WooHoo!

This morning I had an appointment and I'd planned all week to drive in to work to make the time fit. But when I got up this morning, I was actually brainstorming about how to walk/ride my bike/take the bus and make the time work. I ended up driving anyway, but it felt really weird. If it is the consuming that is feeling weird and the conserving that is comforting and normal, I must be making change.

One anxiety I've had is what the folks I work with would think of me. But two weeks ago, in sending an invitation to the office to participate in Bike to Work day, one of my co-workers said that she hasn't driven to work since March. And last week, two of the managers in my suite biked in on at least one day. This week I've had good exchanges with the coworker who's on Weight Watchers and trying to walk more, an engineer who bikes in regularly, and the afore-mentioned message-sender. So I'm experiencing some very real belonging, if not actual support. This is nice. In my home life, I've talked with four close friends and in spite of sharing a concern about the state of the world and shopping at natural food stores and taking other conservation measures, none of them are ready to re-think the assumptions they make about driving.

I get frustrated, but I think "ready" is the operative word. Four months ago I was happy that I'd cut my commute in half by moving. One month ago, I started to realize that I'd bought the car I'm driving to try to cover 100% of my driving, instead of shopping for the far more practical and economical 90% of my driving. And then it wasn't until Low Impact Week that I was ready to see my life schedule as flexible enough to encompass an hour of walking and 40 minutes of reading every day (that's the bus commute).

And that adds up to a kind of coming-out process. Being willing to be identified as others as something different from an assumed "normal." For most office jobs in the US it is "normal" to drive an SUV a half hour to work each day, eat processed food, work out in a gym, and then go shopping for more stuff to put in the 2000 sq ft home you share with one other person. But "normal" isn't healthy, or responsible, or even practical. It wasn't normal for our parents, it's just what it seems like every one else is doing. Or rather... what the people we notice are doing. And who are the people we notice? The ones we choose to look for. Bit of a catch-22 there. Look for people who are doing what you want to do and you'll find 'em, whether that behavior is actually healthy and happiness-making or not.

Low Impact Week

In the manner of time in my life, Low Impact Week snuck up on me. I guess that's appropriate in a way, it keeps me from making this week easier by doing extra work last week to prepare for it.

I have been meaning to ride the bus to work from my local park-n-ride, I have the coupons and everything. And for the last week my cat has been waking me up about 5. So this morning I grabbed the opportunity and headed out of the house with a full lunch bag and no delays to check the schedule. My bus left about 5 minutes after I got to the plaza, I had a lovely 20 minute ride through farms and great vistas (and I got to enjoy them since I wasn't driving), and then a 30 min. walk. All kinds of things I've been wanting more of in my life.

I even got to chat with a friend who was on her way to work.

I went to a commuter college for my bachelors and spent those years riding the bus and walking a lot. There's a part of me that knows *most* of the time, the weather's going to be fine. The walking part isn't too far. If I need more food than I have, I can find it. But in spite of all kinds of really positive, self-sufficient experiences with bus-aided mobility, when I get away from it for a while, shadows creep in. I think, "I can't take the bus today... it might rain/snow/be too hot." And yet I've taken the bus in those conditions, and learned that the really uncomfortable times are out at the margins.

There is a pocket of my poverty consciousness that gets triggered when I ride the bus. I did it because I was broke so much of the time, and now when I get on, I often feel broke in spite of the richness in my life.

I also feel a kind of defensiveness. I feel like people I know would only take the bus if they didn't have gas money, a friend to ride with, or if their cars were in the shop. So the joy in chatting with my friend today was that none of those questions came up. It seemed completely normal that I was walking to work. I would like more of those experiences.

And then there's the quote that was in my inbox when I fired up my computer:

Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming.

-- Richard Branson (Virgin Founder)

I love that Richard Branson, who in many ways represents a "cool" I find appealing, knows about buses, and knows about them with a familiarity that gives him a point of grounding when it comes to the business game. It certainly challenges my poverty trigger.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is sponsoring their 2nd Annual Dump the Pump day on June 21. It's an invitation to pick a day to go without using gas (or diesel); but also a day to try public transportation. Look for events near you.

Adding a scooter?

I've wondered how many miles I'd have to go on a scooter to get my average mpg up over 40 mpg. I haven't taken calculus, so here's my hand-cranked answer (Thanks to Excel).

Total miles: 150			Gas Used
			car mpg	scoot mpg
	Car miles	scoot miles	20	60	carbon car	carbon scoot	total gas	Cost of gas	Total MPG	Total Carbon
	150.00	0.00	7.50	0.00	146.73	0.00	7.50	$ 22.50	20.00	146.73
10%	135.00	15.00	6.75	0.25	132.06	4.89	7.00	$ 21.00	21.43	136.95
20%	108.00	42.00	5.40	0.70	105.65	13.69	6.10	$ 18.30	24.59	119.34
30%	75.60	74.40	3.78	1.24	73.95	24.26	5.02	$ 15.06	29.88	98.21
40%	45.36	104.64	2.27	1.74	44.37	34.12	4.01	$ 12.04	37.39	78.49
50%	22.68	127.32	1.13	2.12	22.19	41.51	3.26	$ 9.77	46.07	63.70
60%	9.07	140.93	0.45	2.35	8.87	45.95	2.80	$ 8.41	53.53	54.83
70%	2.72	147.28	0.14	2.45	2.66	48.02	2.59	$ 7.77	57.90	50.68
80%	0.54	149.46	0.03	2.49	0.53	48.73	2.52	$ 7.55	59.57	49.26
90%	0.05	149.95	0.00	2.50	0.05	48.89	2.50	$ 7.51	59.96	48.95
100%	0.00	150.00	0.00	2.50	0.00	48.91	2.50	$ 7.50	60.00	48.91
Scoot to work 3 * a week, save $40 a month.

