This article was another one of those, I tried to be car free and failed. Although I do agree with her in some respects on many of her complaints regarding bus transport. HOWEVER. She was too lazy or ignorant to look at alternatives.
First, her complaint regarding shopping was bogus. She was totally unaware that many groceries stores will deliver food right to your door. Its' like people who are motorized forget that home delivery exists for almost everything today.
Second, folding bikes or bicycles in general SHOULD have been used in conjunction with her use of public transportation. In fact, human powered machines is the main reason most of us including myself became car free. If I had to depend on the bus for all my needs, I too would be seriously thinking of owning a motorcar. However, the use of bicycles enabled me to have access to ALL those places I used to go with a motorcar and then some. In fact, the folding bike along with the bus would have given her many more options instead of being totally dependant on public transportation.
This is the problem with the motor centrist. They believe that transportation in this country requires the use of an engine. Most won't consider the power of human powered machines for utility purposes. As a result, they try to resolve their lack of a personal engine (car) with an paid per use engine. (bus)
In the article, she stayed home alot during the weekends due to her dependence on an engine for transportation. Quite sad if you ask me. Personally, I can't wait for the weekends to come by so I can take my bicycles on trains and head out to ALL those places I never visited by motorcar. In fact, this summer, I've been experimenting with the bus and riding them with my folders and enjoying the trip back by bicycle. I've never traveled this much in my whole life and I've been car free for over 4 years.
Bottom line, the bus may not be the best solution for travel which is why a bicycle is needed if your city has poor public transportation. Another solution would be to move to a city that has better public transportation like a commuter rail line or light rail. She could also move closer to work or change jobs to one that is closer to home.
The car free lifestyle is not one of human suffering and sacrifice as the author makes it out to be. It is just the opposite. It is liberating.
chephy
07-07-06, 02:13 PM
Your post makes a good letter to the editor if you ask me, perhaps with some shortening and slight changes. Why don't you send it in?
Dahon.Steve
07-07-06, 02:18 PM
Your post makes a good letter to the editor if you ask me, perhaps with some shortening and slight changes. Why don't you send it in?
I think I'll send it in but don't be surprised if nothing happens. I still would need some major editing.
Funnypants
07-07-06, 02:21 PM
Her whole "giving up your car is giving up control of your destiny" shtick is pretty lame, but I can't really blame people who are forced into driving when absolutely everything is stacked up against them.
I'm lucky enough to live on the outskirts of Toronto, and have awesome public transit to rely upon (subway, trains and buses). There's a stop at the end of my street, it runs everywhere I need to go, and it gets me there on time. Being car free is easy for me since I've built my life around that decision.
Her whole starting premise was foobarred. In my experience, living close to employment is absolutely essential if the whole car-free thing is going to work. This woman lives 25 miles away from her job, in an area with obviously crappy connections. You can't just lose the vehicle and expect the vehicle-based existence you've built for yourself to function smoothly.
First move closer, then ditch the car, and then maybe the experiment will have a chance of success.
Still, though, it's a difficult place to conduct it. I've never been to LA, but I've heard it has one of the weakest public transit infrastructures in the US. I see it as a kind of a chicken and egg thing. If transit sucks, nobody rides but poor & crazy people. Since only poor & crazy people ride, there's no political will to build a better system.
AlanK
07-07-06, 02:39 PM
First, her complaint regarding shopping was bogus. She was totally unaware that many groceries stores will deliver food right to your door. Its' like people who are motorized forget that home delivery exists for almost everything today.
Even without home delivery, I typically don't have problems with groceries. I actually the fact that I don't drive is beneficial because it encourages me to buy only what I need, so I'm less likely to over-shop.
In her defense, I think life in LA without a car would suck even worse than it does with one. Everything is so diffuse there, depending on where you live you have to travel at least 10 miles to get anywhere interesting, and the public transit isn't that good.
Here in Seattle, we have decent public transit (much better than most west coast cities, but not nearly as efficient as most large Canadian and western European cities), but more importantly the city is geographically compact. Almost everything I need to get to is within about 5 miles of where I live, so I almost never need to use the bus.
jamesdenver
07-07-06, 05:53 PM
Still, though, it's a difficult place to conduct it. I've never been to LA, but I've heard it has one of the weakest public transit infrastructures in the US. I see it as a kind of a chicken and egg thing. If transit sucks, nobody rides but poor & crazy people. Since only poor & crazy people ride, there's no political will to build a better system.
I would say the transit system is adequate - and in any other city it would be considered good. Bus, rail, recent light rail to Pasadena, but the problem is simply the scale of the southern California population. From downtown LA it's PACKED 100 miles to the east, 100 miles to San Diego (barring camp pendleton), and 100 miles up the coast to Santa Barbara. And some within that range consider commutes of that length reasonable.
