Rebecca

Week One:

My first few days of the Walk Ride Share challenge were spent in New Orleans at Jazz Fest. I had a FABULOUS time, and have great stories to tell (a veritable smorgasbord of good music, good food and good drink). Alas, none of my tales involve getting around Philadelphia without my car.

We did, however, rely on public or shared transportation the entire time that we were away. (The New Orleans St. Charles Streetcar has been declared a moving national historic landmarks and has been running for over 165 years.) Imagine that the SEPTA Girard Street trolley still used the original cars and that the driver had to get out every once in a while to change the track manually.

I haven’t figured out why some people think it’s acceptable to scream at the top of their lungs while on a crowded streetcar – particularly when they are talking to someone sitting right next to them. Do they really think that everyone else cares about their conversation?

The street car was beautiful and convenient (the stop was literally right outside our hotel door), but boy is it SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. We didn’t eat dinner on Saturday night until after 10PM because we had to wait for about thirty minutes for it to come and then it moved along St. Charles Street at a snail’s pace. Of course, I’m not complaining. We were on vacation, so we weren’t in any hurry.

I’ve been to Jazz Fest every year since Katrina and it’s great to see the music scene and tourism flourishing again. Unfortunately, large parts of the city are still in disrepair, and the watermark is still readily visible, both literally and figuratively. Each year, I feel good about spending my money, particularly on things like public transportation. I hope that in my small way I’m boosting the economy of the city and helping the efforts to rebuild.

Week Two:

Before I get to my main-thought-of-the-week, I want readers to know the things that I enjoyed. I loved being able to use a convertible on a gorgeous day to run errands. I loved having a SEPTA pass, because it's so easy to transfer when you're not using tokens and change. It was even really easy to transport Barnum in her Pet Tube (http://www.dog-bag.com) in the back of a PhillyCarShare Prius.

That having been said, I was really frustrated with how far in advance I needed to plan. I couldn't get a car on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 or 4PM to get to East Falls for a friend's house warming party. I needed to be back in Center City by 6:30, and since SEPTA regional rail runs infrequently on weekends, I couldn't make both engagements without a car. I had no idea that ALL of the cars in Bella Vista – actually in all of Center City and South Philly – would be reserved for Saturday so far in advance.

I also found it hard to estimate how long errands would take, so the first time I reserved a car I found myself scampering around to get everything done in the time that I had reserved. (It was only that night that a friend reminded me that I should have called to see if I could have extended my reservation! Note to self.

My final frustration came on Thursday night when I had to wait a very long time for my bus to get home. I had been very proud of myself for figuring out an easy way on SEPTA to get to Greensgrow (http://www.greensgrow.org) for their CSA kick-off party. I was picked up a block from my house, and only had to walk a few blocks at the other end – and all that with only one transfer. Alas, coming home was not as easy. After the party, I had dinner at Memphis Tap Room (http://memphistaproom.com) with friends. After dinner, we realized that there was no direct way from Fishtown to Bella Vista, and that each of the buses that I would need to take ran infrequently at night. If I had driven, I'd be inside my house within thirty minutes, and yet the total trip took me more than ninety minutes.

My frustration made me wish that I were back on my bike. I was constantly aware that riding a bike - I even found myself dreaming of a collapsible bike for the first time - would be the fastest and easiest way to get from Point A to Point B. I used to ride a lot, but have been unsure about getting onto my bike again after my accident. I think it might be time for me to buy the safest possible helmet, outfit one of my bikes with side-view mirrors and a head light, and find a safe place to test out my riding.

Week Three:

I really enjoy riding public transportation. OK, let me rephrase that: I really enjoy riding public transportation when I don't have to wait for more than 20 minutes to do so. I like that someone else is doing the driving. I like the people watching. And I like having downtime to listen to my iPod or meditate. With my monthly SEPTA pass, I am taking the bus or subway more frequently than I was when I relied on tokens. Don't get me wrong, I'm still annoyed that it's impossible to get directly from Bella Vista to most of the places that I frequent, but once I'm in transit, I enjoy the journey. This week alone, I've taken the bus to the pool in West Philadelphia; I've taken the El to the Trenton Avenue Street Fair; I've taken the subway to two baseball games; and I've taken the bus up Broad Street to Osteria.

I also spent the second half of the week kicking around in my comfy new Turquoise Pumas. I'm still finding, however, that I can't always rely on public transportation and walking. PhillyCarShare is not always convenient and can be downright expensive (I'm trying to make that $250 credit stretch.)

One afternoon, I had an appointment in Bella Vista 30 minutes before an appointment in West Philly. I then had to get back to Bella Vista in short order for another event. I had been planning on taking the bus back and forth, and keeping my fingers crossed that they would run on time. In the morning, I received a dinner invitation to a friend's house in Northern Liberties. With all of the running around, the invitation tipped the scales in favor of needing the convenience of a car.

As soon as I accepted the dinner invitation, I logged on to PhillyCarShare to try to rent a Prius for the afternoon and evening. The first thing I discovered was that once I appropriately "padded" each trip, it would be cheaper to rent the car for the whole day; the second thing I discovered was that there was no Prius available for the whole day. As best I could tell, if I reserved different Priuses for different intervals (one for the appointments, and a different one for my dinner engagement a few hours later) I wouldn't receive the benefit of the automatic whole-day price.

