When life gives you lemons, MAKE LEMONADE!

It's been a little over two months since I've driven in Denver, and I've figured out that having a car here isn't really a necessity. (yes, a convenience, but not required!) 

Denver RTD has a pretty decent bus system in the Denver metro area. The buses run far into the mountains and suburbs at regular intervals. You can secure your bike on the front of the bus, and if the driver is really nice, you might even be able to bring the bike on board if the racks are full and ridership is low. The combination of RTD and bike is great, as Denver has an awesome bike trail system (watch out, it's a large PDF) as well!

The only tricky part is figuring out their online system map, which is, well, horrid. Some of the screenshots are too small to read, even when zooming in at 100%. Some of the pages are sideways as well! The "Trip Planner" is slow, and you don't get to see a general maps of where the transfers are. If you want a hard copy of the schedules, you need to collect a leaflet for every route that you ride. What a pain!

Thanks to GoogleMaps , you can now get driving directions from one place to another, then click on the "Public Transit" link. It'll show you which routes to take and what times. It even tells you how far you'll walk to a bus stop with impressive accuracy! They provide a couple alternate routes as well. This has been implemented in most US metro areas. 

All in all, I like being a one car family. I like the extra space we have in the garage, which is now getting filled up with all sorts of bike paraphanalia. We walk more. We bike more.  Our kids are learning that they don't have to be dependent on a car. We consolidate our errands, saving time overall. We spend less money on insurance, repairs, and gas. 

Do I miss just hopping into the car to make a quick trip to the store? Sure! But I've gotten used to this lifestyle now and actually like it better. I teach out of town about once a month. I've become painfully aware of how city infrastructure can force people to be dependent on cars. Sometimes it's to Seattle, sometimes other places like Raleigh, NC.  Most places in the south are pretty bad still, and I think it's partly a function of population density (or lack thereof). It's also a chicken/egg problem. People don't participate in public transportation and biking because the infrastruction just isn't there yet, and it's not there because of lack of interest. 

I like the idea of CarShare programs, where you join a network of drivers which share a car. You pay by the hour or mile and don't have to deal with the hassles and cost of car ownership. Boulder CarShare is the only one in Colorado (go figure!), and it's a non-profit organization with about 75 members. They share a fleet of 7 cars. FlexCar is all over the east and west coast, but is a lot more expensive. Still, a great concept.