Going carless is their key to happiness
Biking lifestyle Supportive network
By Jeff Hawkes, Intelligencer Journal Staff
Intelligencer Journal
Published: Sep 15, 2005 9:54 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Robb and Nancy Davis are a college-educated, gainfully-employed, middle-age couple who have a daughter in college and a son at McCaskey. They give the impression they lead a completely normal life, unless it comes up in conversation that they don't have a car.
Certainly, they've had cars.
Robb, 45, has fond memories of a 1970 Nova. While not sporty, it was reliable and unstoppable on snowy roads. He wrecked it in 1979.
A happier memory for Robb is Nancy going out with him even though he replaced the Nova with a VW bug missing a front passenger seat. Nancy graciously sat in the back, and Robb would gaze at her in the rearview mirror.
They married and over the years owned a variety of cars -- a Chevette, a Reliant K, a Geo Prism, a Mitsubishi Mirage, a Subaru Impreza -- whenever Robb, who worked in public health with such agencies as World Vision, Catholic Relief Services and Freedom from Hunger, wasn't required to live overseas.
Living in Paris, the Davises relied on public transportation and bicycles. Living in Jordan, they used taxis. Living on the edge of the desert in West Africa, they walked.
Life in the United States was another matter. The Davises needed cars, particularly when they lived in Lititz and Robb traveled to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore for post-graduate studies.
Then, six years ago, the family moved to Davis, Calif., a city with a hundred miles of bike paths and lanes that have won it accolades from Bicycle Federation of America as the nation's "Best Cycling City."
The Davises started cycling to work, to school and to play. It became a contest for Robb to see how many days the family could go without using its Toyota. "If we would go a month without using the car," Robb said, "we would go out to a nice restaurant."
California's energy crisis of 2001 spurred the Davises to think about their energy consumption, and Robb came to view America's love affair with the automobile as a wasteful and unhealthy extravagance.
"To me, the car began to symbolize a lot of things that I didn't like about the U.S.," such as gluttonous consumption and the breakdown of community, he said.
He started to lobby Nancy and the kids on giving up the car.
Living more simply appealed to Nancy. She hated the way cars turned moms into chauffeurs running children from one activity to the next.
What convinced Nancy to sell their only car was that money from the sale could go into transforming their yard into a vegetable garden.
In March 2002, Robb sold the Toyota. The Davises' daughter, Kara, accepted the decision, while their son, Dylan, then 11, protested.
"What we discovered is how not having a car reinforced our desire to consume less," Robb said. "You see an ad for something at Home Depot and you zip out and get it. But when you don't have a car, that little 15-minute jaunt has to be planned."
Robb this year became executive director of Akron-based Mennonite Central Committee. Rather than buying a home in Akron, he and Nancy chose to live on North Ann Street in Lancaster because city life makes it feasible to continue living without a car.
Robb bikes or takes the bus the 15 miles to work. On rare occasions, he brings home an agency car if he has a function in the county. Nancy bikes or walks to Franklin & Marshall College, where she's a secretary. Dylan, 14, walks to school.
The Davises have five bikes, two bike trailers and maps of every bus route.
What if they have an urgent transportation need?
Friends who believe in what the Davises are doing make cars available. The Davises recently borrowed a car, for instance, to attend a picnic in Ephrata and to shop.
Robb envisions a day when families form co-ops to share a car. "If we support each other, we can make decisions" such as giving up the family car, he said.
Robb recognizes that good health makes going without a car possible. Disability or aging may someday sabotage his idealism. But while Robb can't foresee the future, if he has his way, he says, "I'll never own a car again."
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What gets me folks is the part where the author mentions the Chevy Nova and VW Beatle. Many people are too young to remember but these cars were work horses! They lasted for YEARS and it's mind boggling how cars today are maintenance disasters compared to the Nova. This is what makes owning used cars today so expensive because you're constantly taking them to get fixed. Someone said it best when they said, buying a used car was buying someone else's problems! It was the constant trip to the repair shop that nearly broke me and was forced to go car free. Go to any repair center and you'll see loads of new or nearly new cars each week requiring major repairs.
I don't think automakers want to make a Nova or Beatle or you wouldn't need to buy a new car every four years if the old one can last three times that much? I really believe motorcars are engineered with planned obsolesce (especially the electronics) so that you'll have to buy new cars or visit their repair shops. The Nova and Beatle were mistakes that just got away but you'll notice the automakers corrected that with recent Beatle which is a maintanence disaster.
