looking towards the Minuteman

In the same issue as their article on travel by bike train, the Boston Globe also ran a good piece about the Minuteman Bikeway by Shira Springer.  It definitely made me wish the Minuteman was a lot closer to here, or that the bike paths close to home were a lot more continuous and developed.  We have great access to the Muddy River bike path (it's pretty much right outside our ), but then you get dumped into the Fenway after a about a mile (which is useful, but not exactly relaxing).  Heading the other way up the Emerald Necklace, you can get to Jamaica Pond, but after that you get stuck again.  I wish there was a more continuous path that lead to the Charles and the shore, but I don't know if that'll ever happen.  The Minuteman offers an 11-mile path, which seems like a good way to spend a pleasant afternoon.  Without the car, I never ride my bike just for fun--bicycle is how I get from place to place, rather than just a way to get exercise or get outside. 

Bike Explorations: dreaming of Cape Ann

The Boston Globe ran a great article last month in the Explore New England section about a bike trip I'd like to take, one that seems both fun and affordable.  Stephen Heuser wrote about taking the bike car on the commuter rail up to Cape Ann and exploring Gloucester, Rockport (one of my favorite places), the North Shore.  I'd sure like to give this a try next year (it's just not going to happen this fall).  I definitely want to talk Tracy and the kids into trying the bike train--I just love the idea of it.

RelayRides. Possible alternative to Zipcar?

At a recent Boston green festival at Government Center, I came across a new company, RelayRides.  They're a carsharing company/service that works sort of like Zipcar--you reserve a car online, pay a certain hourly rate, and drive.  The big difference is that RelayRides doesn't own the cars--they're owned by your neighbors.  In fact, if you own a car, you can join up and start renting out your car.  They provide the insurance.

Their web site is pretty detailed.  On the surface, it seems like a good model.  It's a way to make a lot of cars available for sharing, people who own cars get compensated, and the company makes some money but doesn't
have to own a zillion cars.




I know there are tool sharing and other kinds of sharing sites out there, but this car site is the first I've seen in the Boston area.

Has anyone out there tried this yet?  Let us know.

A Mad Man Without a Car (in a good way)

There's a fun article in Sunday's NY Times about Vincent Kartheiser, one of the stars of the hit show, Mad Men.  He lives in LA and doesn't own a car--he gets around by bus and subway.  Maybe someday it'll be cool after all.  I found this interesting: 

“They’ve done a study and they’ve found that people under 30 no longer view cars as status symbols or even positive things,” Mr. Kartheiser said. “They look at them as pollutants.”

Maybe I'm younger than I thought (at heart, anyway).

weekly tallies #11 and #12 and weekly ramblings

Okay, so I've been busy with end of summer stuff and haven't written down my logs.  Not that anyone necessarily cares, but it's a good way for me to keep track.  Numbers make me happy.  Here are the numbers for the past two weeks:

August 23-29
walking:  23.6 miles
biking:  16.4 miles
subway: 4.5 miles

This week started with three days of rain, and also Noah had a friend over to play during the days, and we didn't have a bike for him, so we rarely went anywhere by bike this week.


August 30-September 5
walking:  20 miles
biking:  40.2 miles
subway: 14 miles
car:  64  (60 by zipcar--we had to drive Saugus and beyond, 4 by cab--we bought a new vacuum cleaner in Cambridge and there was no way we were going to haul it home on the T.  The trains on Sunday were PACKED, because it was a beautiful day and 100,000 college kids just moved back to Boston last weekend, with nothing to do (no homework or exams yet)).


Now that school is back in session, my miles will continue to shift more towards walking (I put in 4 miles a day just from walking Noah to and from school and walking the dog).  Though tomorrow, I'm working a handyman gig for a friend, and that'll be a 12 mile ride (round trip), with heavy tools in tow.


Summer is officially over--car rental rates have dipped back down to normal levels.  We have to drive to Connecticut to visit family this weekend, and our two-day rental will only cost $80 (not including gas), so it's now cheaper to rent a car for excursions from the airport rather than using Zipcar.  (Too bad, because I like Zipcar better.)


