PRE-PROJECT JITTERS AND LAST MINUTE NOTES

I start Riding the Bus tomorrow. You'd think the night before I start tracking miles and expenses on the bus versus my car, I'd have more ground rules established. Unfortunately, I'm not that organized. I've decided that as of tomorrow, I'm not going to use my car for the entire work week unless I have an emergency. On the other hand, I have a dentist appointment in Colonie first thing in the morning. Is that an emergency? My alarm clock will probably tell me.

Starting tomorrow morning, and continuing until the end of November, I'm leaving my car home and using only public forms of transportation because:

• Gas finally reached $3.25/gallon, and it's expected to climb higher (relatively soon).
  
• I want to know if I can live without a car in a small-city.
  
• I want to fully understand the personal benefits and drawbacks to giving up some freedom of mobility.
  
• I want to know if it's realistic to change the way I live for the greater good.
  
• I want to know if using public transportation has a positive effect on "the greater good."

A couple people tried to talk me out of doing this, pointing out the fact that I work full-time and go to school part-time, and leaving myself at the mercy of a the Capital District Transit Authority isn't the most practical or efficient way to spend my time. When have I ever been practical or efficient? (FYI, to justify doing it now, I'm writing a final paper in one of my classes on public transportation).

Really, that's the point. I'm doing this under the notion that we've created a society where individualism, entitlement, and instant gratification have all but obliterated any sense of community or sacrifice. The reason some people have told me to wait until winter break to give up my car is that there's a common understanding that public transportation should only supplement car travel (in a global sense). If one's community stretches beyond walking distance (in my mind, walking distance is two miles, but you can fight me on that), then getting from Point A to Point B often involves a lot of time waiting for the next bus, or switching routes. Most people either aren't willing to do that, or aren't able to do that. When my car broke down last month, I had to take the bus to a doctor's appointment in Slingerlands (from Albany). It takes twelve minutes by car to get there. It took me an hour by bus; and then another hour and a half to get back because I missed the first bus walking to the stop. I had the day off from work, and I did miss school that night (more because I was getting my car towed than because I was still en route). The point is, I had to give up convenience that day; tomorrow I'm giving it up because I want to. There's a pretty big difference in that.