Lose the Wheels - Living Car Free

[LuxLiving]

Sounds like an interesting read that some of us fruggies might be interested in checking out!

http://www.livecarfree.com/

[PrincessPerky]

While I do not feel like giving up the one car we do own, I am happy without a second, in fact I do not even have a license,

BUT…..So many books like this one talk about how terrible cars are and how wonderful alternatives can be, but they don’t seem to take into effect the distance many families live from mass transit. And I am not moving closer, it would cost more than my car payment to live in a safe area closer, and no savings is worth me moving to the unsafe areas.

Course how do we convince the city to put in mass transit…..when you know full well most people are not giving up their cars no matter how much the put in…..Though I find it odd that I have to have a 5 pt harness for my kid up to 80 lbs but I can just hold them on the bus…..

Another problem with ditching the car for many families is size, it is easy to carpool when you are one, or maybe even two..but as it stands right now, even my friends with vans cannot take my kids and I along with their own family (never mind trying to fit DH too) Especially since you have to all have a seatbelt and racing harness for the very young (nothing against those laws..just saying the EPA might want to notice the effect those laws are having)

Anyway, not trying to put a damper on the whole anti wheels thing, just that it isn’t as easy as some make it seem. If I lived in a small town, or one with nice mass transit, and if DH could walk to work, we wouldn’t have a car loan, but he doesn’t, we don’t so we do.

Wonder if they make a tandem bike with space to pull 3 kids? Ooooh or a bike with pedels for the two older kids and mom and dad, and spot for baby..with room to grow of course in case there is another kid later….AhHa! The Flintstone car! Only with peddles instead of feet..yep, I have my invention, gotta go patent that J.

[pearlieq]

I really wish it were possible to go car-free, but it's just not in my area.

I'm over 5 miles from the nearest store and there is almost no public transport in our sprawling exurb.

I sometimes wonder if we could get by with only one car, but then I'd be trapped in the house all day. No going to the library, no going out with friends (or always making them drive), no running errands during the day. It sounds like a recipe for madness!

If we consider moving again, I would think about getting a place in town somewhere where we could walk or bike to many things. I really wish that could be part of our lifestyle, but it's just not workable at present.

[JanH]

In days gone by, grandparents bought cars for trips to church and groceries and maybe a Sunday drive for ice cream and visit family. My grandparents took a lot of trips around the country when they were younger, but they used cars a lot less as older and kept them forever. They keep them clean and running and they lasted and lasted. I don't think they'd think it was a bad investment cos they used them wisely. But then again, cars now cost so much more and are more complicated to service and take care of. Our dad took care of all our cars growing up. No computer parts, etc. We've had more trouble taking care of newer cars. Much more expense. But with all the highways here, it would be suicide to walk or ride a bike. We rode our bikes everywhere when I was a kid, but I would find that scary here. So while I think it would be great in certain circumstances, I don't think it would fit all of us. Wish planning for neighborhoods took into account walking or biking to stores we could get to easily. Our grocery stores seem to all be at the intersection of two four lane highways! Walking for our health would be great. And you couldn't carry too much so you wouldn't buy too much. Just wish it was safer to do. Then you could leave the car parked and still get out and about. Growing up in the country without a second car was great for us kids, but mom never was able to go anywhere unless she planned every trip to the store or outing with dad's carpool days. Which is probably the way to go. But she hated it. Man, am I rambling tonight. Sheesh.

[Broken Arrow]

I'd love to live car-free, but I have to commute to work, and I don't know anyone in my area to car-pool.

It's very tempting though. Someday, if I can arrange my life just right, I'd love to go car-free.

[budgetmom]

We lived car free for several years. We lived in a small town and could literally walk from one end to the other in about an hour. And that was a pretty leisurely walk. When we moved to the big city, we couldn't afford to buy a car so we used mass transit and later DH bought a bike. I was taking some college classes at that time and I was spending around 2 hours riding for that alone. When I worked and went to school it was almost double. It got to the point that I was dropping my son of for daycare and picking him up from his grandparents to go to bed at home. I hated it. I was going to the grocery store in shifts so I could carry them and my little one home. DH's work commute was 1hr. 45 min. one way on the city bus. When he got the bike it shaved it down to 1 hr. 10 min. but we still saw very little of him due to travel time. Then he got into his accident on his bike and broke his collar bone, and totaled the bike. We did mass transit again for a little while after that. I was so happy when we got our one car! Now, his commute is only about 20-30 min. unless traffic on the highway is really bad. I can shop for a month if I want to in one outting. We get to spend more time with eachother, so even though our car is expensive I'd gladly pay the costs!

[poundwise]

No way that we could go car free. We have no mass transit here and my wife and I both commute greater than 15 miles each, in different directions. We also have other activities (I go to school part-time, for one) that require each of us to have a vehicle.

However, we may very well work out a way to become a one car couple in the not-to-distant future, as a part of our get-out-of-debt plan.

[PRICEPLUS]

Out here in the Burbs itis just not possible to go car free. You can do this in an urnban area fairly easily but everything is too far to walk to. I use the bike when I can but I still need the car!

[DivaJen]

A friend of mine is currently try to live car-free. She and her husband picked where they wanted to rent so that it was close to their son's school and daughter's preschool. She has a bike with a trailer, and uses that to get her kids to and from school. They still have one car, but by and large she does a lot of her travelling by foot or by bike. She's using the bus, too, although the bus system here is terrible and not a great option much of the time.

