Living Car Free

Since I am going to talk about living car free, then I guess I should tell you a little about how I get around without a car.

First things first, I live in New Brunswick, a small (in size) town in New Jersey, which has a connection to the Northeast Corridor and good access to New Jersey Transit and county buses.

I also have Rutgers' FREE campus bus available for my use when I am not walking. I do think biking is a great idea, but I am deathly afraid of "me vs. a car," so I do not bike here.

Friends often ask me, "How do you get your groceries?" I get my groceries delivered via Peapod, which is a service from local grocery store Stop and Shop. The fee is about $6.95 to $9.95, and they deliver 7 days a week between 7am and 10pm. You order online, pick your delivery time, and just wait for your delivery.

If I need to do major non-food shopping, I can take either a NJ Transit bus or a county shuttle bus from the train station directly to one of several of shopping centers nearby. I have several options to get coming home - I can either get a taxi, take the NJ Transit bus or the county shuttle home. It really depends on how much I purchased or how lazy I am feeling that day. Taxi rates start at $6. The most I ever paid was $10 and that included a big tip for the guy carrying my bags up to my apartment.

Any other places I like to go - the mall, the movies, dining - I can do with either walking, taking a bus or shuttle, the train or a combination thereof. The train runs pretty frequently during the day and even on the weekends/holidays.

While a less hardy soul would be depressed at being stuck in Penn Station after missing a late night train and having to wait another hour for the next train out of NYC, I take it all in stride. Penn Station is a perfect people watching place and has lots of food options for folks like me who love junk food.

I don't miss having a car most days, but on those cold, windy and rainy days of winter, I might change my tune!