Did some renovations on our bikes this week.  The cargo racks on Tracy and my bikes were broken, and the collapsible metal baskets that attach to the racks were all busted, too.  So last night and today, I replaced the racks and baskets.  Not complex, but a lot of futzing.  I'm glad to have two baskets in the back, where before I only had one (which made me very unbalanced with gallons of OJ on just one side).  All that extra metal in the back is heavy, though--that's my excuse for going so slow, I'm hauling all those pounds of steel with me.

I also replaced my bike chain, which my new chain wear gauge told me was worn out.  The bike runs a lot better now.  (I initially misthreaded it, so it was making odd noises.  Kudos to the woman at the REI bike shop (at Landmark in the Fenway) who did NOT make me feel stupid when I took it in to figure out what was wrong.  They're my favorite bike shop (tied with Broadway Bicycle School), because they are always polite and never intimidating.  The last thing I need from a bike shop is attitude.

Weekly Tally #10

Here's the quick stats for last week:

walking:  17.5 miles
biking:  22.8 miles
subway: 6 miles
boat:  35 miles (I took Noah to Salem by boat to the Pirate Museum)
car:  10  (zipcar)


Kind of interesting that it was such a multi-modal kind of week.  Not much bike riding (I didn't have many meetings and the kids were home, so we didn't stray too far from home).  Some people have to commute more miles every day than I log in a week.  I feel lucky.

Weekly Tally #9

Here's the quick stats for last week  (I'm super late in posting, because it's been a busy week of writing other stuff):

walking:  13.1 miles
biking:  49.6 miles
subway: 8 miles


 Noah and I took the T to the Common to see Toy Story III.  I don't mind riding my bike downtown, but I'm still a little wary of Noah (who is 10 years old) riding there.  The drivers are too crazy and the bike lanes are not quite well defined enough to get us all the way there.  And the T is fun sometimes, too.

We did a little geocaching by bike on Sunday, which was fun.  I need to see how many are within bike range of us--we started doing this years ago, and have slowed down a lot over the past few years.  Tracy found two caches within Brookline that were a nice easy ride, and got us riding on streets that we don't usually visit.  One of them was right near Clear Flour Bakery, which meant we had to buy pastries and bread, of course.

Weekly Tally #8 plus New York bike lanes

Here's the quick stats for last week:

walking:  15.4 miles
biking:  34.2 miles
car (zipcar): 450 miles


We drove, via Zipcar, to visit family and friends in Connecticut and New York this weekend.  Normally, we'd use a rental car from this airport for a weekend trip, but the car rental companies jack up the rates to double the normal during the summer.  We were able to get a Zipcar for $237.04 for Friday 2pm - Sunday 2pm (it ended up being a two-day rental, plus extra mileage charges and tolls), whereas a standard rental company was charging more than $205 for the two days, but we'd had to have purchased gas, which would have cost about $50.  Zipcar included gas, let us rent a Hybrid (Honda Civic that got 45 mpg) and a was a LOT more convenient (plus we like Zipcar better as a company).

Normally, we'd take the train from New Haven (where we were staying) into NYC for the day, but the fares were running $14 each way.  For four of us, that means we'd spend $112 for tickets, plus subway fares, and a lot of time.  Driving meant paying tolls and probably paying to park.  But we were certain to pay less than $100 for parking.  On a weekday, traffic would have made the train the easy choice, but on a Saturday morning, we knew traffic probably wouldn't be a big factor.

So we drove into the City.  Found a free parking spot on the street in front of our friends' building.  So we came out more than $100 ahead for the day.  In terms of carbon emissions, it wasn't the greatest choice, but driving the Hybrid helped a little (perhaps).

One big surprise on this visit to New York was all the bike lanes they've added.  I saw more bikes than I'd ever seen in NYC before, and also found a fun new bike shop (that might, sadly, be temporary) on Charles Street in the West Village.

