Three years since ditching the second car!

In July 2006, our family of four sold our second car (my car for commuting to and from work) and I committed to commuting year-round by bike or carpooling. Three years later... no regrets!

Financially, it was a great decision, even though we owned the second car outright. We sold it for $2,000 (a great deal for a family member who needed a second car), so we immediately had $2,000 cash that we didn't have before. Combine that with annual savings (conservative estimates) from lower insurance ($500/year), no registration/inspection ($100), no gas ($500/year), and no repairs/maintenance ($700/year)... and we are ahead by over $7,000 at the three-year mark.

Physically, it has been mostly good for me. Initially, I lost a bunch of weight (which I have kept off), and got very aerobically fit. However, I found that biking to and from work without a variety of other physical activity has caused some problems. I have overdeveloped muscles in my lower legs, and underdeveloped muscles in a lot of other places. Apparently, this has thrown my body out of whack a bit, leading to calf tightness and some knee and hip pain. I feel like I've figured a lot of this out in a few Physical Therapy sessions, so it is just a matter of keeping physically fit outside of my biking routine.

Environmentally, I feel really good about it. I'm on my way to replacing the demand for 1 car to be built and used. Imagine this impact multiplied by the millions of families like ours with an extra car (or cars) used almost entirely for commuting 5 miles or less. Such a simple way to simultaneously attack the obesity epidemic and global warming.

At this point, it is natural that we make different daily decisions (subconsciously) based on our 1-car status. I find myself putting the girls in the bike trailer and taking them for trips to town when my wife has the car. We walk more. We have chosen doctors, dentists, stores, restaurants, etc. based on convenience/proximity. I think most of these decisions are really positive in terms of community and the "buy local" movement. Interestingly, we put fewer miles on our 1 car now than we used to when we had 2 cars!

One of the outcomes of bike commuting becoming second nature to me is that it feels like a chore to blog about it. Imagine blogging about your daily commute in a car? As much as I enjoy my bike ride to and from work each day, that's all it really is... another commute.