Samantha

Week One:

When I signed up for the Walk Ride Share Challenge, I expected, quite simply, a challenge. But the fantastic weather this past weekend and all of the great freebies from Philly Car Share, have made giving up my car one of the easiest and most enjoyable things I have ever done!

At the launch event, I was incredibly lucky and won a brand-new Fuji bike! I have been looking into getting a new bike for a few months and I was super excited when I won the Fuji! I haven't ridden a bike in a few years, so I spent a ton of time this weekend practicing my riding skills. After a few spins around my block, I took a long ride along the Kelly Drive bike path. I am still a little nervous to ride my bike in the city traffic, but I think after a few more practice runs I will be ready to hit the streets!

I also gave my new Pumas a few extra miles this weekend. (Side note: I have never had a pair of Puma running shoes before and they are absolutely the most comfortable things I have EVER put on my feet...If you haven't done so already, make sure you try on a pair!) Instead of driving to the grocery store I walked and carried home my groceries. Not only did I feel like I was doing something good for the environment, I also felt energized from the little extra bit of exercise.

I have been riding the bus to work for the past few weeks, so it hasn't been much of a challenge to fit my commute into the Walk Ride Share Challenge model. But my job requires that I run errands and visit clients on a daily basis. In the past I have been struck by extreme laziness and have taken a taxi to visit my clients, even though they are at most a 15 minute walk away. This week, my challenge to myself this week is to walk to my client visits and resist the lazy urge to take a taxi. Wish me luck!

Week Two:

Last week I challenged myself to give up taxi cabs and to start walking to visit my clients. Last Monday was the first day that I implemented this plan and I learned my first lesson very quickly: never attempt to walk more than 15 blocks in heels. I have never been a huge fan of the sneakers-with-dress-suits look, but after giving myself horrible blisters by attempting to walk 15 blocks in four inch heels I broke down and started wearing my sneakers when I had to trek more than a few blocks and only switching into my heels before meetings. Not only did switching to sneakers make my feet feel about a million times better, I realized that I was able to walk much faster when I wasn't worried about getting my heels stuck in side walk cracks.

In addition to helping save my feet from high heels, the Walk Ride Share Challenge has also turned me into Mary Poppins. I used to head to work with a smaller size purse, but now that I have to plan for walking around the city, riding my bike and being completely dependent on public transportation my purse is HUGE! By the end of Week 2 my purse always contained sneakers, a bike lock, 8 million SEPTA maps and schedules, books and magazines (sometimes the bus from Center City to Manayunk can take over an hour), snacks and a bottle of water.Not only did I feel that I was prepared for anything that the city had to offer, but I felt I could give Mother Nature a run for her money too. That is until I realized I forgot to pack an umbrella. After getting caught waiting for a bus in a windy/rainy mess with only a City Paper to keep me 'dry' last week, I went out and invested in an umbrella and a poncho that I added to my ever-expanding purse. I have never been more excited to carry a giant purse than I was this morning as I walked out the door into another windy, rainy May day and was able to put on my poncho, pop open an umbrella and stay dry during my wait for the bus.

Week Three:

The highlight of my week last week was using PhillyCarShare for the first time. A few weeks ago, I planned a weekend trip to Ocean City, Maryland as belated Mother's Day celebration for my Mom and Grandma. When I planned the trip I was nervous because my personal car is notoriously unreliable and gas is super-expensive. However, since I am taking part in the Walk Ride Share Challenge I had PhillyCarShare credits to use for the trip.

The whole process of using PhillyCarShare was amazing! The online reservation system was incredibly user-friendly. All I had to do was put in the location where I wanted to pick up a car, how long I needed the car, and then choose from available cars. It was that easy! First I went with a Mini-Cooper convertible because I thought it would be cute for a beach weekend. Then I started feeling guilty about not using one of the hybrids, so I went back and changed my reservations. I had a slight problem with reservation change, but when I called the customer service line the operator was extremely friendly and helpful and was able to correct the problem immediately.

When I went to pick up my car on Thursday afternoon, the Toyota Prius that I reserved was in the spot where I was supposed to pick it up, fully gassed up and ready to go at my reservation time. All I had to do was hop in and drive. (Although it did take me a few tries to get used to pushing a power button to turn on the car). Not only was the Pruis really fun to drive, I only used a half-a-tank of gas for the entire trip to Ocean City and back. I drove my Mom and my Grandma to the outlets for a day of shopping and the Prius was surprisingly roomy and easy for my Grandma to get in and out of.

Since the Prius had the PhillyCarShare logo on it, tons of strangers stopped and asked me about PhillyCarShare. Everyone that I talked to was really impressed with the program and told me that they wished their city had a similar program. My experience with using PhillyCarShare for the first time was FANTASTIC and I am now convinced that I do not need my car anymore! I can't wait to donate it and be done with worrying about gas, insurance and parking tickets!
 

Week Four:

In my native Maryland we go "downey Oshun, hon," but this past weekend I took my first trip to "the shore." I got out of work a bit early on Friday and caught a ride down to the shore with one of my friends. After about 3 hours sitting in traffic on the AC expressway we finally got to the shore. Once we got to Avalon, my friend's car stayed in park because we were able to ride bikes everywhere! The weather was great all weekend and I definitely enjoyed the slower pace of Avalon.

On Saturday I got a call from my boyfriend telling me that one of my favorite bands was playing at Jam on the River at Penn's Landing on Sunday and that tickets were only 10 bucks! Since I was thoroughly sunburned from only one day out on the beach I decided I would cut my trip to the shore short and come home a day early. The only problem was that my friend wasn't coming back until Monday. While cruising around Avalon earlier in the day I had noticed some NJ Transit bus stop signs, so I figured I would call their hot line and see if they had buses running to Philadelphia on the weekend. After giving the incredibly helpful operator my address and my destination, she gave me the times and stops for the 313 and 315 buses that run between Philly and the Jersey Shore. I got up early on Sunday morning, caught the 313 bus back to Philly (only $15 dollars!!) and after 2 scenic hours on a very comfortable bus I was back in Philly with time to spare before the concert!

After dropping my bags off and picking up my boyfriend in Fairmount, we hopped the 33 which took us right to Penn's Landing. We enjoyed a great show from the Avett Brothers and more wonderful weather! Overall, I had another fantastic weekend, and I didn't miss my car one bit!