The Experiment

If anyone could make it in Calgary without a car, it should be us.

Background: We live downtown, seven blocks from the C-Train, eight blocks from Daorcey's work, and four blocks from the Safeway. Obviously, we use our car very little. The last time we filled up was three weeks ago... in Nanton. And the last time I drove was to Anna's in Signal Hill. But the tank is half full and it doesn't look like we'll fill it anytime soon.

Experiment: To forgo the use of our personal motorized vehicle for two months, starting July 29. Yeah, it's arbitrary.

So can we be free of car ownership and what are the associated costs?

Benefits:
-Savings in insurance, maintenance, and gas. We'll have another post that outlines savings and expenses.
-More physical activity.
-Reduced environmental impact.

Challenges:
-How to attend our evening activities outside of the downtown core? Daorcey teaches an evening class in Killarney and I might start up floor hockey again.
-Poor weather. Our experiment doesn't encompass a true Canadian winter.

Unknowns:
-How do we define "success" and what happens if we do determine this is a success? Do we sell the car and rent our parking spot?
-If we had a kid, how would we get Junior around? What if Junior played soccer or did extracirricular activities? I don't think we would be considering this if we had a Junior.

The Rules (so far):
-No car (This is Daorcey's contribution).
-We'll try to track the distance to the destination by car and our method (bike, walking, transit). Time to make the trip will also be recorded.
-We'll also track our transit costs like bus tickets for Daorcey and taxi cabs. My transit pass will not be included because I would buy one regardless if we had a car.
-In the event we need to use our car, we'll track our car usage as if it were a car-share car. So distance, cost per hour, insurance, etc. -When taking longer trips that would require a rental car, use our car but calculate the exact price for a rental. Look for this when we hit up the Edmonton Fringe Festival.
-Keep the ride mooching to a minimum. This isn't an experiment to discover how many friends we can lose. Besides, very few friends have cars.

Why are we so crazy: I bought a bike and then Daorcey started whining about how he wanted to ride too. Then, at folk fest (so I guess the hippies are at fault), I proposed getting rid of our car. Today, I couldn't remember the last time we put gas in the tank and Daorcey had to refer to his credit card bill. Obviously, we're not using the car that much. So what would it take to eliminate the car completely and is it cheaper?

We promise we won't get all preachy about how environmentally decadent your pollution wagons are. Sometimes you need a car. How else do will we get Rock Band 2 home?