Commuting - Free at Last!

Free at last, free at last, thank God almightly I'm carefree at last!

Well sort of anyway. We sold "my" car today. So, my wife and I now are a one care family. I commute and go most everywhere by bike, my wife drives the car. I will use it occasionally nights and weekends. We will probably also rent a car from time to time.

I've been looking forware to this for a long time and now it's a reality. So liberating!

Dave

Welcome to the club.

We've been a one car family for many years now and I certainly don't miss the extra insurance bill - the extra registration costs - the extra petrol costs - the extra servicing costs etc.

It takes a tiny bit of adjusting - not having a car available all the time - but the benefits are huge.

I really don't miss a second car at all.

Another one bites the dust! I stopped using my second car about two years ago and sold it a few months later. In that time there have been perhaps 3-4 times that the second car would have been handy. We are doing quite nicely with one car. I have for some time, however, been toying with buying a little motor scooter like a Vespa or Honda Elite 80. I tell my wife we need it for those times when we need a second motorized vehicle, but really I just want it to play on. Don't tell her, though.

Originally posted by RainmanP
I have for some time, however, been toying with buying a little motor scooter like a Vespa or Honda Elite 80. I tell my wife we need it for those times when we need a second motorized vehicle, but really I just want it to play on. Don't tell her, though.

Rainman, be sure to order the Vespa from a catalogue and use your credit card. Prove to her that you really are "out-of-control" ;)

i am in the process, trying to convince girlfriend we don't need 2 cars... she's trying to talk me out of commuting because its "too dangerous" can you believe it?

2 weeks since I said goodbye to the car. I'm feeling good about being out riding in the rain to get places and not missing it much yet. Life is good, so far.

One thing has really helped me not miss the car. I've joined a service that delivers fresh organic produce to my door each week. Not the cheapest way of getting veggies ($25 for a bin) but saves me lugging heavy stuff from the grocers and I've been eating healthier too.

"trying to convince girlfriend"?? Hell, just get on your bike and ride!

Originally posted by D*Alex
"trying to convince girlfriend"?? Hell, just get on your bike and ride!

Yet another plus for being single. :D

Originally posted by Chris L
Yet another plus for being single. :D

Just keep rationalizing it Chris! (Oh the irony from the married guy) :p

Originally posted by hayneda

We sold "my" car today. So, my wife and I now are a one care family.

Dave

A "one care family" -- great Freudian slip!!

>>>>>>We sold "my" car today. So, my wife and I now are a one care family. ?<<<<<

Congradulations:

It's amazing what people are doing today to own a car. Yet today, one car is NOT enough as two cars is now a necessity. I just don't get it. Are people really that rich?

A neighbor of mine has THREE NEW cars in his family plus a huge mortgage. The husband just picked up a second job in order to pay for his new wheels and wife works two jobs and drives a new car. The daughter works full time in order to pay for insurance/repairs on her new vehicle and just dropped out of college because she didn't have enough for tuition. Everyone in that family is working like dogs to pay for their transportation costs. They see each other every once in a while before they head off to work

The American family.

Dave and OsoGuevara,

congratulations! i was "car-on-reserve" my last 3 years in the US meaning car in the driveway driven 1-3 times per month from '99 to '01...

then i sold my car when i moved to Germany and never bought a new car.

mabye some day b/c of family or whatever i might again become a 1-car family... in Europe being truly car-free is a little easier than in the US as public transit and long-distance trains are so good.

but, as you will come to know, being free of the car is so beautiful! sure there are occaisonal days when the weather sucks when i think for a few seconds i'd rather be in a warm car, but afterwards i am always happy i was outside and under my own power... and my health and fitness couldn't be better from exercise whether i have the "time" or not i have to go places(10,000km and 65,000meters vertical in 2002)

i am in the process, trying to convince girlfriend we don't need 2 cars... she's trying to talk me out of commuting because its "too dangerous" can you believe it?

i don't know...

is that really the reason or is she stuck in "car-world" and maybe even embarassed that you ride to work? or just think it's weird? or think any "normal" person has a car and she wants to be with a "normal" person? ... anyway, i don't know her of course, but many people are so car-conditioned by society (i grew up in Texas so i was also in this group)

i guess you could try and come up with some stats about the dangers of driving... she probably doesn't realize how dangerous driving a car actually is. excluding unskilled cyclists (mostly kids who have the most accidnets) cycling is basically safer than driving car. ask her if she knows anyone who's been injured in a car crash and if she tries to convince them not to drive anymore?

then, if that doesn't work, i don't know, just do it i guess, and promise you will be extra cautious...

My girlfriend is JEALOUS of me riding to work and we're moving primarily so SHE can be closer to work!!

Regarding the wife/girlfriend issue, at first my wife was very opposed to us becoming a one car family. She said stuff like, the neighbors will think we're weird, or, will you not be emgarassed? Of course, this is just the cyclists inferiority complex at work. Americans have been so programmed to think of a personal car as a "necessity" that they can't comprehend not having one.

Anyway, I solved this potential roadblock by simply appealing to her greed! I pointed out how much more money we'd have for new furniture, vacations, etc. That did the trick. When we sold the car, I let her go one a small shopping spree.

Plus, now I'm clear to buy another bike!

Dave

it's funny, i was in the bike shop yesterday, and over-heard a salesman say to a customer, "if you buy her a $5,00 ring, she'll be more likely to let you buy a $5,00 bike".