people using them. They look very heavy. But what concerns me is that they don't look very safe.

No I wouldn't use one

I woud try it but id need a double one as I need to get 4/5 children in it. Might be hard to peddle...

You would have thighs of steel after using one of those every day though. So that's a bonus.

I wouldn't use one on the hills here especially as we would be having to use the main arterial route which is lethal enough in a car. It would also take us longer to get to school.

It's easier for us to walk/scoot as appropriate.

I wouldn't use one, the stupidity of drivers at school run time unnerves me now and we walk, I would never put my children on the actual road with them.

The solution to the school run problem is for local children to attend local schools of course there aren't enough schools though. I really think when big housing estates are built it should be part of the planning permission that a two form entry primary school as well as a secondary if the area is currently shouldbe built and paid for by the developers. There are plenty of teachers looking for work at the moment.

@Rooneymara: they're older! I ride with them on cycle paths and quiet roads. They don't, at 8 and 6, go on main roads, yet I've seen parents with toddlers and babes in those things, mixing with heavy traffic and weaving in and out of lorry blind spots. Not the same thing at all.

I guess that I wanted to differentiate my "they look bloody dangerous to me" reply from those made by non-cycling drivers who tend to overstate the dangers of the roads, so that you could infer that mine was a reasoned and reasonable stance

I used to use a very similar cargobike, when my first two dc were smaller. It was fabulous, and did indeed solve my school run issue (no parking at the school, or for around half a mile in any direction, and not able to park further away and walk as dc2 is disabled).

Sadly, I can't use it any more as having children at different schools and a lengthy school run for dc2 (8 miles) means it isn't practical. I miss it, and keep trying to work out how I can get dc1&3 to school A and dc2 to school B and still incorporate some use of my lovely cargobike. But sadly I will have to sell it instead, I think.

We have similar in Denmark. But we also have wide roads with good surfaces, and sometimes bike lanes. DS went in one just last week with his childminder and fellow mindees.

I wouldn't use one - they look very heavy and cumbersome, and WIDE! I'll just stick with walking or cycling (used a trailer when the DCs were little). There is a school bus to the local school, but as we have a turning circle at the school with many parents choosing to drop off before they carry on to work which saves money on the bus fare not everyone uses it.

I would love a Bakfiets and we may well get one at some point. The biggest barrier is cost. We don't own a car and the major advantage of a cargo bike for us would be a) ability to transport a younger baby and B) cargo/shopping carrying ability. By the time my DC are school age I would hope they will be cycling themselves or at the least on a trailer bike. No free riding here!

However in the short term we have front & back seats (to carry 2 young DC on our normal bikes). We also have a trailer which we use on roads. The seats are much lighter, quicker and easier to pop on/off (seat gets left at nursery so I can cycle on to work) but I do find with the trailer people give you much more respect and space on the road.

I will just provide a for all those making ill informed comments about cycling with children / trailers etc.

Loads of people use these to get children to school where we live, until they are old enough to cycle

try again

oops

So just to be clear, if there was no or a small financial impact and this was offered as a trial, would you try it?

maybe if you combined them with electric bikes people would be less reluctant. They work well on Dartmoor hills, which are fairly steep.

The problem with the school run is not the volume of traffic if you ask me.

Its the inconsiderate twats who don't think of anyone else and get in the way of everyone else and slow everyone else down. And they are the type of people who it didn't matter how they were taking the kids to school, they would STILL be inconsiderate twats who would inconvenience everyone else.

The only want they would change is if they were forced to; and that pretty much comes down to legal or financial penalties being enforced for being a twat.

The cargobikes I'm looking at, are electric, so different to an electric bike and trailer as the kids are on the front.

It's the parents who insist on dropping their kids off right outside the school that causes the problems - you have a large number of cars all squeezed into a tiny area. If people just parked a little bit further away and walked 3-5 minutes (which is nothing) then it would alleviate many of the problems.

OP - I would definitely try one if it were electric and only a modest cost. I did think about getting one when my 5 year old started school last year but it is too hilly round here and I would have had two children in it making it heavy. An electric one would be fab but too expensive for me.

Yes, definitely; though technically we can all walk and the kids are older so can ride their own bikes!

No way. We have to walk one main road and one residential road with bumps and a crossing and narrow pavements. It would be dangerous.

We have childminders at the school who have massive 9 seater pushchair type things that have a waterproof cover. It's so big they have to park it outside because the side gate is too narrow for them.

It wouldn't sort out any school run problem because walking probably takes up less energy and there's no faff involved.