I'm a Gonna Take The Bus
So I decided today that I'm really over the whole commute in my car to work thing.
The wear and tear on my car just in these past 7 or so months has been enormous. It's noticeable in the car's body and under its hood. I'm about to hit the 100K mark and I want my car to last a while yet. That, and it's costing me $45-$50.00 per tank of gas for a goddamn *economy* no frills gas-sipping VW. I fill up on average once a week. So that's $180-$200 of my monthly income going into my gas tank.
Don't start me on L.A.'s asshole drivers. I've had more than my fill of them. The traffic and poor road behavior of my fellow motorists leaves me frazzled. An hour each way of this very unenjoyable video game-like experience of dodging errant cars, slamming on my brakes, and getting stuck at traffic lights just stresses me out too much. By far, the most stressful part of my job isn't the actual work -- it's the commute.
So starting next tuesday, I'm relying on mass transit to get me to work and back. It's going to be a week long experiment, and if it's successful, I'll continue it.
I see mostly pros to this, and a few cons that while lesser in number, are significant enough to me to possibly not make this worth the effort..
Pros:
*Total cost per week: $7.50 ($.75 each way). Total cost of operating my car per week: $45.00 for gas + mantainence. I estimate that I use roughly 2/3 of my total gas consumption in commute. I plan on setting aside the money saved in gas burned during my commute so I may put it toward my photography ventures.
*Exercise. The nearest bus stop to my apartment is 1/4 mile away, uphill. And god knows, I need the exercise. It's not much exercise, but it's a start.
*R&R. Rather than stress and become hateful at my fellow man and drain my mental energy by concentrating for 2 hours a day behind the wheel, I can chill on the bus, read, nap, listen to music, study, etc. I can use that time for my own enrichment. Hopefully, my overall stress level will drop.
*I'm extending the life of my car by keeping its city miles down.
*I finally have a use for all the loose change (excepting quarters for laundry) I have laying around my house.
*[Left-leaning political lecture time] I'm taking a more proactive role in helping the environment and contributing my very small part to lessening our society's dependency on oil, a scarce nonrenewable resource and an agitator of many of our current woes with the Mideast.[/Left-leaning political lecture time]
Cons:
*Increases my total commute time by 1 hour every day. I like having time in my life that's not dedicated to work or the process of getting to and from work, dammit.
*I lose 40 minutes of precious-precious wonderful sleep every night in order to get to work on time, because I must be at the bus stop at the time I'm currently just waking up.
*If I find during the course of the day that I have to make an unexpected stop or have to run errands, I'm screwed. I do most of my errand running on my way home from work, so I don't have to get in my car and tough the traffic any more than I have to. I run errands, on average, 2-3 days a week during my commute home.
So yeah. Gonna try this for a week. Not gonna give up my car by any means. I still need it to run big errands, leave town, or hell, even travel across the city (god knows what an inefficient nightmare public transit in LA is, afterall).
Wish me luck!
The wear and tear on my car just in these past 7 or so months has been enormous. It's noticeable in the car's body and under its hood. I'm about to hit the 100K mark and I want my car to last a while yet. That, and it's costing me $45-$50.00 per tank of gas for a goddamn *economy* no frills gas-sipping VW. I fill up on average once a week. So that's $180-$200 of my monthly income going into my gas tank.
Don't start me on L.A.'s asshole drivers. I've had more than my fill of them. The traffic and poor road behavior of my fellow motorists leaves me frazzled. An hour each way of this very unenjoyable video game-like experience of dodging errant cars, slamming on my brakes, and getting stuck at traffic lights just stresses me out too much. By far, the most stressful part of my job isn't the actual work -- it's the commute.
So starting next tuesday, I'm relying on mass transit to get me to work and back. It's going to be a week long experiment, and if it's successful, I'll continue it.
I see mostly pros to this, and a few cons that while lesser in number, are significant enough to me to possibly not make this worth the effort..
Pros:
*Total cost per week: $7.50 ($.75 each way). Total cost of operating my car per week: $45.00 for gas + mantainence. I estimate that I use roughly 2/3 of my total gas consumption in commute. I plan on setting aside the money saved in gas burned during my commute so I may put it toward my photography ventures.
*Exercise. The nearest bus stop to my apartment is 1/4 mile away, uphill. And god knows, I need the exercise. It's not much exercise, but it's a start.
*R&R. Rather than stress and become hateful at my fellow man and drain my mental energy by concentrating for 2 hours a day behind the wheel, I can chill on the bus, read, nap, listen to music, study, etc. I can use that time for my own enrichment. Hopefully, my overall stress level will drop.
*I'm extending the life of my car by keeping its city miles down.
*I finally have a use for all the loose change (excepting quarters for laundry) I have laying around my house.
*[Left-leaning political lecture time] I'm taking a more proactive role in helping the environment and contributing my very small part to lessening our society's dependency on oil, a scarce nonrenewable resource and an agitator of many of our current woes with the Mideast.[/Left-leaning political lecture time]
Cons:
*Increases my total commute time by 1 hour every day. I like having time in my life that's not dedicated to work or the process of getting to and from work, dammit.
*I lose 40 minutes of precious-precious wonderful sleep every night in order to get to work on time, because I must be at the bus stop at the time I'm currently just waking up.
*If I find during the course of the day that I have to make an unexpected stop or have to run errands, I'm screwed. I do most of my errand running on my way home from work, so I don't have to get in my car and tough the traffic any more than I have to. I run errands, on average, 2-3 days a week during my commute home.
So yeah. Gonna try this for a week. Not gonna give up my car by any means. I still need it to run big errands, leave town, or hell, even travel across the city (god knows what an inefficient nightmare public transit in LA is, afterall).
Wish me luck!