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logic_tigris
read my profile sign my guestbook Name: Logic Metro: Birthday: 9/27/1971 Gender: Female Interests: Logic!! (Duh :P), Morris dancing, hanging out with friends...on- and off-line :) Occupation: Student Message: message meEmail: email me Member Since: 1/9/2005

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Saturday, March 08, 2008

Life Without a Car

... is .... interesting. No matter how much I TRY not to depend on my car, there are many things in my daily/weekly life that are hard to do without one, if not impossible.

The Saga of Our Car, This Week

Monday

Having just arrived at morris practice Monday evening, I am backing into the parking space (b/c it's much easier to drive straight out than to back out, once other cars get there, so I try to back in, when I can) when, all of a sudden, I have NO power steering. In addition, the battery light is on (meaning the battery isn't getting charged). Hmmm. We go to morris practice, hoping that when we come out that the car will start. Hey, at least we backed in, so someone can give us a jump if necessary.

However, when we come out it starts up np, so MT drives it home. It's a bitch, but we get there, no worries.

However, I know I'm going to have problems the next day -- we need to deal with the car, and I'm supposed to go to OCC for tutoring and classes. MT has his late day on Tuesday, so he can deal with getting the car to the garage in the morning before he has to go to work, and he can get the micro_tigris off to school, leaving me free to be more flexible when I head out the door to maximize my chances of making bus connections work. OK! So I sit down (for about an hour!) with the bus schedules, figuring out how I can get to OCC the next day (what buses to take, etc.), and whether or not I can make all my appointments and still get home in time to meet the micro_tigris after school. I have complete flexibility in the morning so my morning appts and class are np, but the afternoon can be an issue. In fact, it is. I conclude, after much back-and-forthing, that if I stay for my last appointment, I should get home at 4:36, 6 minutes after the micro_tigris gets out of after-school. Now, that would probably be okay, since she takes about 15 minutes to get herself home generally -- but what if I miss that bus?! THEN we'd have a problem. I decide I can't risk it, and thus need to leave OCC by 2 PM and so need to cancel my last appointment. Yup, that's right. In order to make sure that I'll be home by 4:30, I need to leave OCC at 2. Two and a half hours, for a trip that takes me 10-15 minutes by car.

See, THIS is why people don't take the bus.

At this point, it's almost 10 PM. I call my last student of the day to cancel our appointment, call the tutoring center to let them know as well, pack my backpack for the next day, and fall into bed. It's going to be an early day tomorrow -- I need to catch the 7:48 bus ..... in order to be at OCC by 10 AM. Again,

Tuesday (Adventures in Busing)

6:30 AM: Alarm goes off - I hit the ground running. Shower, dress, eat breakfast, pack lunch, etc. While I'm doing all this, a thought occurs to me -- if the micro_tigris can go to the neighbors after her after-school, then I could make my last appointment after all. Then I wouldn't have to worry if I missed the bus or something. I call the neighbor and she says "sure, np!". Excellent. They will be home all afternoon, so if after-school gets canceled we're all set as well. Phew. I call my student and leave a message that I can do our session after all.

7:40 AM: Out the door.

7:43ish: Waiting for the 7:48 bus.

7:52: Still waiting for the 7:48 bus (which I suspect never came).

7:55: Another bus comes along, not the Carousel Center one I was expecting, but it goes downtown, which is all I needed anyway. Cool.

8:10ish: Arrive downtown. Get off the bus, and start looking around to see where I'm supposed to get the bus for OCC, which won't be until 8:40. I look across the street, and there's two OCC buses. EXcellent. I get on the Express.

8:45 AM: Arrive at OCC. Saunter over to the tutoring center -- plenty of time! Spend the day at OCC, doing my usual stuff - tutoring, studying, going to class, etc.

3:00 PM: Time to pack it in, head out to catch the 3:15 bus.

3:15 PM: Get on the bus, head downtown.

3:25ish: Arrive downtown. The Nob Hill bus isn't for 15-20 min., so I start looking around to try and figure out where I'm going to catch it. I figure it should be an up-town east/west bus, so I head over to that side of the road. When I get there, I see a SU/Drumlins bus. Hmmm...... I could stand around for 15-20 min., or I could get on a SU bus, from which point I can either walk all the way home (1 mile) or catch a bus that will take me halfway and then walk the rest of the way home, or, if I'm very lucky, I can catch a bus that will take me all the way home. It's a no-brainer (I hate just standing around) - I get on the bus.

4:00ish: Arrive at SU. Get off the bus .... get on the Vincent bus, which takes me straight home. Woohoo!!

