By giving up the ghost at the side of a Calvados road at the end of October 2022, the “seven-seater” Opel Zafira from the Gascoin family – more than 200,000 km on the clock and increasingly frequent visits to the garage – gave him rendered a final service. “The idea was already in our heads not to replace it and the opportunity presented itself earlier than expected,” says Simon Gascoin. As the tow truck moved away on the Norman asphalt, the people of Toulouse took a new turn. That of life without a private car.
The decision, dictated by circumstances, did not raise any objection from Louis, 13, and the 11-year-old twins Paul and Baptiste. “We sometimes talked about climate change at home and they often told us that it was the adults’ fault. We took them at their word and they found the idea rather funny,” confides the forty-year-old researcher. On Monday, he summarized in a thread (ex-Twitter), popular, this one-year experience.
Bus, bike and car sharing
So let me tell you, the family has not decided to become self-sufficient in food by growing vegetables on the balcony of their apartment in Rangueil or to go on vacation on foot on the paths to Compostela. Already vaccinated from supermarkets, she continued to obtain supplies from local stores. Simon continued to cycle to his lab along the Canal du Midi. Virginie has not changed anything: a public writer, she works from home.
The son who plays hockey now goes to training by Tisséo bus on Wednesdays. “It’s longer, but it’s time he would have spent looking at his phone on the couch, he can do the same thing on the bus,” jokes his father. The latter finds the Tisséo network to be completely satisfactory, the interurban LiO buses in the region “very practical” and only has reservations for the cycle paths “which in certain streets are not really any”.
For the rest, the trips to a famous Swedish furniture brand, the traditional vacations to see the family in Paris then in Normandy, the Gascoins converted to City, the Toulouse car-sharing cooperative. Kangoo for large loads or hybrid city car for long journeys, you can rent the appropriate car there. The service is billed per kilometer, fuel included. And since there are two Citiz locations five minutes from home, finding a car when it’s really essential is not restrictive.
A “neutral” operation for the wallet
The Gascoins also strengthened their calves. For example to visit Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges and the Gargas cave, in the south of the department; they left by TER and finished by bike. “But I think we’re going to do fewer day trips and favor trips lasting several days in the countryside,” admits Simon. Same setting for vacation. Now that they have acquired the reflex of anticipation necessary to get cheaper SNCF tickets, they will favor the train… even if the children really complained about All Saints’ Day when they got stuck for a whole day with their mother at Gare de la Gare. Lyon.
As a result of this alternative year, the family traveled 4,400 km by car sharing. “I can’t make an exact comparison but we weren’t entitled to “small rider” insurance so we drove more than 5,000 km per year,” says the father. Concerning the savings made, the researcher relies on INSEE which estimates that a private car costs between 5,000 to 6,000 euros per year for a household of 5 people. Between the mechanic, the snow tires and the insurance that he no longer pays, he believes that the operation is “probably neutral”. Above all, it is the family’s environmental awareness that has been lightened.
Simon Gascoin does not give lessons. He will be delighted if his thread is emulated, and probably the pride of his children. But he is also aware that his family, horrified at the idea of taking a plane as part of a vacation and who chose to live in an apartment next to services, offered a very favorable breeding ground for the experience. And obviously, there is no question of going back.