Ok, that headline isn't exactly accurate. This is mostly things I've wanted to complain about for a while that are all a result of me not having a car. I'm a lazy wimp, I know. Enjoy my pain.
1. Heat is Inescapable
I may be just a weak Midwesterner, but summer heat is TERRIBLE. It burns my skin, it singes my eyes, and it soaks me in sweat no matter what I wear. I remember the blissful days of wearing the same T-shirt 2 or 3 times before it had to be washed. Now I wear that shirt for a 2-mile bike ride and it is over. I have sweat through it, and it can't be seen by another human being until it's clean.
Stepping into an air-conditioned building is orgasmic. I'm sure there are hours of security footage of me, red-faced and damp, stepping into a gas station with a sigh of relief. Whoever has access to said footage, please destroy it.
2. The Price of Uber Adds up Fast
A $6 ride doesn't seem like much in the moment, especially when it's that or a bike ride in 95 degree heat. But later, scrolling through my recent transactions, I saw just how much money I was losing. $6 here, $10 there, maybe even $15 during a surge- it all adds up. I could have been getting Starbucks every day for what I was spending! Or like, saving for retirement or something. I had to make the disciplined choice that Ubers were only for last-minute bad-weather trips.
That said, always tip your drivers! And tip them cash! Uber taxes money you enter in electronically for the tip, so your driver isn't actually getting everything you send. I always have a few singles on me when I do cave and take that Uber.
3. Public Transit Needs Reform
The bus system in Iowa City kind of sucks. We have our free Cambus system, which rocks! But the city system can be an annoyance. If I want to take the bus from my apartment to one of my babysitting clients, for example, I have to take two different busses just to get 2 miles north. The first bus stop is two blocks from my door, so now I'm soaked anyway, and if I've got my umbrella I'm risking electrocution. Not ideal, but bus fare is only a dollar. So I leave my building at 7:15, get on the bus at 7:23 am, and it gets my sopping sorry body to Downtown Interchange by 7:27 (if it isn't running late), where I need to find my next bus. Lucky me, the last bus just left at 7:15, and all the busses run every 30 minutes, so I'm waiting for the 7:45 bus. For another dollar, it will drop me at my stop at 7:54. Then I have a 6-minute walk to the house from there. That's a 45-minute commute to get 2 miles. If I ran that in 9th grade, it would have taken me 18 minutes. Have I said enough numbers yet?
Now when I wake up to a thunderstorm, I need to ask myself how much I value my comfort. Is all that walking and waiting and stressing about getting to the bus on time really worth it? Or should I pay $8 extra for the luxury of taking an uber? When I'm confronted with that kind of an impulse purchase early in the morning, I think we all know what I'm choosing.
4. Construction is the Devil
I genuinely think the construction companies in this city are targeting me, personally. First they blocked the sidewalks on my route to class, and now I have to zig-zag an extra block north to get there without being decapitated by an errant bulldozer. Next, they blocked my path to work. More zig-zagging. Now, spray paint is appearing on sidewalks near my apartment. They're getting ready, closing in. I think their goal might be to trap me at home. Soon, I'll open my door to find traffic cones blocking my hall.
If I had a car, the construction wouldn't change a thing. Unfortunately, all I have is a bike and anxiety, so I give construction zones a wide berth.
5. I've Been Disconnected With Nature
"Woah there, Gabie," says the reader. "That's kind of a hard turn, there."
And yes, reader. It is. Because that's how severe this change has been. When I had a car, I had to make the active decision to engage with nature, and more often than not, I chose to stay inside. Nature was an occasional annoyance, like when I had to scrape ice of the windshield, or when the wind messed up my hair, but beyond that, I was just a spectator. I would watch fields from inside a car, listen to birds outside my window, and maybe even pet the occasional dog.
Now that I bike, walk, or bus almost everywhere, the weather is a larger presence in my life. I need to check it every night to see how I'm dressing and how I'm getting around the next day. I spend a lot of time outside, not just when I'm getting from point A to point B, but when I'm hypnotized by a summer breeze, or when I see a crow bullying a squirrel. That's always been happening, but I haven't been slowing down enough to see it! Even if you do have a car, I recommend biking on your commute as often as you can. Nature is your friend, so check up on her.