Anyway, what do I care. I'm car free.
supcom
10-10-05, 11:07 PM
Bunk. compared to a modern automobile, the VW Beetle was the maintenance disaster. Every 3000 miles you had to change the oil in the engine, change the oil in the air cleaner, adjust the valve clearance (especially number three exhaust), adjust the generator belt tension, adjust (or replace) the points, and adjust the timing. Oh, and every now and then crawl under the car to tighten up the clutch cable.
If you didn't install an aftermarket fuel filter, you could count on rebuilding the carburator often. Even then, you had to periodically adjust the fuel mixture and idle speed. The throttle plate bushing on the carburator wore out after about 100,000 miles, causing an air leak and poor idling. The heat riser on the manifold tended to plug up with carbon from the exhaust and would need to be replaced. The push rod tubes were external to the engine and the seals would always end up leaking oil until you pulled the heads and replaced them. The floor pan was notorious for corrosion, especially where the body joined it with the result that the heater channels would rot away. These were very expensive to replace but since the heating system was worthless, few people bothered.
More? The fenders were simply bolted to the body with a rubber gasket. This was another prime location for rust to form. Front wheel bearings needed to be regularly repacked. And the brakes were (most years) drum brakes and had to be manually adjusted as the pads wore down.
If the Beetle lasted a long time, it's because you did so much maintenance you didn't have time to put the miles on it.
jamesdenver
10-11-05, 08:13 AM
good article.
<<What convinced Nancy to sell their only car was that money from the sale could go into transforming their yard into a vegetable garden.>>
that's it tho? i've done a heck of a lot more with the money i've saved from going from 2 car couple to 1. i save more, upped my 401K, and have a two week trip planned to south america soon. the savings have been the best financial decision i've ever made
karmical
10-11-05, 10:30 AM
Bunk. compared to a modern automobile, the VW Beetle was the maintenance disaster. Every 3000 miles you had to change the oil in the engine, change the oil in the air cleaner, adjust the valve clearance (especially number three exhaust), adjust the generator belt tension, adjust (or replace) the points, and adjust the timing. Oh, and every now and then crawl under the car to tighten up the clutch cable.
If you didn't install an aftermarket fuel filter, you could count on rebuilding the carburator often. Even then, you had to periodically adjust the fuel mixture and idle speed. The throttle plate bushing on the carburator wore out after about 100,000 miles, causing an air leak and poor idling. The heat riser on the manifold tended to plug up with carbon from the exhaust and would need to be replaced. The push rod tubes were external to the engine and the seals would always end up leaking oil until you pulled the heads and replaced them. The floor pan was notorious for corrosion, especially where the body joined it with the result that the heater channels would rot away. These were very expensive to replace but since the heating system was worthless, few people bothered.
More? The fenders were simply bolted to the body with a rubber gasket. This was another prime location for rust to form. Front wheel bearings needed to be regularly repacked. And the brakes were (most years) drum brakes and had to be manually adjusted as the pads wore down.
If the Beetle lasted a long time, it's because you did so much maintenance you didn't have time to put the miles on it.
but you could easily do all the stuff you listed yourself without too many specialized tools, not to mention you could upgrade to disc brakes pretty easy as well as 100's of other modifications that countered all those problems you listed, i did with a book and a basic tool set, in my teens...
ok...now back to car free :D
lala
10-11-05, 10:34 AM
Weee, nice article!
Az B
10-11-05, 11:02 AM
I had a 69 VW van that I failed to adjust the valves on and it lunched the motor. The valve head went right through the piston into the bottom end. Total destruction.
The good news was that a new motor was only $300, and it took all of about 4 hours to install with no special tools. For all it's faults, it was simple and cheap.
Like the Davis's, I enjoyed the carless lifestyle when we lived in London. We actually did have a car, but it was such a pain in the @ss to find parking, drive through the convoluted city streets with a lot of traffic, and pay for the fuel that we ended up not driving it. I did also have a motorcycle, and that alleviated the parking, fuel, and traffic (English drivers are much more practical, and motorcycles are encouraged to split lanes and go to the front of traffic while stopped) but I still found that walking was better for short distances and public transport and light rail were ideal for longer travels.
