I commend you for your use of public transportation for so many years. That is amazing, and I am envious of your ability to use it! I AM lazy and DON'T use it in my daily life. Which makes me a horrible person in comparison.
My commute to work is pretty much a strait shot down Braddock. It takes me 15 minutes without traffic and 20 minutes with. I'm never stressed or worried because it's a simple commute and not that busy. No beltway, just a few traffic lights & PLENTY of alternate routes if I need to swing by the store or Blockbuster on my way to/from work. I'm sure if I had to go anywhere NEAR (let alone ON) the beltway I'd feel much different. I feel extremely lucky to have such a quick, simple commute.
There's no bus stop near my house. The closest stop is about a mile and a half away. And the closest stop to where I work is about a mile away (maybe slightly less like 0.8 of a mile). But that's still walking about 4.5-5 miles a day. That's too much for me. I cannot IMAGINE the time that would eat up out of my already packed, scheduled-to-the-second days. I'd be hot and sweaty upon reaching work and the walking route is not the best near my work (I'd have safe sidewalks at night at home though) due to lack of sidewalks, steep hills, and ditches on both sides of the road. It's just not realistic for me. 5 miles of walking (which will take hours at my pace), a little of which is through bad areas, and a longer commute vs. a 15-20 minute drive? It's just not worth it. Even if my work subsidized it, which they'd NEVER do, it wouldn't be a good trade off. And parking is free where I work.
Plus, I love being able to take off on lunch breaks if need be. The nearest shopping (University Mall) is about as far as the bus station from work. As I only have half an hour for lunch, it would take the entire time just to walk there, and I would be late if I factored in buying food/anything and then walking back. But I like being able to go down Ox in the middle of the day or on my way home and check my PO Box. I like being able to run errands at stores closer to work than to my house if I need to. All of which I wouldn't be able to do if I didn't have the car, just because I don't work somewhere like downtown Alexandria or DC where there are shops right around the corner or down the street. It's just harder out here in the suburbs. Plus, there are some days when I have to leave work at 5:30 and get across town well before 6 to set up a meeting room. There's no bus route that will let me do that directly. I'd miss out on a lot I love to do.
I know what you mean about exercise, though. It was a new year's goal of mine to park at the back of parking lots whenever I go shopping/go anywhere so I get the extra few steps to the store and back (safety permitting; I don't do this at night because I'm a woman with common sense).
I try to use my car as efficiently as possible, though. I never go out just to go out. I combine trips & map out shortest routes. I save up errands until I have enough of a reason to go out to all the places nearby at once. And when we lived in Chapel Hill, we used the bus to get EVERYWHERE, even on the days when we had the car because my dad had biked to work.
As for school, I walked to school (about a mile) every day throughout elementary school. And I am SO against idle cars though. I don't even like drive-throughs at the bank or fast food places. What an absolute waste of resources & contributor to pollution. Unless your child can't walk because of physical reasons, there's no excuse for living close to a school and still driving children there. Let alone driving them and waiting with your car on in order to pick them up! That's absolutely inexcusable.
I don't get that either. If you CAN walk or use public transportation, why wouldn't you? I wish so much that I could! I commend you for using public transportation. You are seriously awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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rosecarmine
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-08 03:27 pm (UTC)I commend you for your use of public transportation for so many years. That is amazing, and I am envious of your ability to use it! I AM lazy and DON'T use it in my daily life. Which makes me a horrible person in comparison.
My commute to work is pretty much a strait shot down Braddock. It takes me 15 minutes without traffic and 20 minutes with. I'm never stressed or worried because it's a simple commute and not that busy. No beltway, just a few traffic lights & PLENTY of alternate routes if I need to swing by the store or Blockbuster on my way to/from work. I'm sure if I had to go anywhere NEAR (let alone ON) the beltway I'd feel much different. I feel extremely lucky to have such a quick, simple commute.
There's no bus stop near my house. The closest stop is about a mile and a half away. And the closest stop to where I work is about a mile away (maybe slightly less like 0.8 of a mile). But that's still walking about 4.5-5 miles a day. That's too much for me. I cannot IMAGINE the time that would eat up out of my already packed, scheduled-to-the-second days. I'd be hot and sweaty upon reaching work and the walking route is not the best near my work (I'd have safe sidewalks at night at home though) due to lack of sidewalks, steep hills, and ditches on both sides of the road. It's just not realistic for me. 5 miles of walking (which will take hours at my pace), a little of which is through bad areas, and a longer commute vs. a 15-20 minute drive? It's just not worth it. Even if my work subsidized it, which they'd NEVER do, it wouldn't be a good trade off. And parking is free where I work.
Plus, I love being able to take off on lunch breaks if need be. The nearest shopping (University Mall) is about as far as the bus station from work. As I only have half an hour for lunch, it would take the entire time just to walk there, and I would be late if I factored in buying food/anything and then walking back. But I like being able to go down Ox in the middle of the day or on my way home and check my PO Box. I like being able to run errands at stores closer to work than to my house if I need to. All of which I wouldn't be able to do if I didn't have the car, just because I don't work somewhere like downtown Alexandria or DC where there are shops right around the corner or down the street. It's just harder out here in the suburbs. Plus, there are some days when I have to leave work at 5:30 and get across town well before 6 to set up a meeting room. There's no bus route that will let me do that directly. I'd miss out on a lot I love to do.
I know what you mean about exercise, though. It was a new year's goal of mine to park at the back of parking lots whenever I go shopping/go anywhere so I get the extra few steps to the store and back (safety permitting; I don't do this at night because I'm a woman with common sense).
I try to use my car as efficiently as possible, though. I never go out just to go out. I combine trips & map out shortest routes. I save up errands until I have enough of a reason to go out to all the places nearby at once. And when we lived in Chapel Hill, we used the bus to get EVERYWHERE, even on the days when we had the car because my dad had biked to work.
As for school, I walked to school (about a mile) every day throughout elementary school. And I am SO against idle cars though. I don't even like drive-throughs at the bank or fast food places. What an absolute waste of resources & contributor to pollution. Unless your child can't walk because of physical reasons, there's no excuse for living close to a school and still driving children there. Let alone driving them and waiting with your car on in order to pick them up! That's absolutely inexcusable.
I don't get that either. If you CAN walk or use public transportation, why wouldn't you? I wish so much that I could! I commend you for using public transportation. You are seriously awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!