Transcript of Podcast #9B: Life Without a Car Part #2
In Attendance: Aimee Jiang (she/her), Jyotsana Kala
Aimee: Hello, everyone welcome to another episode of the GIC podcast. My name is Aimee Jiang. I’m the International Student Support Officer for Graduate Division and I’m excited to talk to you about life without a car. This is part 2 of our 2 part series and so I’m going to pass it over to my co-host to introduce herself.
Jyotsana: Hi everyone I’m Jyotsana. I’m a third year graduate student in the Department of Economics at UCI. I am from India, and my hobbies are just to like, go for a swim, go for a run and I truly like being at Irvine. I think it’s such a beautiful city, and I hope you all have a smooth transition to UCI.
Aimee: Awesome. I did not know you like swimming. So I learn something new on all these podcasts. So talking about life without a car, I think the U.S. is not well known for our public transportation system, outside of big cities like New York, maybe Chicago. There’s like very few places. The East Coast definitely has a little bit better of a system. And so that is a big worry for a lot of our incoming students is, how am I going to get around Irvine, Orange County? Even just campus. And so the first thing that we’ll talk about is like how far from the like main areas on campus, I think that’s usually like we talk about Ring Road a lot, and we’ll, we’ll have a video on a Ring Road soon here and coming out to kind of get a perspective on that. But if you’re on campus and and you’re living in some of the different housing communities, how far is main campus away from that? And what’s the most common way that students travel to main campus for their like daily things?
Jyotsana: Right, yeah. So, yeah, when I came to UCI, I also didn’t have a car and so it took me some time to figure out like what is the best way to commute and what is the campus structured like. So I think campus, the main campus all the buildings where you go to get your classes. All of them are right now, like in the center of the of of of the main campus, and the housing communities are kind of situated around the center. So it really depends on which housing community you live in and which building are you going to take your classes in. So there are 3 on campus housing communities. There’s Palo Verde, Verano housing, and then there is Campus Village, and the 3 of them are situated as I said around the campus, which is right in the middle. And so, if you are a student who is taking classes in the Science building. Then you will be closest to Campus Village. If you are working in the Social Science building, you’ll be closest to Verano Place. So it depends on like, where your building is situated, and where your house and community is. Similar is this case with grocery stores. But I think, I can say that by foot, all the, all the buildings from the housing communities are in a distance of 10 to 25 min, depending on again where you live, and there you want to go. And so I think the most common means of transportation that I see a lot of my friends just walk to classes. So when I started working, I was living in Palo Verde. I had to go to Social Science, when I started walkin, it used to take me 20 min, 20-25 min, and I got really frustrated about it right in the beginning, I was like, Oh, my god, I can’t do this. I can’t walk for an hour every day. So I switch to an e scooter pretty soon and some people bike to campus. Some people use e scooters. Some people drive. Some people also use skateboard and long boards. And another feasible option is also the Anteater Express. Which is the bus line the shuttle service that UCI provides that goes around the campus and covers all the housing communities and all the buildings. The only thing with Anteater Express is that it’s not that frequent. So you might have to wait for it. You might have to see what are the times. You might have to like see where it exactly drops you, and then walk from that particular location in the building or to your house. And the way to use Anteater Express is to download an app, it’s called TransLoc. You can download it on your phone. It shows you different routes right now M, N & F and what are the timings of these different routes exactly and what time will come at which stop. So yeah, you can, you can use the app, and it’s really helpful. And then you can plan your travel around the, around the campus.
