Week 7

Ok, new milestones every single week.  I've, maybe for the first time in my life, turned down a offer from my roommate who has a car to take me on an errand > 2 miles away in lieu of riding my bike there.  Last sunday was a gorgeous day and I knew I wanted to go for a bike ride and get some copies made at Staples, but wasn't really sure if I wanted to do them simultaneously.  As I was leaving, strapped up with my back pack, wallet, and helmet, my roommate, who was headed that direction anyway, asked me if I wanted a ride. I proudly said, NO.  One constant crutch and loophole has been to borrow other people's car's.  And while carpooling is great, it doesn't directly result in the independence i'd like and the carbon footprint reductions I'm shooting for.  It was great to finally do things on my own, even if it meant a little more time doing it; it was time well spent.

Well after almost two months without an personal automated form of transportation, I honestly feel better than ever.  I've been walking, biking, and running a lot more often: things I always wanted to do anyway, but needed a little kick to get into.

Off for a walk right now to the grocery store during my lunch break!

Week 5

I'm really getting used to this whole biking and/or walking everywhere routine.  Since I have most of my transportational needs in downtown Burlington, my favorite part of the day is whizzing past cars at traffic lights on my bike.  For most of the things I do, it doesn't even make a whole lot of sense for me to have a car, but I hit two milestones this weeks on errands that do typically involve some form of automobile.

Since I don't have a washer and dryer in my apartment unit, I usually grab a ride from a friend and we'll both do laundry together at a laundromat, but instead I huffed and I puffed and I walked my enormous bag of 2-week old laundry to the closest laundromat without any sort of motor.  I can now totally see why people steal shopping carts.

The second thing I did which I have been putting off is biking a bulk purchase home with a backpack instead of driving it.  Granted, this wasn't the largest of shopping trips, but  I definitely loaded up my 4,000 cubic inch backpack full of 20 lb of catfood, 5 lb of carrots, spaghetti sauce, milk, cheese, eggs, and took a couple extra shopping bags in my hands with bread and other crushables.  It was, by far, the largest (and heaviest) grocery run without the aid of a car.

Still no pictures of my cruising around on my bike, because I usually fly solo around town, but I'll have to go on a group trip or stage a couple photos sometime coming up soon to really bring in some other forms of media besides boring old letters and numbers.  To make up for it, here's a picture of a cat:

Week 3

So I have officially moved into my new apartment.  With that, I now live only 3 blocks away from my job and downtown.  Walking, biking, and skipping to work has never been easier.  A big motivator of choosing a new apartment location was to be closer to work, not necessarily for the easily traverse-able summer months, but for the rainy and winter seasons.  It's a huge relief / benefit to reduce my reliance on traffic schedules.

I saw this poster on the internet and thought it was funny (and well put)

The best part, is zero commute not only means no fuel bill, but I also get an extra 30-45 minutes in my day.  I take two steps out my office door, and I'm home, doing activities, playing guitar, and even doing some extra biking I never would have thought of doing otherwise.

Finally, a shout out to CarShareVT for running a great program to get people off the road (even if that means  reducing the need for CarShares in the first place).

Week 1

I, Kyle Mitofsky, pledge to not drive my car for 6 whole months.

Yes, I'm well aware that far greater accomplishments have been acheived by people far more fantastic than I.  I'm  not even attempting to ween myself off of personal transportation entirely: I'll still drive my Car Share, I'll still bum rides from my brothers, friends, and girlfriend, I'll still carpool and take the Bus, but I won't (to the extent that I'm successful) drive my personal vehicle for six months if for no better reason than just to see if I can.

Week 1 has almost come and passed, and I've already biked about 20 miles: an (admittedly low) person best.  I've taken the bus 5 times. And  I tagged along with a friend to go grocery shopping which is my biggest weaknesses / hesitations about a life without cars.  I borrowed my GF's car (I think that's close to cheating, but I'll allow it) to go to a doctor's appointment that I needed to get to immediately after work, but I plan on taking my Car Share to my follow up next week.  I've already booked the time slot for the Church Street Market Place Parking Garage Car.

Double Coupons: I'm also participating in the national bike to work challenge.  Every day I bike to work I get to keep my car locked up while getting points per mile for a chance to earn prizes.  How much do I love prizes?  Too much probably, but it's nice to be motivated to do something I wanted to do anyway.