Recently a visitor to our office was introduced to me by my boss. “This is Brian, he lived in New York and never learned to drive, he rides the bus. “ The visitor looked at me stunned for a second then gave me the usual reaction I’ve been getting to that fact here in San Diego, which is an over sincere, “good for you.” Other’s have just come out and asked me if I’m nuts, you can’t survive without a car in California. It’s true, in New York City, a car is a pain, you have your alternate side of the street parking rule and road tolls everywhere and public transportation will get you anywhere on public transit faster than any other mode. I was encouraged when planning my move across country that San Diego boasted an award winning transit system and decided I’d be alright here while continuing in my non-driver status. I can say now that it is possible and preferable for the most part. It takes a little longer to get from place to place but for a $72 monthly pass, I can get anywhere in the city in 15 minutes to an hour. I don’t fancy myself a hard core tree hugger, but, I’m happy about and proud of my miniscule carbon footprint, I don’t worry about car repairs, gas prices or auto insurance and I’m far safer for my own benefit as much as others not being behind the wheel. And besides not adding to the pollution, I’m helping support a fine public transit system who’s busses run on clean, natural gas. I also get the extra perk of daily exercise by walking from home to the bus, bus to work and then home again in reverse. With the usually beautiful weather we enjoy in San Diego, the walk is quite pleasurable, especially good for clearing my mind in the morning and shedding office cares on the way home. The busses are quite on schedule, reliable and generally clean. I’m afforded plenty of time for reading, enjoying my IPod and just watching the scenery.
If I do ever get it together enough to get my license and a car, I think I would continue to use the public system for getting to my job and back and only use the car at night and weekend excursions.
I would encourage anyone to explore taking public transit, not just for the “green” factor, but the more demand there is for it the more the system will be expanded and improved
