As far as individual actions go, ditching the car is the second most impactful thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. Many people say they want to do it, but then don’t. This series will provide guidance and answer questions so that those who want to do meaningful work in healing the planet can begin living their values through choosing to be car-free or car-lite.

Here is the second part of the miscellaneous things people say hold them back from going by something other than private motorized vehicle.

I DON’T KNOW HOW TO FIX MY BIKE

Do you know how to fix your furnace? No, but you still have one. Do you know how to fix your car? Chances are, you don’t. If your car breaks down, you — individually — can’t push it to your destination. However, you can push a bicycle. For miles. Ask me how I know. 

You can either throw money at the problem (my solution), rely on the kindness of strangers (also, my solution), or ask a bike rider to teach you. If I can confidently say anything, it’s that if a cyclist knows how to fix something, she will be excited to show others how to fix that thing.  

I DON’T WANT TO BE LATE

Then, don’t be late?

People who tend to be late are late regardless of what mode they choose. If a car-having friend and I are meeting up, nine times out of ten, I am there first. Am I ever late to things? Yes. Is it because of the bus or train, or “traffic”? No. It’s because I spent ten minutes looking for wherever I threw my keys. It’s because I got talking to a neighbor. It’s because I decided to take pics of a tractor trailer jamming an intersection because the driver decided to ignore the “TRUCKS USE DETOUR” signs. It’s because I was messing around for Twitter instead of getting my act together and heading out the door. Lateness is usually within our control. (And before any smartypantses chime in, children are not an excuse for lateness. Growing up, we were never late because the household did not revolve around catering to the spawn, okay.) 

If there’s construction or a collision, you can usually find another route if using anything except train.

Leave earlier. Problem solved.

Most meetings could be emails anyway, and the world will not end if you do show up late once in a blue moon (unless you’re a surgeon or something like that). We know this because motorists blame their lateness on traffic (the traffic they help create) all the time. ALL THE TIME. 

I DON’T ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO RIDE A BIKE 

This is a legit excuse, except that if you’re really interested, you can potentially learn. There’s no reason to believe that not acquiring this skill as a child means you’re disqualified for life. 

For inspiration:

Go to a park or an empty parking lot and have a friend teach you. I would say “patient friend,” but we all learn differently. I learned to drive stick by having a friend scream at me. Whatever works. There are also classes. 

There are options that don’t require balance, like trikes, if you’re interested in an acoustic ATV.

You also can choose to not ride a bike and use the bus instead. The answer to “I can’t ride a bike though” isn’t to retreat to the private motor vehicle. 

I’M NOT IN SHAPE 

Guess what? You don’t start out in shape.

I laugh when people pull the “gotcha” attempts with me using this as an excuse. Do you think I went from driving everywhere one day to walking a shitload of miles the next? For awhile, a half mile was asking a lot. A mile would’ve been my absolute upper limit. Part of this was due to my impractical footwear and clothing choices. I’m probably still not considered “in shape,” but I can get myself where I need to go. 

Start slow. Increase your distance and speed when you are able. 

Some people like group rides. Personally, I hate (most of) them. There is often pressure to ride at speeds that you might not be able to, or not be able to do for more than one block. Seriously, I was on a group ride labeled as a “slow roll” and overheard a dude complaining about how slow we were going. (Way to be a gatekeeper, asshole!) It’s easy to get into the mindset that you aren’t good because you can’t keep up with people who’ve been doing it much longer.

But, if you’re commuting a couple miles to work, you only need to get yourself there safely. You’re not competing against anybody. You can ride slow as hell. You can stop as often as you need to. You can ride on the sidewalk when the street feels uncomfortable. It’s rewarding when the hills you had to get off the bike and push on become ones where you are merely panting and then are doable and then barely register in your mind as a hill. It doesn’t happen overnight. You don’t need to ride (or walk) every day to see improvement.  

BUT I HAVE ANXIETY! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! 

Sweetie. Darling. Sweetie. Darling. 

Pour yourself a hot beverage. Kick off your shoes. Take a seat.

Let me tell you a tale of panic attacks behind the wheel on Route 2. 

It’s not a unique story, actually.

Over the years, more and more friends have divulged how on one or more occasion, commanding a vehicle, especially on a highway, either caused anxiety, a full-on panic attack, and/or became a situation to avoid, even if they continued to drive otherwise. How many people take the bus, not because of finances or caring about the planet or because they have a crush on public transit, but because they are still traumatized from being in a car wreck? It’s something to think about. 

Considering how many people die every year in car crashes and how many suffer life-altering injuries,  it’s not surprising that people are distressed by driving; it’s surprising how many continue to do so despite what both their body and the statistics tell them. 

Would our car-centric culture fall apart if people more readily spoke about the intense anxiety that so many face while in cars — and not just in the driver’s seat? Much is made of the destigmatizing mental health challenges, but could we talk about specifically how these tie to cars? 

For whatever reason (ok, I won’t play coy. It’s that car-centric culture, the one that shouts that if we don’t have a car we ain’t shit) people don’t tend to be open about how driving and being driven freaks them the hell out, but, there isn’t the same hesitation when it comes to other modes of transportation. They’ll express worry about lateness, worry about other passengers on the bus, worry that the driver won’t stop, worry about walking home alone at night, and on and on. 

There are ways we can make transportation less anxiety inducing. 

