OLD FAT SICK > OLD SLIM HEALTHY?

OLD FAT SICK = DEAD, after expensive medicine

OLD SLIM HEALTHY = ALIVE, after an apple and bike ride.

at a hardware store near you…WALK THERE!

One of the beauties of living in a city is you can get your services close by. My children’s doctor, our dentist, the woman who cuts my hair and my yoga class are all within a mile of our house. This was done on purpose to cut down on driving! In addition, there are probably 20 excellent restaurants within a mile of our house, some of them among the best in the country. (There’s a reason why I don’t live in suburbia.) I will say most of these restaurants could use more bike racks in front.

I did make the mistake years ago of not choosing my kids’ schools based on location, and it’s one I don’t intend to repeat. I make up for it by very vigorous carpooling, but it still commits me to more driving than I wish to do.

My 16 year old takes Muni a lot. Another great benefit of living in the city! Teens can have independence without needing the expense of a car and insurance. (Not to mention danger. Driving in a car is the leading cause of death for teens.) If San Francisco had more bike lanes and I thought the streets were as safe as Copenhagen, I would send her to school on an electric bike (to deal with the hills) and I’d be free of even more driving. Unfortunately getting to and from her school via Muni can take over an hour (versus 15 min by car and 20 min by bike), though she does take Muni when she doesn’t have afterschool sports.

My 20 year old is planning on getting to his internship this summer via bicycle and Caltrain. It will take longer than if he drove, but it will be much cheaper than car ownership and he can read on the train. Plus, he doesn’t have a driver’s license yet and we are in no hurry for him to get one. (We will have to start paying insurance for him once he does.)

I generally grocery shop on my way home from carpooling kids to school, but during the summer I take my Xtracycle to the Trader Joe’s on 9th street. I can carry home four bags of groceries, even eggs, although the pavement on Division Street is abysmal and I really have to be careful on the ride back. For fill-in during the week, I walk to Buffalo Foods or Whole Foods, or my husband rides his bicycle to Whole Foods. Last year, I also rode my bike on Wednesdays to the Farmer’s Market at Noe and Market. (I can’t imagine how you would drive there and find parking.)

My husband rides his bike to work downtown. His office location is where it is because it is central to public transit. No one at his office drives to work. My husband and I bicycle to the symphony. Easy parking. I often take my youngest daughter to her dance classes in the Mission on the back of my Xtracycle. We chose where she would take dance class at least partly based on its close location. Again, I wish San Francisco had more protected bike lanes to make it safe for her to bicycle there on her own.

I generally take Muni if I’m going downtown to Powell or points east. (Shopping, movies, museums.) If it’s just me (and I’m not carting kids somewhere) I pretty much get anywhere in the city on my bike. You don’t have to be young, male and healthy to live a car-lite life, though I would say I’m healthier precisely because I walk and bike a lot. I’d really like to see the streets calm enough where seniors feel comfortable on adult trikes (electrified or not) and children can walk or bike to school. A heck of a lot of morning traffic in this city is parents driving kids to school, plus studies show that a little bit of exercise in the morning helps kids focus and their brains work better.

I know some people will not give up their car until you pry their keys from their cold, dead hands. Still, taking a car diet is a great way to become healthier, wealthier and wiser. Try it!

As for groceries, we use our bikes, which have baskets and a detachable cargo trailer. Turns out it’s actually really easy! (Occasionally we use city car share, but 9 times out of 10 the bike is easier, funner, more convenient, and cheaper).

In our situation, a car would just be an expensive pain in the ass that wouldn’t actually help with our daily routines!

In car-centric towns and suburbs, the non-driving population (e.g. teenagers and seniors) get a raw deal… but I guess that’s just too bad, eh? In the “mainstream” way of thinking, they don’t count much, it seems.

It only works for a very small percentage in your mind only. Yes, it won’t work for everyone, but a large reduction in car trips is easily attainable by many people, young and old. We have to change the way our communities are laid out. This country has backed itself into an unsustainable corner. You don’t have to sell you car, maybe just use it less.

1. The young single mom with 3 kids. She has a car. She lives in Noe Valley. She also owns a bike and rides for fun once in a while. Is she expected to stop driving and hop on her bike to buy groceries for a family of 4?

2. The older woman, say 69, has a car and has to drive to the doctor for an appointment. She lives in the southern part of SF, and her doctor is at Kaiser on Geary Blvd. Taking public transit would involve 4 transfers, some thru bad neighborhoods. You expect her to take public transit? or actually ride a damn bike?

Your wonderful intentions for giving up car driving and using only bike or public transit, only work for a VERY small percentage of the population.

Let’s be real. By and large bike transit is largely used (not completely) by young, healthy urban males.

Stop pushing your narrow agenda on everyone.

But what about aviation? There’s a good chance that the oil now gushing into the gulf would have ended up being refined into kerosene and burned in a 747. Aviation is the fastest growing consumer of oil in the world (or at least was before the recession and the volcano hit).

Supporting the airline industry is just about the single worst thing an individual can do to perpetuate oil dependence and cause climate change. Should people also stop (or at least reduce) their flying in response to this environmental catastrophe off the coast of your home state?