4:15: Arrive home. Excerlent. Stop at the neighbors and let her know I'm home and to send the micro_tigris on when she gets there. <collapse> What a day!!

6:00ish: Dinner options are limited b/c we were very busy last weekend and didn't get to the grocery store -- the planned trip to the grocery store Mon evening/Tue morning got aborted b/c of no car. Cupboard is getting a wee bare, but we won't starve just yet lol.

Wednesday

Wednesday is a SU day, which I usually walk/take the bus to-and-from, so np. We don't need the car until evening, when we have Thornden practice. We can prob get a ride to that, if necessary.

It isn't, though. The car is ready by afternoon, so I take the 3:23 Nob Hill bus and, instead of getting off at the end of the free bus line like I usually do, I continue on to Brighton, where I can then walk a short ways to the garage. Cool beans. I pick up the car and come home. It smells a bit like gas or something, but I attribute it to the garage guys with their stinky clothes, getting in and out of the car, or something.

It's still early (3:45ish), so I make a fasty run to the grocery store before the micro_tigris comes home at 4:30ish. I don't have the list with me, so I just grab a few things that I know we are out of.

After dinner we go to morris practice and back. Car runs fine. MT doesn't seem to notice any smell, so maybe I am/was imagining things?

Thursday

Back at OCC. Drive there and back, no problems. Again, I say/do nothing about the smell, tho' I have this bizarre urge to drive with my windows open. Perhaps any early onset of spring fever?

Friday

It's the micro_tigris's birthday, so before I'm off to my SU classes I make another fasty run to the grocery store to get the things I forgot on the first fasty trip (lol) and some things for dinner (ravioli, her request) and her cake (lemon cake). I'm back by 9:00ish, quickly put away the perishables, and off to catch the 9:15 bus to SU, ignoring my brand-new headache. I arrive at SU at around 9:30 and go to Sci Tech to kill time doing homework until my 10:35 class.

After class I head home (bus halfway, walk the rest) and pick up the car, off to OCC.

By this time, I can no longer ignore the fumes inside the car. They seem to build up while the car is sitting, and seem to lessen while I am driving, but I have no idea if this is fact or not or if it's just that I become acclimated to the smell (suspect the latter, at least mostly). Or the lessening could be due to the fact that at this point I am driving with ALL my windows open.

It's still giving me a headache tho'.

Something is definitely wrong, and I've got to stop driving it until we can figure out what's up with it.

When I get to OCC, I call the garage. He doesn't have a clue over the phone but says, yeah, it should def be looked into. He's going to be heading out soon so just leave it there and slide the key under the door -- he should hopefully have some time to look at it on Saturday.

My time at OCC was much shorter than I had planned -- second appointment canceled on me and first did a no-show so I was in-and-out of there in half an hour and drove by the garage on the way home to drop off the car. Good news: the guy was still there. Bad news: he had NO clue what was wrong with it, and couldn't even smell the smell I was smelling (er, lol). He said leave it overnight and he'll try and look at it Saturday afternoon. Ok. I walk out to Brighton, catch a bus home (lucky chance, that!) and I'm home by 2 PM.

Sooooo.....we are without a car, again, as of Friday afternoon. This presents a few immediate challenges to our plans for that evening/weekend. That evening we were planning to go to the Contra Prom. Giant Robot Dance (my favorite band!) was planning, and I'd been really looking forward to it.

I doubt taking the bus there was even really an option. If it was an option it would no doubt be highly inconvenient. Our best bet was to get a ride with someone else who was going and who lived reasonably nearby. Hmmm.

The other challenge/problem was the micro_tigris's skating lesson Saturday morning. It's within walkable distance, or possible bus ride/walk combo (provided the buses are running, which is a doubtful proposition considering it's a weekend AND Spring Break), but that'll take planning and gumption. Again, the easiest way is to get a ride if possible.

Our neighbors also take their kids skating at the same time, so I call my neighbor and see if they can take the micro_tigris skating the next time. She says "sure." Excellent. One problem solved, one to go. It takes a few tries, but I eventually get through to a friend of mine who lives closeish and who usually goes to the dances, and yup, he can give all of us a ride to the dance. Yay!

Lessons Learned

Living without a car is only possible in this city with a lot of flexibility, ingenuity, and, most of all, support (some of that in the form of rides from people who have cars!). The only way I was able to do my job/go to school/live my life this week was b/c I had a lot of support -- MT got micro_tigris off to school Tuesday so I could leave the house 45 min early, the neighbor agreed to watch her in the afternoon in case I got home late (poss as much as half an hour late), we got rides from friends to the dance/skating lessons, etc. Not everyone has that much support, and we shouldn't have to rely on that much support. I didn't mind asking for the support for a one-time deal, but what if I needed it every day?!

