Capable and carless

My son Ian, 24, is a free spirit. He graduated from college in 2007. Since then, he has worked on an organic farm and in my husband's business, Red Oak Renovations. He is en route as we speak to the Bahamas for four months to live simply by the ocean and surf until spring, when he will likely return here for a few months until it's planting season.

What sets Ian apart from most of his friends: he owns a sailboat -- but not a car or a house or condominium. David, who invited him down to the Bahamas last winter, inherited an extra 24-foot sailboat from a friend who died. David gave the boat to Ian because he likes Ian.

Like his surfboard, Ian's sailboat has zero carbon emissions.

Ian manages without a car even though it's inconvenient and unpredictable. He has to ask others for rides and to borrow their car. Even though it's a hassle to consider him when making plans for my car -- which I share with my husband -- I'm glad he hasn't caved in yet and bought a car. I'm willing to help him out so he can remain car-less for now.

Selfishly, the car would be parked in my driveway for the four months while he's in the Bahamas. So I'm grateful.

There are benefits. He has more money to save for other things. He sees his friends more often because he depends on them for rides to get places. He is not encumbered by the hassle of owning a car. If he had a car payment, he might not be as free to take off for the Bahamas for the winter.

I loaned him a copy of "How to Live Well without a Car," by Chris Balish.

"At first I thought I didn't need it," Ian said. "But when I read it, it reinforced my decision and gave me new ideas on how I manage without a car."

Most of the book is geared towards tips for car-free urban dwellers. We live in a small town in Central Massachusetts, 2 miles from the small shopping area and commuter rail to Boston. It's not an ideal place to live without a car.

Ian proves that it is possible to avoid car ownership. Ian demonstrates how much fun it is to opt for sailboat ownership over car ownership, and that it's possible.

When he stopped by Sonus, where his brother works as a computer engineer to drop off a bit of holiday cheer [using my car], the other engineers said, "Get out of here fast before we get too jealous that you're headed for the Bahamas."

The biggest ad campaign in the history of the universe

On my last day of work as a paid carpool promoter for Fortune 500 companies in a crowded corridor, Dustin gave me a new perspective to my three years of toiling.

"You know Susan, we're fighting against the biggest advertising campaign in the history of the world -- the automotive industry." Dustin is a peer in the transportation demand management industry -- who knew there was such a thing?

Thank you Dustin, for explaining why people don't want to give up their comfortable, private, customized, convenient, status symbols to drive with other people, take public transit, or, [you can laugh here - most people do] bike to work.

EVERY CHANNEL of the media reinforces the freedom, classiness, speed, luxury and beauty of personal car ownership.

The solution to $4/gallon gas? Make 4-cylinder cars that are lighter and get higher gas mileage.

Dustin showed me that something in our culture must change if we are to change our driving habits. The change might be $4/gas, gridlocked roads, cleaner vehicles, government restrictions on how much we can drive, or a mass realization that our exhaust is melting down the planet.

The soggy permafrost in Alaska is just too far away from our backyard, our way to work, our livelihood, to register on our radar.

We don't believe one person can make a difference.

One person alone cannot make a difference, in the same way one soldier on a battlefield, one football player on a playing field, one civil rights leader standing alone at the Lincoln Memorial is helpless alone.

Making different choices our energy use will only happen by influencing the silent majority to change, and hit the magical tipping point.

Sadly, that zenith is obscured by a plethora of ads for cars and trucks, and a contagious thirst across the globe for carbon-polluting personal vehicles.

When will we ever learn?

The willingness factor

Today, I connected two different people with two different carpool possibilities.

My mother, a Roosevelt Democrat, used to say, "Democracy depends on the willingness of its participants." God rest her soul and her soapbox [she had some strong opinions!], mom's wisdom is true about democracy and carpooling.

Carpooling depends on the willingness of its participants. Without participants, there is no carpooling.

MOST -- two-thirds or more -- of carpools are founded by people who already know each other. Carpool connections are also made second-hand, through someone like me, who-knows-someone-who-lives-near-you.

We Americans have a cultural norm of the convenience of driving alone. Overcoming that requires attention, desire and sometimes outside influences.

Willingness is key.

Bette is funny

Bette caught a ride in with me today again and is hoping for a lift home from someone else. Because she's blind, she has few options when commuting from suburb-to-suburb.