(you can see the painted green bike lane above)

Some the bike lanes were kind of narrow (and maybe a little scary), but lots of them looked great, and a few of them used a model that I wish they'd use here in Boston.  Instead of the setup being:  sidewalk, parked cars, bike lane, car traffic, it was set up like this:  sidewalk, bike lane, parked cars, car traffic.  I'm sure there are lots of pluses and minuses to this setup, but I really like how it protects the bike riders, and creates a space that can be plowed in the winter time.  The big disadvantage would seem to be what happens if someone parks in the bike lane, then there's a big roadblock to the cyclist.

I'm guessing that NYC bikers have the same problem we have in Boston, even with bike lanes, and that's lack of bike parking.  It's great to be able to get someplace by bike, and I think NYC seems especially bikable--it's flat and laid out in a grid--but you need someplace secure to park your bike when you get there.

Still, it was exciting to see New York embracing the bike.  I hope more cities follow the trend.

Interesting Slate Article: How Not Having a Car Became Shorthand for Loser

Saw this article on Slate today:  How Not Having a Car Became Shorthand for Loser. 

I was very glad to see this in print, to see what I've felt for a long time so well articulated.  When making the change to get rid of our car last year, I definitely bumped into this whole cultural instinct.  Like most Americans, I equated having a car with a certain sensation of adulthood, of being fully a part of our society and culture.  Getting rid of the car felt somehow like a step back, socially.    Even though there were lots of rational arguments for getting rid of the car and using less oil (health, money, not wanting to support big oil companies or oppressive regimes or wars for oil, global warming, greater awareness of my surroundings, etc.), culture is a little harder to kick to the curb than I might have thought. 

And the normalcy of car culture is pushed all the time, by car companies spending millions and millions of dollars on ads equating driving their cars with all sorts of positive social values (manhood, family values, coolness, you name it) and is just as fully embraced by film (as pointed out in the article).  There's no equivalent power/push/leverage from the makers of bicycles or walking shoes.  This was brought home by GM being one of the sponsors of the recent PlanetHugger Expo, where I talked about worms and the 200 Foot Garden.  They had a 21 mpg hybrid SUV.  There were no bike companies, bike shops, or even any bike gear companies, or even bike advocacy groups represented. 

And walking?  Who thinks walking is sexy and profitable?  (Though I have a character in my first novel, Tornado Siren, who is pretty mysterious and attractive, who has walked everywhere for centuries, but he is, let's say, certainly an outsider, in the most extreme way possible.)

I don't know if I've completely gotten over the American longing to own a car, but I'm pretty close.  I accept that if we ever move to the country, it'll be necessary to own a car, because of infrastructure needs.  But until that happens, I don't find myself tempted very often.  I guess I don't care that much if Hollywood, or anyone else for that matters, thinks I'm a loser for not owning a car.

Weekly Tally #7: How I Got Around Last Week

Here's the quick stats for last week:

walking:  14.8 miles
biking:   67.7 miles
car (zipcar): 0 miles
bus:  6 miles

Took the bus to go see Hound of the Baskervilles at the Central Square Theatre with my daughter, Kira (she's not big on biking at night), which worked out great.  Tracy has a new app for her Droid phone that shows exactly where the T buses are on a given route.  (I might be tempted to get a smart phone myself.)

Had to hit the bike shop yesterday, as I broke another spoke on my back wheel.  Three spokes in a month was a sign that it was time to get a new wheel, so I sprung for one yesterday.  $75 for the rim, plus I needed new tubes (this wheel has a presta valve), and new tools in order to install the wheel and change the cassette.  I spent more than the cost of the bike (which was $65 on Craig's List a couple years ago), but it'll be worth it.  It might be nice to ride with a back wheel that's actually round.  Now I need to see if I remember everything that I learned at the bike repair class last winter (seems like a long time ago).

Road Report #1

I've been meaning to start filing a weekly road report, of roads around Boston that are either really great for cycling (or walking or driving) or else really suck.  I'm guessing most of them will be about ones that really suck, but I'll try not to get too negative.

