Comments on: Our experiment as a two car family is over… http://alexwetmore.org/archives/471 Thu, 09 Oct 2014 15:41:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Andy M-S http://alexwetmore.org/archives/471/comment-page-1#comment-3975 Andy M-S Fri, 04 May 2007 15:58:21 +0000 /blogs/alex_wetmore/archive/2007/04/17/our-experiment-as-a-two-car-family-is-over.aspx#comment-3975 Giving up a car is an interesting experience. I learned to drive just as soon as I could, so driving cars has been a part of my life for more than 33 years. That being said, I also came of age during the ''fuel crisis''/10-speed years, and have, by decision, never lived beyond walking or cycling or public transit distance of work. Now, back in ''89, not long after my first child was born, my spouse and I moved from Chicago to upstate NY and acquired our first car. We replaced it two years later with a brand-new Honda Civic Wagon, which was our *only* car until we had a third child, when we got a used minivan because the Honda was getting a little tight. We replaced that van when it died with a slightly newer model. And through all this, the Honda was my bad-weather commuting vehicle, getting an annual oil change. Last fall, the muffler fell off for the fourth or fifth time, and it developed a radiator leak, and...well, at 15 years, it was getting long in the tooth. And I have bike commuted to my job (save in bad weather) since moving to Wisconsin. But it was November, and bad weather would be coming... Well, a little checking at work showed 2 or 3 people who lived within a few blocks of me. So we gave the car to Habitat for Humanity, and for less than a month, I got rides with people. This spring I bought studded tires for my touring bike so that next year... Point is, we also became a 1-car family again. And we don''t really miss that second car; it takes a little more planning with 4 kids and all their destinations and one vehicle, but it''s no big deal. And we have a LOT more garage space. How did human beings ever get suckered into the two-cars idea in the first place? Giving up a car is an interesting experience. I learned to drive just as soon as I could, so driving cars has been a part of my life for more than 33 years. That being said, I also came of age during the ”fuel crisis”/10-speed years, and have, by decision, never lived beyond walking or cycling or public transit distance of work.

Now, back in ”89, not long after my first child was born, my spouse and I moved from Chicago to upstate NY and acquired our first car. We replaced it two years later with a brand-new Honda Civic Wagon, which was our *only* car until we had a third child, when we got a used minivan because the Honda was getting a little tight. We replaced that van when it died with a slightly newer model.

And through all this, the Honda was my bad-weather commuting vehicle, getting an annual oil change.

Last fall, the muffler fell off for the fourth or fifth time, and it developed a radiator leak, and…well, at 15 years, it was getting long in the tooth. And I have bike commuted to my job (save in bad weather) since moving to Wisconsin. But it was November, and bad weather would be coming…

Well, a little checking at work showed 2 or 3 people who lived within a few blocks of me. So we gave the car to Habitat for Humanity, and for less than a month, I got rides with people. This spring I bought studded tires for my touring bike so that next year…

Point is, we also became a 1-car family again. And we don”t really miss that second car; it takes a little more planning with 4 kids and all their destinations and one vehicle, but it’’s no big deal. And we have a LOT more garage space.

How did human beings ever get suckered into the two-cars idea in the first place?

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