Driving Journal: Week Two

Miles driven this week: 152
Total miles: 287
(8000 miles/52 weeks = 153 mi/week)

Commuting: 72 (47% - 5 days)
Fun: 49 (32%)
Church: 0
Classes: 7 (5%)
Errands: 8 (5%)
Health: 16 (11%)
Other: 0

Observations:
Less avoiding driving this week. This is a more normal week for me. But I think as the week wore on, I started getting more creative about replacing some of the miles. That's why the posts about the bus and the bike.

I had a bit of a shock when I filled up my gas tank last Sunday. I got 22.3 mpg on the last tank. I used to drive a car that got 33 to 40 mpg, and I thought when I got this one the mileage wouldn't be all that different. But 34% less is a lot. Of course, as noted in this post, I used to drive a whole lot more. But I think the reality is, I used a gallon of gas a day in each car.

Still, my goal is to cut my driving to less than 8000 miles this year, without unduly imposing on others to do it, so that I can get my carbon footprint down to smaller than average. So far I'm on pace for that.

Related Post: Driving Journal Week 1, Driving Journal Intro

Is it cheaper to ride the bus?

My first two years of college, I walked everywhere and rode the bus when I needed to. The last two years I owned a car. I remember trying to figure out which was cheaper. One way to determine that is to apply the IRS Standard Mileage rate.

This is the number that is intended to be a reasonable estimate of all the costs of driving a vehicle for one mile, including gas, oil, taxes, insurance, wear and tear, and repairs.

The press release for the 2007 rate is here. (To find the rate for other years, type the year and "Standard Mileage Rate" into the search box.) It's 48.5 cents per mile for 2007.

This means the cost for my commute is $7.20 a day. It costs $3.00 to take the bus to and from work.

That's the money part. But time equals money too. Let's look at that.

Time to drive: 20 minutes each way = 40 minutes.
Time to take the bus (from home): 1 hour each way = 2 hours
Difference in time = 80 minutes
Difference in cost = $4.20
$4.20/80min = .0525 $/min * 60 min/hr = $3.15/hr

Well. I'd have to say at this point that my time is worth more than $3.15 an hour. Of course, there are other things to factor in. Perhaps that's time I could be entertained. Perhaps it's time I could use twice... say for reading and for commuting.

But looking at the trip planner, I realize there's another option. I could drive two miles to a park and ride and eliminate one of the buses. Let's look at that.

Four miles of driving: 4 * .485 = $1.94
Bus = $3.00
Time to drive: 5 min each way for 10 minutes.
Time on the bus: 21 minutes each way for 42 minutes.
Total cost: $4.94
Total time: 52 min.
$7.20 - $4.94 = $2.26
52 min - 20 min = 32 min
2.26/32 = $0.07/min * 60 min/hr = $4.20 / hr.

$4.20 an hour starts to get interesting. I mean, if you take my take-home pay and divide it by all the hours in a year, $4.20 looks pretty good. Especially if I fit in other things... like riding my bike for those 4 miles and getting exercise. Or riding my bike past the community garden, watering my plot, and then doing grocery shopping at the Asian market on the way home.

Maybe it's not literally cheaper, but perhaps it makes sense a couple times a week.

Driving Journal: Week One

Miles driven this week: 135
Total miles: 135
(8000 miles/52 weeks = 153 mi/week)

Commuting miles: 57 (42% - 4 days)
Fun: 22
Church: 52
Other miles: 4

Observations:
Score one for the effort of paying attention. I know if I hadn't been writing down miles I would have driven more this week. I think I skipped four trips:

1. A friend was picking me up from work for Tuesday dinner and I knew we'd end up at my house. That either meant we'd have to handle two cars or I could get a ride to work. So I got a ride to work.
2. A grocery-shopping trip I planned to make after I stopped at the house. Instead I stopped at a store along the way home.
3. One day I left my packed lunch on the counter at home. Instead of running out for something to eat, I got the okay to work from home for the afternoon. Yay! Hot minestrone soup and cheesy bread!
4. I felt the impulse to go get a pizza or something for dinner on Thursday, but when I thought about writing the trip down, I looked in the fridge and got creative out of what was there.

There were two trips where I pushed my driving expenses onto someone else; the drive to dinner Tuesday, and I rode into Boulder to see my chiropractor with my roommate who sees the same chiropractor. No biggie, unless I get in the habit of always asking others to drive (which I won't! ;-) )

Related Post: Driving Journal Intro

The Driving Journal

I was playing with the carbon-footprint calculator at www.climatecrisis.net and I discovered that I can go from Average to Lower than Average by driving 8000 miles a year (in the car I own) instead of the 15000 US average. So I did some "ciperin'":

15500 miles on odometer
/ 58 weeks I've owned and driven the car (bought new)
=267 miles of driving per week on average

Whenever you read tips on how to reduce your impact, the first one is always "carpool". So I used the Google Pedometer site to figure out how long my commute to work is.

15 mile commute
x 5 work days per week
= 75 miles of commuting

Which means that 28% of my driving is to and from work daily... and 72% of my driving is ???

One of the first things you read when you're trying to get your money under control is "keep a spending journal." (Your Money or Your Life, How to Get out of debt, Stay out of debt, and live prosperously) This journal is described as some kind of paper on which you track every penny you spend. I'm not compulsive enough to enjoy doing this for long, but I have found it helpful in bringing mindfulness to my spending.

So, in that spirit, I am now keeping a Driving Journal -- Every mile I drive with the purpose next to it.