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July 28, 2010

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I work from home, which makes my commute super easy. My husband, however, works as a tutor and works all over town. We have one car, so when he's working, I'm without a car. Luckily, we work opposite shifts so it works for us.

I lived without a car for over fifteen years while paying off loans from college, and supporting myself. I have no family that I'm in contact with (abuse history), and have supported myself the whole way. The only way I was able to survive the carless years was that I was single and childless, and at that point not disabled. It was horrendous. Most mass transit companies have cut back service to the point where no buses run after 7:00 PM, so if you work late and miss the last bus, you're out of luck. Service for the disabled is frequently horrible, i.e. in Sacramento, people who require seats or who are in wheelchairs can be denied service at any time if the bus or train is "too crowded" (read: with "normal" people); anyone disabled who works full time has to drive in order to be able to be sure to get to work. (And folks wonder why so much parking downtown is taken up by handicapped plaquards -- downtown parking is over $2K a year, otherwise.) Etc. Etc. Etc. Even though I got around exclusively on a bike for well over a decade (all of it as a fat person, BTW -- so much for the fat = lazy theories), every time I hear some self-serving 19-year-old nanny stater go on about how people who drive should feel guilty, I just want to pull a John Adams and bang heads together... Don't get me started (too late!)

I live in the northern VA/metro DC area where public transportation is very good; however, in order to afford to purchase a house, I have to drive to work, just at an hour each way for the commute with no traffic involved. If my car broke down, I would be in serious trouble.

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