It turned out to be a surprisingly warm, sunny day – so I threw caution to the wind and reserved a Miata instead. Since I would have the car all day, I changed my plans and ran errands– dashing from Art Museum to South Philly to Delaware Avenue and then back to Bella Vista – with the rag top down the entire time.

In the end it turned into a productive and enjoyable day, but I felt that my hand had been forced to spend $60 when I wanted to spend less and to be more "green" with the Prius. I also felt that I was doing a disservice to other PCS members since the car remained parked outside my house during the time between my appointments and dinner. I wasn't willing to pay more money to rent the car at two separate intervals, but that meant that someone else couldn't use the car during the prime time hours during which it was parked.

Last week I told you that,I miss being able to ride my bike confidently. This week I realize that I also miss my Yamaha Vino, which I decided to sell last year and which used to be a peppy, efficient and convenient way to get around the city. I wonder if PCS would ever add scooters to its fleet…?

Week Four:

I cheated this week.

I was in California for a few days, and rented a car to get myself around Los Angeles. I rented a compact, and when possible I carpooled with other people. But, still, I drove. Blame it on vacation laze. Or blame it on the California car culture.

Otherwise, I did have a great Walk Ride Share experience this week. My big challenge was getting my act together to get out to California. I had to figure out how to get Barnum to and from Northern Liberties, because she would be staying at Doggie World. I also had to get myself to and from the airport.

Everything worked out beautifully. The afternoon before I left I was able to rent a Prius right near my house. By now I'm beginning to become more adept at juggling unlocking the car, opening (or closing) the Pet Tube, holding on to Barnum (I clip her leash to my belt loop) and coaxing her into the Tube. I had hoped to run a few extra errands after I dropped the dog off, but there was more traffic than I anticipated, and so I had to cancel my errands (the car was already booked for after I returned it.) No big deal.

The next morning, I grabbed the 47 bus a block from my house, walked the four blocks to Market East Station and jumped on the R1 to the airport. Easy breezy. I was completely surprised that my SEPTA pass allowed me the ride on the R1. I had assumed that I'd have to pay some sort of supplement. In the past, when I go to the airport from home I'd either drive or take a cab because it felt so inconvenient to get to Market East, but it's really a piece of cake.

Even though I hadn't planned ahead, I was able to reserve a Prius for this afternoon to go get Barnum. Learning from my past mistakes, while I was reserving the car, I looked at my calendar and realized that I will also need a car Thursday afternoon, so I made that reservation at the same time. The weather is supposed to be nice and I haven't driven a Mini Convertible yet. By planning ahead, I was able to reserve the car I wanted, at a convenient pod for the time that I need.

I'm still really enjoying riding public transportation (although I wish I could take Barnum on the bus with me), and am definitely doing more of now that I am using a pass rather than tokens (do I sound like a broken record?). This week, I'm going to keep track of all of the rides that I take to see if it will cost-effective for me to purchase a pass after Walk Ride Share finishes.

I still haven't mustered the courage to go to Trophy. I'm going to call them this week, explain my circumstance and see if they'll honor the certificate later in the summer. I think it's going to take me longer than this month to feel empowered enough to get back on the proverbial horse.

Week Five:

I was a bit sad on June 1st, when I realized that Walk Ride Share was over.

The first thing that came to mind was that my SEPTA pass was no longer valid. I've really enjoyed my increased use of public transportation, as I've written, and love the convenience that the pass provides for transfers. When I did the math, however, it's cheaper for me to buy tokens and transfers individually. So the first thing I did was to stock up on tokens and to make sure I had extra quarters in my wallet for transfer passes. I wish SEPTA would introduce something like the MetroCard, but I suppose that's not a battle for PCS.

I never did get up the gumption to bring my bike in, although now more than ever I'm intrigued by the collapsible bike. I' like to get back on the proverbial horse by the end of the summer. All in good time.

I will remain a member of PhillyCarShare, but I don't anticipate giving up my car. While I like having access to a variety of cars, including the Prius and convertibles, I own a 1993 Honda Civic that still averages about 34 miles/gallon. My insurance costs are low, and the only other money that I put into it is the annual registration fees and routine maintenance. When I add in the convenience factor, particularly on weekends, the balance weighs convincingly in favor of keeping the car.

Based on my experiences this month, I have a few suggestions that I'd like to pass on to PhillyCarShare. I haven't explored the feasibility of any of these, but were they possible these changes would improve my experience with PCS.

• Provide members with the day-rate benefit, but allow them to reserve the same car for short blocks of time. For example, if I needed the car for a five hour block first thing in the morning, but not again until after dinner, it might be cheaper to rent it for the whole day. However, then there would be a block of time in which the car would not be in use, and would not be available for use by another member.

• Arrange for empty PCS parking spots in hard-to-park areas of the city. It would increase the appeal of PCS if I knew that I wouldn't have to hunt for a parking spot and then fight PPA over the inevitable parking ticket.

• Add more Priuses to the fleet!

• Designate certain cars for short-term use only. Particularly, on the weekend, it was hard to get a car because members seem to rent cars for full days or weekends. It would be nice to have more last-minute flexibility for short trips

• Add scooters with 150 cc power for use by members with valid motorcycle licenses.