One Year Without a Car in Charleston, South Carolina

Is living without a car for a year possible in Charleston, SC?

Yes, it is.

Last year, around mid-September (2007) our car lease was up. Instead of burning rubber to the local Auto-mile with a pre-arranged auto loan in hand, we elected to experiment with a different kind of lifestyle – one with no car at all.

Charleston may be famous for her long term standing in the upper rankings of most hospitable cities but she is not known for her public transit. Yet we endeavored to move forward in a challenge to ourselves that included reducing our carbon footprints while exploring alternative methods of transportation. We figured at best our delirium or tenacity, whichever you choose to call it, would last for a few weeks or so.

Despite not knowing the course this grand experiment would take, here we are,- one year later still riding the bus as our main source of daily transportation! Yes, it's true. And, no, it is not always chock full of convenience. For instance, Friday night one of us was semi-stranded and waited for almost a full hour because the bus got held up by traffic in the rain. So, how have we had the patience to pull this off?

Well, we live downtown and are lucky to be centrally located with the buses dropping us within close proximity to almost all of the places we regularly have to go, including home. We also have access to a family-member's car if needed, which allows us to work in a quarterly trip to Costco (several miles outside of downtown) or take the dog to the vet (he is unwelcomed on the CARTA bus as you have probably guessed).

Life without a car isn't bad, yet over the last year a lot of people have peppered the pair of us with all kinds of peculiar questions related to our personal carlessness. Someone once asked, Is it safe? Clearly. We're still alive to write about it. Someone else wondered allowed, How do you go shopping? Walk or bike to the farmers market or grocery store, buy lots of fresh food. Alternatively, carry goods on bus. Others have inquired, How long do you have to wait for the bus? Sometimes we wait, sometimes we don't. And, once by e-mail someone asked, Why don't you just buy a Prius? Prius ownership still involves oil dependency to a degree. Although we believe owning a semi-electric is a great step, our experiment here involves the giant leap away from car ownership. However, we solute you, Prius owners! We know a few of you out there.

Anyway, despite CARTA's increase in ridership over the last year as a result of gas prices, the daily workings of the transit system seem a mystery to many. The unintended positive consequences of ridership, like trimmer waistlines and reductions in episodic road rage, are obviously hidden beneath the folds of CARTA's sparsely funded packaging, out of obvious view.

Hopefully our mixed bag of justifications for car-free living - conjestion, over-consumption, questioning the belief systems commanding our conveniences, economic contraction and global warming among them, are clearly discernible through the stories we've shared here online. Curing The Oil Addiction - Converting to CARTA from last September was our first carless post and captured some of the things on our minds at the time. But basic things, like money, and an expectation that our economy might end up in turmoil, supported the continuation of this project.

Yep, we have saved a lot of money by living without a car for a year. We've eliminated car payments, car insurance, State taxes, maintenance, and gas & oil expenses from our total household budget. The savings have helped adjust our household balance sheet as the U.S. Financial system has slowly slipped into crisis mode. Free of being saddled with a car payment certainly makes watching White House economists on C-Span (fighting over the roles of Keynesian vs. Austrian economic theory in modern-day America) more laughable, at least.

For the moment, and possibly until the perfect electric vehicle is released, we are going to continue living car free. We will rely on CARTA as our main source of mobility and keep pushing for the betterment of our public transit system. This blog is mainly dedicated to the experiences collected through direct utilization of Charleston's public transit system. We've met some interesting people, had some odd conversations and found glimmers of enlightenment in strange scenes that would never have been observed in auto utero, behind the glass of the protective windshield. The whole order of society can be seen from a bus seat when peering out the corner of one's eye. So, without further adieu, here is a collection of the last year's postings which more specifically highlight our adventures on CARTA, a most under-appreciated public bus system. Enjoy.

Jaguar vs. CARTA - Week One
Week Two - Curing Oil Addiction Follow Up
CARTA Politics and Community Planning
Dashing About Town
Getaway CARTA
Not NASCARTA
Biking to a Business Event
Charleston's Talking Public Transit
Tourist Season on CARTA
Shame on Charleston - Going to the Doctor



Check back as we continue pushing for better community planning, improvement & expansion of mass transit and the responsibility and possibility of Energy Independence.

Financial System Collapse

Incase you've recently emerged from the rock under which you were living, we found it appropriate to inform you that what you have just witnessed over the past few days here in the debt-ridden United States of America is the final wheezing breath of the financial system as we knew it. There is only one thing to consider as we await a hastily designed bail-out plan that will likely place us in a poverty very few of us have known or understand.

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.

Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802)
3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)

Special thanks to quotationspage.com
Photo Credits: picsearch.com

Charleston, SC Gas Situation

Around Charleston gas is fluctuating spectacularly due to the unknown extent of damages most likely inflicted by Hurricane Ike. Gas was going up all night. This morning we took a walk around downtown. We had some errands anyway. As we rounded the corner onto upper Meeting we noted the Exxon (above Calhoun Street) had Regular posted at $4.01.We made our way down to the market at Marion Square, spotting $3.99 at the Shell. Unfortunately, Shell was a few cents cheaper because they were out. All pumps donned the telling plastic, yellow OUT OF SERVICE covers. Thank you for shopping.The last station we saw on our trek was the BP at Calhoun & Rutledge. They had gas when we walked by and they were selling for $3.71.Gas prices have fluctuated violently since Hurricane Ike has passed over the Gulf of Mexico and through Texas. Supply may be cut off for days. We don't know yet. Considering the South gets most of their gas from refineries in the Gulf area, prices reacted. Gas prices began going up here last night, but seem to be tapering off some today where one can find gas, that is.

Ultimately, this situation reflects the vulnerability of our petroleum dependent system. It seems the drill, drill, drill plan still leave us open to compromised security considering parts of the South are out of gas as one category 3 rolls through. Offshore drilling of any kind is subject to disruption each and every time a storm crops up out there in warming ocean waters. It doesn't really matter in this case if climate change is man-made or not. The reality is we're getting more storms - and bigger ones at that. So, if we drill, drill, drill to attempt to solve our energy problems here in the United States, we can probably consider this a preview of things to come.