Monday, September 20, 2010

Why DO we still drive internal combustion gas powered cars?

Ok, I know why, but really, it's a testament how there is no true consumer choice when it comes to what you personally drive. We have been made completely and utterly dependent on our gas powered cars. It's great that there is a huge demand for hybrids. It still requires gas fuel.

I did not know the story of the EV1 electric car from GM until I watched the movie Who Killed the Electric Car?

Such a neat car.



Wikipedia

Friday, September 17, 2010

Day Seven

Wow, I made it. Alright, so I started on a weekend and I was out sick for two days, but nonetheless I completed my 7 days car free.

Today, I left for work from Alexandria, so it was a longer distance but I figured out the metro and bus I should take and also got a ride to the King Street station in the a.m. I left the office early and so at 1 p.m. I had made it to the Westpark Transit Station. Such an interesting place, with a view of the toll-road. Even during the middle of the day, there are several buses that go to EFC and WFC metro. But I was lucky enough to find out that there's a bus 5A that goes between Dulles Airport and L'Enfant Plaza with a stop in Rosslyn. So my ride to Rosslyn took 15 minutes. Awesome! And it's a metro luxury bus. The seats were plush and had headrests. How nice huh? Is it because it goes on the toll road and 66? is used by international tourists?

Annoucement flyer in the bus shelter at Westpark Transit Center: Transit Week September 20th through... How funny, next week we are encouraged to use everything but our car. The flyer shows the same woman on a bus and as part of a carpool, and examples of other modes of transport. 

So the travel by bus and metro takes longer, but it seems to bother me less and less, and I've made a good dent in one of my textbooks.

Today I wonder what the difference would be going without my car for two weeks, or one month.

I did want to use this blog to include more insight about my experience but that may be for other postings.

Here and there during the week sometimes I was irritated that I was at the mercy of the bus routes and schedules. But sometimes things work out just fine.

This evening friends are meeting at a restaurant for drinks in recognition of the Mexican bicentennial. And the restaurant happens to be walking distance from where I am this afternoon. Perfect!

Car trips saved:
RT to work from Alexandria, meet friends after work, ride home = about 35 miles 

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Day Six

Took a completely different route to work today. This included a different bus to Ballston, metro to WFC and another bus that drops me off right in front of my building. This is the most efficient route and the most costly: $3.40. Worth every penny. Time: about an hour and ten minutes.

At quitting time it was raining. A co-worker was kind enough to give me a ride to WFC. Had a school parents meeting tonight so had to make it to N. Arlington via bus. Since the meeting ended at 8 p.m. my dear S.O. was able to come and pick me up and take me home. No having to find scarce buses at night tonight.

Despite my adventures and having to get up earlier than usual, I feel that after this short time I am getting used to not having my car. I don't feel that I miss it or think so much about when I will be able to use it again--not like at the beginning of the week. That's when I felt more acutely aware that I could not use my car.

Car trips saved:
Home-work-son's school-home = almost another 30 miles

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Day Five

My morning commute by bus went very smoothly and I got to work in about an hour and ten. I even jumped off the bus before I planned to because I saw that I could get off earlier and walk about 1/4 mile to get to my building. I even discovered a Firehook Bakery & Coffeehouse! It's in the PriceWaterhouseCoopers building, but they weren't yet open at 7:30 a.m. Oh, and my fare for the whole trip was $1.50. Nice.

My afternoon commute was a comical disaster. I left my office at 5 p.m. and headed for the same bus stop where I jumped off this morning. I stood on the opposite side of the road. But this did not put me on the right bus. The bus route map for 23C literally goes in circles around Tysons Corners and that is exactly what I did. Twice. On two different buses. When I complained to the first bus driver, he actually helped me out and as the 23C Eastbound passed us while we were driving through Tysons Galleria he told me to jump out and I switched buses. It was almost 6 and I was going in circles, stuck and traffic, and I felt like an idiot.

I eventually made it to McLean, but not before sitting in Chain Bridge Road traffic like everyone else. I was trying desperately to get to my son's first official football game, even if it was for 20 minutes. I thought if I could get there by 6 I could stay until 6:30 and still make it to my class in Arlington.

At 6:07 the bus was passing McLean High School and so I jumped off because there was a sign that read "McLean HS, Entrance Ahead". I started walking. After 3 blocks I stopped an Iranian lady out for a walk to ask her how much further to the school. "It's down the rod," she said "are you late?" I replied while walking away, "Yes! and then I have to be somewhere else!"  "I'm sorry," she said, "valk faster."  I did, but after two more blocks I looked down the road and I couldn't see anything. Maybe my sis could come and get me? Too much of a hassle. I turned back around and by 6:22 p.m. I was on a another bus.

I think it was 15L. All I wanted was a bus that would take me to a metro and this one said Rosslyn. I decided to try to chill and started reading a bit. The next time I looked up we were at some strange bus depot. What is this? Is this the Westpark Transit Station? Too small. Why is it so green around here? A group of people got on including two heavily perfumed women who sat right across from me, as well as an unusual number of white youngish folks who looked very studious. I was surprised because they didn't fit the usual bus demographic I had seen all day. As we pulled away I saw all the security personnel and signs--we were at Langley.

The next time I looked up we were on GW Parkway! What the heck! I thought that maybe my carpool buddy from last year is probably sitting in traffic next to us.

Arrived at Rosslyn and sat at a bench to eat my salad. A homeless woman immediately started talking to me. She told me she had had some delicious chocolate mousse cake and that maybe there was some left if I wanted around the corner. There is a culinary school above or near the Rosslyn metro and apparently they give out food sometimes.