Aimee: Yeah, I see a lot of students using the Anteater Expresss, especially when it’s raining. Like if you maybe are normally someone who takes a scooter or a bike, and it’s one of the few days that it rains here. This was, this was an exceptional year, but most of the time it’s just a few days. I see a lot of students getting off the Anteater Express, I think, especially over by, I work by the student center, so I see, like a big crowd of students coming off at the bus stop over there. So definitely I think that’s a great option. A lot of our mentors, I see around campus walking our biking like you mentioned, scooters are definitely really common. And on our Instagram page we’ll talk a little bit more about like bike safety, like locking up your bikes, I think, for skateboards, that tends to be a little easier, because a lot of students will just take that into their classrooms with them. But I do think they’re, you want to be cautious about some of those safety things as well. And you mentioned grocery stores. I know a lot of our students for something really quick, they, they go to Albertsons, it tends to be a little bit more expensive. But Albertsons and Trader Joe’s are definitely the most common grocery stores that our students go to. Do you think that people use the same, I guess, kind of ways of travel to get to the grocery stores? Because I imagine myself I am not super great at skateboarding. So maybe that’s just me. But if I was to skateboard on campus I’d probably be fine like on a longer like a long board. But if I was carrying groceries it maybe would be a little more dangerous. So do you see any changes in the way people commute to grocery stores?
Jyotsana: Yeah, definitely, I think for me, personally as well, like, I usually use my electric scooter to, to get around the campus, but when I have to buy groceries, and it’s, I’m not usually like regular, I’ll wait until everything is out of out of the stock, and then I’ll do my grocery shopping. So it really gets heavy to carry like a backpack. And then ride all the way back home on an e-scooter. Right, I think it’s similar with bike, because you actually have to like bike all the way up hill, if you’re travelling from, say, Albertsons to Palo Verde. So what I usually see is that people coordinate, and that’s a great way. I think people coordinate on like, I usually coordinate among my friends, and then all of us kind of plan to book an Uber or a, or like a Lyft, which is only like $5 to $6. And then if 4 of us plan among each other, then you know it’s it comes out to be pretty cheap. And then we can all put our groceries in the trunk, and you can just get by. Or if you have friends with cars, obviously, if you can, you can plan your grocery shopping with them. That’s always a great way. Anteater Express is also a very good way to get your groceries, because, both Albertsons and Trader Joe’s are on campus right, and Anteater Express has 2 stops on campus, right. One right in front of Trader Joe’s and one right in front of Albertsons. So that’s also a great way to again get your grcoceries in a way that you have to actually, physically carry them.
Aimee: Yeah, I see a lot of students walking over to the one by the student center, Trader Joe’s area with Trader Joe’s bags. And I’m like, oh, that’s that is a really smart way to do it. And yeah, I mean, I guess if you’re, if you’re fine with like walking there, you know, like 20 min walk when you’re not having to carry your heavy groceries, you could save a little bit by walking to the grocery store and then taking an Uber with a group of people back. I have heard some students, especially when they do like you mentioned, like I just have nothing. So I’m starting from scratch, or maybe I know I’m buying milk, or for me it was always, I try and live by places where I can walk to a grocery store, because I just don’t like to drive everywhere. So in college, when I was living, I lived by a Trader Joe’s as well, and I remember going and walking to the grocery store 15-20 min, which was fine, and and I bought lemonade and a watermelon and walking back, I was like, this is a terrible idea. So if you’re like, I don’t, I don’t. I’m gonna bike, or I’m gonna walk, or I’m gonna take a scooter. Make sure that you plan ahead. And you’re thinking about like, how heavy is this? How am I going to get this back? I think in the future, after that I was like, Okay, these are the bags that, my reusable bags, that I’m going to use. And then when I bike, I actually have like a basket on my bike that I put groceries into. So it’s a little bit easier. But again, it does have a weight limit. So I do that when I’m doing like small groceries, I just need to get one or 2 things. I definitely think it works, okay, when you’re doing that. So plan ahead, with your groceries because you don’t want to be stuck like sweating and carrying a watermelon back to, back to the housing communities. Or you’re just gonna end up on the Anteater Express at some point. Cause you’re gonna get tired. But those, I think, are 2 of the big places around campus is going to the grocery store and then obviously getting to campus. I feel like our campus map is pretty good at being able to kind of figure out where everything is, and our structure is that majority of things are gonna be on our like Ring Road circle outside of like the Arts building is a little bit off to the side, and I think some research buildings are off to the side, too (Aimee forgot to mention some medical buildings and speciality buildings may also be off the main Ring Road). But for the majority of our students, what you’re looking for is going to be in the circle. And so I would say, check where you’re going, where your classes, what buildings will you frequent more often, and see how far that is from your community, and see what the best thing is for you. And everyone has their, their preferences, in terms of what type of transportation to use. I have students that love the bus because they would rather not walk or scooter, or they don’t have the finances to purchase a scooter or a bike yet. And this was their better option. So you have to think about your needs as well. Options for commuting on more of a long distance. So in part one, we talked a lot about the kind of the OCTA, like the OC buses like if you want to explore more. And and we talked about taking Amtrak to like LA, but have you taken any of those options to get outside of the Irvine area as well?
