Wilkinsburg Woman Goes on "Low-Car Diet"

Jenn Rogers is cutting the car in her diet for the rest of the month.

Rogers of Wilkinsburg has sworn off using her own car through a program with Zipcar, which aims to get more people thinking about their carbon footprints, while at the same time, teaching them how to scale back on car use.

“I was raised in the country and you pretty much have to have a car to get around,” Rogers said. “Pittsburgh is the kind of place where you can rely on public transportation and if it works out by the end of the month, I might sell my car.”

City dwellers across the country and Canada have given up their cars for the entire month of August as part of Zipcar’s Low Car Diet challenge and finding alternative ways to get around.

Pittsburgh has chosen three participants to represent the Steel City’s team. Rogers currently is chronicling her challenge and surprising car-less adventures via blogging and tweeting.

As part of the city vs. city challenge, Zipcar will compile videos of each city’s participants as they compete to best embody the “LCD” lifestyle.

At the end of the 30 days, anyone can vote for the winning video and city.

Rogers said so far, it’s been working out. She is employed at Carnegie Mellon University during the weekdays and at a garden center on the North Side on the weekend. She’s been using the bus for transportation and said she’s only experienced major setbacks on Saturdays and Sundays.

“The buses are hard to navigate on the weekend since they cut a lot of service, so I did spend two and a half hours trying to get home Sunday,” she said. “It’s a shame for those people who need it the most—but so far it’s going well because I am pretty close to the busway.”

When she needs to buy groceries, she uses the Zipcar. Zipcars are available at designated points throughout the city, can be used for a period of time, and then are returned to their original location for the next person to use. When she's done grocery shopping, she returns the car and gets onto a bus with her items.

For those who may be skeptical, she said it all depends on your individual circumstance.

“I feel like this program is ideal for people who are single or families that have multiple cars in their households—maybe they could sell one and use Zipcar for an emergency,” she said. “With children, it’d probably be difficult unless you have a primary car.”

To follow Rogers’ low car diet adventures on Twitter, follow @ramblinjenny at www.twitter.com.