This morning, I donated my truck to WMHT-FM, the local classical music station.
I spent a lot of time deciding whether now was the time to be car-free.
Arguments in favor:
- I’m the executive director of the New York Bicycling Coalition.
- I work from home.
- I live in downtown Albany, close to everything.
- I want to be car-free, with all that implies for the environment, my physical health, mental health and finances.
- BP, Iraq, the Middle East, global warming, etc. etc. etc.
Arguments against:
- I sometimes have to travel across New York State for work.
- My wife and kids are temporarily living in a different state.
When I balanced it all out, the outcome was to donate the truck and go car-free. I can travel across the state by train, and with a folding bike I can move around when I get there. (Of course, that means I need a folding bike, but that’s not a large expense, even on my austerity budget.)
As for visiting Jen, Bernie and John, that’s a bit harder because they’re in an out-of-the-way part of Pennsylvania. However, there are mass-transit ways to get there (Greyhound, Amtrak and other bus services). And I can rent a car. And they can visit me using our family’s other car, which is with them in PA.
I’ve lived without a car before. I didn’t have one either time I lived in Japan, and I didn’t use one when we lived in Brooklyn. Of course, those places have much stronger mass transit systems than Albany, but Albany’s isn’t bad. But I was still surprised by just how uncertain I felt as the tow truck pulled away. I’m so conditioned to believe that it’s only possible to live in the USA with a car. And that’s despite my immersion in the cycling world and my general political and environmental beliefs.
And that may be the strongest argument in favor of making the break with my automotive life. This is a time of reinvention and bold moves, a time in my life that calls for change and decisive action.
So here I am at the beginning of a new experience. Wish me luck, and I’ll see you out there!
UPDATE: A few more things about the truck:
It was a gift from my parents, who no longer needed it when they moved from the countryside in upstate New York to Manhattan. Like many gifts, particularly from my family, it came exactly when it was needed.
As you’ll see in the comments my mom made to this post, the red truck has been around for a long time. Since 1997, in fact. It’s hauled its share of wood and done its share of service, a story I tried to tell in a poem called “Red Truck Elegy.”
I like to think that the red truck is going out on top. In the past few weeks it has been called into action at a difficult time and it made that time less trying. And now it will go toward keeping art alive in this little corner of the world. All in all, not a bad existence for a truck.