Jyotsana: Yeah, so I usually take the FlixBus and the Amtrak, as I’m sure, you must have covered in other podcasts. And
Jyotsana: the only new thing was again, then that you can always use an Uber or Lyft. The only new thing that I over, I recently discovered was that if you want to travel within. OC, obviously, you have the OC buses and you can get a university pass and you can get it made for like, it’s it’s really cheap, and then you can make use of it if you want to really like travel around with it. So for me, and I have to take my DMV exam. I used the OC bus to travel from the campus to the DMV office. And the, I mean it was great. It was just I didn’t have the pass then, and it cost me like $2 to travel. And I was like, my god, that’s, that’s great! That’s a great deal. $2 is amazing right?
Aimee: Yeah!
Jyotsana: But it did take a long time for the bus to come, so the frequency is quite limited. So you might want to factor that in whenever you are planning a visit by an OC. Bus. Again, the OC bus passes given by the UCI Transportation and Distribution Services. Like you can buy an annual pass, you can buy a monthly pass, and there’s also a OC Taxi service, so it’s called California Yellow Cab. And I didn’t quite know about it, and then you can actually book it for any place within OC. So sometimes their rates are cheaper than Uber, or maybe comparable to Uber or Lyft. So you might want to check that option as well. If you’re planning your travel within OC.
Aimee: Yeah, I think that’s one thing that we do frequently. I always forget about the, the taxi service, but Uber and Lyft like I’ll open at both apps and type in where I’m going, and see which one’s cheaper, and which one’s gonna get me there faster. And do I have a time limit and I need to pay a little bit more? Can I wait a little bit longer, and take something a little bit cheaper. I will say, for things like Flixbus and even Uber or Lyft. If you have bags with you, or you’re carrying like a lot of items. Say, you’re trying to take them to go to the beach, and you have like an ice chest with you for food and snacks, or you have some beach chairs, or just a lot of things with you. Be mindful of the fact that Flixbus, I think, charges you if you don’t have, if you have like, what they would consider luggage. So if you’re taking that to like San Diego to go to a beach for the weekend, or maybe you’re getting a hotel down there, and you’re staying for the weekend. Just make sure you’re calculating that into your cost, and that you’re looking into like what the requirements are for that. Amtrak’s pretty easy with that, because you get like I think you get like 2 pieces of luggage and 2 carry-on. So you’ve got plenty of space. If you’re taking Amtrak, I think that’s one of the things they pride themselves on. But I’ve had that happen with an Uber. We called like a regular Uber, and we only had, like we, my husband and I each had a suitcase and then a backpack and a Tesla showed up, and he was like, you’re not going to fit in my car, and we were like., there’s plenty of room. But my suitcase was maybe a little bit too large. So you definitely want to check and see on like Uber or Lyft. If you’re heading to like Santa Ana airport or something, or you’re going all the way out to LAX with an Uber or Lyft, that you’re grabbing the one that has people with bags. Because it will be a larger car that can handle that. But same again, that goes for just beaches and things as well. Taxis are all generally the same size, but they do have some and van options as well as like accessible. So if you have like a wheelchair, or you need like a a special accessible car, for whatever reason. They do have options for that. So those are a couple of things to think about. I think even an Uber and Lyft at least one of them has the option. If you have like a pet with you. If you need to take, maybe you have a cat, and you need to take them to the vet, and you don’t have a car. There is an option for you to pick one that someone has said, they’re okay with you, having a pet in their car. So just a couple of additional things to think about when you’re taking those kinds of, what are the rules like? Check the rules for all of these things. Because I know I was looking into Flixbus one time, and by the time I added in like 2 pieces of luggage per person, and we were trying to head all the way out to like LA area. That ended up being just as much as basically an Uber, and it would take a little bit longer. So I always recommend just kind of calculating all the different options and seeing what works better for you in time, like you mentioned, like time is important, like, how long it’s gonna take me? Do I have an appointment that I have to be there at a specific time? Because if so, buses aren’t always as timely, either. So you want to give yourself plenty of extra time. The DMV, is not going to care if you show up 20 min early. They are going to show up, if you show up 20 min late, they’re gonna be like your appointment time is done. So just make sure you’re thinking about those things if you’re going to specific places.
