There are many benefits of being car-free, a lot of them revolve around $$$ savings from not having a hunk of metal in my driveway, I have a clear conscience around pollution, I generally feel I'm making a difference. However, in the last few months it has come clear that there is one major downturn of not having a car and that is impulse.
Recently I met a new woman in my life, like me she is car free, rides a bike, takes transit and often walks to work - what a catch ! However, since she does lives some distance away the logistics of the car free relationship have become apparent. In the past I have always had a vehicle when starting a new relationship; it was easy just to jump in the car and be there in a matter of minutes. Without the car, like most other things without the car, our social lives need more planning; this has not been an issue until recently.
My new partner has not been without her car for very long, in fact she is contemplating buying a car in the spring. On closer inspection her reasons for being without the car are not the same as mine, less environmental impact, more financial. However, the impact on our relationship is more than apparent. Like many people from Vancouver's more westerly locations, we over here on the eastern border may as well be in Coquitlam or Mission. Needless to say the logistics are compounded during the week when it is back to work in the AM of the next day; the growth of our relationship seems to be hampered by our car free lifestyles.
I have had more time to adjust to the car free life, my partner, because it was a financial choice more than philosophical, seems to be fighting the change more aggressively. She misses the ability to simply jump in the car and go some place on impulse, I have pretty well dealt with that issue, up until now.
So how do we deal with this ? One of us has to relent, either I have to buy a car or she has to buy a car OR she has to become accustomed to riding the 135 bus or grabbing a $10 taxi ride to my house. Had I lived around Commercial Drive this might be only half the issue, since that area is about halfway between us. Out here on the Burnaby/Vancouver border maybe quieter than the downtown eastside. Right now it looks like I am the one trekking regularly in to Vancouver, which I don't mind at all, after all that is why we have Ipod's and cell phones [both recently purchased].
Early stages of relationships are often dubious and it is where insecurity comes to light, add a dose of logistical car free lifestyle and could be just one more thing to dampen ones enthusiasm. Yet we are highly resilient individuals, we are full of ideas to circumvent inconvenience and general bad weather, surely two mature, intelligent, hot for each other individuals can overcome this.
1 comments:
Having a car is not a problem. Having a car that wrecks the planet is a problem and that includes all cars that burn fossil fuels. You could wait until 2010 until various small electric cars should be available, perhaps for as little as 10k. The ZENN is available right now, is made in Canada but our governments make it very difficult to use. They claim it is unsafe but 100hp motorcycles are OK. There are numerous electric scooters and bikes around but they can be considered less safe. Living together also works when you're ready for that.
good luck.
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