In the last week I’ve driven my car 53 miles, ridden my bike 31 miles, and walked roughly 10 miles. I drove to work once, to Lake Oswego for a meeting, to Powell Butte for a hike, and to Hillsboro for softball games. That’s a lot more driving than I usually do, so I’ll have to go on a serious car diet for the next few weeks. I rode my bike to work three times and took my dog, Josie, for four bike rides. I took Josie for eight walks.

How we get places matters
Every time I get in the car, I think, “Do I really need to drive?” I feel guilty about being lazy some days and driving to my office—only 3 miles from my house—when I know I should ride my bike. With the prices of gas sky rocketing, it doesn’t make sense to drive any more than I must. Our Prius is almost a year old and doesn’t quite have 10,000 miles on it; and that’s with two people driving it in town, to Bend, to the Seattle/Tacoma area, and all over the place. In the city, the Prius averages around 41MPG, which is ok but not awesome. Most of the places I go in my day are within five miles of home, so do I really need to drive most of the time?

Being realistic
I know that it’s a stretch for me to bus/MAX/bike out to Hillsboro for softball games on Sundays, but it’s pretty easy to decide to ride my bike to the local hardware store. Once I realized that a mile wasn’t really that far to walk, it got me to walk to a lot more places. And walking a mile to the grocery store for small things is good for both me, my partner, and our dog. I wear out a pair of Adidas Samba Milleniums each year from walking the dog every day, walking to the store, and walking to local restaurants and pubs.

Deciding to make a change
The weather has to be pretty bad for me to drive any place less than a mile from my house. Sometimes I get lazy and need to be cajoled into walking or biking, and am always glad when Kathy gets me off my butt and makes me walk. Instead of driving to the Blockbuster that’s 6 blocks away, we walk there. We often walk to Trader Joe’s (1.5 miles) or New Seasons (1.5 miles) or Fred Meyer (1 mile) if we aren’t buying anything heavy. The reward for a walk to Pix is a delicious desert and some quality time spent chatting with my partner. If I got a rack and some saddlebags for my bike, I could bike to soccer games more often (2.5 miles) rather than drive on days when I have games.

It all adds up
I know that a lot of people don’t live in neighborhoods where there are things to walk to. But maybe it’s time to start choosing neighborhoods that don’t require us to drive so much. Maybe it’s time to group our trips so we drive a little less than before. Just think about it before you hop in the car.

And I know I can’t bike or walk all the time, but even when I do it makes a big difference. All that gas not used, all those calories burned and muscles exercised, and all those flowers I get to smell and enjoy remind me to stay in touch with the world beyond my car, house, office, and safe bubble. Maybe you’ll get to see a great sunset, meet a friendly neighborhood cat, or bump into a friend unexpectedly. You just never know.

How do you get from there to here?

Tagged as bike commuting, cars, driving, Portland, Prius, sustainability + Categorized as Ideas & Theories, Getting around, Ideas & Theories, Saving the world