Jyotsana: And I think if you’re comfortable, like driving around, you can also explore the options of rental cars.
Aimee: Yeah
Jyotsana: So there are like, so I know about Zipcar that, that, you know that you get student discount on your Zipcar and the UCI student discount covers for the fees, it covers the secondary insurance. It’s only $15 a year and it also accepts international licenses. There is another rental services called Enterprise. A lot of people use that as well. And again, since it accepts international licenses, you don’t have to get into that hassle of getting the driving license. But again, you need to be comfortable with driving here, because the rules are very different. And it’s, it’s coming from India it was a completely different ball game to drive here, right?. So yeah, I mean, if you’re comfortable driving, then rental cars are a great option as well, especially with the UCI student discounts.
Aimee: Yeah, and we do have a podcast out about the DMV and getting a driver’s license, it just came out recently, so check that out. And we also have one more focused on renting a car, too. But I do think that’s a great option. I was talking with another student earlier today about even taking like a Zipcar, or doing like a Turo rental or an enterprise rental, or even like a Uhaul, not like Uhaul moving van but they have like smaller vans at Uhaul sometimes, and those can be a little more cost effective but when you first get here if you’re trying to take a car over to like Ikea, because you want to not pay the expensive shipping fees with, that, that can get pretty expensive. Maybe a couple of you get together and you rent one of these vans, and then you go through Ikea together. You might save some money and be able to go in person and kind of check things out. See how you like it, especially if you’re buying a mattress. I know I’d be particular. I want to try them like you. Wanna I want to go to Ikea, and I want to lay on the mattress before I like invest in purchasing one. So I think those kinds of things can be really helpful when renting a car. Maybe you do end up shipping things that are too big for the car so you have to see what size the car is. But if you get like a Uhaul or something, you’ll definitely be able to fit in like a mattress and other pieces of furniture. Things that you couldn’t do in like an Uber or a Lyft or a taxi. If you have them pull up to Ikea, and you’ve got big pieces of furniture. They’re not going to be able to accommodate you. So think about those things ahead of time. But rental cars are definitely a great option, especially if you have another license. Usually California accepts those on a short term basis. And so if they’re like your student here, and you’ve been here for a really long time, they may stop accepting a license from out of the area. And they specifically don’t accept the International Driving Permit that some countries have where you can go to multiple countries. California does not accept that. Other States may. But California does not. So just make sure you have a license specific to a country, that will be better. But I do recommend getting your license because insurance wants to see a time that you’ve been in the country, too. And we have a podcast coming out in a few days on buying cars and car insurance. So there is some benefits to having a license for a longer period of time. I think the last thing that we want to talk about is just more of some of the culture around these you can, non-traditional American commuting styles. So like, what are some things to keep in mind when you’re riding like an electric scooter or a bike or a skateboard around campus in particular?
