One week sharing one car
1 h€ 0-50 Active
Seven days taking a two-car household back to one. Not as a statement, just as an experiment. By the end, you'll know exactly how often the second car was actually needed.
Two cars in a household feels indispensable to many people. Two people working, kids who need to get to different activities, a dog that doesn't fit on a bike. Trying one week with one car isn't a statement about the car industry. It's an experiment to find out whether the structure of two was really necessary, or whether it's just a habit from when it happened to work out that way.
On day 1 it feels tight. Your plans clash one morning, you have to ask someone to shift their schedule. By day 3 you start planning ahead for who needs the car and when. By day 5 you discover that either a bike works fine for a trip, or a train journey is simply no big deal. At the end of the week you haven't proven that a second car is unnecessary, but you have shown that 60–80% of second-car trips can be done another way. That's data, not conviction.
Checklist
0 of 6
Week samen gepland
Op zaterdag
NS-app geïnstalleerd
Voor de uitzonderingen
OV-fiets-account gecheckt
Tweede auto-sleutel apart gelegd
Niet zomaar pakken
Eerste botsings-ochtend opgelost
Vaak dinsdag
Reflectie op dag 7
The Saturday before the week: sit down together with the calendar. Who needs which car and when? Write it on a piece of paper and stick it on the fridge.
0Put the key of the second car in a drawer where you won't just grab it. A barrier instead of a good intention.
Install the NS app and the OV-fiets app on your phone. Not for daily use, but for the moments when things don't work out.
0Day 1: a morning when you would normally have taken the car but your partner has it. Take the bike or the train. Thirty minutes longer, no drama.
Around day 3 or 4: a trip you would normally make automatically by car, you did by bike and it was actually fine. Those are the moments where you notice the habit side of having a second car.
When there's a genuine clash: grab a Greenwheels or a Snappcar for a short trip. Not a taxi because it's too expensive, not public transport if it really isn't an option.
30A second car isn't always necessary, but it isn't always superfluous either. The week shows you which specific trips really do need a car and which ones don't.
Day 7: look back at the week. Which trips were perfectly fine by bike or train? Which ones genuinely needed a car? That's the data, not the conviction.
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For anyone copying this
Do as we did
Suggestions
- Plan the week together on Saturday. Who needs which car and when?
- The NS app or the OV-fiets app as a backup for unexpected trips.
- A week without unusual commitments works better. Not the week of a far-away course or a birthday party.
- Failing once isn't a failure. Using a Greenwheels or a taxi for the odd exception is all part of it.
Variations
- - Twee weken in plaats van een: na een week valt er een patroon, na twee weken een conclusie.
- - Met een Greenwheels-tegoed: legt de tweede auto stil maar geeft een buffer.
- - In een vakantieweek: makkelijker omdat het werk-ritme weg is.
- - Met fietsen en deelauto: kijk hoe ver je komt zonder een tweede vaste auto.
Atmosphere
by PlayTryBe team