A year back was the end of a string of the worst luck EVER with cars. I’ve always had a car – but I’ve never had a car without problems (If such a thing exists; I mean hey, if you’re not paying for maintenance every month, you’re paying a car payment, right?). I have always had the stress in my mind that, at any moment, it’s totally possible my car could break down and leave me stranded and clean my pocketbook all in the same day. But last year was much worse than any other before.
In a year three transmissions failed on me. I also had a slew of electrical problems with the tail lights and blinkers each failing at different times, to give me more fix-it tickets than I could count. Right around the same time, everybody was going broke, including the cities, and the tickets were being passed out like candy on Halloween. I got a ticket for a right turn on red in Culver City that came in at a whopping $617. I didn’t have other infractions on my record or anything. This was the fee for a first offense apparently. Then I did some research and discovered I was a victim of the Culver City Red Light Project where these ass-holes actually shortened the length of the yellow lights from 3 seconds to 2 1/2 to gain more revenue. By the time I found that out I’d already been to court and pled guilty so I had to pay up.
Gas prices are always going up. I would have to remember to move my car at 7am to avoid $50 tickets from street cleaning. If I ever got a ticket with a court date, the system is SO backed up it’s usually about a year away. When I went into court, 90% of the people in the room where there for a failure to appear because they forget their court date since it’s so far off. Another instant $700 fine. The whole system just sucks. I was sick of it.
Plus, I work from home. Unless my agent sends me on an “outside” audition to a voice over casting director, I can do all auditions and jobs from my house.
So I did it! I ditched the car in May and thought the world might end but it hasn’t. There have been all sorts of discoveries I’ve made since then about how this city is actually trying to not be so car-centered. Some of the bus routes are much faster than driving and, if you take your bike and put it on the rack, you can really get just about anywhere.
The single biggest factor that made all of this possible however, is (HANDS DOWN!) the Google Maps app on my Smartphone. I pull it up and it locates my current location, type in where I want to go, select that I’m traveling with public transportation and tap “route”. The phone pulls up the fastest way to get where I’m going with all of the busses and trains taken into account. Hell, when I was in Seattle this summer, it even had all the ferry schedules included if they were a part of my route!
Then I started noticing all the other people on bikes lately. The young kids on the fixed gear bikes, the old OG homeys that polish up and ride their low-rider bikes and of course all the beach cruisers. Between that and electric scooters I feel like I’m witnessing a whole new culture emerge.
No more worrying about DUIs. No more worrying about $20 parking or $10 valet. Honestly I can’t believe the amount of money I’m NOT spending. I thought I was saving to buy the first non-beater car in my life, but the more I’m doing this, the more I’m liking it.
And if you think it isolates you you’re wrong! Yesterday I left my
hood in South Central (another move I did to save some money) to get my hair done at the Aveda salon by UCLA in Westwood. Then I met a friend in Santa Monica and did some holiday shopping and came back at rush hour to my house. Then, after dinner, I met some friends for a karaoke birthday party at the Den on Sunset. We’re talking 70 miles altogether! On this cute little thing!
The same people who don’t feel like going somewhere on their bike or scooter are the same people who wouldn’t feel like driving in traffic somewhere. Either way, you find a way to feel isolated.
If I ever really need a car for something I just run down and rent one. When you do the math, it’s so much cheaper to rent when you need one rather than pay to keep one around all the time.
Now that I have saved up some money, I like the way it feels and I think I want to keep doing it. So I have my eye this little number that’ll really get me around.
It’s called the EW-500 electric moped and I’m in love with it. You can just lift the battery out of the back and take it inside to charge it. And, with the pedals on there, if the battery ever does die, you can pedal to the next place to plug in. This thing is so awesome that I talked to the manufacturer and they said they can’t keep them on the shelves. They sold out on Amazon in September and now they have them back in stock but raised the price a few hundred dollars. You can still get them direct from the manufacturer for around $800 though, and they’ll assemble it and ship it to you for free. And let’s just take a moment to compare that price to the price of buying a new car. It’s no comparison! Even a Vespa is no less than $3,000 and, though miniscule, you still have gas expenses.
That will help me get to those outside auditions even quicker and I still don’t need to pay for gas or registration. The battery range is 40 miles so I can really cover some ground with that baby. I’ll let y’all know how it goes!
