Arlington's "Car-Free Diet."

I am from a small town in Southern Maryland, where the closest grocery store was 15 miles away, the closest mall 30 miles away, and the closest airport 60 miles away. We had to drive everywhere. When I moved to Arlington, a friend of mine suggested that I go “car-free” and take advantage of the public transportation that is available instead.

Why go car-free? As carfreediet.com says, “Each time you leave your car at home — choosing instead to ride ART or Metro, bike, walk or telework — you can save money, improve your health and clean our environment.” This is all true; I am still paying for my car insurance, but I fill my gas tank about once a month. I’ve lost a pants size in the last month just from walking to and from bus stops (kind of amazing what that little bit of extra activity can do). And so far this year, car-free dieters have apparently saved over 44 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. It feels great to be contributing to Arlington’s smaller carbon footprint.

I am certainly no expert on public transportation yet, but I can still share a few things I have learned so far.

The first thing I picked up was a SmarTrip card from the Commuter Store. These cost $10 - $5 for the card, with $5 fare already loaded onto the card. You can load more fare onto the card on the bus, online, or at any Metro station – I find it easiest to add more fare at a Metro station because there is no risk of falling in front of a bus full of people. You can also register your card online in case you like to load a lot of fare onto it, so that if you lose it you can cancel your previous card and order a replacement. Using a SmarTrip card is easy: just tap it on the card target below the money slot on the bus, it beeps, and you know your fare has been subtracted. One of the great things about SmarTrip cards is that they keep track of whether you are transferring from another bus or Metro train. If you transfer within two hours, you get a discount on your fare.

I also picked up bus schedules for buses that run near my house. Even better to use than the paper schedules is wmata.com. You can plug in your address, the destination, and what time you would like to leave after or arrive by, and the website will generate itineraries to tell you several ways to get to your destination. wmata.com also takes delays into account while calculating your route. It includes Metrorail (the Washington metropolitan area public train system), Metrobus (red, white and blue buses), and ART buses (the green and white buses).

Finally, it is just healthier to walk or bike than it is to drive. Arlington has been named a Walk and Bike Friendly Community, and all the crosswalks and smooth sidewalks prove it. There are over 100 miles of multi-use trails to use in the county, so get outside and leave your car at home. You will thank me for it!


Bethany Fuller
The Mike Webb Team, LLC