Last year, when Clark "gave his car a day off" and walked to work, I thought it was quaint. And if Clark wanted to encourage others to clean up the air and park their car for a day, I was all for it. I hurried to his house with a photographer in a company SUV and took pictures of him leaving for work. Then I jumped in our SUV and headed back to the station, waited a while (a LONG while since he lives more than 5.5 miles from the station) and took pictures of him arriving.
This year, with gas prices so high, I took the idea more seriously. When the "give your car a day off" campaign at WSB radio geared up, I got onto the MARTA website (for those of you reading this from outside Atlanta, MARTA is an acronym for---well, I'm not exactly sure, but it's what we call our mass transit system) to figure out how I could give my car a day off.
Turns out, because I live in the 'burbs, the CLOSEST bus stop to my house is 5 miles away! So I'd need to walk 5 miles, grab a bus, ride it to the train station, grab another bus and take it to the station. Hmmmm. I calculated that to get to work by 9, I'd have to leave home when it was still dark out.
Didn't happen. My poor car didn't get the day off. Clark, the Mr. Green Jeans that he is, did give his car the day off. This time, I sent a photographer to shoot Clark's walk, but I didn't go along. I couldn't face getting in that SUV and watching Clark do something I wasn't willing to do.
I knew my all-or-nothing thinking was just an excuse to <i>not</i> give alternative commuting a try. Then I got a press release from the Clean Air Campaign about Atlanta's "Cash for Commuters" program. Sign up and earn $3 a day by changing the way you get to work. Total potential earnings: $180 dollars in a 3-month period.
Sign me up, I said! The Clean Air Campaign did! So now I'm saving the planet AND making money! Here's how I figure it:
I get 32 MPG. My round trip commute is 46 miles. That means I use 1.44 gallons per day. At $4 a gallon, I spend $5.75 each day to drive my car to work. (Not counting wear and tear on the car.)
Driving 10 miles round-trip to and from the Park and Ride means I spend $1.25 per day in gasoline. My MARTA tickets for the day total $3.50. (I can get it cheaper with bulk purchasing, but I haven't done that yet.) So I spend $4.75 driving to a Park and Ride lot and taking the Marta instead of $5.75 on gas driving all the way into work. That's a savings of $1. Plus, since I get $3 from the Clean Air Campaign, my total profit is $4! For one day of commuting!
If you live in Atlanta, look into "Cash for Commuters." I'm a newbie at it, but so far, I'm loving it!
