Reflections on 4 weeks of Transit

Well, today is the final day of my one month take-transit-to-work experiment. Any inconveniences were worth the difference it made both in tangible terms (saving 520 kg of CO₂ by not driving) and intangible terms (supporting public transit and giving it an honest try for 4 weeks).

So, what do I think looking back on it? Overall, it has gone well. Trains and buses ran on time every single day going to work… I was consistently in my office by 8:55. Heading home, trains were on time within 5 minutes but buses were less reliable and the Burlington Transit connection was subsequently inconsistent (see Nov 24 post) sometimes making for a much longer total trip time.

Would I take transit to work every month? Probably not… especially not once motorcycling season resumes Would I take transit to work again? Almost certainly, perhaps even in January or February. What’s more, I will definitely keep a prepaid ticket handy for those days when the QEW is closed due to an accident or otherwise backed up beyond belief. I had this naïve thought about the enormous difference (in gridlock/carbon emissions/etc) that could be made if people took transit for just one month each year… I had always thought of car-vs-transit as an either-or proposition but actually  it could be like the concept of rotating blackouts when electrical power demand exceeds supply.

Would I recommend taking transit to work to others? I would hesitate, but only because transit will never be as convenient as driving, and you have to be prepared to put up with a degree of inconvenience and accept that it will take longer. Because, frankly, I find that many people are great at supporting environmental initiatives… as long as it doesn’t cost them any more money, take them any extra time, or inconvenience them to any degree greater than sorting recyclables into a separate bin than garbage. It’s kinda like air-drying your clothes: you know it saves needlessly used electricity but how many people actually do it? A slim minority. Why? Probably because of the same reasons they wouldn’t take transit: inconvenience, takes too long, too far from the mainstream (”nobody else in the neighbourhood does it”)… oh, and the linens aren’t perfectly snugly soft.

Lastly, I’ve got to say that (in addition to being a less stressful way to commute) as a sociological exercise taking transit has been fascinating. Perhaps it is just me, as a student of social sciences, but I find it really interesting to watch people and wonder what their stories are. You study their appearance, what they carry, and how they deport themselves. Some people, you see every day same time, same place, and it’s almost like you get to know them without ever speaking to them.

If you are interested in giving transit a try, or if you’re serious enough to choose one month a year for transit, I will post some helpful strategies I have learned over my four weeks.