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?

Fringe 2008: Shameless Plugs

Let's start in chronological order... from there, who knows where we'll go?


Do you know Jeff Kubik? If you don't, you should... or, at least, you soon will. Fresh from his first year of the playwrights program at Montreal's Concordia University, Jeff has already seen two of his comedic works produced this summer (Unsolicited Mail at Edmonton’s NextFest and Die, Mrs. Veenstra, Because You Are Old at Calgary’s Ignite! Festival).

Next stop: Use Me: An Undead Musical at Calgary's evolving Fringe Festival, running from August 1 to 9. Check out the website--it's got photos and music clips too.

I'm stoked. Music, the undead, romance... how cool is that? I've been fortunate to have been a small part of this project by playing the role of PR/marketing strategy and support, which seems to be paying off with a TV spot, CBC radio exposure and a couple of previews (so far). As part of my involvement, I've had the chance to read the script, visit a couple of rehearsals and be involved in discussing the show as it evolves. From what I've seen, heard and chatted about, I'm looking forward to the show. Our plan is to go opening night.

Go to the Calgary Fringe website to get tickets. (Don't worry if they say it's sold out... 15 per cent of tickets are sold at the door.)


Next up: from the people who brought you one of the best and critically acclaimed shows of Edmonton's 2006 International Fringe Festival is the original show: Occupied by Arone Le Bray (otherwise affectionately known as my taller, younger brother).

Here's the blurb from Basic Acid Theatre's website:

Public washrooms are a necessary evil. They're smelly, kinda drab, always dirty, and the people inside them are complete and total strangers. But we use them every day. Everyone does, from the high-powered lawyer on her way to a business meeting, all the way down to the penniless homeless man, covered in filth. "Occupied" is a snapshot of the downtown LRT washroom on any typical weekday morning, and asks the question that has plagued mankind for centuries: out of margarine and cream cheese, which is the healthier bagel topping?

While I haven't been as involved (i.e.: at all) with this as the show, I'm equally stoked about this one. Arone has always been a solid writer and creative story-teller and I'm excited to see what he's cooked up with Occupied. Likewise, his production partners (Patrick Pilarski and Joel Bazin) are ridiculously talented and both friends from high school. (I might even be so crass as to say they were my friends first before Arone decided to become grand usurper.

So, if you're in Edmonton between Thursday, August 14 and Saturday, August 23, go see this show. You can only get your tickets online at Edmonton International Fringe Festival. We already have our tickets (along with tix for the parents and grandparents... we're assured from Arone that there will be no nudity this time) for Saturday 16 at 8:15 pm.

Dear Stampede, you suck.

Bad news: I need to reschedule my physio appointment.
Good news: Back onto the bike, baby.

The therapist called and said due to a schedule mix-up he had to move my appointment. This same conversation gave me an opportunity to ask if I can ride again. And as long as we don't "huck a jump" I'm good to go. This is very good as my new bike's been taunting me every time I open our balcony doors.

About the only good thing about this elbow was I achieved 100% completion in GTA. Had I been able bodied this would have been very sad but, really, with a busted elbow there's very little you can do.

Also, I made it through a long weekend without visiting a hospital. I may have cheated slightly by staying inside but, you take what you can get.

To make up for this, we drove to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump last weekend. I had gone there as a kid (and I fondly remember the HSIBJ poster that graced my bedroom walls) but Daorcey, living so far north, never went. It's a small museum and it's really too bad that you can't hike above the cliff but it's still neat to see. When you see the actual cliff, the drop doesn't look that great until you read the sign that states the height has decreased because of the buffalo bone accumulation.

We also had lunch in Fort Macleod. I don't know if all small towns are this desolate but there was nobody walking the streets. It might have been the heat, it might have been Stampede, but nobody was out and about.

Ah, lunch. Daorcey has this bizarre fascination for pointing out Western/Chinese restuarants in small towns and suggesting we eat there. I, on the other hand, was strongly advised never to eat in Western/Chinese restaurants when family road trips took us through small towns. I had a BLT and Daorcey had some vaguely curry fried noodle thing. Both were decent but I felt uneasy. Like I had gone swimming after eating and not waiting an hour.

Last, about the only thing good about Stampede, beside fireworks, is that the papers get a chance to post this photo. You know what I'm talking about.