Riding cleanly to work

My coworker who commutes in from Alameda does so part of the way on an electric scooter. The same type of scooter that litter the sidewalks, ready for rent from companies like BIRD or whatever. The coworker paid the few hundred bucks instead to buy. It’s like owning a house rather than renting - on a much smaller scale.

Even my brother has bought an electric scooter. He started a new job near Chase Center, so parking is horrendously difficult (or expensive, if you’re willing to pay). Public transport is unreliable at the hours he works, so a zippy scooter is the way to go. These things can kind of fly! The unit he bought tops out at 30 miles per hour. Plenty fast in my opinion to do some damage. Thankfully he’s smart to wear a helmet.

Meanwhile, here I am walking the 10 minutes to work. It is the dream.

It’s fascinating to think about just how quickly electric power seems to have permeated our transportation options (thanks, Elon). Electric bikes and scooters give people an often superior option to public transport (this isn’t the ultra reliable and on-time version in Japan), without going the full car. Relatively easy to store, and can charge with any outlet. Another coworkers rides an e-bike into work all the way from south city. It’s great to see.

Because gas prices are still very high. The bikes and scooters are inexpensive enough that even students can afford. I see plenty of them on campus doing the commute. I just wish they would obey the rules and not ride them on campus grounds. I’m walking here!

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Past glory.

Six months without car

It’s been about half a year since I’ve sold my beloved MX-5 Miata to go essentially car-less, so here’s a bit of a report on how the public transport life have been going thus far.

A few weeks back there was a report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that we are headed for irreversible climate calamity - if we don’t change course drastically - by as early as 2040, which is decidedly within our lifetimes. While there’s not much we can do individually to influence governmental policies in those regards other than vote, on a personal level the best we must do is to be as green as possible in our daily lives.

It’s fortuitous then that I’ve switched to commuting by bus this year; one less car polluting the air on already impossibly congested Bay Area roads. On the positive side it’s dramatically less taxing mentally to simply sit down (or stand) and enjoy podcasts rather than navigating the roads myself. I get to work incredibly fresh, no risk of being still angry at the idiot driver that cut me off earlier. Not owning a car also means not having to stress over San Francisco’s notorious parking restrictions and street cleaning schedules.

The one negative of riding the bus is the increased commute time compared to driving. It ends up being about 45 minutes or so daily, which is a lot of potential productivity I could otherwise be doing. Podcasts have been a lifesaver in that regard: learning via listening.

On some nights coming home from work when the bus is late by half hour, for sure I’ve entertained thoughts of immediately buying a car again. Those moments are few and far in between however; SFMTA have been providing fantastic service overall, with a predicable and reliable schedule nearly every day. A dependable routine is what I like, and commuting by bus have become just that. Indeed it would be weird if I suddenly switch back to driving.

As for my vehicular needs on the weekends, luckily I have access to the family car. For the times where it isn’t available, UBER, Lyft, or a favor from a friend is always good.

After six months of public transport life, I can say I don’t exactly miss having a car for the daily commute. Unless I move somewhere else or the job situation changes I don’t foresee daily driving making a return. At the very least, public transportation will always be the first option explored; I must do my part in helping conserve the precious environment.

It’s on the weekends where I really, truly miss having a proper sports car to toss around. Having a driving simulator at home is great and all, but nothing can replace the thrill of the real machine. I even miss the mundane ancillary parts like maintenance and detailing. This is why in another six month’s time I’ll be buying a car purely for the weekend. It’s 911 or bust.

How…. symmetrical.

Do I really need a car?

Is there a thing super low-key bothering you? Is it taking up head-space causing subconscious anxiety, stress, and otherwise in the negative?

It shall do you well to get rid of said thing, even if you have to alter your lifestyle to fit such an arrangement. Having that gnawing feeling taking rent at the recesses of your brain isn't healthy, and you won't realize this until you've done the deed. 

I realized it when I decided to sell my car. What was once my ultimate expression of freedom and joy, vehicle ownership have turned into a something quite unpleasant. 

For someone who have loved cars since I was cognizant of what they were, it's super weird to say that I'm going car-less for the foreseeable future. Public transport and various ride-sharing apps will get me around San Francisco satisfyingly beyond an adequate facsimile. 

How did car ownership sour on me? Ironically (and perhaps not coincidentally) a large part of it is San Francisco. With an extra 200,000 people crammed into this seven square-miles city within the last decade, and many more making the commute from the Bay Area, driving is not an advantage. Our traffic hell is notoriously ridiculed by outsiders, and the lack of parking is so dire that I've known people to have parked some ways from home and had to bus the final part. 

It's practically Manhattan around here. 

I simply don't drive enough to justify the hassle of dealing with all that. On weekends I'm an absolute homebody so the car only gets used for commuting. In the nearly three years I've own the MX-5, it's barely got 17,000 miles on it. 

Commuting in San Francisco is devoid of any driving fun, and when that's the case, the ancillaries to ownership like periodic detailing and taking it to the dealership for maintenance becomes a grinding chore. 

All of the aforementioned have slowly accumulated into a burden that was subconsciously dragging me down. The weight did not fully occur to me until the latest parking violation I received a few days ago and I finally have had it with the whole enterprise. 

So it'll be public transport to work for the first time since high school. The Miata will be sold; for sure there'll be another car in my future, but for now I'll be super happy to get back my peace of mind

The whole stadium to himself.