Day 298: Traffic!

My primary commute methods are bike, light rail, and walking. Every once in awhile, however, I take the scooter out for a spin, and given how the lack of activity recently caused the scoot to need some maintenance work, I now have a goal of riding it at least once very other week to give it some exercise.

We have a Honda Metropolitan that we bought in late fall of 2003 to help with my post-foot surgery recovery phase. Our scoot is dark "denim" blue, which isn't produced anymore, so we don't see too many twins out on the road:

I scooted today because I was planning to run an errand in the afternoon and needed a faster mode of transportation than my bike. In the end, I didn't have to take a break from the office after all (too bad!), and as I headed to the gym after work, I remembered why the other commute options are so much better than any form of vehicle -- 5pm traffic in downtown Sac.

Granted, compared to major large metropolitan areas, Sac doesn't really have much traffic or gridlock. But at the moment, the various road construction projects within a half dozen blocks of each other are creating quite an unpleasant situation. There are lane closures on I Street between 8th & 9th; on L Street all along the Arena construction site from 7th to 5th; and also on 7th Street near the Capitol Park Towers apartment complex between N & P.  Add all of these restrictions to the general influx of folks heading out of downtown in the early evening, and you can end up with a real mess.

The only redeeming factor of the scoot is that California law allows motorcycles and scooters to ride "in between" lanes of car traffic, so I often edge up alongside cars waiting at a light in order to make it through the next cycle and not get caught in a holding pattern. Of course commuting by bike, light rail, or foot allows me to avoid all of these problems...!!!