Transportation Chronicles: Week Two

Another carless week. Uneventful, mostly. I'm getting laughed at a little bit about not having a car. I had a very amusing conversation last night at the neighborhood pub with a corvette-driving fellow who kept saying things like, "You have to have a car," and I'd ask why & he'd say, "Everybody has a car," or "You can't just not have a car," and I'd say well I don't have a car now and he'd say "You won't last two more weeks."

Of course stuff like that makes me a little nutty. He's not the first to say these things, but he was certainly the most persistent. Poor dear, he doesn't know me well enough to understand that it's useless to try to convince me of anything, especially if that's the best set of reasons for why I need to buy a car that he could come up with. It's entirely likely that I will buy a car eventually, but I am really enjoying the opportunity to think about it.

I've asked a few people why they have a car, and they are quite literally astonished at the question. It's not one they'd ever asked themselves. Most of them had thought extensively about what kind of car they wanted; several felt vaguely guilty or slightly defensive -- as I did -- about not having the very most fuel-efficient or lowest-emission vehicle on the market, but they had never considered trying to do without, and thought it was kind of crazy to even bring it up.

I've met a very small number of people here over the years who have been unable to own or drive cars due to health problems, or financial and legal constraints, but it's rare, and all of them would buy a car and drive it if they could. I only know one adult person here who chooses not to have a car, though I've heard rumors that there are others.

But as I've said previously, this is not a bike-friendly town. Motorists are oblivious at best and downright hostile at worst. Our city planners are seeking to make the town a little more bike-friendly, and an article in the local paper a while back about a preliminary assessment of the most immediate needs (for example, paint bike lanes, re-orient storm-drain covers, add bike racks in key areas, etc.) elicited a surprising number of angry letters to the editor about how Joe Taxpayer shouldn't have to subsidize the insanely dangerous "hobby" of a bunch of damn yuppies from up north and how cyclists on city streets were a menace and if the city has so much money to spend how about better roads. And so on. The less bloody-minded among them seemed to favor building more recreational bike trails (the kind where you have to load up your bike in your SUV and drive to) outside of town. Because bicycling is exercise and should be encouraged, but it is NOT a mode of transportation.

This isn't a pedestrian-friendly town, either. Someone told me the other day that our little sprawled-out tri-city metropolis is a national leader in pedestrian deaths per capita. I can't remember if she said it was fourth or fifth, but it was way up there. It doesn't rank that high in anything else.

It does make me nervous to ride and walk around town a lot of the time. My neighborhood is nice for pedestrians, and my workplace is approachable on foot & by bike, but it is very difficult to go to most of the shops, banks, grocery stores, etc. that I frequent without a car. Even the bike shop I used to go to is kind of unpleasant to ride my bike to. Fortunately there is one near my house and another just opened up recently downtown that is not only accessible by bike; it's also got hours that favor a working person.

But I'm happy to have made it through another week without any accidents or incidents to report. I haven't been late to anything nor missed any opportunities for fun due to not having a car. I've had to plan a little better, make a few time allowances, and neither of those things is particularly easy for me, but it's all to the good.

It's not that I'm so bloody-minded that I don't want to accept offers of help from my friends, but I want this whole thing to work without having to depend on that.

By the way, I highly recommend Robert Hurst's book "The Art of Urban Cycling: Lessons from the Street" to anyone who regularly rides in town. A former big-city bike messenger, this guy advocates a sort of hybrid cycling philosophy and strategy that is all about getting where you need to go without hurting yourself (or anyone else).

The Transportation Chronicles.

• Week One