Walkening: The Update

So far there have only been two times we wanted to use the car and one time where we did.

Time #1 August 1
We saw Jeff's fringe play and this time the walking was a bit more extensive. We had dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant and walked to Inglewood.

Walking time: 25 minutes
Driving time: 6 minutes

Plus we saved on parking, so let's say $5. The walk there was fine as we saw the new Stampede Casino, walked by Elbow River, and saw the remains of an old maternity hospital. The play was excellent.

Now getting home we expected to be a bit tricky. We could get a ride home or walk. As we are old and married, we went home early and walked to the City Hall train station with Ben. The path to the train station would takes us past the areas where the homeless bed down for the night but Ben reassured us they were all sleeping. I wasn't worried about being attacked but more about the long walk.

But nothing happened and we caught a shuttle bus as the C-Train is down for some maintenance.

Time #2: August 17
Nicole was back in town for her sister's wedding. Day before she left for Las Vegas, we met up at Tim Hortons in Avenida. I think this was the only time I've wanted to take the car. We didn't leave the house until 8:30 p.m. And it being a Sunday night the trains ran infrequently and we didn't arrive until 9:30., Then the Tim's kicks us out because the close at 10 p.m. Apparently, this Tim's was no longer 24 hours. Also, Nicole was severely annoyed that the teenaged employees joyfully tossed the food into the garbage when we bought very similar food 10 minutes ago.

Luckily the Boston Pizza next door was open and we had surprisingly lovely spinach and artichoke dip. Unluckily, we were catching a train at 11 p.m. and it was a Sunday night and they run... as frequently as C-Trains on a Sunday night. Needless to say, we were tired Monday morning.

And the time we used the car
Went up to Edmonton Fringe on Aug. 16. We tracked our mileage but due to work schedules we haven't had time to figure out our cost. But it didn't help our costs that we stayed with Daorcey's parents who live 30 minutes outside of the city and had to pay for parking. Next year, and we always say this at the end of Fringe, we'll stay in the city and make a long weekend of it.

Conclusions:
Taking the C-Train is fine when:
- it is not under maintenance
- it is not Sunday night

It's going to be a month Friday and I don't think we've seen people less or done less. In fact, the thing that may keep us inside is the release of Force Unleashed. But there's only been one time where I wanted to use the car so that's pretty good.

Day 1: Tonight we meet at Al's!

Aug 29: Day 1

My pal Al was in town and this was my first chance to put no-car transit to the test. Al lives down south and it is usually a 30 minute drive. I biked to the 8 St. C-Train stop, hopped on the train, and got off at Shawnessy; pretty much cake. I had a couple of technical issues with the bike when I got off. The kickstand was in the way of the pedal and the back wheel wouldn't go backwards. However, it was solved by wrenching the kickstand into place and moving my back fender.

My next challenge was negotiating Macleod Trail/162 Ave. It's not great in a car and on a bike it wasn't as bad as I predicted. The trick was just catching the crosswalk lights to so I'm not cooling my heels as cars endlessly turn. And I cheated by riding on the sidewalk. There was no way I was getting mowed down by a truck. Once I got to the intersection Sun Valley Blvd. and Sunmills Drive, I hopped onto the road and made my way to Al's down Sun Valley Blvd. Then I had a lovely time chatting with Al.

Driving distance: 19.3 km (according to Google Maps)
Driving time: 30 minutes

Biking time (including C-Train): ~45 minutes. I didn't pay attention on my way to Al's but the return trip was about that.

Observations:
-Sun Valley Blvd has subtle hills and valleys. Something you don't notice coasting in a car and makes it challenging to sustain. When you bike downtown, you're catching stoplights constantly so you always have time to pause. I think I'm about to see that everywhere.

-Elevation kits for trucks have their place... somewhere, but not in the city. On the Canyon Meadows/Macleod Trail overpass, I spotted from the train a truck that was easily the height of two sedans. At first I thought it was on top of another truck but then I noticed the gigantic wheels. It easily dwarfed another truck in front of it and that truck was not small.

-Very few pedestrians out in the 'burbs but a couple of bikers. I think that Superstore/Safeway/Co-op/Home Depot area, "a power centre" is about as pedestrian-unfriendly as you can get. It's featured quite negatively in Radiant City.

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?