TRACKING TRAVEL FOR A MONTH
After my May car fast fell through, I decided to give it a go in June – not necessarily full-out forsaking the car, but at least being mindful of how I get around. So what I did was track trips by foot, transit, and car. “Trip” was defined as anything from a Point A to a Point B, so if I left work to get my kids and we stopped at the produce truck on the way home, that counted as three trips. Here are my results:
• I averaged 4.8 trips by foot, 1.3 trips by transit, and 0.5 trips by car each day.
• My weekday/weekend splits, in terms of number of trips – foot 5.0/4.2, transit 1.6/0.4, car 0.2/1.2.
• I averaged 3.1 miles by foot and 2.0 miles by car each day.
I ended up using our car seven times for a total of 16 trips (in parentheses below are number of trips, number of miles driven, and the number of other people in the car besides me):
• 6/14 – I took the family to the grocery store (2, 4.4, 3)
• 6/16 – my friend picked me up at our day care, drove me to a neighborhood coffee shop, and then drove me to work (2, 1.5, 1)
• 6/17 – I picked up my sister and her husband at the airport (2, 12.6, 0/2)
• 6/21 – I took my sister and her husband and my kids to the aquarium, and we stopped through Chinatown on the way back to pick up dinner (3, 8.8, 4)
• 6/21 – I took my wife to Manayunk for coffee, and we stopped by a local cobbler to pick up my shoe on the way back (3, 25.8, 1)
• 6/24 – my sister and her husband and I took a taxi home from the train station after we got back from DC past midnight (1, 1.6, 3)
• 6/28 – I took my family to the grocery store, hitting the local produce truck and the car wash on the way (4, 4.4, 3)
If you’re scoring at home, that’s 59.1 miles with an average of 2.6 other people in the car besides me, and only one trip in which I was driving solo. 3.1 of those miles were in other peoples’ cars, so I put 56.0 miles on our car, or about $9 of gas.
It was an unusually low mileage month for our family; why, this coming weekend, I’ll be taking the family to see the in-laws, and that’s 80+ miles right there in one day. But at least for one month, it was nice to be extra mindful of how I get around, and to see that largely I can get myself and my family from Point A to Point B without much need for our car.
After my May car fast fell through, I decided to give it a go in June – not necessarily full-out forsaking the car, but at least being mindful of how I get around. So what I did was track trips by foot, transit, and car. “Trip” was defined as anything from a Point A to a Point B, so if I left work to get my kids and we stopped at the produce truck on the way home, that counted as three trips. Here are my results:
• I averaged 4.8 trips by foot, 1.3 trips by transit, and 0.5 trips by car each day.
• My weekday/weekend splits, in terms of number of trips – foot 5.0/4.2, transit 1.6/0.4, car 0.2/1.2.
• I averaged 3.1 miles by foot and 2.0 miles by car each day.
I ended up using our car seven times for a total of 16 trips (in parentheses below are number of trips, number of miles driven, and the number of other people in the car besides me):
• 6/14 – I took the family to the grocery store (2, 4.4, 3)
• 6/16 – my friend picked me up at our day care, drove me to a neighborhood coffee shop, and then drove me to work (2, 1.5, 1)
• 6/17 – I picked up my sister and her husband at the airport (2, 12.6, 0/2)
• 6/21 – I took my sister and her husband and my kids to the aquarium, and we stopped through Chinatown on the way back to pick up dinner (3, 8.8, 4)
• 6/21 – I took my wife to Manayunk for coffee, and we stopped by a local cobbler to pick up my shoe on the way back (3, 25.8, 1)
• 6/24 – my sister and her husband and I took a taxi home from the train station after we got back from DC past midnight (1, 1.6, 3)
• 6/28 – I took my family to the grocery store, hitting the local produce truck and the car wash on the way (4, 4.4, 3)
If you’re scoring at home, that’s 59.1 miles with an average of 2.6 other people in the car besides me, and only one trip in which I was driving solo. 3.1 of those miles were in other peoples’ cars, so I put 56.0 miles on our car, or about $9 of gas.
It was an unusually low mileage month for our family; why, this coming weekend, I’ll be taking the family to see the in-laws, and that’s 80+ miles right there in one day. But at least for one month, it was nice to be extra mindful of how I get around, and to see that largely I can get myself and my family from Point A to Point B without much need for our car.
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