This is what I'm always telling my mom who insists on coming and picking me up or dropping me off when I arrive somewhere on bus. When I arrive on bike she just sort of bites her nails (fearing my safety and overall well being) while I ride off, usually after convincing her she cannot stick my bike in the back of her car and drive me.
It's just a habit. Driving is a habit. Strange because my mom grew up in the huge metropolis of Hong Kong. A place with trains and underground and busses galore. You just step out on the curb and a bus usually arrives immediately. Despite growing up in such a fast paced city where you get everywhere with your own two feet, after years of living in Canada she and most other Edmontonians are just addicted to driving. It seems so convenient... at least that's what my mom says. I find it ironic that she spends $15 some on parking downtown just because we had lunch and did some shopping. I used my Upass and the bus - it was free. And it dropped me off right across the street from our lunch place!
What I find interesting is how a lot of people who drive feel sorry for me when I get somewhere on the bus. They forget that I DO own a car. I just choose when I want to drive it. I don't drive it just because I have it. I'd like people to realize that driving is a choice. It's only one of the many ways of getting around.
This picture is of my neighbors' car. They were looking for a home in our neighborhood so they could walk to work, and they do! The car is often just parked behind their place and collecting snow (like my car). They drive it when they need to. And they don't need to drive it every day for every thing. Go neighbors!
14 comments:
Well said! In Chicago, even with so many public transportation options, most people rely on their cars as a default option. More than once a friend or colleague has offered to put my bike in his or her car/SUV to drive me home, especially when it's dark out. They act as if cycling is a problem that must be worked around, when quite the opposite is true.
I think you're totally right about driving being a habit. When you add in the fact that you pay a lot of the costs associated with a car whether you drive it a lot or a little, it makes it easy to just jump in it for everything. You're paying the insurance anyway.
I don't know that we'd be strong enough to not hop in the car all the time if we had one. So the car co-op (car share) is perfect for us to fill that occassional car need.
I find it hard to explain to people how much more I enjoy life now that I don't drive.... so many people view it as a terrible thing!
I love this post! I always get the weirdest looks when I take the bus. (well only from non-bus riding people). When we tell people that we don't have a car they just look at us like 'oh you poor dears' or 'wow you are poor?!?' We tell people we CHOOSE not to have a car, and sometimes that makes them feel better, slightly. Thanks for such a great blog! It's nice to find other like minded people!
Exactly. It's funny how people assume you don't own a car when you get somewhere by other means. We only drive 30km a month on average. Cycling and the bus/LRT are way more convenient in many circumstances for us. Even in this urban sprawl nightmare it can be done.
Miss Sarah, I think I adore you!
A voice in the wilderness... someone else who thinks that the 'it's convenient' line doesn't stand up to scrutiny, someone who questions driving as an automatic entitlement (a lot of the feeling sorry for folks who ride the bus has to do with treating the car like a mobile living room and carries with it all the concomitant attitudes about being too special to share space with other people)...
Like you, I *like* riding public transit! On my bus ride home today I watched a sleepy little girl nodding off in her father's lap while he whispered sweetnesses into her ear -- these made her smile sleepily, and it was a very dear thing to see. I like to say hello to the bus drivers, and I like to be picked up and dropped off only steps from where I need to be.
I feel sorry for all the cranky people in their little motorized living-rooms.
I also firmly believe that we make nothing that is wrong with our urban planning any better by encouraging every last one of our teenagers to get a license as soon as possible. And with the rate of teen death by motor vehicle accident (2nd only to suicide), I think there's an argument to be made that giving a teenager a car is an act of hostility, not love.
We have a car, yes. It spends most of its days parked in the driveway. It gets used about once a week, even in winter. It is indispensable for getting to our little shack in the woods (over 300 km away), and for our once-a-month visits to the St. Lawrence market in Toronto, but we use it so infrequently that we are considering moving to a rent-as-needed arrangement.
it's nice to see you are an advocate of biking... even though there is a foot of snow... toronto isn't that bad for biking in the winter... at least they plow the bike lanes..
I am down to one trip, cross town, 3 times a week in my car. I tried the route on the bike, and the hills were so bad my knee hurt for a week after. I moved the car for the first time in 4 days, today, and I couldn't find my keys!
Car ownership is also a choice. I have chosen not to own car, not even to have a driver's license. Yes, some people don't own a car because they are poor, but for others it is a deliberate decision.
My mother has thought of every excuse under the sun for driving me home on days I decide to pay her a visit on my bicycle. She's a short 3.5 miles down the road from me so I totally understand how that feels!
Moms will be moms, of course!
This is a great post! There is so much I agree with out of my own personal experience. Walking, taking a bus and riding a bicycle can all be perceived as something that only poor and carless people do …and must do out of necessity if they want to get anywhere. This perception is the norm in lots of places. It is changing.
That’s why personally I love ‘supermodels/celebs on bikes’, and witnessing mainstream/ marketers jumping on the ‘bicycle trend’. It helps to shift people’s awareness.
It definitely is a choice -- and one I've made this week in Nashville (under less dire weather conditions, I must admit). Next week I'm going to try to choose the bike, though!
~Trish
I love this post, you put into words exactly how I feel about driving. Here in California there's a deeply ingrained car culture. In most suburbs taking the bus is looked down upon, and frankly not even convenient. San Francisco transportation, while the best in the state, still has a long way to go.
Driving is a habit, and it's one that will have to be broken sooner or later. I wish more people would think twice about getting in the car for an easy trip that could be so much more fun on a bicycle. The more people out on bikes, the safer our roads will be.
Hi All,
Since we're all on the same page, I won't respond to each one of you individually - I'll just say 'thanks!'
It's great to know that there are people all over the place who don't think I'm crazy. And it's good to know we're not alone:)
I think it's great to advocate getting around non-car and hope if we all lead by example and continue our attempts to be patient with the unconverted... we can slowly (but surely) make some positive changes. Imagine, people actually getting some manner of aerobic activity while going places!
S*
I tend to do a lot of things at once, so the bike is the ideal mode of transportation for me, most of the time. On Wednesday evening, for instance, I left campus at 6:15 and headed downtown. I went to Ying Fat Tofu and the Garden Bakery, and then met up with friends for dinner at Zen Sushi at 7. After dinner we went to 99 Supermarket, and then the Italian Centre. I was on my way home by 9.
If I'd had to find parking, I never would have made it to all these places. If I'd had to pay for parking, I never would have tried.
I have other nights where I do the same thing, only more for entertainment (go for dinner, a movie, a concert, and a party on one of those long summer nights, for instance). The bike is so liberating!
But at the end of the night, I still get the occasional offer of the ride home. It used to be more regular, but by now most of my family and friends would sooner ask if I want to stay over night than if I want a ride home. They all know that I'm probably going to answer "No thanks, I've got my bike!"
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