He gets through six pairs of running shoes a year doing 2808 kilometres of run-commuting, but for Brisbane dad Aidan Hobbs, 31, the biggest benefit is the $6500 saving to the family’s yearly budget.
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Mr Hobbs, a health service manager from Chapel Hill in Brisbane’s inner-west, does an 18-kilometre round-trip commute on foot three days a week to his office in South Brisbane - and rides his bike twice a week.
It takes him just under 40 minutes to complete his run commute, and 20 minutes on the days he cycles to work.
Both modes are significantly faster than the timetabled 55 minutes it would take to do the commute on two buses in the peak-hour along Moggill Road and then across the Victoria Bridge.
While the thought of running to work brings many Brisbanites out in a cold sweat, Mr Hobbs insists commuting by car is his idea of a nightmare.
“I couldn’t imagine driving into work, it makes me nervous just even thinking about it,” he said.
“I’ve been into running since I was little. I used to run to primary school, I’d give my mum my backpack and she would drive my brother and sister to school and I’d run to the front gate and meet them there.
“I think it’s just the independence and not being held back by traffic or having to find parking. It’s just a lot more convenient to run or ride. You can run anywhere and it’s free.”
But he admits his run-commute is not without its dangers and frustrations.
“The main frustration is that the road crossings don’t favour pedestrians,” Mr Hobbs said.
“On Moggill Road, there are four sets of automatic red lights for pedestrians within 300 metres, yet cars travelling in the same direction get an automatic green to proceed straight through.
“It adds up when you have to cross at every block on a nine kilometre run.”
While running offers him an opportunity to enjoy the changing scenery, the lingering image he sees daily that bothers him is inattentive and distracted drivers.
“Most generally do the right thing, but when you are on foot, you see what’s happening in every car you run past,” Mr Hobbs said.
“It is truly disturbing the number of people I see each day behind the wheel looking down at their phones.”
He says the nine-kilometre commute between Chapel Hill and South Brisbane is “the perfect distance” as it keeps him in optimal fitness to enable him to keep running.
Such is his passion, Mr Hobbs cannot remember the last time he cheated or took a day off active commuting. When he got sick last weekend, his only concession to the lurgy was making his scheduled run commute a cycling commute.
“Usually if I’m a bit sick I can ride the bike, that’s not a problem,” he said.
“There’s only been a couple of times when I’ve felt pretty sick or been a bit injured, and that’s when I’d just run halfway and catch the bus home from Toowong.”
Wife Peta, 28 and children Levi, 2 and baby Nathan also like to get in on the fitness act.
Mrs Hobbs walks to daycare with Levi while he rides his balance bike - a bike with no training wheels he’s been riding since he was 18 months old - and sometimes jogs with her young sons in their double pram.
The family has one car but tend to use it for grocery shopping. The rest of the time the couple “usually leave it in the garage.”
“I look at other people who are driving into work each day and I just think about, the amount of money that they must spend on fuel and parking. I couldn’t imagine it,” Mr Hobbs said.
“I’m lucky that my work has good end-of-trip facilities so I can shower and store my belongings in a locker at work.
“But it would be good to see more facilities made available in Brisbane to encourage more people to swap non-essential car trips for active transport.”
