WINTER: Another one misses the bus
By Mary Winter, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Friday, July 18, 2008
A Regional Transportation Department bus pass costs $60 a month.
It was time. For 35 years I'd driven a car to work, but just as there comes a time in a girl's life to give up the cigarettes, the Merle Haggard eight-tracks and the Stuart Weitzman snakeskin pumps with 3-inch heels and toes like case-hardened-steel drill bits, it was time to cut the cord and embrace public transportation.
I did the math.
With gas at $4 a gallon, parking at $100 a month and an eight-mile round-trip commute every day, I figured it was costing me a minimum of $128 a month to drive to work. And that's not including oil, tires, insurance, etc.
A Regional Transportation Department bus pass costs $60 a month.
Taking the bus would save me about $68 a month, or, at a minimum, $816 a year.
But it wasn't just the money. My carbon footprint was troubling.
Oh sure, I recycle my garbage and my plastic grocery sacks and never water between 10 and 6, but that's a pretty puny effort when compared with the resources I was consuming as operator and sole occupant of a 2,000-pound, four-cylinder, gas-combustion-engine automobile.
Not to mention the intangible benefits of riding the bus - like saving time. I could read or apply my makeup. It would be far safer than driving, and it would help me keep to a strict schedule and ensure I'd be on time to work every day.
It would also make me seem more virtuous. "Yes, I'm a journalist, but I take public transportation," I could slip into conversations.
And riding a bus wouldn't be a huge sacrifice for me. I like buses. I have only happy memories of riding one to school as a kid, including the time my big brother and his friends hid behind a corner and pelted our big yellow mother ship with water balloons, further shortening the life of our long-suffering driver.
I set out on my maiden voyage two weeks ago Monday morning, walking to the RTD bus stop just down the alley from my house, my $1.75 fare in hand. I stepped off the bus 20 minutes later, three blocks from work, feeling greener by the second.
My intention was to avoid my car for an entire workweek.
Unfortunately, that Monday-morning bus ride was my first and last of the week. A news event broke out Monday night, so I stayed late at the Rocky and got a ride home with a colleague. Tuesday, I had to drive to an interview over the noon hour, so I needed my car. Wednesday, I got a phone call in the morning, which put me behind, so I didn't have time to catch the bus and make it to work on time.
I'd fallen so far off the wagon that I gave up on the bus that week.
My problem was my big mouth.
In a weak moment, I'd bragged to my colleagues that I'd begun taking the bus, and, of course, broadcasting something like that is the kiss of death. My failure was guaranteed.
But I'm not throwing in the towel. To borrow from Shakespeare, the course of true environmentalism never did run smooth. I'm taking another run at the bus on Monday.
Once I conquer that, I have every intention of riding my bike to work, which is all the rage in France. Think of the exercise I'll get! The money I'll save!
This time, I won't be an idiot and tell everyone ahead of time.
Post your comment
Registration is required. Click here to create your free user account, or login below.
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.
July 19, 2008
5:50 a.m.
Suggest removal
arby writes:
Mary
A good column. As you stated get your act down before opening night. If it makes you feel any better me and countless others have made worse mistakes.
Pretty hard changing to public transport when you aren't used to it. Plus as you pointed out sometimes you need your car for business. Be glad you only have a 4 cylinder and not a big SUV.