To put it simply, the public transportation system in Syracuse does not work.

Centro was voted "the best mid-sized transportation system in the Northeast" (or something to that effect)?!

If Centro is the best, what is the worst like?!!

If Centro is the best, what are the criteria for deciding "best"?

If best means:

Buses go where you want/need them to go
Buses arrive when/where they are supposed to
Buses take a reasonable time to get from point A to point B (reasonable defined as no more than twice as long as it would take by car)
If transfers are necessary, then can be accomplished with no more than a 10 min lag time

Then, in my admittedly limited experience, the answer is NO, on all counts. If I can point to counter-examples given just my limited experience, then the system-wide problems are likely even greater than I know.

This does not seem like to much to ask for from your public transportation system. If your public transportation does not deliver these features, people without cars are extremely limited in all of their options -- where to work, where to live, where to get childcare, where to shop, do laundry, etc, especially when it comes to their weekday activities, when there is less flex. Employers expect (not unreasonably) for their employees to show up on time. If people miss their bus (or the bus doesn't come!, as can happen in even my limited experience) then they are often screwed for another hour before the next bus shows up. Every time you have to make a transition (make a transfer, make another stop before getting to your destination such as dropping off kids, etc.), it adds another point of failure that you need to factor in, which adds to the flex you need to build in. I can't imagine the sheer stress of this on a daily basis. Admittedly, I perhaps get more stressed out than some about being late (I hate it with a passion), but I think it would be a stressor for anyone, especially if your job depends on it.

The public transportation system needs to be revamped in Syracuse, for two reasons:

Those without cars (b/c they can't afford them) need and deserve a public transportation system that actually works. A public transportation system that doesn't work limits their options and makes it extremely difficult if not impossible for them to ever get out of this situation.
Those with cars are going to need to stop driving them so much. We're running out of oil, people, and hybrid cars/hydrogen cars/electric cars ain't gonna save the American Suburban Dream of spending hours in our little (huge-ass) bubble cars (SUVs), driving our little selves and our little 2.5 children here-there-and-everywhere. That way of life is coming to an end, and it'll be a lot less painful if we start adapting NOW.

End of rant. lol

It's been instructive, and a good wake-up call. On Tuesday I was thinking as I rode the bus, that one day is nothing. A week with NO car would give a more complete picture (7 days), and would be a good exercise. Having the car have to go back into the shop for the weekend has helped to further simulate the real lived experience of life without a car, but it's still an incomplete picture. I might still do it at some point -- live for a whole week without a car. It would be interesting (possibly in an uncomfortable way, but interesting nonetheless).

Anyway, I've still got today, or most of today to get through without a car lol.

Today

Got up lateish since we were out late. Neighbor called a little after 9 AM to say that, actually, they weren't going skating ..... but could drop the micro_tigris off at skating on their way to the YMCA, and then pick her up again around 12 PM. Okay, that works! They also said they were going to the Dewitt library this afternoon, and she could come with them if she wants. Cool. That would take care of another Saturday errand, dropping off library books (although we wouldn't get to pick up our holds since they are at Petit, but np).

In terms of other things on the To-Do List for today, well.......

Mostly for me it was just going to be catching up on reading for class, etc., so don't need the car for that. For the rest of the weekend ... well, we need to go grocery shopping, and do laundry. If they get the car fixed this afternoon, np, but I don't think we should count on that at all.

We could wait - hopefully the car will be fixed by Monday night (otherwise, look for a repeat of last Tuesday!

), but that just puts us all off stride. We do grocery shopping and laundry on the weekends b/c we really just don't have time during the week to deal with it. It IS Spring Break at SU this next week, so MT and I both have a bit of extra free time, but I for one had other plans for that time!! I have a ton of "catching up" to do - both for school and personal stuff.

So I'll probably spend some time today planning how/if we can get the laundry and/or the shopping done without a car on Sunday, as a back-up plan.

So ...... a List! A To-Do List! ('cause I know you all have been <pining> for one lol)

Weekend To-Do List:

Read for Phil of Law
Read for Ancient Phil, both Brown and Schofield
Read for Global Problems and Prospects
Organize articles to read for Stem Cell Research Group Project (bleh!)
Make a list of possible group projects centered around the theme of Garbage and email list to prof and local group members
Work on handouts for McKay (PHI 251) and Brown (PHI 102) and possibly Schofield (107)
Finish GD taxes with MT
Take down GD Christmas tree
Make grocery shopping list
Get together library books to go back
Go to library
Make a plan how to do groceries/laundry, without a car
Go grocery shopping
Laundry
Play games, hang out with family