Got into the metro, went downstairs for the Vienna train. I got onto the first train that pulled in to the station without checking what train it was. I sat down and hear "next station--Arlington Cemetery." F***, I got on the wrong train . . .

I rolled into class late and have to remember to email my prof to remind him to mark me present.

I had to take two buses to get home tonight. When it gets to be past 11 p.m. I start to worry about my safety, but I made it home just fine.

Both times, during the morning, afternoon and evening bus rides, I had the thought "I would have been at work/home by now."

Car trip saved:
work and back, class in North Arlington, ride for my son (he got a ride) = about 30 miles.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Day Four

I've been accused of being an addict. These words spoken by my dear S.O.

Tonight my son yelled from the living room when he can get a ride to to his father's this weekend--Friday or Saturday? I answered "Saturday". The end of my car fast.

Back in the kitchen I told my S.O., well actually we could go Friday evening any time after 3 p.m.

2:45 p.m. to be precise. "You're addicted to your car!" Because apparently to him, I was counting the hours, no, the minutes! until I could use it again.

I have to admit this is on my mind, and in the meantime, although I am enjoying this experiment it is something to endure. To survive? Well, let's not be so dramatic. I did however enter a mild panic when I just could not deal with doing this the first week of school. So yes, I think we have established that I rely heavily on using my car.

In addition to this blog, I have been journaling some. One question I have is, how much more stuff do I buy because I have a car and I can haul more stuff in it? And these "car-free" people. How many of them end up buying a bunch of stuff on the internet instead and having it shipped to their homes, in the process burning fuel in the vehicles of others?? Yes, perhaps the UPS truck is more efficient than the personal vehicles, but the link between private cars, transport and consumption is on my mind.

Still at home sick today. But tomorrow's the big day! I will have to travel by public transportation to work in McLean and to class in the evening back in Arlington. And somehow get home after 10 p.m. at night.

Car trips saved today:
Trip to drugstore (I walked) - 1 mile
Ride from football practice (my son had to walk it) - 2 miles

Total for Tuesday: 3 miles - ok, so we're in an "urban" area, thank goodness!

Day Three

Day three was actually yesterday. I was still sick. Didn't go to the office, but I put half a day of work in at home, which maybe was not such a good idea because by the evening I was rather sick, again. I regret this has become blogging about my cold! Two benadryl and 1,000 mg of paracetamol and off to bed I went last night with a throbbing headache to boot. 

My only car-free news to report:  I could not give my son a ride from football practice and he had to walk home. Car trip saved: 2 miles

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Day Two

Sunday, and my bad cold continues. Not many plans for today and not much effort exerted today, at least none that required a car. Which is fine since that gave me time for my course readings and work. I didn't really have to drive anywhere today and so I don't have a record of "car miles saved."

Besides the picture of my lovely car, I thought I would share more about my class assignment and my car. The assignment is to go without a technology upon which we rely heavily, for one entire week. It's for a graduate course entitled "Culture, Organization and Technology" at George Mason University's School of Public Policy. I chose my car because of the "rely heavily" characteristic. Unlike, my cell phone or the TV, which I actually avoid using.

Part of the instructions were to not plan for this week and just go "cold turkey." Well, that was tough. Originally, I was going to start on the Tuesday after Labor Day. You know, THE traffic day from hell. By Labor Day however, panic had set in. My son had just come back from a stay with his dad. We still had some school supplies and clothing to buy. I had to do groceries. I had signed up to bring drinks for class on Wednesday night. How was I going to get that stuff there? Nevermind I had not figured out exactly which bus and metro combo I was going to take to work. Oh geez and I had a doctor's appointment on a remote part of Duke Street on Friday. I moved my start date to a precisely timed 7 days that would not interfere with the appointment and the next time my son may need a ride to his dad's.

Reactions to "I'm not using my car for one week":

"Then what are you going to do?"
"To see how much you suffer?"
"What?!?"
"Then who is going to drive you to work?"

Photo of my GTI 1.8T

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Saturday, September 11, 2010

Day One

The last time I drove my car was at 2:45 p.m. on Friday, September 10th.

The start of the week without my car has been easy so far. I had a bad cold and so thanks to Benadryl, I slept for 12 hours last night. No Friday night outing for me.

Last night was the first time it was cool enough to need a blanket and so my son requested his comforter. It happens to be in storage because we are getting ready to move. This required a 1.2 miles walk one way to the storage place. Somehow I convinced my son to go with me. I thought it would give us some time to spend together. He agreed to go. The trip took almost an hour. We stopped at the gas station to buy him a drink and candy bar because otherwise he thought he would not survive the long walk we were taking.

During our trip to and from the storage place, he told me how he thought it was absolutely bizarre and unnecessary to follow through on such a course assignment. He told me I should just write what I imagine the experience might be because those are the instructions he receives in middle school for some writing assignments. He complained greatly about having to take such a long walk and how much time we had "wasted." I said that all that he would probably be doing since it was a Saturday morning and he had no plans, was staring at his iPod Touch.

My son thought it was very inconvenient to make this trip without a car. And this was my response:  I get tired of driving too. Having to get in and out of my car. Drive, park, drive, park. Having to be careful not to get hit or hit anyone. Having to be careful in parking lots. Walking has it's risks too of course. But as much as I like to drive my car, having to operate this large piece of machinery (yes, when prescriptions drug say don't operate heavy machinery they are talking about cars) can get quite tiring.

Car trips saved today:
2.4 miles (storage) - I walked
3.0 miles (grocery store) - I got a ride

5.4 miles total for Saturday.

Good night!