Cascade Bicycle Club - Vision 2011 from Punch Drunk on Vimeo.
From this website.
Commutes suck. If you spend forty-five minutes commuting, you're probably wasting an hour and a half of every workday: something like four-hundred hours of every year, or twenty-five days of working hours! Yes, that's more than three extra weeks of holiday hours your boss won't give you if you can find a better way to spend them.
Never mind. GM has advice for you.
Longer commutes mean higher divorce rates, greater obesity, and a higher financial burden (look it up yourself). For what? Your suburban home that won't hold its value after peak-oil, and even now has slid in the States? Even if that weren't true, how much energy do you have left to enjoy the dubious pleasures of the 'burbs after driving away so many hours of the week?
I ride to work about half the days of the week, and should more: 12km in Tokyo. Every time I bail on riding and take the train I regret it (I have a poor memory). I'd love to live closer, but this apartment is cheap, and like the link below the video talks about, it makes me get out and ride. In fact, I rather miss walking to work/school, as nothing beats the striding motion for tidying up cluttered thoughts, but I'd need to live a lot closer, and in a prettier town than Tokyo. Montreal was ideal for walking.
"and in a prettier town than Tokyo."
ReplyDeleteShhhhh!! Some people think Tokyo has a central park that looks like a giant imperial garden....an advanced eco utopia ;)
I live and work in 'Shitamachi' (east, flat, treeless concrete and not wealthy), not 'Yamanote' (west, hilly, treed concrete and wealthy), so that informs my opinion. However, beauty ain't everything: 'Yamanote' can come to feel like a theme park for the '1%'; 'Shitamachi' is 'keeping it real'.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...the video has me thinking again. Willing to re-figure a few things...could make this work on two weekdays. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteDo it Will! It seems hard for a week or two, then you wonder why you weren't always doing it. Best thing about the Internet: mapping better routes.
ReplyDeleteYou'll love this GMC ad http://snakesonacane.tumblr.com/post/11964651931/reason-521-why-id-never-buy-a-domestic-car-what
ReplyDeleteThanks, Derek. I'd seen that, but it reminded me to incorporate it into my post.
ReplyDeleteI am Sofie... I could cut my driving to 'rain' days only and be using less gas and axe my gym membership. My car is paid off so the only thing it eats up cash is gas and other car services which luckily the hubs can do most of. I am sharing that vid with my sisters, thanks.
ReplyDeleteCars cost a lot even when paid off: insurance, repairs, depreciation, maintenance, gas, parking... Remember to account for that. When statistics say the average American spends $8K/yr on driving, that includes all the new and old cars, paid for or on a loan. I doubt anyone can spend less than $5K if they drive much at all, no matter the age or state of the vehicle.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, most car costs are unavoidable, so gas does not account for most of it. The big savings only come when the car is got rid of.