I lived in Sherman Oaks for four years. Loved the weather, good friends, and lots to do. (Can take overnight trips to desert, mountains, Baja), But it is incredibly spread out! People in other cities consider a two hour drive to have lunch with friends and back a day trip. In LA / OC area it's just a commute. People commute on the 91 from Riverside to Orange County up to THREE hours each way! Most drive, some are probably lucky and live within walking distance of the metrarails (from San Berdoo and OC). They seem pretty efficient.
I talked with some older relatives there a while back who told me about So Cal back in the 50s - Anaheim, Orange, Long Beach -were all separate cities, and separated by miles of orange groves and farms, and could drive at night without seeing any lights from one town to another. And the downtowns of these cities are still quaint and preservered, so I always tell people traveling to LA to get off the freeways and into the towns.
I enjoy going back to visit friends, but I'll always live in a compact city type place - and even though Denver isn't a huge world class city, it has a compact managable downtown and city area, good transit, and plenty of nearby recreation
chennai
07-07-06, 07:14 PM
Good post and interesting article. The main points she makes about the bus fit with my experience. I take the bus - my employer gives me a pass - but the bus only works to certain places. (Using bus and bike together greatly expands the places.) And, as she points out, the bus doesn't always show up, and the crowd riding the bus is sometimes not fun to be around.
But, Steve is right, she only considers bus or car - nothing else. I much prefer the bike to the bus.
BTW, I cannot believe she didn't save some money.
DavidLee
07-07-06, 07:47 PM
Even without home delivery, I typically don't have problems with groceries. I actually the fact that I don't drive is beneficial because it encourages me to buy only what I need, so I'm less likely to over-shop.
+10 on that! With my truck I would "over-shop" quite often thus throwing food away that I never got around to eating. (yeah, some discipline was needed on my part, I know.) Anyhow, now I buy food that I know will be eaten & not wasted.
As for the article, I can certainly see where people who don't/won't consider alternative modes of transportation aside from motor vehicles feel a bit helpless. Car-free is a hard concept for many people to grasp. I had difficulty myself when I was first inquiring about it last winter. It was finding this sub-forum through Google and reading the many post here after a month or so that it really began sinking in that I could do it. Now I wish I had made this decision years ago.
Car-free is a hard concept in America indeed, people just need to be informed about their choices & be willing to walk/cycle. So many benefits it's a shame most people are unaware. :(
jamesdenver
07-07-06, 08:21 PM
the bus doesn't always show up, and the crowd riding the bus is sometimes not fun to be around.
But, Steve is right, she only considers bus or car - nothing else. I much prefer the bike to the bus.
BTW, I cannot believe she didn't save some money.
Was the word taxi even mentioned in the article? I occasionally use cabs if out real late, bad weather, or dressing up for an event. Cabs are considered expensive, but it's still cheap than a car, and I expect to budget some money each month for cabs, a few dollars here and there for bus, in addition to using my bike for commuting to work and other regular errands and places.
bragi
07-07-06, 10:10 PM
Good post and interesting article. The main points she makes about the bus fit with my experience. I take the bus - my employer gives me a pass - but the bus only works to certain places. (Using bus and bike together greatly expands the places.) And, as she points out, the bus doesn't always show up, and the crowd riding the bus is sometimes not fun to be around.
But, Steve is right, she only considers bus or car - nothing else. I much prefer the bike to the bus.
BTW, I cannot believe she didn't save some money.
I did some quick-and-dirty estimating, and, assuming the author of the article has a Prius that gets 40mpg city, pays $3.00/gallon for gas, pays collision insurance, and has a car loan, I figure she pays at least $440.00 a month to drive her car. I'm not sure why she was complaining about the $75.00 bus pass... Also, I take the bus occasionally where I live, and it's not that bad. It's late sometimes, but it does always show up, and riding the bus allows me to come into contact with people I'd never meet otherwise, and I always find that illuminating, if not always totally pleasant. I think it's good to regularly remind yourself who you share your city with. (You just don't get that kind of reality check driving along the freeway in your BMW....)
carless
07-08-06, 02:53 AM
Car experiment happily now in handlebar mounted rear-view mirror
Mariel Garza's Grandaughter, Columnist
July 7, 2020
MY monthlong experiment with private transportation ended Friday. Except for a couple of “emergencies,” I drove my car from home and traveled this city by car for 30 extremely long days. This really big city.
I went to work each day in the car. If I needed groceries, I'd take the car or harass a friend for a ride. When my sister came to town, I made her drive a car to Hollywood, rather than driving her around sightseeing. When I had to go downtown for a fancy press awards dinner, I drove in a spaghetti-strap dress.
