Habit #9

Use human-powered transport for short trips

The Why

With the recent warm-up of spring, Rachel and I have been finding ourselves getting more and more active outside. This has included numerous walks, runs, and even bike rides to locations all over our town. As this is more of a time commitment than the default motorized alternative, it has a few benefits that have lead to my desire to incorporate human-powered transport for most, if not all, short trips:

For starters, it’s simply good for your health. With the rise of Fitbit users around the world, a common goal for many users is 10,000 steps a day, which comes out to approximately 5 miles. If you have that errand across town that’s a little over a mile away, instead of jumping in your car why not walk it and knock out half your day’s steps in less than an hour? Walking is touted as one of the best exercises for anyone, given the low impact on the joints, full body movement, and low intensity aerobic activity. Replace the walk with running or biking, and you get many of the same benefits with improved travel time.

Second, it’s cheaper. Sure you may think that a quick drive to the Post Office doesn’t add up to more than a couple cents in gas, as I used to think. But considering that trip is probably at slow speeds with frequent stops and accelerations, you most likely aren’t getting the typical mileage you would on a highway trip. When you factor in added wear and tear, vehicle depreciation, maintenance costs, and insurance, you get a number that is pretty close to the government reimbursement rate of 53.5 cents/mile. I did an analysis of my typical week and found that I can probably replace 20 miles of vehicle transport with walking or biking. Given the true cost of driving a car is roughly 50 cents/mile, that would be $10/week savings. It might not be much, but it is something.

Third, is the social factor. One thing I did not expect when we started making more trips with our feet is the number of people that take notice and tell you about it later! That’s of course after taking into account the people you communicate with just in passing. Since it’s generally understood that positive social interaction increases happiness, you increase your quality of life with every chance encounter you make. These connections are ones that just aren’t duplicated when you are going somewhere in a climate-controlled steel box on wheels.

The How

Now, I’m not advocating that we do away with the automobile completely. It is a tool that enables us to get anywhere in the country in a relatively short time. The 60 mile trip to grandma’s only takes an hour in a car, as opposed to the 4-5 hours it would take by bicycle. But like any tool, it can also be abused, even to the detriment of it’s user. Every trip has the potential to decrease our health, wealth, and happiness simultaneously. The key is to find that line between necessity and convenience. For me, that is roughly 2 to 3 miles. I can get almost anywhere in my hometown by bicycle in about 15 minutes or less. And that trip by bike may only be a few minutes longer than if I were to take my car. So for the cost of a little bit extra time and loss of comfort (though I would not consider it “discomfort” because riding a bike is pretty much the most fun thing in the world), I become happier, healthier, and slightly wealthier for my trouble.

So for this habit, I will attempt to resist all car transport if my destination is within 3 miles (and provided there isn’t adverse weather conditions). It will require a little extra planning and time, but being intentional about our actions usually requires such things.