Our first candidate:

The downramp in Charlesgate (right near the Fens) that leads down to Commonwealth Avenue. 

I'm using this ramp pretty often this summer, whenever I need to get to Cambridge (I have a fun theatre gig at MIT) or Beacon Hill.  I'm a big believer in avoiding biking on sidewalks as much as possible.  And this sidewalk is very narrow and sometimes has people walking on it.

However, driving on the road presents a very difficult challenge, because on the right hand side of the ramp are a series of divots in the concrete that run perpendicular to the road, and are a couple inches deep.

This isn't the greatest photo, but they're deeper than they look, and there is a series of three, so you can't just hop over one, because if you try, you land on another one.  They're deep enough and sharp enough to rattle your teeth, and certainly readjust (mal-adjust) several mechanisms on your bike.

For now the solution is either to try to survive them and hope not to pop a tire or crash into the cars next to me, drive in the lane (but this is impossible, because the cars drive way too fast down the ramp and don't leave any room), or ride on the sidewalk.

I'm not sure who is actually responsible for this road.  I suspect it might actually be the state, rather than the city.  If anyone has any good suggestions for who to call, please let me know. This is definitely hazardous spot, but one that's hard to avoid, because it helps me get across the Turnpike.

Here's where it is on the map, in case you're interested:


View Larger Map

Weekly Tally #6: How I Got Around Last Week

Here's the quick stats for last week:

walking:  15.6 miles
biking:   76.2 miles
car (zipcar): 10 miles

We needed zipcar to get to a party in Medford, because it would have taken forever to get there by T, and it was too far too go with my son.  This might be the most I've biked in a single week.  I can definitely feel my legs getting much stronger as the summer progresses.

If I ever get a tattoo...

If I ever get a tattoo (not that I'm planning on it), maybe I'll get one like my friend Jeff has:

The text reads, (translated), "In the city, two wheels is best."  But it sounds cooler in Latin.  (What doesn't?)

bike city: Copenhagen

I happened to stumble upon an interesting bike advocacy site:  peopleforbikes.org, and on their blog, they've got a great post about Velo-City 2010, the world's largest bike advocacy and planning conference, which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Talk about an amazing city for riding bikes.  Definitely check out the blog post.  I love their system of sidewalk/bike lanes/car lanes.  And talk about strong goals--their goal is to have 50% of all travel in the city done by bike.  I sure would love to see Boston move farther in that direction.  And now I want to visit Copenhagen in a serious way.

There's also this cool video about Copenhagen and bikes:
http://www.streetfilms.org/cycling-copenhagen-through-north-american-eyes/

Weekly Tally #5: How I Got Around Last Week

I kept track again this week.  No zipcar this week, though we did a get a ride from a friend.  The heat (yet again) made getting around awfully hot some days.  No T rides at all this week.  Lots of bike miles (more than 50).

In the past five weeks, since I've been keeping track, I've ridden the bike more than 200 miles, which is more than I would have expected.

So, last week, here's how I got around:

Monday:
walking:  3 miles  
bike:  6.6 miles

Tuesday:
walking: 2 miles
bike:  8 miles 

Wednesday:
walking:  2.75 mile
bike:  4 miles

Thursday:
walking: 2 miles
bike:  11.6 miles

Friday:
walking:  2 miles
bike:  11 miles

Saturday:
walking: 3 miles
bike:  5.6 miles

Sunday:
walking:  3.2 miles 
bike:  1.6 miles
car:  10 miles (our friend Joe gave us a ride to a picnic)

Totals:
walking:  ~18 miles
bike:  50.8 miles
T: 0 miles
Car:  10 miles

Weekly Tally #4: How I Got Around Last Week

I kept track again this week.  We rented a zipcar on Thursday to pick up Noah from the beach and run errands.

So, last week, here's how I got around:

Monday:
walking:  2 miles  
bike:  4 miles

Tuesday:
walking: 2 miles
bike:  11.2 miles  (SUPER hot outside on this day.  I was pretty wiped out.)

