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It's no secret that cars are causing plenty of problems for the environment—increasing numbers of drivers and decreasing fuel economy means more greenhouse gases are being released than ever before. I rarely drive, but Mike, my husband, drives everywhere: His 2005 Volvo has only a few thousand miles less on it than my 1999 Saturn. Most of his mileage accumulates from his commute, but we also do a lot of driving on the weekends.
So this weekend, for a trip to Philadelphia, we decided to trade the flexibility (and gas tank fill-ups) of taking our own car for a four-part travel plan. First, his parents dropped us at the local train station—only two miles from our house, but that's a little far to walk or bike with overnight bags. Then we took the local railroad into Penn Station, transferred to a New Jersey Transit train, and had my parents pick us up at the station closest to their house—which is still a 45-minute drive. The whole process takes about three hours while driving should take only two, but at least we didn't have to worry about traffic.
The train was way more relaxing than a drive down the New Jersey Turnpike (isn't anything?) but I'm not sure it was any more eco-friendly. We saved the gas we would have used for part of the trip, but then both sets of our parents made drives they wouldn't have otherwise. And being without a car meant asking our friends and family to pick us up and drop us off wherever we wanted to go—it felt like we were 15 again. This week I'm trying to use the car less and less, but it doesn't look like it will be as easy as I thought.
More on mass transit
Take Mass Transit Instead of Driving
How to Go Green: Public Transportation
More on making your travel more eco-friendly
Learn Why Driving at a Relatively Constant Speed is Greener
Go Green, Live Rich: Maintain Your Car Properly
The Seven Best Electric Scooters
Buy the Book!
Ready, Set, Green: Eight Weeks to Modern Eco-Living
Blythe Copeland is a freelancer writer living on Long Island. Read more about her foray into the green life in her previous columns as she follows the plan set out in the book Ready, Set, Green: Eight Weeks to Modern Eco-Living.
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