One Less Car Key

I live in DC. I can walk to work. And at WTOP, we use reporter vehicles, so the question came up: do I really need a personal car?

I did the math. There was no car payment, but there was insurance, gas and parking fees. Money could be saved,  and in the current fiscal climate, that's always something to be considered.

While I thought about it, my '98 Plymouth Voyager made its own decision. When it went green on me. Very, very, green. As in anti-freeze-pooling-on-the-pavement-underneath-it green. It wasn't quite HAZMAT level crisis, but it wasn't good.

With repairs, it would run again, but I wasn't in the mood to sink money into it. And I thought it was a perfect time to test what some friends insist is a great way to live and what others insist with equal force, must be a sure sign of insanity: why not ditch the car?

So, decision made. I donated the car. I won't say it wasn't weird--it was. I've been driving for decades. I actually like driving. Even in Washington traffic. (This may be explained by the fact that I learned to drive in Boston--you decide.)

This blog isn't a vanity blog or a pro-bike blog. I'm still a driver. As a reporter for WTOP I can be in Annapolis in the morning, Rockville in the afternoon, and anywhere the news takes me in between.

I'll be talking to other people who've done this. People who love cycling as a way of getting around. And I'll be talking to the people who wish those people would stick to the sidewalk. Cyclists, drivers, pedestrians. We have a limited amount of pavement to share. How do we make this work?