Alicia took the car and went to see her family for a few days this week. That has left me carless. Not that big of a deal as I work from home and don’t have to go out all that much. But I have gotten around as needed by bike and bus.
Tuesday night I rode my bike over(and back) to UofR Stadium to watch the Kickers game. I got really sweaty and kind of gross, but I got exercise and got to where I was going just fine. We(Ryan rode too) also got to laugh at all the people in cars stuck in traffic getting out of the game as we rode by.
Today I rode the GRTC for the second time. Like the first time, it was a good experience. On a hot day you can’t beat riding across town and back in air-conditioned comfort for all of $2.50. You miss the exercise of biking, but it’s my general opinion that when you have to deal with clients at your destination it’s better to not be gross. My only complaints are that their website is really bad and the routes are confusing.
Now, this isn’t a big leap for me as I’m a fan of carless travel in general. I’ve found that driving a car causes me a good deal of stress. Maybe it’s because I think Richmond area drivers are just about the worst I’ve ever seen, or maybe it’s a flaw of mine, but either way it stresses me to drive. I also think there is something healthy about de-motorizing your soul. Not to mention that seeing graphics like the one in this article at Economist.com make me think we Americans need to seriously rethink some of our transportation habits.
Ross gets super stressed out whenever he’s in a car now. And he’s also become an exceedingly bad driver.
Really depressing graphic. I knew our gas usage was bad, but not that bad!
Now I just need to convince my wife to sell our car…