I did it... well sort of

[MAD Rider]

I've been watching this form for about 3 years now. I've wanted to go car free for about that long. The unfortunate thing is I've always worked about 30-40 miles away from where I live and having to wear business attire, riding a bike to work hasn't always been an option or at least that good of an option. A couple of weeks ago when gas prices really started getting out of hand I was looking at another way of getting to work or maybe driving halfway and riding my bike the rest of the way. I ended up going onto the local bus website and using their trip planner I found a way I could just take the bus. The only bad thing is it would take me about an hour and a half to get to work and I'm used to driving about 40 minutes. I like my sleep so I didn't really like that option. I dug a little deeper and figured out its about 5 miles to the light rail and I can take the light rail down town and get on a bus that will take me the rest of the way. All in all I'd be on a buss for 55 minutes. I figured that was do able because then I can read on the bus and I don't have to worry about stupid drivers cutting me off or any of the other things that can happen while driving. It took me about 20 minutes to ride down to the light rail so all in all I spent 75 minutes, got a light workout and feel fantastic to start the day out at work. This has got to be one of the best Monday's I've had in a long time and its only going to get better.

I'm not going to be totally car free because well I love my Jeep. I just bought a 4 door wrangler last year and its a blast to go camping with and 4 wheeling. Also it makes some things easier like going grocery shopping, going to my girlfriends house, snowboarding in the winter. The positive side is I used to drive 330 miles a week just to work. With my jeep averaging 20 mpg that was costing me $0.1875 a mile so I'm now saving $62 a week on gas and I found a deal for bus passes for about a $1 a trip so $2 a day. All in all I'm saving about $52 a week which hopefully I'll be able to keep up all year round and end up saving $2,704 a year.

Wish me luck on staying with it. The only hard thing I see is getting up on time to ride to the light rail. I can handle bad weather pretty well.

[Platy]

Great work, MAD Rider!

One issue with any kind of public transit is, what is the backup plan if you miss a connection. It might be useful to keep some taxi phone numbers in your wallet.

Good to hear of another success.

[Lamplight]

Good job on figuring out an alternative! I used to work 31 miles from home and hated driving there every day, but with no rail service and the only bus line taking at least an hour and a half (3 times as long as driving), I had little choice. Sounds like you had enough alternatives to make it work with a little research. And just think, saving that much money by not driving to work every day will make the Jeep easier to afford. :)

[Artkansas]

Well, your girlfriend will like what it does for your legs. That should motivate you to get up on time ;)

[TuckertonRR]

Good for you, MAD ! Should note you're saving more than 18 3/4 cents/mile - that's just the savings from gasoline. Total cost to run a car is roughly 45 - 55 c/mile. You'll also need less oil changes etc etc so that goes into your computations!!

Also don't forget to tell your car insurance company you're not using it to commute anymore - they should give you a 10-20% discount on what you're currently paying for insurance.

Also, consider getting a trailer. My Bikes at work 64" trailer can actually haul *more* stuff than many small cars (in terms of volume) !!!! They're not cheap, but in my opinion, well, well worth it.

The first step is always the hardest. Keep up the good work and good luck!!

[Lamplight]

Also don't forget to tell your car insurance company you're not using it to commute anymore - they should give you a 10-20% discount on what you're currently paying for insurance.

Unfortunately not all companies do this. I told my insurance company that I only drove my truck on the weekends to get groceries, and the person just gave a confused look. They offered no discount for vehicles that are only used on the weekends. Of course, none of this matters now since I no longer have my truck. :D

[mike]

Cool, MAD rider. Keep up the good work!

Your efforts to keep your car in the driveway is so good for the world and our country in so many ways, it is difficult to count;

Less pollution
Less need for wars and conflict over petrolium
Less dollars going overseas for oil
Less money funding middle-east terrorists.
Less noise in your town
More money in your pocket
More health for your body
More attractiveness of your physique
More strength for you
More respect from your bicycling peers
More influence to others to bicycle
More space on the road
More peace

Cheers to you, MAD Rider!