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.