Bike related: a year without a car

[rwsaunders]

http://money.blogs.time.com/2010/01/12/what-i-learned-by-not-getting-into-a-car-for-a-year/

[MIN]

:shrug:

not a big deal if you live in a city where walking or cycling is a reasonable alternative. in places like sf, nyc or philly is in fact preferable because of all the automotive congestion and parking issue. the problem is that most of middle america is in the suburbs and the american infrastructure is dependent on cars just to make it to the grocery store. there is simply too much ground to cover in a suburban environment. blame the size of the country and the american dream.

[flydhest]

MIN,
I agree with you, but then, I think, so does the guy who did the "experiment."

c.f.:
"I must add that it would be very hard for many people, such as moms with a job 40 miles away and with three kids at different schools, to just give up cars like I did. I don't consider myself above anybody. But if, inspired by my little experiment, people made a few changes to their lives or educated themselves about the inevitability of the almost-here energy-scarce future, it would all be worth it."

People living without cars in NYC is almost a given.

I would be curious for someone who lives in a small town somewhere to do it and write about it (notice how I am not inconvenienced by my curiosity).

For me, there are weeks that go by that I do not drive, but then, I live in the middle of DC. Granted, not the most bike friendly city, but not too bad and getting better.

[Idris Icabod]

I lived car free for just over 4 years after moving from Colorado to Tucson (I work in pharma and am in my 30's). I found myself commuting 4 days a week and doing all errands on my bike, so justified getting rid of my car by buying yet another bike, a Chrome messenger bag and selling my 2-year old Infiniti that had under 7K on the clock. My commute was easy, only 12 miles each way and living in Tucson I probably only rode in the rain a handful of times. Once I was in the routine it was amazingly easy. Life changes forced a rethink, marriage and the birth of a child (1 this weekend) meant that I got myself a Honda Civic. But the car is just over a year old and has only 4K miles on it and most of those my wife have put on it by juggling the 2 cars we have now (I think we could live with 1 car but my wife is a mid-western girl and her family already think I am weird), I still commute to work 5 days a week but my pre-family yearly mileage has gone from 12K+ to probably about 3K but it is totally worth it, I don't ride the long distances anymore as I would rather spend that time with my daughter.

[Ken Robb]

:shrug:

not a big deal if you live in a city where walking or cycling is a reasonable alternative. in places like sf, nyc or philly is in fact preferable because of all the automotive congestion and parking issue. the problem is that most of middle america is in the suburbs and the american infrastructure is dependent on cars just to make it to the grocery store. there is simply too much ground to cover in a suburban environment. blame the size of the country and the american dream.

Yep. In SoCal and other places recent developments are often laid out with a few main streets, feeder streets, and deadends with culs-de-sac. Buyers pay extra to be on a deadend and even more to be in a cul-de-sac as they don't have much traffic passing their front doors and the cul-de-sac is a good place for kids to play.

The unfortunate side effect is that a person may have to travel 3-4 times the "as-the-crow-flies" distance to get to a store, school, etc. The trip will require traveling on at least one of the main arterial streets to get anywhere outside of one's immediate residential neighborhood.

As a kid in suburban Chicago I could ride my bike all over town on boring-but-safe side streets in the big grid layout. Every few blocks we had to cross a "busy" street but we could walk our bikes across if necessary. I'm riding less these days because I'm nervous riding along the arterials to go places.

[fiamme red]

Buyers pay extra to be on a deadend and even more to be in a cul-de-sac as they don't have much traffic passing their front doors and the cul-de-sac is a good place for kids to play.Once those kids become teenagers, the only way for them to get anywhere is by car. The corner store is no longer on the corner, it's miles away (though maybe a lot closer as the crow flies). So either the mother is stuck chauffeuring them, or they have to drive themselves. And teenagers are not exactly the safest drivers.

[JeffS]

:shrug:

not a big deal if you live in a city where walking or cycling is a reasonable alternative. in places like sf, nyc or philly is in fact preferable because of all the automotive congestion and parking issue. the problem is that most of middle america is in the suburbs and the american infrastructure is dependent on cars just to make it to the grocery store. there is simply too much ground to cover in a suburban environment. blame the size of the country and the american dream.


Yea... they have chosen their cars and their suburbs. Using that choice as a "defense" against their driving habits makes no sense. The reason they drive everywhere is because they have chosen to, not because they have to.

[Blue Jays]

We can't all live in the cities. Nor does everyone wish to live in cities.
Suburbs are great. Lots of rural pedaling is accessible to enthusiast cyclists simply by riding there!

[buck-50]

Yea... they have chosen their cars and their suburbs. Using that choice as a "defense" against their driving habits makes no sense. The reason they drive everywhere is because they have chosen to, not because they have to.
That's easy to say, but the suburbs are usually where the decent affordable housing is if you want to buy a house.

Not everyone likes to rent and not everyone wants to share walls in a condo. And now, Off to PO...

[thwart]

Once I was in the routine it was amazingly easy. That's an important concept.

My wife is an inveterate bike commuter (she's lucky enough to have a designated bike path most of the 10 mile distance), but even she has to use the 'necessary evil' of the automobile during our super-cold winter months.

And she really hates cars...

[zray67]

I live in San Francisco and have not owned a car for the last three years. So I either walk, bus or bike. Before I got rid of it I owned a car in the city for about 30 years. It took me about three months to get over my major resentment of not having a car. And probably a year or more to let go of self-pity and other resentments I was harboring because of not owning a car.
Two of the things I am missing because of not owning a car. I no longer have to continually deal with other people's road rage or my own anger at the stupidity of other drivers. And the second item is my monthly budget is no longer reduced to shambles because of an unforeseen car expense.