Jyotsana: Yeah, so I think the most important thing would be road safety and rules. Because a lot of time, we don’t think that, you know, riding a bike or riding an electric scooter would come with its own set of rules, or it’s own set of safety regulations. Right, that’s not something that, that strikes me, at least. But it’s absolutely important. And we are very fortunate to be in UCI. But it’s a platinum level bike friendly university. So it’s, there are like bike lanes everywhere and it, it’s super safe for bikers, for electric, for to drive an electric scooter, to skateboard, to long board. So I just want to share some resources, because I think those helped me a lot to learn about how to ride properly and how to ride safely. So UCI usually has this RIDEtoberfest, and the Whimcycle, which is the national bike month. So in these 2 events they usually have a lot of, a lot of events like, helmet give aways, like second hand bike fairs. And so they partnered with, they have something called BEEP, which is Bicycle Education and Enforcement Program. Where they partner with the UCI Police Department to tell you about how, to give you these sessions, about how to drive safe and how to, what, what is your legal lane, how do you share right, share your lane with motorists, how you drive in a shadow, how do you take the left, what is affected right, what is protected right and left, and things like that. So those trainings really helped me a lot. And you can take both bicycle friendly driver trainings. You can also go to their no locking bike demos. They have bike light giveaways. It’s also super important to register your bike at garage 529. So that’s the platform which now they have, they have introduced to where you can register your electric scooters, bikes. You can put up photos, like if in future some, at some point, if you lose your bike or your bike gets stolen, then it’s really easy to spot it and then get it back to you. The second important thing about it is that bike and scooter theft is a common thing at UCI. Unfortunately and you know there are attempts to make it less common, which is great. But you have to make sure that whenever you park your bike use a U-lock and again there will be, might be a little more about it in podcasts and on our Instagram but I think that is really one thing to take care of. Every now and then I , I keep getting these emails that you know where someone’s scooter is lost, that someone’s bike is lost and I think it’s a very, very real thing. So I lost my first electric scooter as well. And that’s when it struck me so I was using a cable lock, which is a complete no-no. You should never use a cable lock, always use a U-lock. But yeah, something to think about like that should definitely not deter you from exploring these options, because I immediately got a second one, and I can’t imagine my life without a, without a scooter right now. But something you should definitely be mindful of. And I think finally, I would want to say that it’s very rare but in case you do get into an accident, know your health insurance and know where you want to go in that, like have a plan of action ready, because you are sharing the road with, with other bikers, with motor bikers, which are, which are sometimes driving on a very high speed, right? So if god forbid you to get into an accident. Just know what your health insurance covers, what would be your first checkpoint, have some, have some like contact numbers for emergency, you know, in case of emergency that is in your phone, have like a card with you at all times with your identity card which has your blood group so that you can, you can get the help that you need in case of an emergency. Yeah. So I think those are the things that you should keep in mind whenever you’re taking any of these bikes or scooters or skateboards or long boards. And again, some things like you cannot. You cannot drive these vehicles in the inner circle on Ring Road, they’re only allowed inthe outer circles. Always walk your bike whenever you are in that, inner circle. Be mindful of sharing the road with pedestrians more more importantly than with motor bikers, because, though, because my campus, is at its peak, it’s full of people, and you don’t want to be like running into anyone. And one like big thing is always use helmet! Like, I don’t see a lot of people using a helmet. And I don’t know why is that the case? But absolutely always use a helmet!
