I am finding myself traveling from North Portland to SE pretty regularly right now. I'm still figuring out the preferred method. It is a little over 7 miles start to finish, and then back. I work full time, have two children, and in general lead a pretty busy life, so travel time and efficiency is somewhat important. However, I'm trying to embrace this car free life. To me, car free doesn't necessarily mean never using a car, just not owning one and limiting use of a car.
So far I have tried biking, bussing, and tonight, borrowing a friend's car.
Biking is great. Especially right now with the amazing weather we are having. Yesterday I biked there. The weather was beautiful and I had the time to meandor over without getting too sweaty on the way. However, I don't love biking home that far alone late at night. So my friend offered me a ride home. I had the kid-mobile, so trying to fit it in the back of a Honda crv was a bit of a challenge. We managed, but just barely, and it was definitely a two person job.
Last week I didn't want to deal with my bike, since I wasn't sure what the day would hold after I got down there. It ended up being a good thing as our tour that day ended up taking all of us back up near my hood anyway, and had I biked, my bike would have been in SE while I was already near NoPo. The bus took about an hour and 20 minutes though, yikes!
Today, I borrowed a friend's car. It is super sweet of her to let me use it. She is a neighbor, so it was super convenient. I also was able to run a couple errands to and from SE that otherwise would have added a fair amount of time.
I'd like to try car2go as well. I think it seems like a good program for something like this. However, at the beginning the the cost is great with enrollment fees and I am not sure how much I'd use it whether it would be worth the initial membership fee. This is something I will look into further. I'd love to hear other's experience with the program or other ideas. I previously had my car on Getaround and would like to try that as well. I like the one way versatility of Getaround though. I don't have to commit for any distinct period of time amd if I find another route home, that is okay too. Perhaps I will report back on these various programs at a future time.
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