I don't mind driving her to work when her regular carpooler is on vacation. Bette gives me a few bucks for gas and more importantly, she lets me set the commuting hours.

And Bette is funny.

Before she gets into my silver Camry, she waits for me to call her name. Once while waiting for a ride, someone pulled up in a grey car. She got into the guy's car and buckled in.

The man asked politely, "Well, hello! Do I know you?"

Since then, Bette waits for confirmation before plunking down.

Bette likes gambling and because of the low lighting at casinos has occasionally sat on someone's lap by mistake.

She says that makes her a lap dancer.

Too bad I have to drive home alone tonight because of a business dinner.

Bette

Tomorrow I'll pick up Bette at McDonald's and drive her to work. She lives about 15 minutes northwest of me. Without help from an able-bodied driver, Betty would not be able to work because she has limited vision and can't drive

If Bette lived in a more urban area, she would have more options. Now she depends on the kindness of friends. Bette will pay me a few bucks for gas. More importantly, she will regale me all the way to work and home again.

The 15 minutes of sitting in Route 9 traffic to go 5 miles will fly by as Bette amuses me with stories about her life, her pets, her hobbies. Carpooling has introduced me to people I never would have met.

Carpoolers find solutions and go the extra mile

Yesterday, Elaine - my carpool partner - and I both drove in alone because she had an after-work dinner planned.

After the dinner got cancelled, she emailed me and offered me a ride home, event though it meant driving me home- which is 4 miles north of her house. This morning, I walked a mile to meet Elaine and Bette at "the rotary" for a ride to work. My car spent the night at work and I'll drive myself and Bette home tonight.

Yes, I saved the gas and wear-and-tear on my car, and I got to spend time with Elaine, who has become a friend. We cut down on congestion [and traffic was backed up last night on Route 9] and air pollution.

Most people only think about solving big problems like congestion and air pollution in terms of "What's in it for me?" Many people refuse to sacrifice personal convenience for carpooling. Driving alone is THE most convenient way to get around -- as long as there's not too much congestion and the air is still clean enough to breathe.

Sadly, most people delay changing until we feel PAIN.
The pain can be:
Financial -- $4/gallon gas,
Time -- sitting in traffic -- build more HOV lanes to reward carpoolers,
or Environmental -- which takes decades to accumulate.

In the meantime, carpoolers get many rewards --
Financial -- Carpoolers save money.
Time -- Carpoolers can sleep or read when someone else drives.
Environmental -- Carpoolers have a clean conscience. Very clean and low-carbon.

And there's the friendship factor. There are a dozen reasons for carpools to fall apart, the prime one being: a carpool will only work if you don't like your carpool partner. Otherwise, forget it!

It really helps to live and work near each other and to work the same hours.
Liking each other can be the lubricant to work out many other inconveniences.
When you like someone, you call and offer a ride all the way home so you can pay her back for the ride she gave you earlier in the week.

Post-Labor Day Congestion and a solution

Now that vacation season is over everyone is back at work, congestion is worse than ever. It takes me 15 minutes to go a measely 5 miles because the four-lane divided road was not designed for such high volume. Each traffic light causes a backup.

When people vacationed this summer, volume was down by 20 percent, and congestion minimized. On Fridays, I flew into work, so people were either working from home or not working.

We can maintain that fast-track to work if everyone carpooled, bike, took the bus or worked from home just ONE DAY per week. Merely reducing the volume of traffic on the road by 20 or 25 percent eases congestion, not to mention the impact on air quality because of fewer vehicles and less idling.

We are like car-zombies. We have structured our whole lives around driving alone in a customized vehicle that reflects our status [fact, fiction or sacrifice], income, identity [minivan or motorcycle] pizazz, or functionality.

We don't think about this behavior any more. We put our children in battery-operated "cute" vehicles so they can hold their sippy cups while they are propelled along and can grow their own spare tire around the middle as soon as possible.

What will it take for us to wake up? $4/gallon gas was like waking up in a nightmare at 4 am. Unfortunately, we have to suffer to motivate us to change.

Carpool Connection -- the hidden reward of sharing rides

Elaine and I carpooled together today for the first time in several weeks. Our schedules had not overlapped, so we had a lot to catch up on.

