Not quite ready

I attempted an experiment last week. Something most of my friends, and Americans in general, would think is crazy: I was going to ride the bus. I figured it would be no big deal. After all I live a few blocks off one of the busiest roads in Pinellas County, I work at 2 places that are also on major roads, the price of gas was going up, and I had just seen Rachel Botsman's Tedtalk on collaborative consumption. Even my school was on the bus route. My schedule is flexible enough that I could adjust it to the transit system's schedule and it would be a piece of cake. Or so I thought. After looking at all the PSTA route maps, I bought myself a one week unlimited bus pass for $20. I calculated that if I rode it for 144 miles in the week I would be saving money. I did not add all the other costs of owning a car, just the gas. 2 trips to school would be 50 miles and back and forth to work would get me close, but it wasn't just about the money.

I hopped on last Saturday morning, off to meet my friend for a trip to the St Pete Farmer's Market, then I would head to a writing workshop at school which would give me an idea of where the bus stopped in that part of town. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed the walking that was involved with going to and from the bus stops. The ride to school after the market was also pleasant. I even had a backup plan with a fellow student in case our class ran late on Monday night. That is where I made my mistake. I checked and rechecked the schedule to make sure the bus ran 'til 10:30 pm, in the school neighborhood. I neglected to check if it ran back up to my house....it did not. I would have been stranded about a mile from home on a busy street after 10 pm. Fortunately for me, I noticed this on Monday morning and not Monday night and so scrapped the idea. Now I could have gone back and forth to work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday but I decided instead to give my bus pass to someone who takes the bus because they have to and hope that the little financial boost would help them out.

So while I love the idea of not having a car and all the expense that goes along with it, I'm just not ready for it yet. I will definitely consider taking it again when I go to the St Pete Farmer's Market or other excursions and will be dreaming of the day when Zipcar comes to town.

TYOLS

Exciting things are happening in the online world. Sharing is the new wave and I intend on experimenting with this new paradigm. I actually envisioned this several years ago while thinking about trying to make enough money to pay the monthly bills. If only the house were paid for there would be no need to slave away 40 hours a week for someone else. Of course, things took a 180 ° turn and now I just don't worry. Back to today...as part of my plan borrowed from Neal Gorenflo for The Year of Living Shareably, I am going to also comment on my adventures in that arena. My first idea was to take the bus to see The King's Speech, however, the bus doesn't run that late on Sunday so I will save that one for later this week when I attempt to get to work by sharing mass transportation. Fortunately I don't really have too many timetables at work so if I miss the first one there will be another in 15 minutes. Now I did handknit a headband for my friend Loren who was also going to the movie so she paid me for it and that got me a ticket. Not really counting that since it was just coincidence that it was done in time for the show.

I did, however, barter some Tastefully Simple products and lunch for a massage last Friday....

and by the way the movie was great...two thumbs up!