[Ima saver]

I live too far out in the boonies! The closest big town is 2 hours away. Besides, my husband loves cars, he would never give up his hobby!

[rduell]

It would be nice not to have the expense of 2 vehicles, but unfortunately not possible. My husband and I both work 20 miles from home in opposite directions from each other. We live in a small town that has no public transportation.

The kids are within walking distance of school, so that saves on trips to school and back for extra curricular activities, except in the winter when it's too cold to walk. I have adapted my work schedule to their school hours so that I can drop them off at school and then go on to work from there.

[Ima saver]

I lived in a small town when I was a kid. The town was 1 mile square and we lived in that square. I was able to walk to everything, my school, the movies, downtown. If i wanted to play with a friend, I could ride my bike. It would be nice to have the expense of less cars, insurance, tags, etc.

[cschin4]

No thanks. I really don't want to live like that. I just don't think it is at all practical in today's world. I like my minivan!

[Diolla]

I live 3 miles from work and when the weather is decent I walk, I priced the bus and it cost $1 (one way) my car costs about $0.12 with gas prices where they are. The grocery is about 1 mile away but I am still trying to figure out how to get my groceries home without going every night. DS either walks or rides the bus to school.

We would still need a car for trips to the Doctor and Vet (West edge of town, 20 min by car) and for other things that are not so close, man does not live on groceries alone, so I will probably never go car less. We can however go for days without ever starting the car. We are a smallish town so I doubt any of those loan programs will show up here any time soon plus my car is cheap and paid for.

[asmom]

While I am unable to live car-free, I have drastically reduced my car usage in the past year. The biggest change I have made is to switch to mass transit to get to work. Unfortunately I have to drive to the train station but the length of my commute is either the same or 5-10 minutes less than when I was driving. Additionally, I have cut my gas costs by half for the month. I no longer have to pay for parking and my job provides a free monthly transit card which is worth $55. So by simply deciding to catch the train, I am saving something on the order of $1500 a year in gas and parking only not to mention the frustration of commuting in Atlanta traffic. There's no telling how much I save in maintenance for tires and oil changes.


So while I don't think it's possible or practical for a lot of people to live car-free, I do think that simple changes can allow some folks to reduce a lot of their car expenses.

[tinapbeana]

Originally Posted by asmom

So by simply deciding to catch the train, I am saving something on the order of $1500 a year in gas and parking only not to mention the frustration of commuting in Atlanta traffic. There's no telling how much I save in maintenance for tires and oil changes. So while I don't think it's possible or practical for a lot of people to live car-free, I do think that simple changes can allow some folks to reduce a lot of their car expenses.

i used to live in atlanta, and marta is kind of a catch-22. i went carless for a while, at the time i lived in decatur (3 blocks from a train station) and worked in norcross (half a mile from the closest bus stop). i also had a collapsable bike. so, my 2 hr one-way commute involved biking to the train station, taking the E-W train downtown then switching to the N-S train and going to the end of the line. get on a bus take it to the end of the line, then bike up the rest of the way along an access road for an 6 (8?) lane hwy. uugh!

mass transit in a lot of southern areas is great if you're able to access the necessities of life within a 2-4 mile radius or so. unfortunately, most southern cities also came into their own during the 'age of the auto' and are designed in a much more sprawling fashion than cities that were metropolitan areas at the turn on the century. the design makes it a definite hardship when trying to go carless.

[asmom]

Originally Posted by tinapbeana

mass transit in a lot of southern areas is great if you're able to access the necessities of life within a 2-4 mile radius or so. unfortunately, most southern cities also came into their own during the 'age of the auto' and are designed in a much more sprawling fashion than cities that were metropolitan areas at the turn on the century. the design makes it a definite hardship when trying to go carless.

This is true and there is a lot of talk about high-density living and there has been some movement towards that here in the ATL area but by and large it is still difficult to walk/bike/mass transit here. I could reduce a lot of car trips if they would just build a freakin' sidewalk to Publix! There is a sidewalk that goes in that direction but it stops .2 miles from the intersection. Why in the @#!$ would they build the sidewalk and stop that close to the intersection?!!!

[meaghanchan]

I consider myself extremely fortunate that I am able to live car-free. I am in an area where there's so much mass transit (and so much traffic, and so little parking) that it's actually an inconvenience to own a car. I've never owned a car, and many people I know don't even have their drivers licenses. I take the subway to work, and I take the bus or walk to go grocery shopping.

I imagine that being car-free would be more difficult if I had a family, but many people around here do it, so it must be possible... Just a bit harder.

[ren]

I would love to be able to go carless. However, I've figured out the best route and... well, 'best' is an overstatement:

5:56 Board the 084 > 6:10 Transfer to the 080 > 6:28 Transfer to the 001 > 6:40 Transfer to the J > 7:10 Transfer to the L > 7:40 Get off at Kaiser

Yup, that's about two and a half hours (allowing for walking from my house and up to work) so I could be at my desk at 8:00. What godforsaken area do I live in? Sacramento, CA. How far is it to drive to my work? 11 miles.

As a bonus, because I'd have to buy a commuter pass for 2 bus systems, it would cost me $210 per month (Sacramento $80, Roseville $130). When I only use about $90 a month in gas, it just doesn't make economic sense.

[threebeansalad]

My husband and I have just one car. I'm not interested in going carless, but I try to drive as little as possible. In fact, I try to have car-free days (similar in thought to spend free days). It's just a little mental game that encourages me to not make mindless trips in the car and try to string errands together. I rarely go more than 5 car free days, so it's not like the car will get in danger of sitting too long.