Challenges of “Real World”

As Vice Mayor, nothing would please me more than displaying a tremendous reduction in solo car trips and car reliance over this week.

I believe I am the classic mid-market target in the green movement. I work a job in a different city, have two children who do not bike yet and I juggle schedules of daily life as does everyone.

The first two days of the challenge were ordinary. My children go to two different schools in a five mile radius which eliminates options of walking or biking (they don’t bike) and I had meetings that required me to drive. I evaluated the public transit options and found 2.5 hours of travel time to get me to meetings. With very little car pool option, this commitment was too large for the work demands.

Day three was a bit easier as I kept myself closer to home and cut down the travel miles. I did not need public transit.

During the weekend we walked to city events and successfully dropped our travel in cars. Monday I was able to avoid crazy meetings and was able to take CalTrain.

Not perfect, but something. Better schedule management is really the key to reducing car miles.

Great program idea! Thanks for pushing me in the right direction!

Richard Cline
Vice Mayor, Menlo Park

This post was submitted by Richard Cline.