I had some fun reading the observations of participants in the Car-Free Challenge last month. My own mostly-car-free life began about 2 1/2 years ago when I turned over the keys to my Geo Metro to my stepson so he could commute to high school. Don’t even get me started on why a 17 or 18-year-old needs to drive to school, but suffice it to say there was a custody agreement involved.
That era is about to end as he heads off to college next month, and the Geo will get sold-off or donated at that time.
But last week, when he was off on a last-blowout-of-summer camping trip, I had an unusual luxury, an extra car parked outside on the street.
It was interesting to watch my own behavior change when there was no-apparent-incremental-cost-transportation sitting outside the door. I took several trips that were purely convenience-based, ones that I definitely would not have taken if it were a matter of renting a Flexcar for a couple of hours.
So seductive. On the other hand, I had zero temptation to drive on the freeway during rush hour, and I’m not going to miss the insurance bills at all when the car is gone.
One response to “The Car-full Life”
That’s why automobiles dump billions of dollars into the US Economy. Simply because it’s such a silly “convenience”.
We don’t need to use them as much as we do, an entire alternative transit system could be erected in a mere 2-5 years…
…but they are still such an easy convenience. Nothing that humanity has ever developed comes close in convenience.