Six months ago I embarked upon a personal challenge to determine how cost effective it would be to use public transportation when it was convenient – convenient for me. I wanted my time on public transit to reflect what the average person could save by replacing the use of their car once, twice, maybe three times a week.
Living just a mile south of downtown Columbus has its advantages and the convenience of in-town living means that I can walk to just about anything. The car had been used mostly for getting to and from work, but because gas was [relatively] inexpensive, I’d occasionally drive over to Target or venture to up to Tuttle to enjoy one of my favorite restaurants. Through the months of January, February and March I saved enough money from not buying gas that I decided to take the challenge further. How much more could I save?
My employer-sponsored transit subsidy helped me realize further savings and I started taking the bus to work when it wasn’t convenient – namely catching the first bus of the morning which departs before many of the neighbors are even awake. I stopped driving to the places I wanted to go and found ways to get there on the bus, and if I couldn’t get there with the bus I decided not to go. I was forcing the issue, yes, but I also wanted to force myself to deal with life on as level that was as local as I could make it.
As I adjusted to the new schedule I found that I was reading more because I had dedicated time for it – my daily 55 minute commute to and from work offered that. I spent less time chatting with friends on Yahoo Messenger because I was actually seeing them around the neighborhood and we started doing things together, live, face to face. I was walking more, to and from the grocery store for example, and walking to the bank, the hardware store, library or Blockbuster rather than taking the car and I shed twenty pounds within five months. When I found that most of my pants were too large, I walked to the new thrift store and bought a new ones.
Now at the end of June I’ve become so accustomed to taking the bus to work that when do drive I have to make a note for myself to not walk to the bus stop so as not to forget my car. I’ve become so accustomed to public transportation that on my last set of days (Friday and Saturday) off I traveled around the city on eleven different busses while running errands and enjoying my leisure time.
Best of all, year to date, I’ve spent just $221.89 in gas and used only about 63 gallons of gas.
I went far beyond what I’d originally set out to with the COTA Challenge. Its no longer a challenge. It’s become a more relaxing way to live and I don’t have to spend time thinking about how the cost of gas is deteriorating my life. Frankly, the high cost of gas has improved my life.
Look for an upcoming post on what I refer to as the rhythm of public transportation. I’ve found that there’s a method to what some may call the madness, and it has little to do with memorizing bus schedules.
Urban In-Fill 