Wednesday:
walking:  4 mile
bike:  0 miles
boat:  35 miles (Tracy and I took the ferry from Boston to Salem.  It's about a 50-minute ride.  $20 round trip.  I love being able to get around by boat, and it was the perfect way to travel on a very hot day.)
T:  8 miles

Thursday:
walking: 3 miles
bike:  2 miles
zipcar:  180 miles



Friday:
walking:  3.5 miles
bike:  4.5 miles

Saturday:
walking: 2 miles
bike:  6.8 miles

Sunday:
walking:  2 miles 
bike:  4 miles


Totals:
walking:  18.5 miles
bike:  32.5 miles
T: 8 miles
Car:  180 miles
Boat:  35 miles

Bike sharing in Boston gets $3m federal grant - The Boston Globe

Looks like Boston really will end up getting bike sharing. I'm thrilled--not because we're likely to use the rental bikes (we already own our bikes), but because it puts more cyclists on the roads and will cause Boston to pay more attention to bike lanes and traffic patterns that include bicycles.

Bike sharing in Boston gets $3m federal grant - The Boston Globe

Weekly Tally #3: How I Got Around Last Week

I kept track again this week.  We rented a zipcar on Sunday to take the kids down to the beach to stay with Grandma (Tracy and I get some time to ourselves!).

So, last week, here's how I got around:

Monday:
walking:  2 miles  
bike:  9 miles

Tuesday:
walking: 1 mile
bike:  15 miles  (I was kinda tired after this day of multiple trips)

Wednesday:
walking:  1 mile
bike:  5 miles

Thursday:
walking: 2 miles
bike:  4 miles

Friday:
walking:  4 miles
bike:  5.2 miles

Saturday:
walking: 2 miles
bike:  2 miles

Sunday:
walking:  2 miles 
bike:  0 miles
car (zipcar):  200 miles




Totals:
walking:  14 miles
bike:  40.2 miles
T: 0 miles
Car:  200 miles


This week, it seems like the trick is going to be surviving the heat.  Walking and biking mile after mile get a little tougher in the 90 degree temps.

there is a bike train from Boston to Newburyport

A recent Boston Globe article says that there's a special bike coach that riders can take from Boston up to Cape Ann, to do a little coastal riding, checking out the beaches and shore up near Rockport and Ipswich.  I'm going to have to check it out later this summer.

The Numbers Are In

It's now been more than a year since we got rid of our car.  Last weekend, Tracy added up our transportation costs for the past year, as well as for the year prior, so we can see how much money we saved by getting rid of our car.  (If at all.)

Keep in mind that it's not like we never drive a car--we use zipcar and other rental cars when we need them.  And that costs money.  As does bike repair and T passes.

So here are the totals:

In our last year with the car, 2008-2009, here's what we spent on transportation:

T-pass/subway:  $520.30
Gas:  $1,293.69
Insurance: $829.35
Car repair:  $1,839.35
Tolls/parking:  $484.95
Monthly parking:  $720.00

TOTAL:  $5,687.64

So last year, without a car, here's what we spent:
Bicycles (repair, class, supplies, and new (used) bikes for both kids):  $896.10
Car rental (not zipcar):  $939.17
Walking:  $42.48  (shoe inserts, but not shoes)
T/Subway:  $558.72
Zipcar:  $1,033.95

TOTAL:  $3,470.42


So, by getting rid of our car, last year we saved:  $2,217.22  (or about $184.77 per month).  Last year, when we were getting started on this, we'd estimated that we'd save about $170 in cash every month

Some things to keep in mind: 

• the car costs from the last year with the car did not include the purchase cost of the car (it was paid off a long time ago).  If you spread out the cost of buying the car over all the years we owned it, that was about $150/ month (I figured this out last year.)
• our bike costs might go down a bit in the next year because this year each of the kids got a new (used) bike via Craig's List, we bought a trailer, and I learned how to do basic repairs on the bikes, so even though there will still be some shop visits, they should be fewer.
• We spent more on zipcar and rental cars than we'd planned, but I think we were pretty satisfied with how it worked out.  We got to visit family when we needed to and took field trips that we wanted.
• Not only did we save money, we also put a lot less emissions into the air.  And we got a lot of great exercise and fresh air.
• In our daily lives, because we live in a very walkable, urban area, not having a car didn't end up costing a lot more time.  Grocery shopping by bike doesn't take a lot longer than by car, and other errands, by the time you get in the car, find a parking space, park the car, get out of the car, aren't a lot faster by car than on foot or bike.  This wouldn't be the case if we lived in the suburbs or country.

