Lose the Wheels - Living Car Free

[MonkeyMama]

I've looked into public transport many times and it was always a pricey alternative to driving. Even considering all of my auto expenses. But that is California for you. I absolutely LOVE the NEw York subway system - it is great and afordable -s ame for Boston, etc. IF I lived in one of those cities I'd be all over it.

I admit my car is a luxury. If I couldn't afford it I could do without. But it would be a huge PITA. I choose convenience over cost a lot of the time, and this is something where convenience wins by a mile. Second car is not so much needed, but since I don't have to rush home when the kids have a doctor appointment or something comes up, makes me more productive at work and that whole convenience thing really kicks in.

I was just looking and taking the public transport 90 miles to the city would cost our family of 4 $90 RT. I would love to support the public transportation but I Can't afford it. So I pay $90 and it takes me 3 hours each way to go on a 90-mile drive. Ugh. I remember looking into a light rail pass when I lived and worked right by the light rail and it cost about 3 times as much as gas. This was a few years back. Needless to say I Didn't bother with the long/slow/crowded commute. I love my car a little too much I guess.

[sarah]

I lived without a car for year and one thing I learned was that you often spend more for groceries, entertainment and defintely time when you do not have a car. It used to take me 1 1/2 to get to work. I could have driven it in 5 minutes. Now this is not an option. I live in an area without pubp9c transportation.

[kimiko]

I straddle the lines between public transportation and driving. But I definitely can't afford to go carless. I use the bus as much as possible but I simply do not have the time to take the 1hr bus ride to work and 2hr to get home between classes; driving only took 30 mins each way.

[PauletteGoddard]

Someone on another board suggested we give up our one remaining car. I tried to imagine my husband on a bicycle, lugging his laptop and our then infant son off to daycare, and then making the trek to a bus stop so he could take his bicycle with him to work.

We will probably not be car free until we get a sidecar for the scooter and a roof, but I suppose having one of us telecommute 80% of the time, and another free to bus, bicycle, carpool, scoot to work while the child is walked to preschool by the other is still a major financial and environmental improvement over the SUV & Minivan double-income parental lifestyle.

[LateBloomer]

I work in the downtown area of a mid-size city and my apt. is 4 miles away. I ride the bus to and from work but have a small used car that I use for shopping and errands, etc. on the weekend. I think it would have been impossible when my children were growing up and I was working and we lived in the 'burbs. But I see young mothers with 2 or more small children in strollers accessing the public transportation system and it doesn't look easy.

[Elgin526]

Living here in the burbs we'd never be able to go car free. I'd love to be able to go to one car since DH and I are on oposit shifts, but he works a lot of overtime and wouldn't always get home in time for me to take the car to work.

But, my car is paid for in full, so at least we only have one car payment (3 more years, I can't wait until that's up!). And DH can fix both our vehicals so we only have to buy parts, that reduces our maintenance costs by 50% or more.

[Hez]

I'm in my early 20s and have never owned a car. In fact, my license expired over half a year ago, and I'm probably not going to get around to renewing it for that much longer again. I use public transporation pretty much exclusively.

[mom-from-missouri]

Couldnt do it. We live on a farm. DH works in downtown KC- its a one hour one way commute (but he only works 3 days a week-12 hr shifts). He drives a car that is pretty good on gas for work. Then we have to have the 4 x 4 pickup to pull the horse trailer and farm trailers. Then, I have my suburban- 10.5 miles one way to school (no bus) and I can't fit all the kids into his pickup, so it is either that or a minivan. But with the suburban, I can pull a hay trailer if needed, the camper if the girls and I want to camp and he is working, hall 7 kids for a field trip and still have room for backpacks in the back end.

[tgavin71]

I remember years ago on one of our finance tv shows they did a comparison between having a car with all the expenses (cost, fuel, maintenacne, wear and tear, insurances etc) and catching taxis. For the same distance over the year it was cheaper to run a car by about 30-40%. Plus you also have the added convienience.
I could easily live car free but the whinging that I would get from the kids having to walk 20 mins to and from school would drive me nuts! Plus the closest family we have live 4 hours drive away. There is a train but the ticket costs for the 4 of us far out weigh the costs of driving by car.

[Hez]

I think the difference between spending money on a car vs cabs depends a lot on where you live. My friend was telling me here that for her work it's cheaper to get a cab than it is to pay for parking, let along spending $ on gas etc. Craziness!