She might need a ride later on today to catch public transit to the airport, which I'm more than happy to provide. Of course, I have my own self-interest at heart. I may ask her to pick me up at the repair shop where my car will be serviced for the day, or to give me a ride all the way home because I didn't have my car at all that day. [I usually drive to her house because she's on my way to work.]

Forget the selfishness, we have become friends, and friends do favors for friends. There is the unspoken expectation that friends trade favors. Even if she NEVER pays me back or I stay in the black ink of our "favor bank," that's fine too. I'm happy to help her out.

The ONLY way carpools last is when the carpoolers like each other, or, at the very least, can stand each other. I've had to stop carpooling with people who are too loud, too late or too self-centered. They are far outnumbered by the carpool partners I've met and shared life stories with, laughed and keep in touch with.

Non-carpoolers don't understand the silver interiors that come with the best fellow carpoolers. You have to experience it to become a believer. To carpool, you take a risk that you might have to break up -- because it's a bad match, or your job situation changes. Carpooling is fluid and constantly changing.

Too much of a good thing?

One of my clients, the headquarters of a multinational corporation, has a problem. Their carpooling program is TOO successful.

They have 20 acres of parking for 3,000 employees, several hundred registered carpoolers and about 100 carpool-only spaces, in prime territory -- adjacent to the building.

Some employees start carpooling to qualify for the prime parking spaces, because they don't like to hike 10 minutes from the hinterlands.

The problem: a shortage of carpooling spaces. To incorporate more spaces would require a re-thinking of the available resources, and possibly investing of technology and labor to manage restricted parking.

The big picture is that carpooling is good for the environment and good for other commuters because it reduces congestion.

The little picture at this big company is: designating carpool-only spaces and enforcing the policies requires an investment.

Building more parking is NEVER cheap. "Free parking" is a misnomer. Depending on the cost of the land, the cost of a SINGLE parking space ranges from $3,000 to $225,000 [Manhattan], plus the annual cost of maintaining it. The life expectancy of a parking garage is about 30 years.

Shifting away from single-occupancy vehicle commuting shifting away from traditional infrastructure, which requires time, money and planning.

Maybe this company will make preferred parking for carpoolers a central attraction to their parking situation.

Carpooling is an attitude

Growing up, in order to use a paper towel or get a ride somewhere, you needed to be a lawyer with a convincing argument. My parents focused on providing the essentials for their brood of nine children: shelter, food and love.

"Rides" was not on the list. They were as valuable as paper towels, and not to be wasted.

As a 16-year-old, I signed up for an adult education course at the University of Delaware, 13 miles away in Newark, Del. In Delaware in 1973, Wilmington to Newark was a long way and required a toll of either 10 or 15 cents.

You had to drive on back roads for a bit longer if you took the first exit on the new interstate, but you saved a nickel – when it meant something.

So did a car. Every person over age 16 was not expected to have a car. There were still one-car families. With a hoard of drivers, we had two cars, but I was only allowed to use it for the first class, when my mother instructed me to find a carpool.

In those days, we didn't have the Internet. I found a match the old-fashioned way. I asked if anyone was coming from Wilmington. Two guys, who must have been 20-something, offered me a ride.

Today, they might not have passed a CORI check. Most mothers wouldn't encourage their shapely teenage daughter to get into a car with two unknown men. My mother was a trusting soul. I really wanted to take the class. Even though it was awkward, I did what my mother said. I think I paid the tolls.

My mother created a life-long attitude in me towards carpooling. It doesn't hurt. Ask and you shall receive. You will save money and resources. Strangers can be trusted. Carpool partners are lurking all around.

Born in 1919 and 1921, my parents grew up in the Great Depression. They knew how to stretch a dollar or a nickel. My mother remembers frantically scouring their apartment in Chicago for seven cents so her mother, a physician, could ride the trolley downtown to go to work.

My father recalls saving for a year for $2 to buy a new tire for his bike. When he prepared to buy the tire, his family needed the cash. He started to save again, and after two years, bought the tire and his freedom on a bike.

Children today don't have the experience of delayed gratification. They don't understand that things are not the essence of life. At the end of my mother's long life, I gave her a bumper sticker, "The best things in life are not things," a phrase she lived by, and displayed on her car.

Thanks, Mom and Dad.