Closing things up...

Well, wouldn't you know it... Last night coming back from dinner I lost my Marta pass... But I don't have to worry I still have a couple of Breeze cards from before starting the Low Car Diet.

Now for a few reflections... Overall, good to try to do it, but it isn't working for me. Why?

I have a ten year old Jeep that is in great running condition. The yearly costs to keep it are about 1000 (tax, insurance) + gas and maintenance.

I drive up to Kennesaw on a fairly regular basis on an irregular schedule to locations not served by CCT. This means I need to have a car to get there. Once I'm up there I don't want to be rushed to get the ZipCar back to it's parking space to I am wasting money by always reserving the car for much longer than I need it.

I am already a solid Marta user and enjoy the flexability to get around to areas served by the system. My problem is walking a half mile, having a wait for the train and then the ride to go get a ZipCar gets old really quick and makes my old Jeep look really good and convenient since it is in the building.

Looking at my Marta ridership, it has definitely gone up with the monthly pass from about 25 trips to about 45, but my cost per trip difference is only .20$ so I'm happy to absorb the extra 50$/year as many of those extra 20 trips in the last month were to go get and drop off a ZipCar....

My conculsion from the months is that it would cost me at least an extra 150$/month to go without a car. That doesn't work for me in the long run as I don't want to pay nearly 2000/year, but I do like the idea of ZipCar as a backup to my normal options. At least until ZipCar gets some parking spaces within walking distance of where I am... That has been the one thing that irritated me the whole month, no ZipCars near my office or home even though I live in Buckhead and work in Sandy Springs and both places are withing 300 yards of the Marta stations.

Well, my last ZipCar reservation for the diet yesterday was good as I reservered Poirot (a Prius) from 10th and W Peachtree to drive up to 75 & 285 for a business meeting with a client. Everything was in working order and ran beautifully, once I figured out the new controls in the car! Of course I had to use Marta to go pickup the car and get home after dropping it off.

So, my final numbers were:
20 additional Marta trips/month
12 additional miles walked per month
40 fewer miles driven
150$ more per month spent

So, as I'm going to be down in the area this afternoon I'm going to go renew my tag for my Jeep to put it back in service after the Low Car Diet gathering is over...

My conclusion is that for my lifestyle I can't give up a car and my current car is just too inexpensive to operate that gas would need to be well above 5$/gallon before I'd need to alter my lifestyle.

Weekend update... but Marta keeps me sane

Well, it was a slow weekend and I didn't leave the buckhead area so even if I'd needed my car it would have stayed in the house, but the last couple days at the office have been mad.  Marta has been keeping me from the road rage!

A couple twelve+ hour days and I'm sure coming home today I would have targeted the bumper of the first idiot I saw on the road, but instead I relaxed the few stops home and gazed out at the people on 400...  The half mile walk was a positive thing as I needed to work off some of the stress before I sat back down at the computer to wrap up for the evening...

Well I better remember to book a ZipCar for tomorrow as I've gotta go do some final prep at the airport before I go for my stage check with the head instructor at my flight school... :)

Another day another dollar

Well, this week so far I'm going up to my office in Sandy Springs on a regular basis which is a bit unusual for me, but so far it has been painless as I've been on MARTA to and fro. I'm sure I'd be ready to jump off a cliff this week if I were on the road, but as it stands I'm getting about 15 minutes each way (only 3 stations work to home) to relax and listen to the iPod.

I have finally concluded that it's impossible to get from anywhere in Atlanta out to the Kennesaw Airport on public transit, but that is why I have ZipCar! I'm looking forward to getting some more flying time on the clock out there, but what a pain it is to have to go and pickup a car for that one trip.

On the upside I'm getting a good 2 miles of walking in every day even without going to the gym! Last night I took a walk over to Lenox mall to do a little window shoping and then down to Bricktop for dinner before going home at a good 1.2 miles. And, yesterday walking to/from Marta and my Sandy Springs office I got a good 0.6 miles. So without going anywhere special I got nearly two miles put on my shoe leather. Now, I've gotta get the gym scheduled again and add a couple more miles on my feet!

Wedding and the dead card

Wild weekend! On Friday it was my younger brother's rehersal and Saturday was the Wedding. I grabbed Maydew from my closest MARTA station on Friday and the madness began. As the best man going without wheels wasn't much of an option as it started out Friday with shuttling around relatives from the airport up to Kennesaw where the festivities were happening.

Everything was going smoothly and I was having a ton of fun seeing all kinds of relatives and extended family I hardly ever get to see... until...

My brother lives just around the corner from my in Buckhead and I was planning on driving him up to the wedding at our folks house on Saturday. As I'd already gotten Maydew I wasn't scheduling a lot of extra time to get up there since I didn't have to go get a car. I had parked Maydew overnight in my building's parking deck so it would be convenient to get to.