So it's been a big success so far--we're saving money, getting fit, and doing a small (tiny) bit for the environment.  I'd say we're in no hurry to go out and buy a car.

Weekly Tally #2: How I Got Around Last Week

I kept track again this week.  No T riding at all, and not as much bike or walking

So, last week, here's how I got around:

Monday:
walking:  3 miles  
bike:  6.4 miles


Tuesday:
walking: 1.5 miles
bike:  11 miles

Wednesday:
walking:  2 miles
bike:  3.5 miles

Thursday:
walking: 2 miles
bike:  3.2 miles

Friday:
walking:  1 miles
bike:  6 miles

Saturday:
walking: 2 miles

bike:  4.2 miles

Sunday:
walking:  3 miles 
bike:  0 miles

Totals:
walking:  14.5 miles
bike:  34.3 miles
T: 0 miles
Car:  0 miles

Now that my son is out of school, my walking miles are down a bit.  And I didn't do as much by bike last week.  This week, I have a lot of work over at MIT, so I'll have more bike miles (in the heat).  And we'll be getting a Zipcar on Sunday for a beach trip.

Weekly Tally: How I Got Around Last Week

So, we've been without a car for almost a year now.  I still need to go figure out how this all worked out financially, but I've been meaning to start keeping track of how I get around from place to place over the course of a week.  Last week, I finally did it.  I might keep this up for a little while longer, just out of curiosity, though summer vacation is a lot different from the rest of the year.

So, last week, here's how I got around:

Monday: 
walking:  3.5 miles   (walking the dog and getting my son from school gives me 3.5-4 miles a day on foot)
bike:  7 miles


Tuesday:
walking: 4.5 miles
bike:  6.5 miles

Wednesday:
walking:  4 miles
bike:  6 miles

Thursday:
walking:  3.5 miles
bike:  6.5 miles

Friday:
walking:  5 miles
bike:  9.2 miles

Saturday:
walking: 2 miles
T:  lots and lots of miles (I rode for about 4-5 hours, while write a play for the T Plays--a bunch of plays that take place on the T (I even wrote mine on the T)).  They open this Wednesday, produced by the Mill 6 Theatre Collaborative at the Factory Theatre in Boston.
bike:  8 miles

Sunday: 
walking:  1 mile  (It was Father's Day, so I didn't have to walk the dog as much).
bike:  12 miles

Totals:
walking:  23.5 miles
bike:  55 miles
T: 4-5 hours
Car:  0 miles

This was not a typical week for me.  Normally, I'd walk a bit more and ride my bike a lot less.  (I think I usually walk about 30 miles a week and bike about 5-10 miles, but I'm not sure.)  And I'd ride the T a little more.   But I was doing research on book at a library at Harvard and also had rehearsals and read-throughs of my T play, and I got to all of that by bike.  If we'd had a car, I would have driven for at least half of the bike miles, and maybe a few of the walking miles.

It might be worth doing this for a while, just to see how it goes.  I can definitely see that I'm getting plenty of exercise.  (No wonder I fall asleep so easily.)

One of the hard parts

For the most part, getting rid of our car has been a lot easier than I expected.  I don't miss it much at all.  There are a few hard parts.  Getting the kids to doctor's appointments can be a challenge.  And gardening tasks can be tricky without a car.  And I do a lot of gardening.

