March 2010

I never learned to drive and as a result cycle, use public transport and walk everywhere, but until yesterday we had a family car which my husband drove at weekends, mostly for shopping and trips to the country. Recently we moved house into a car-free development, and as a result we decided it was time to say goodbye to the car. I must admit, as I typed its details into an Ebay listing I felt a little sad. We have had some great fun on family outings in our car, it was very reliable (only breaking down once in four years) and also was a useful receptacle for boots, surf suits and miscellaneous childrens’ toys and junk. However, look at the plus side. We can join a local streetcar service for essential journeys so that we are still able to make spontaneous trips when we can’t use public transport. We won’t have to pay for road tax, car insurance or the car’s annual MOT. Financially, we will be saving hundreds, possibly thousands of pounds. And environmentally, we will be practising what we preach. I think electric cars are great (at an event I went to recently, one person arrived in a G-whiz and another in a Lexus hybrid) but they are financially out of reach for a lot of people and they still consume energy. It is possible to take steps to reduce our dependence on cars, by sharing, renting and reducing use and and by getting rid of our car I feel that my family has taken a big step forwards. I’ll be posting soon with news about how we have found the car club: we are going to join Zipcar as it’s the only service which will let us take our dog Dexter on board!