In the morning I drove it down to the street level and parked it in the temporary parking we have for loading and unloading down there. Then I went up to my unit and loaded up a cart with stuff to put in the car... well when I got back to Maydew it had gotten an attitude and wouldn't unlock. Bottom line this has been my first problem with the system, but a 30 mintue call when I'm responsible for getting the groom to the wedding.... Not Cool.

Apparently when this happens you have to wait for a new card to be sent out. Well, I'm waiting now.

Caught in the rain....

Well, I've made a move....  I actually was down at the Fulton County tag office today to pay my ad valorem tax on my Jeep and while I was down there I took the vehicle out of service.  So, I'm committed in with both feet now...

I actually got some errands done in addition to that I got lunch and took some returns back to the Lindbergh Home Depot.  On the down side, I got caught in multiple thunderstorms which didn't slow me down, but I'm glad I wasn't wearing a suit...  

Walking, Groceries, Wedding....

Quick update, a couple more days, a couple more experiences...

So, I had to run up to Kennesaw on Tuesday which was a bit of a production to get a couple hours in up at the airport up there.  I was up there to finish up the last bit of ground review before I do my final checks before I go up for my FAA practical exam!

Locally, I've been hoofing it everywhere which is getting a bit crazy... I really have to plan ahead enough time to get from one place to another.  While I'm in a high-density area I still find that there are quite a few things that aren't easy to walk to.  I've found the local ATM which is about a 10 minute walk, the pizza joint is 10 min, the sport's authority is more like 15...  I'd really like a c-store within a short walk, but I'm at peachtree and piedmont and the closest is way down at piedmont and pharr rd.  That will likely stop being an issue when the disco kroger re-opens in September...  bad planning on my part...

Speaking of which...  it's a bit annoying having a grocery store within a 5-10 min walk, but it's closed for rennovations!  That means that I've gotta go get a zip car to just get simple groceries... maybe zifty.com can help me iron this wrinkle out for immediate need items and amazon.com can help me with longer term stuff...  Two months till the Kroger reopens... seems like a lot longer.

My next challenge is this weekend, my brother's wedding weekend...  I'm supposed to be in Marietta for the rehersal dinner on Friday night, and saturday afternoon/evening for the big event...  Seems a bit crazy, but I'm going to basically have to get a zip car for pretty much two whole days... maybe I'll be able to squeeze in some other errands like getting groceries, taking my dive gear back to my storage unit down by 85 & Piedmont, getting a little flight time in at the Kennesaw airport... it all seems a bit forced though.

Well, time to go get a nice pair of shoes at the sports authority and some lunch... Loco's is next door to SA so that will be a good bet for a quick sandwich.  It kinda has to be quick otherwise the 20 minutes walking there and back pretty much chews up all my time for lunch.

Back from my biz trips!

Well, the first week is in the past now.  I've had a bit of a crazy travel week so cars haven't been the highest thing on my list.

Starting out the week I was on a business trip to MSP.  MARTA from the Buckhead station down to ATL was easy and almost relaxing.  Once I was in Minneapolis the company I work for arranged a car for me to use while I was there.  

On the return trip I did have some problems including an unexpected overnight visit to Philly.  While Philadelphia is a really nice city to visit, this wasn't the time for it.  I got a taxi from the airport around 1am and back to the airport at 2pm to try for another flight nearly 24hours late.   I'm sick of commercial airlines and air traffic control delays!

Back in Atlanta for the weekend I've been getting more exercise in now that I've parked my car!  On Friday night I needed to run a few errands and get dinner.  Normally for a 3 location errand run (about 3 miles of walking...)  I'd pull my car out of the parking deck here in my condo where I keep it, but this time I walked it.  Not a bad hike, but it's a lot different than getting time in on a cardio machine in the gym.  The next morning my feet wanted to kill me for abusing them...  Time for me to go across the street and shop for some new walking shoes.  

I did get some carpooling time in over the weekend.  My brother needed me to help him with some weekend projects so we carpooled up to Kennesaw to get the final preperations ready for his wedding on the 2nd!  Everything worked out well and all the project are done.

Speaking of the upcoming wedding, this week is going to be a bit strange for my schedule since a lot of relatives are coming into town.  Wednesday and Friday I'm going to be host and chaeufeur to various aunts and uncles so I am sure that I'm going to be making use of the ZipCars.

And, I actually just booked a reservation for today to run up to the Kennesaw airport to get some ground school taken care of.  I am just finishing my FAA Private Pilot certification and I need to get some more review in before I take my practical exam.  Unfortunately, the instructor is located way outside of the places MARTA might be able to get me so it's time to turn to ZipCar to get me where I'm going!