Car Diet

The results of ZipCar's low-car diet are in.

After being without a car for a month, 25% of Pittsburghers who took the low-car challenge in July said they plan to continue to live without a personally-owned car.

Of those who do not plan to stay car-free, 67% plan to drive less.
This info comes courtesy of Maria Martinez, a ZipCar spokesman.

For some people, the weight loss reported by 38% of the participants might be the most compelling reason to drive less. For others, it would be the savings,

Pittsburgh's participants in this nationwide event walked 128 percent more miles during their month without a personal car, increased their trips on public transit by 102% and biked 2,650 percent more. (Note: this large percentage is due to the local partnership with BikePittsburgh and Car Free Fridays.)

More than 250 people worldwide gave up their personal cars for the month, and 100 of those said they planned to stay car free.

Wow.

Most exciting to Walkabout is that 59 percent of all participants reported that being without a car also made them more aware. They recycled more, ate foods for better health and rationed lights and air conditioning.

Partipants blogged their experiences at zipcar.com/lowcardiet.