The trailer helps a lot.  The other day I was able to transport these tomato seedlings to one of my garden projects (a really fun shared backyard garden).  We started these plants under lights in our basement (a little too soon) and grew tall and leggy.  They seemed to handle the ride pretty well.  I rode carefully and none of the plants broke.  I used the cart for pepper seedlings, too.

I had to rent a zipcar pickup truck to haul salt marsh hay bales (for mulch) and also tossed my cucumber seedlings in the truck.  They did not like the pick up ride (or transplanting in general).

Gardening can require a fair amount of hauling of heavy, bulky material, and a car or minivan definitely makes it easier.  Still, we've managed pretty well even without it.  And I'm getting in great shape from riding to all the different gardens (they're pretty close to home--the farthest is about 3.2 miles round trip, but up a pretty big hill on the way there).

Brookline Bike Parade

The Brookline Bicycle Advisory Committee (sounds fancy, doesn't it?) will sponsor their annual Bike Parade this Sunday, May 23rd, along Beacon Street.  They meet at Amory Park in Brookline, with check in starting at 11:30 am and the ride itself starting at 12:30pm.  Noah and I did this last year and had a great time.  I'll be at the Boston Theatre Marathon this Sunday, but I think Tracy might take Noah instead.  If you like to ride and you're in Brookline, definitely check it out.  It's a very fun time!

Progress Report: February

So far, the winter without a car has been going remarkably well.  Part of that probably has to do with the snow drought that we've had since the start of January.  We were supposed to get a big storm this week, but it completely fizzled.  This has meant that it's been easy to keep grocery shopping by bicycle (and trailer) which I adore.  And Tracy's been able to commute to work by bicycle nearly every day so far this winter.  In the past, I always avoided riding in the wintertime at all, even when the roads were dry and clear.  But now it seems absolutely normal.

The cold of winter seems to have much less impact on my ability to get around by bike than I expected. It's pretty easy to bundle up.  It's only the wind that can be a bit of a pain, and that hasn't been a huge factor so far.

I just don't find myself thinking, "Oh, if only we had the car," very often, if at all. Even when I have meetings at night, I don't mind riding my bike, even on cold nights, especially since most are within 1-2 miles of home.  Many errands are just as fast to perform by bike as by car.  And I still love getting the exercise, though if I end up walking 4-5 miles a day (my normal day) and also add another few miles of bike riding (6 miles, if I got to MIT and back), I'm pretty tired by the time the evening rolls around.

Soon, I hope to get around to tallying up how much we've spent on transportation since we've been rid of the car and see how much we've saved (if at all).  Our bike expenses have dwindled lately, now that we're mostly geared up, and we've rented Zipcars a bit less than I'd expected.  So I think we're saving some money, as well as gaining many other benefits besides.

Zipcar for the holidays

Visiting family over the holidays is very important for us, and has proven to be one of the main difficulties of not having a car.  Originally, when planning our car-free adventure/life, we'd calculated spending a certain amount on car rentals for trips to Connecticut to visit family--usually we can rent a car for $30-$40/day from the airport over a weekend.  However, as we discovered at Thanksgiving, car rental companies will triple their daily rate over holiday weekends.  So our little three day trip at Thanksgiving cost more than $350 just for rental, plus we had to pay for gas.  It was worth it, but more than we'd expected (by a lot).

Over Christmas, we made another three-day trip to CT, but this time we used Zipcar.  It turns out that you can rent a Zipcar for a maximum of four days.  The daily rate does not change over the holidays.  We rented a Honda Element for $89/day, which is a little less than what we'd have paid from Thrifty or the other big car rental agencies, but all the taxes and gas were included, so we came out about $100 ahead.  And I didn't have to schlep myself over the the airport and back.  Over Thanksgiving, it took me 90 minutes just to pick up the car.  With Zipcar, I just needed to walk 5-10 minutes from home.

There are some cheaper car rental places around, very small companies, but the online reviews of them are pretty scary.  If anyone in the Boston area knows of reputable ones, I'd be interested in hearing about them.  For now, though, it looks like Zipcar will help us out over the holidays.