Or ...
If you don't use a car for transportation, please share your alternate choice and give us practical ideas for making it work. For example, if you ride a bike or walk, please share how you manage inclement weather, shopping and getting to the other side of the city/state. Tell us about the ways in which you stay safe while riding a bike in heavy traffic or walking when there isn't a sidewalk. We'd like to know exactly how you make an Eco-friendly form of transportation work in today's world.
This weeks challenge is something that I've thought a lot about. Because I don't have much of a choice on how I get to work, I have to drive. I can't carpool either. This bother's me though and I constantly think about it.
Unfortunately, I also speed. Hey..when you drive mostly highway and you drive roughly 23 miles a day, the last think you want to do is mosey on home...I just want to be home..I'm ready to relax. However I'm going to make the effort to slow down on the highway and go 60-65.
Sure..there is some public transportation in our city, but it pretty much sucks. We do have a metrolink, but I would have to drive half-way to work before I could get to the closest station. Then we factor in that I don't work in the safest of areas and the station I would have to get off at is under a highway and not safe at all. Then I would have to walk about a mile to work. No thanks (not to the walking..to the lack of safety).
We do have buses that come into the area where I live, but it would take me twice as long for my commute. When I already spend roughly 80 min a day getting to/from work, doubling that just doesn't appeal to me.
I've thought about biking to work...if I ever bought a bike. However, my commute is roughly 23 miles, and that's highway. I'm not sure how long it would take on a bike going secondary roads. Not to mention the safety of it in the dark. It's something I've thought of though. I'm hoping to get a bike later this summer (husband has agreed to it..if I can swim 53 laps in our pool at the same time). I think it would be nice to bike to/from work once a week.
However....I can tell you some ways I do limit car use.
Whenever one of our cars needs an oil change or work done, I will normally drop the car off and then run home (most places are within 3-4 miles of our house). When the car is ready to be picked up, a lot of times I will run to get it. This saves us from using another car to make 2 trips to the place.
I also carpool a lot when doing non-work activities. I live by both my sisters, my Mom, and the in-laws. If we are doing anything with any of those relatives, we carpool. I also go out with one of my friends at least once a month and I have him pick me up, because if he's coming from his apartment, then getting to the movies or dinner would normally have him pass my subdivision..if he doesn't head right to a highway.
I also tend to do as many errands together as I can and I'll do them in a loop so I'm not backtracking and wasting gas. I'll stop at the grocery store, library, etc on my way home from work in the evenings because I pass them. When we go out on the weekends we try to do all the errands together to minimize gar usage.
While I can't get away from relying on my car, I do try to find ways to limit it's use. For me, the challenge is going to be slowing my speed. Oh..and we bought a hybrid this past November. I'm planning to do a post about that one..so won't say much...but at least it's something with this one. Just wanted to mention it so you can see that we do at least think about our driving and gas mileage. haha!
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