Car Free! Finally...

Well it's done, I have moved to Falls Church, 1 mile from the East Falls Church metro and leaps and bounds closer to my work in Clarendon.

I celebrated this morning by biking to the metro. What a fabulous Fall day for it! There were beautiful red and orange leaves along my route, the temperature was perfect, and the traffic along the bike route was minimal. I can't wait to bike my entire commute!

The downside this morning was that I got lost. I got lost because to get from my house to the metro I have to bike through 3 different jurisdictions and each jurisdiction has their own bike map! Also I must say the Arlington County's bike map (from their Car Free diet series) is much better than the Fairfax County bike map (available at government buildings). It shows bike shops along your route, public restrooms, and dangerous intersections. I don't feel like I can trust the Fairfax County bike map because it shows Prosperity Rd as a "Preferred" road to bike on. I have never seen anyone bike on that road .. and for good reason! It is narrow, windy, steep, with no shoulders, and cars are always crossing the lines around curves and driving way too fast.

For interesting information on bike commuting, I like to read the CommuterPageBlog.

So anyways, if you see me rolling around in the bike pictured here please give me lots of room and be friendly =) I'm not by any means a hardened bike commuter yet and I could use some good will!

Car Free?

So, did you go car free or car lite yesterday?

Looks like theGreenMiles did: "I'll be Metroing from Ballston to West Falls Church, then taking the 952 bus out to the office in Reston. Takes a bit longer, but saves on gas, lets me catch up on reading, and keeps me from having to battle traffic on I66!"

And our fellow blogger Eric did: "I took the Metro to Pentagon, then the 22A bus to Shirlington - takes a little bit longer than driving, but is so much more relaxing (and cheaper!)"

As for myself, I chickened out on biking to the metro. Confession: although I work in Arlington I've been living way out in Fairfax. It is way too easy to make excuses and drive in Fairfax.

So what am I doing to reduce my carbon footprint? I'm moving closer to work! In a few weeks I will be living in Falls Church near the East Falls Church metro (and near bus lines and bike trails). No more excuses. I can't wait to bike, walk, and metro all around Arlington and Falls Church.

And now I've found out that I can keep up the biking at work with our new fleet of trikes!

Share your reasons or plans for going car free or car lite...

World Car-Free Day on Monday

In my last town I got most places by bike. It was a small town so nothing was very far away and there were bike lanes and general acceptance of the biking and walking public.

Moving to the city I've discovered that getting from Point A to Point B is much more frustrating but my options are far more expansive: biking, driving, metro, multiple types of buses, slugging, carpooling, zip car, Envirocab, etc.

I challenge you to use World Car-Free Day as an opportunity to try a new way of getting around that does not involve a car.

WalkArlington is promoting Car-Free Day with a walk in Clarendon from on Monday September 22nd.

The walk will be made more interesting with speakers sharing anecdotes about Clarendon's history, cultural resources, gathering places, and car-free lifestyle. 6:30-7:30 p.m

Not only that, but "in conjunction with Arlington County Commuter Services' Car-Free Diet campaign and the Clarendon Alliance, Clarendon's many restaurants and shops will be offering World Car-Free Day discounts and promotions."