one less car

every so often, david and i muse about about a car-less life. before we moved, craigslist helped us make a teenage seattlite very happy with david's old wheels, and we haven't experienced one glitch since becoming a one car family. in fact, i'd say there wasn't even a transition period. *poof!* we decreased our car index by 50%.

and now when we consider our usage patterns, we rarely use the one car. i just got the oil changed after a full year and barely 5000 miles of driving (which included the nearly 1000 mile move here). except for a few intermittent city trips, we drive the car only to reach destinations outside the city.

so today, when we saw one of the many zip cars--a convertible mini, no less--drive past, a group of us started talking about how easy it probably is to drop the car business all together. i vowed (note to self: i said it out loud) to record expenses we incur, because likely the cost of insurance and gas vs. membership costs will make the car sharing service a viable option. we'll see.

so when i stumbled upon this site (must have stumbled before, because i had it bookmarked), i was happy to see this: Starring You--on a Bike, in a Bus, on Foot in my very own former city that is historically conflicted and of two minds and unable to take action on the very issues about which most dwellers care. seattlites are ruminators, discussers, and voters--the latter sometimes being the tough part, as initiatives have been known to squash progress or clarity.

but this, this is really something: a visual representation to bring home an important point made more powerful through the work of volunteers and the support of city officials. rock on seattle, i hope this experiment works!