If I were to succinctly describe today's experience I would use the word enlightening. Not enlightening as in I just found out that my date last night has some highly communicable disease, but enlightening as in I didn't know this could be so simple. Everything went as planned from my bus ride to Greg's neighborhood to our carpool to work and back. The only thing I will adjust tomorrow is that I will leave my house just a couple minutes earlier so I have a little time to gather myself before boarding the bus.
During the day I had my scheduled doctor appointment and as expected I walked there. It was a delightful walk through UCSD and the lovely zero carbon emission experience took about 15 minutes each way. This I consider to be very reasonable.
After Greg dropped me off at his house I walked across the street to Henrys to get some groceries. I limited myself to 1 bag full as I had my workbag with me and it all had to be schlepped around town. While I was waiting in the check out line I pulled out my bus schedule and realized that I had about 3 minutes before the next bus arrived and I had to make that bus or I would be late for Brad to pick me up for dinner. I may have broken a sweat even before I started running out of Henrys with my bag of groceries and my workbag. Just as I rounded the corner the bus was pulling up and I jumped on without a moment to spare.
Today I sent a link to my blog to several friends at work and there was only positive feedback, people are generally open to providing rides or making their vehicles available for me to use occasionally. It seems that Flex Car may become a great option as well. The nearest location for a car looks to be about a 15 minute walk which would be reasonable until a closer option is available. Tomorrow will likely be the first time I attempt to make my commute entirely by bus. This should take just under an hour but I will be able to read my new book "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson. Today the commute to work took about 50 minutes while driving myself takes around 30 minutes. I know my time is valuable but so is my responsibility to be carbon conscious. As long as I utilize my additional travel time this is time well spent.
Utilizing public transit takes a fair amount of planning and this is something that I have not had to deal with while using my own car. Not having to think ahead can be convenient but living in this manner can lead to complacency. I’m glad for this bit of change in my life.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Ramping up to Day 1 Without a Car
So the first thing I must mention is that I do in fact have a car but have chosen to not use it for an undetermined amount of time. The goal is to see if I can go green and truly survive without it. If this trial is successful then I will decide to sell my Mazda 3 and use various methods of travel other than a personal vehicle. These travel options will include walking, mass transit, Flex Car, and arranging rides from friends.
As I embark on this challenge tomorrow morning I will be taking the bus route 15 from the stop at 54th St. and El Cajon Blvd. to Georgia St. where my friend and co-worker Greg will pick me up and take me to our office in the UTC area. The one-way bus trip will cost $2.25. The bus will pick me up at 6:38 and Greg will pick me up just before 7:00 and we should arrive at work a little before 7:30. Typically I leave the house a little after 7:00 so this is early for me but I am willing to give up a little to lessen my carbon footprint. Thankfully I have no meetings tomorrow so I dont need to worry about that situation just yet. In these cases my first instinct is to arrange with a few friends at work an agreement in which I can use their car if they are not using it. They would of course receive the mileage reimbursements from our company for said miles. They would also have to have an insurance policy to cover such use. Another option is to see if Flex Car will put a car at or near my place of work. This will have to be ironed out in the near future. I do have a doctor appointment tomorrow and thankfully my doctor is close enough to the office for me to walk.
I am hoping this experiment will go well... I have an enormous conviction to live responsibly and this would be a huge step in that direction as recycling, conserving, and planting trees for a living is just not enough.
As I embark on this challenge tomorrow morning I will be taking the bus route 15 from the stop at 54th St. and El Cajon Blvd. to Georgia St. where my friend and co-worker Greg will pick me up and take me to our office in the UTC area. The one-way bus trip will cost $2.25. The bus will pick me up at 6:38 and Greg will pick me up just before 7:00 and we should arrive at work a little before 7:30. Typically I leave the house a little after 7:00 so this is early for me but I am willing to give up a little to lessen my carbon footprint. Thankfully I have no meetings tomorrow so I dont need to worry about that situation just yet. In these cases my first instinct is to arrange with a few friends at work an agreement in which I can use their car if they are not using it. They would of course receive the mileage reimbursements from our company for said miles. They would also have to have an insurance policy to cover such use. Another option is to see if Flex Car will put a car at or near my place of work. This will have to be ironed out in the near future. I do have a doctor appointment tomorrow and thankfully my doctor is close enough to the office for me to walk.
I am hoping this experiment will go well... I have an enormous conviction to live responsibly and this would be a huge step in that direction as recycling, conserving, and planting trees for a living is just not enough.
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