For the month of June, I experienced life in Los Angeles as many other people do with a car and hating it.
I'd like to say this experience made me a better person. I'd like to report that I've made life-changing connections with other drivers. I'd like to say that I've had profound revelations about the human physical condition or about the state of automobile coffee cup holders. I'd like to say I've become a private-transportation convert.
But I cannot say any of those things, not truthfully. The only thing like year round A/C to hit me was something I already knew: Driving in Los Angeles sucks.
It sucks because there's a large incentive to leave the car at home, with gas prices so high and this traffic. I didn't save time. In fact, my daily commute averaged a combined 4.5 hours a day. That's a long time to add to a workday, especially when it's spent crammed in car, talking on the phone, putting on make-up and eating. At least I didn't live in the affordable suburbs near Las Vegas.
Nor did I save money on transportation costs. I thought I might, since I ride 50 miles a day round trip (I'm in good shape). But I have a hybrid bike, and the DMV's crazy system isn't cheap. The top end of the highway toll pass ($580 a month) is supposed to let you drive on any interstate or county road, L.A. and all sorts of other freeways. However, to ride the L.A. George W. Bush express (32 lanes) past a few miles say, to or from the San Fernando Valley you must purchase an extra stamp for $170 a pop. A toll pass for $750 a month hardly seems like a big incentive.
This is not to say that I didn't learn anything useful from this personal challenge.
For instance, I learned the only white-collar workers who take the car are people who have recent violent convictions, people with medical conditions, such as obesity, or men who have body image issues. I often caught people looking at my growing ***** wondering which I one I was.
I also learned that giving up your bike changes your life, and not in a good way. On the weekends, I love to ride out to the beach, visit friends in other parts of the city or county, take the dog for hikes at Griffith Park, or hit the Whole Foods store. After figuring out that any of these trips would involve either changing lanes at least once, a long wait to merge in the hot sun (lanes in L.A. run less frequently on the weekends), getting stuck after dark in a strange parking lot in a tank top and shorts, or carrying a can of $8 gas a half-mile, I stayed home a lot on the trainer.
But the most important thing I learned from my car experiment is that it is both humbling and humiliating to be dependent on the car. When you ride, you are in control of your destination and thus, in a way, your destiny. When you drive the car, you give up control to the other drivers, and to chance itself.
Sometimes the cars don't work when they are supposed to. Sometimes they don't work at all. Sometimes they work but don't stop for you. Sometimes the riders are mean to drivers, and the drivers have to take it. Sometimes you make good time and meet your connections; sometimes you don't. This randomness is perhaps the hardest part of private transportation for those of us used to riding.
At the beginning of this experiment I wondered if I might choose to drive the car for good. I won't. I will try to drive it to work once or twice a week, but tomorrow, I will be back on the 101 "Al Gore Memorial Bike Path" with the rest of you. And I will be happy to be back.
Mariel Garza's Grandaughter is a columnist and editorial writer for the L.A. Ozone News. Write to her by e-mail at mariel.garza@dailynews.com
wahoonc
07-08-06, 03:09 AM
I think it's good to regularly remind yourself who you share your city with. (You just don't get that kind of reality check driving along the freeway in your BMW....) Hmm maybe that is who they think lives in their city...all the other fools clogging up the freeways with their BMW's:p I have found that type of attitude to be prevalent. A larg part of population has no clue who or what lives in their city or even their area, and many times don't want to. It puts them outside their comfort zone.
Aaron:)
Roody
07-08-06, 12:13 PM
I think I'll send it in but don't be surprised if nothing happens. I still would need some major editing.
I hope you do send it in. And I don't think it needs much editing at all. Another point you could make is that it's unrealistic to expect a novice to suddenly be successful at carfree living. In all fairness, the reporter should have interviewed people who are already carfree (like you!) before writing the story.
adgrant
07-10-06, 07:38 AM
I think the first rule of car free living is don't live in LA (or Atlanta). I can't think of a worse city to be without a car.
Artkansas
07-10-06, 01:42 PM
In her defense, I think life in LA without a car would suck even worse than it does with one. Everything is so diffuse there, depending on where you live you have to travel at least 10 miles to get anywhere interesting, and the public transit isn't that good.
Having lived car-free and happy in L.A. for a number of years, I can see where her real problem is; lack of planning. She was trying to live a car-based life style without one. Big mistake. She was as out of place as Gza Gza Gabor in Green Acres.
Her basic commute was 25 miles each way. To make it work, she should have moved closer to work. Plenty of choices there. She didn't have a proper bicycle to run local chores either.
When I first moved back to L.A. I stayed at my Grandmother's for a month while house hunting. Same deal, a long commute between Santa Monica and downtown L.A. It was nearly a two hour bus ride each way. I couldn't wait to get back on my bike and reclaim my independence.
