A series featuring car-free women in LA.

Stephanie Zhong of Fabulously Green

Basics: 40-year-old designer, editor, blogger, and LEED AP with her own consulting practice, S|Z Design and Editorial. Lives in West L.A. with a roommate. Child free.

Car free since: Feb. 2008.

Blogging since: 2006.

Notable post: Ixi collapsible bike

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On going car-free….

I first started experimenting with public transit Christmas 2007, mainly because I didn’t feel like dealing with Christmas shopping traffic, and as an environmentalist, I was curious about it. I took the bus into Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade to bypass all the traffic and parking hassles. I got dropped off at 3rd and Santa Monica, walked by all the rageful looking folks trying in vain to get into the parking structure. I strolled into the Apple store, bought a laptop, a few other presents, and hopped the bus home. Seriously the easiest holiday shopping trip I ever had. My mother came into town a week later and we bussed to the Santa Monica Pier, to the Santa Monica Library and to Musha on 5th and Wilshire for dinner. I was awestruck how easy it was.

But going carfree really took off in February 2008. By accident (serendipity really). Two policemen showed up at my front door on a fateful Sunday morning to tell me my car had been stolen and found abandoned and stripped in Downey. I looked at them like they were high: I was home all night! My car is in my garage, behind an electronic gate. Uh, no, it wasn’t. Hours later, I made my first and hopefully last trip to Downey. One look and it was clear my car was not recoverable. I would end up waiting 4 weeks for my insurance company to figure out the claim.

So decided to embark on an experiment: go carfree for one month. See what happens. Well, my life changed — for the better. At the end of the month, instead of buying a car, I took the insurance payment and socked it into my IRA. I decided to try living sans car for another month. Then another, and another. 17 months later, I’m still living carfree in L.A.

How she gets around.

The bus is my primary [mode of transportation]. Followed by my feet, and occasionally I carpool with friends who live nearby. I do rent from Enterprise or Zip Car once a month to run my errands (Costco, Trader Joes, etc). They have a great 50% off Friday to Monday discount so I get my work-related errands done then too. I’ve probably rented five times for special reasons during the week.

Both the Santa Monica and MTA bus lines come by my street. I am in walking distance to Ralphs, Vons, the post office, two movie theaters, the library, Bed Bath & Beyond, Sports Chalet, sushi/yakitori restaurants and karaoke places on Sawtelle. I had NO idea how pedestrian-friendly this neighborhood was until I stopped driving.

I work as an independent consultant and spend about 70% of my time working from home. I have clients located in Santa Monica, West L.A. and downtown. I bus to meet my Santa Monica clients, walk to my West L.A. clients (where I live), and bus downtown. Occasionally I bus into West Hollywood or Mid Wilshire to visit showrooms.

On the upsides and downsides….

[I'm car-free for] two main reasons: it helps the environment, and has saved me a lot of money. One unforeseen benefit is exercise. I walk a lot more, sometimes run (when I’m catching a bus). I have had several knee surgeries and never fully rehabbed because I was too lazy to workout in a gym. Who knew that all this walking would help with that?

An ex-boyfriend actually commented to me that my butt looked really good. To which I responded, “Body by Blue Bus, baby.” It’s true! Walking, carrying my groceries, I don’t need a gym. Because it’s necessary, I do it.

Another is more creativity. As a designer/writer I used to get a lot of my ideas while driving but couldn’t write them down. On the bus, I get to jot down notes, prepare for client meetings, draw, read magazines, listen to podcasts, answer all my e-mails. The lack of road rage, and hands-free time has freed up my mind to be more creative. And if I plan it right, I even get more done.

There are definitely some downsides. It’s hard to be spontaneous sometimes, depends on where I’m going. I have to plan my days out, like the way that parents probably do. I’m on a schedule, which isn’t my nature. But that said, it’s good for me to become more organized.

One time I was meeting someone for a first date in West Hollywood. The guy dropped me off at the bus stop. I discovered a few minutes later that the bus wasn’t running anymore. So I had to hail a cab which cost me $35. I’ve had about 4-5 of these kinds of incidents over the last year where I needed to call a cab.

And, sometimes of course, busses don’t arrive when they’re supposed to. I’ve been really late a 2-3 times. But most of the time, I’m early which almost never happened when I had a car.

There are some places I haven’t yet figured out how to get to without enlisting a friend to come along. Like swing dancing in Hollywood or Pasadena, hiking. Working on this though!

Some routes are actually easier than driving. For me, heading into Santa Monica is way more stress-free than driving. Not having to park. Not having to deal with car insurance, registration, smog checks, maintenance, parking tickets and road rage. Do not miss these at all!

One hard thing: I love flea markets and trolling Craigslist for furniture finds and I’m not able to buy certain things because I’m not able to pick things up right away.

Another: my boyfriend lives in the Valley. He does do the lion’s share of driving, picking me up but he doesn’t mind. I think we would have seen each other more often in the beginning of the relationship if I had a car, but in a way, not having a car helped us take things slower.

On car-dependent people.

People are always surprised. When they ask why and I tell them, they usually end up thinking it’s cool (or else they’re lying). lol.

Advice for the car-free curious.

Start small. Pick one place you frequent a lot (like your yoga studio, or the grocery store, etc). Type in the To/From info into LA Metro and see if there’s a direct line from where you live. Give the direct line a try. Bring along your iPod, a good book, your Blackberry, what have you. Have something you might want to do.

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green LA girl’s notes: Fabulously Green‘s “a go-to source of eco-modern fashion and interior design ideas for style-enthusiasts everywhere,” Stephanie says. Follow her via her newly-Wordpress-converted blog, and on Twitter.

Photo by Stephanie Zhong

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