Challenge for myself
 

I decided today to try to go 1 full year without driving my truck except for when I have to travel by air, in that case I will drive my truck and leave it at the airport. My plan is to ride my bicycle as often as possible and on the day's that I don' ride my bicycle I will take my motorbike. I started a log in Excel and will track every day starting with today. Well here we go, it should be fun.

Good luck! Just a word of advice, have someone (if not you) take your truck out for 15-20 miles on a freeway every couple of weeks. I've killed two alternators by letting my truck sit too long. The only thing worse for a vehicle than daily driving is extremely infrequent driving.

Giving up vehicle usage for a year isn't going to have much of an impact except to severely inconvenience you. Instead of setting the arbitrary (and probably unrealistic) goal of not driving for one year, how about establishing a more realistic and meaningful goal. Use the next year to gradually alter your lifestyle so that you can minimize driving for many years to come.

The goal of giving up the vehicle for one year seems admirable, but...for me... it would be better to work towards living w/o permanently.

But perhaps different people approach the problem differently. If you happen to be in a good circumstance (single, living in the city, good health...) the one-year goal would probably lead to something longterm.

If you have other issues -- long drive to work, married with kids who have to go to soccer -- it might be better to chip away at things... start riding to work for starters... then build on it.

First of all thanks for all the feedback and suggestions. In my situation it is quite feasible for me to make this work. The only time I really need a cage is if I am going to the airport for a business trip. I used to commute all the time and my best record was 2 years without using a car but I was a bit younger then and didn't have to travel for work. When I bought my current home I made it a point to find a location that was convenient to shopping and my office. I fully expect to make this a long term commitment this is just a start and I am one that needs goals to stay on track.

Yeah, this is more or less the way I was looking at it. Car free for me would be next to impossible with the kids and wife (who is unwilling to give up the car, though she is OK with minimizing usage). However, we probably do 80% less driving than most families with similar constraints. The wife takes the train to work, I bike to work. The kids walk/bike to school/daycare. The only driving we do is for our weekly round of shopping/errands, occasional trips out of town, trips to the doctor-dentist, and other miscellaneous needs. Of course we could bike for that stuff to, but it would require excessive effort and expose our little kids to dangerous traffic situations.

For me the most important transformative moment is not going 100% car free. Its when you begin to see the car as a tool and not as social statement or a way of life. At that point, you begin to evaluate the cost/benefit ratio of driving for each trip. You quickly realize that other modes of transportation (bikes, trains, etc.) are better tools much of the time, but not necessarily all of the time.

Have you thought about taking the bus to the airport? That's what I do. I take the airport shuttle when the flights are too late or early for the bus.

It would seem better if you could sell the truck (as it depreciates by getting older) and to save on the insurance payment. Could you not take a taxi / transit / get a ride from a neighbour / etc. to the airport?

Bike to the Airport!! I've done it several times. I travel light though.

Depending on the trip, it could be significantly cheaper to get a cab. But the daily rate for airport parking is normally not cheap.

These comments got me thinking of other ways to get to the airport, here's my logic. I get paid mileage and the company pays for parking so I could save the mother ship some money or at least break even if I:

1. Take a shuttle or limo.
2. Rent a car near my home and dropped it off at the airport.

Or better yet quit flying, I like that one best but at the moment it's not an option.

You should try to find alternate transit to the airport--bus, taxi, limo, van service, etc. You should also try to fly less. Flying is a nightmare for the environment. Of course, I realize that you might not have good choices here, but at least research alternatives before you decide that you have no choice.

That said, I sincerely applaud your idea. :) If you're a little nervous about giving up your motor vehicle, it makes sense to hang onto it for a while. I hope you have the will power not to use the truck at the drop of a hat.

Why do you think your kids are safer in a car? I don't know of any objective evidence that this is so. Auto accidents are a leading cause of death and disabling injury for children.

I wish I didn't have to fly but it's part of the job :(. As for giving up the vehicle it's been paid for for a long time and isn't worth much to anyone but me so it will get to stay I just won't use it very often.

Auto accidents are a leading cause of death and injury in children, because virtually every child rides in a car every day. People don't generally ride bikes with kids in tow down car-jammed shoulderless 4 lane roads filled with cell phone yapping shoppers turning on and off the road every few hundred feet...if everyone did that, lots of kids would be getting killed/injured on bikes too. I don't need to a lot of "objective evidence" to tell me that the car is much safer. We bike when and where its safe to bike, which is almost everywhere, but there are situations where bikes don't really belong given the present traffic situation.

Still, those same roads are dangerous for everybody who rides on them, whether in a car or on a bike. It's hard to say which is more dangerous, but the answer might be less obvious than you think.

Interesting comments.

I am always a little suspicious of "objective" evidence. I would have thought it would be much safer for me to buy a large SUV than, say, a Volkswagen Jetta. To my surprise, I read a study that points out that the Jetta is a very safe vehicle, much safer than any large SUV. One point I had failed to consider in my subjective analysis is that the Jetta is a very maneuverable vehicle and is apparently better at avoiding accidents.

There is a more important issue lurking behind all this however. Your kids might be safer buckled into a large SUV (assuming we don't any into any Bradley tanks on the freeway.) However other kids may be killed -- pedestrians, cyclists, people in smaller cars, and so on.

We often seemed to consider the safety of our families without considering the safety of other families. I suspect this is what lead to the original move to SUVs. (ie, the illusion that if I get a car bigger than the others, I will be safe... who cares what it will do to other, smaller vehicles and children in them.)

Yes, its like an arms race. Personally, I drive a 8 year old Toyota Camry (when necessary), and find SUVs annoying as hell, both in the car and on the bike. You normally can't see over them, through them, or around them. Cars (compared to SUVs) are much better for other road users.