When I did get settled, I was just north of the Miracle Mile, within easy reach of both downtown and the La Cienega district. Hollywood was half an hour away as was Griffith Park. Branch libraries all around, hospitals nearby, thousands of restaurants and movies. Plenty of parks.
bragi
07-10-06, 06:36 PM
I wrote the author and gave her a mildly hard time (especially about her making fun of fellow bus passengers). She was very kind and responded with a nice form letter (I'm apparently not the only one who wrote to her about it), but I don't think she gets it. Maybe her article will inspire other SoCal writers to give it a more serious try. (Any California authors on this forum?)
Artkansas
07-11-06, 09:42 AM
You mean like this? That's my contribution to California bicycling literature
Bicycle Commuting in 120 Degree Heat. (http://www.bicyclinglife.com/PracticalCycling/SummerCycling.htm)
chicbicyclist
07-12-06, 01:51 AM
Echoing the whole "She lives in LA" voices.Chances are, she doesnt even live in one of the "Smart Growth" enclaves of that city. This experiment was doomed to fail from day one.
I live in Socal. I do not live inm a place where public transit sucks and strip malls and mega big box retailers dominate. I live in an urban, dense area where everything I need is within 10 miles one way of me or less, including open spaces(and a big one at that!) and the beaches.
Judging from the article, she sounds like a **** for even trying without doing her homework then passing the blame on something/body else for her failure. What a sorry excuse of a journalist. Wait, she's a "columnist".
krazygluon
07-17-06, 09:20 PM
Still, though, it's a difficult place to conduct it. I've never been to LA, but I've heard it has one of the weakest public transit infrastructures in the US. I see it as a kind of a chicken and egg thing. If transit sucks, nobody rides but poor & crazy people. Since only poor & crazy people ride, there's no political will to build a better system.
That's also Lexington, Kentucky's problem in a nutshell... We have almost the perfect geography for public transit (relatively compact city w/ almost circular layout and a 55mph ring-road at more or less the outskirts of town...8-10 bus routes running the arteries with with a few more neighborhood routes would probably deal with the whole thing
People's primary reason against taking the bus in town:
1) the routes don't go out quite far enough and/or to get to an artery from several of the many suburbs which have 1 main drive that leads to an artery, one would have to walk a fair piece to get out of their suburb) this is the feedback problem funnypants mentioned...more routes would (and in the 20 years ago past have) go out further/access vital neighborhoods if the system had more funding/clients.
2) only poor, criminal, license-revoked and crazy people ride the thing... (ok...I rode it for a semester and I'll vouch that yes these are the people that rode it...why...because it happens to generate commerce off these people because the routes still serve them fine and they don't have much choice otherwise)
3) for some trips the current routes take longer than walking (and definitely longer than biking)
I lived 2 miles away from college and if I left campus the moment my last class got out, the bus I would have taken got to the same point I was walking past if I walked the distance.
If I worked further than say...10 miles from home or worked somewhere I couldn't take my bike, then yes I'd take it (because I chose to live in an apartment complex on the bus line)
Roody
07-17-06, 09:51 PM
Judging from the article, she sounds like a **** for even trying without doing her homework then passing the blame on something/body else for her failure. What a sorry excuse of a journalist. Wait, she's a "columnist".
That's exactly how ALL of these "I gave up my car" articles go. It's like somebody wrote the master article 30 years ago and ever since they dust it off every so often, paste in a few local names and places, and run it again. Every time I read this tired old thing I want to puke. If they want real journalism, they need to go out and interview US--the real carfree people who are making it work in real life.
bragi
07-17-06, 10:48 PM
That's exactly how ALL of these "I gave up my car" articles go. It's like somebody wrote the master article 30 years ago and ever since they dust it off every so often, paste in a few local names and places, and run it again. Every time I read this tired old thing I want to puke. If they want real journalism, they need to go out and interview US--the real carfree people who are making it work in real life.
This article might be a little more encouraging than the one from Ms. Garza:
Nice article up to the last paragraph. Why'd they have to twist it into "peter and eric MAY have to one day go through the morning crawl like the rest of us." Couldn't it have been "Peter and Eric may be the first of a growing generation of car-free americans" ?
Artkansas
07-18-06, 07:12 AM
That's exactly how ALL of these "I gave up my car" articles go. It's like somebody wrote the master article 30 years ago and ever since they dust it off every so often, paste in a few local names and places, and run it again.
Check the current issue of the Utne Reader, or Alternet (http://www.alternet.org/story/38776/) for a story about successful bicycle commuters.
"If it bleeds, it leads." is the paper's creedo. I guess those of us who succeed in being car-free in places like L.A. don't see it as any kind of drama. It's just successful living.