Aimee: Yeah. I think the helmet is a huge one, and that’s why they have free helmet giveaways. And I think, I think it’s, you know people are worried about how silly they look in a helmet. Everyone looks silly in a helmet. But would you rather have, be looking silly and protect your head from a big accidents. I’ve had multiple students get concussions, and it’s something as simple as like falling off your bike because you’re carrying too many groceries. Or it, you know there are other accidents, obviously, that happen if you’re not paying attention to the way cars are turning or you go through a light that’s red, even though you shouldn’t. You know those things you definitely want to be mindful of because bike lanes do follow a lot of the same rules as cars do so. If there’s a red light you do still have to stop. You don’t want to get hit by another car or another bike, or hit a pedestrian. So you definitely want to know the rules, and there’s a a lot of stuff online, I’ll link the resources that you mentioned in our transcript to so feel free to look down, in the transcript. if you want quick links over to some of the things that were brought up. But do wear a helmet. It doesn’t matter if you look silly. I’ve had multiple students end up with really bad concussions or severe injuries that could have been prevented by wearing a helmet. And so I definitely encourage that. I’ve had very big accidents that have been life altering for students. So please wear a helmet. If I find you on campus without a helmet, I will say something if I know you, so please do wear a helmet. And and yeah, I think you’re you’re right about be prepared for an emergency. A lot of times the emergencies are that someone just fell off their scooter or bike. For whatever reason, you hit a hit a rock, or there’s a a dip in the road that you didn’t see, or maybe the conditions aren’t great. It started raining, and you didn’t expect rain. And now it’s kind of slick outside, and you, you turned a corner too sharp, whatever it is. I’ve seen, you know, mild to severe injuries from those kinds of things as well. So be mindful of your surroundings. Take care of yourself, but also do be, be prepared just in case something comes up. Some students will never have a bad experience. I bike to work and around campus as well, and I have almost been hit by a few cars doing illegal, carsthat we’re doing something illegal. But I do think, I’ve been lucky that nothing severe has happened. But you do, you just be mindful of your surroundings and wear a helmet. Any last thoughts on life without a car or favorite places you’ve traveled to without a car.
Jyotsana: Yeah, so I think when I came in, especially from India, like the public transport system is really strong there, and I’ve never had to take my own car out on the street. Also, because the traffic is a lot to deal with.
Aimee: Yeah
Jyotsana: But I’ve always travelled on public transport for all for my life. And so coming to U.S. and then realizing that the public transport is not that strong, you know the network, was really like a like our cultural shock to me almost. And I was like, Oh, my god, I see so many cars, like all, everywhere I see in the parking lot, there are cars right? So it can get a little overwhelming in the beginning, when you do not see, when you do not have a car, and then you do not see why everyone’s not on public transportation, but I think, having the resources in your kit and then choosing what will work the best for you. Like electric scooters work the best for me but for some other people you know, other things will work the best. And figuring that out might take some time, but at the end it it will be all right like that. Irvine does have really good resources, that you can definitely use and get, and make life more easier for you.
Aimee: Yeah, definitely, I think finding the right option is, is my, my key give away. If you don’t know how to ride a bike because that’s just not common where you’re from, or the expensive of a bike or a scooter is hard for you, and you just want to walk. I walk a lot around here. I’ve walked to work sometimes, instead of biking, I have a flat tire right now, so walking is my only option. But finding what works for you and finding, you know, maybe there’s times that you bike and scooter, and maybe there’s times that you choose to walk or take a bus or take an Uber or a Lyft. So I think for most students a combination of things works best. But finding what you want to do, does take some time, so try some different things out. We don’t have, I have one student that had asked recently if we have a lot of like Uber and Lyft rentable type scooters and bikes around the area. And we really don’t. So it’s really gonna be up to you to like, get your own mode of transportation, unfortunately. But you will see them in like the bigger cities like, if you head to San Diego or LA, you’ll see those kind of op, options around. But in Irvine it is not common to find them. So you definitely want to be mindful of the fact that you’re not gonna get here and have, like instant access to a scooter to get around, you’re gonna need to find your own option. I think that’s all that I have to add. So thank you Jyotsana for joining us today. I always appreciate another insight on what it’s like to get around the community, without a car.
Jyotsana: Thanks, Aimee. Thank you.
Another helpful link for students who plan to not get a car, or not get one right away: https://parking.uci.edu/parking/publicinfo/survivingwithoutacar.pdf