CHOOSE YOUR SOURCES BETTER: if you want to understand better your non-car options, talk with people who regularly use them. Don’t spend time discussing the bus with people who haven’t been on a bus since Jimmy Carter was president. Really. Consider your sources. Did you see the video of the guy complaining about how the bendy bus wasn’t stopping? Anyone who takes the bus knows you pull the cord, and if that doesn’t work, you yell to the driver. They don’t gain a thing by keeping you on the bus longer. But I’m sure people who never ride watched that and were like “this is why I don’t ride the bus.” The point, besides having more reliable information to work with, is that false rumors (“One time my friend’s ex-boyfriend’s cousin’s wife said…”) won’t add to your anxiety. 

PLAN AHEAD: Previous posts have gotten into how helpful planning in general is for newbies. Figure out your routes and schedules in advance. Look at the weather forecast and dress appropriately. Have a bus pass tucked away or a rideshare app downloaded as your Plan B. It’s also not a huge secret that if you’re really in a jam and somehow have no bus pass or cash, you can probably still take the bus. I’ve only ever seen a driver refuse service once, and it was to a person who, based on the conversation, had made a habit of boarding without paying. 

TAKE ACTION : How much of this anxiety is about insufficient bus service (buses stop running too early, are absent on the weekend), inadequate bicycle infrastructure (nothing or paint, instead of physically-separated lanes), and dangerous conditions for pedestrians? Work toward making change happen. It benefits you and everyone else. 

Obviously, I’m not a therapist, and if this anxiety is preventing you from doing a normal thing like taking the bus to work, you should consult with a professional who can give you more tailored suggestions.

BUT I WANT GIANT THINGS FROM IKEA 

Do you, though?

Fine. But having a questionable attraction to assemble-your-own-furniture does not require car ownership.

Get it delivered. Rent or borrow a pickup truck. How much furniture are you buying to justify car ownership? 

I have watched people carry furniture on bike trailers. I’ve watched as two people carried a curbed table several blocks home. There are hashtags dedicated to the art of hauling unwieldy loads on bicycles. People are out there doing it. Quaxing. This is not impossible.

Speaking of deliveries, a New Zealand politician recently rode her bicycle to the hospital while in labor with her second child; she biked in for her first birth as well. 

AND PLANTS. I NEED PLANTS 

See above, except also note that unlike furniture stores often sited in traffic sewers, it may be more pleasant to visit nurseries. The Urbanscapes Native Plant Nursery in Newhallville is right near the Farmington Canal Trail. Plant & Garden World in East Hartford is on a bus route. Big Box stores are reachable by bus. Nearly any seed you might want is available at Heirloom Market in Wethersfield — accessible by bus. The regional market in Hartford is on a bus line. 

Use a collapsible cart if bringing onto the bus. Do you have a wagon or wheelbarrow? 

Get perennials that you won’t have to re-plant every year.

HOW DO I TAKE MY CAT AND DOG TO THE VET? 

Service animals are allowed on buses, but there is no language explicitly banning other animals, and I imagine that if you keep them contained in a carrier, there would be no issue. I say this knowing that so many overtly banned activities occur on buses without enforcement by the drivers. But none of this is what you want to deal with after Muffin eats half a tennis ball. 

Aside from that, this is a day to hire a taxi or ask a friend for a favor. If you have an especially needy pet, I recognize this could be an issue, but just as most parents are not being summoned to their kids’ school on a weekly basis, it’s unlikely that you have to make an emergency trip to the vet often enough to justify the expense of a private vehicle. . . unless you have a half dozen animals, which is a separate issue entirely. Ask if your vet makes house visits. 


HOW CAN I BE SPONTANEOUS? BUT…BUT…BUT FREEDOM?!

You want spontaneity? Is this because we’re several years into a plague that has made life feel small and restricted, out of our control? Is it because we are plunging, head first, toward our own extinction?

You want to live in the moment, be wild, take chances? Pull the cord in a place you’re unfamiliar with and get off the bus. Don’t consult your map first. Or, don’t pull the cord. Exit whenever it stops next. Take a connecting bus you’ve never been on because you’ve never needed to go in that direction. 

Always go to New Haven on the train? Try another stop. What’s in Meriden? When did you visit Springfield last? 

You want serendipity? Ride the bus, the subway, the train. You don’t know who will board next. Notice the demographic shifts — who rides the 101 versus the 60-66 versus the 56 bus. Who takes those free shuttles that sweep people from parking lots to major employers?   

And when you’re on foot or riding a bicycle? Take a different route every day. There are about six different work commute routes I choose from that are essentially the same distance. If I want to add on more time — like 15 minutes —  I can double the number of routes available. These include cutting through parks and across historic properties. I usually don’t know which route I’ve chosen until I see which way I start walking that day. 

Talk to strangers.  

Pay attention to your surroundings and begin to notice what is out there. That’s spontaneity.

I WANT TO DETERMINE MY SCHEDULE 

Do you have a 9-5 job? Do you have kids? A spouse? A dog? I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you have already surrendered absolute control over your time. The idea of a car as a time saver, as a way to do things on your own time, is nothing but auto industry marketing. I’ve already calculated how much of a person’s precious time is sacrificed in the name of freedom; it’s hard to see the numbers and still believe that a car is the most efficient option. 

Bike or walk if you need to come and go as you please.

I’M WILDLY INSECURE AND DON’T WANT PEOPLE TO THINK I’M POOR

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