Unfortunately, now we live in Atlanta. I think it was voted one of the worst cities in the world to be a pedestrian, and bicycles ain't too far behind. The roads are crappy, the traffic is horrible, but the absolute worst part is that bicyclists are bottom of the totem pole. We aspire to become second class citizens. If you have all the cycling kit, most people think you're a snob with no rights to the road, and if you ride in street clothes, the general assumption is that you can't afford a car or lost your license from too many DUIs.
Az
smurfy
10-11-05, 11:20 AM
We're not car-free but very car-lite. I'm proud to announce that I got $5 worth of gas today @$2.69gal for the first time in almost two weeks (we just get $5 at a time) so I am using 1gal of gas per week average. Maybe I can get it down to 1/2 gal a week!
Dahon.Steve
10-11-05, 11:40 AM
Bunk. compared to a modern automobile, the VW Beetle was the maintenance disaster. Every 3000 miles you had to change the oil in the engine, change the oil in the air cleaner, adjust the valve clearance (especially number three exhaust), adjust the generator belt tension, adjust (or replace) the points, and adjust the timing. Oh, and every now and then crawl under the car to tighten up the clutch cable.
If you didn't install an aftermarket fuel filter, you could count on rebuilding the carburator often. Even then, you had to periodically adjust the fuel mixture and idle speed. The throttle plate bushing on the carburator wore out after about 100,000 miles, causing an air leak and poor idling. The heat riser on the manifold tended to plug up with carbon from the exhaust and would need to be replaced. The push rod tubes were external to the engine and the seals would always end up leaking oil until you pulled the heads and replaced them. The floor pan was notorious for corrosion, especially where the body joined it with the result that the heater channels would rot away. These were very expensive to replace but since the heating system was worthless, few people bothered.
More? The fenders were simply bolted to the body with a rubber gasket. This was another prime location for rust to form. Front wheel bearings needed to be regularly repacked. And the brakes were (most years) drum brakes and had to be manually adjusted as the pads wore down.
If the Beetle lasted a long time, it's because you did so much maintenance you didn't have time to put the miles on it.
Incredible. It sounds like you suffered with the Beatle.
I still remember seeing loads of those 70's Beatles on the street well into the late 80's so I figured it was a reliable car. I should have known better.
cerewa
10-11-05, 12:08 PM
If you have all the cycling kit, most people think you're a snob with no rights to the road, and if you ride in street clothes, the general assumption is that you can't afford a car or lost your license from too many DUIs.
I wonder what they'd think if you rode a nice-looking road bike with a nice-looking jersey, and regular old shorts/pants.
Az B
10-11-05, 12:55 PM
I wonder what they'd think if you rode a nice-looking road bike with a nice-looking jersey, and regular old shorts/pants.
The brightly colored jersey would catch the eye, and that would be about it. People see what they want to see. A good example of this is something that happened to me recently. I'm a pretty furry guy, with lots of hair everywhere and up until recently a pony tail halfway down my back. I ride Harleys, and I've been a Harley mechanic for many years. (Way back before they became boutiques for the rich and famous)I also visit my wife's professional office building occasionally to take her to lunch, etc. as well as going to various company parties and picnics.
One day, the office secretary was describing me to another newer coworker for whatever reason. She described me as a big, hairy Harley dude with lots of tatoos. Now she's seen me many time in many different kinds of clothes... (even a kilt, but that's a long story) here's the kicker...
I don't have a single tatoo.
In this day and age, people rely on stereotypes and labels as a lazy, quick way to identify and categorize people. Everyone does it, I do and you do. So if you think anyone really sees the details of your kit while you're riding around, you're just too close to it. In reality, they'll quickly see the most conspicous part and fill in the rest of the label from there. They wouldn't know a 1971 Schwinn from a 2005 Madone, they'll simply see the brightly colored jersey and fill the rest in based on thier particular bias and experience.
Az
FXjohn
10-11-05, 02:14 PM
What convinced Nancy to sell their only car was that money from the sale could go into transforming their yard into a vegetable garden.
What a couple of dufii.
My garden costs me absolutely nothing except for running the well.
I mean, what do these people need to spend money on?
A pile of fertilizer, or what?
My vehicle costs me a few hundred bucks in PLPD insurance per year, and a few gallons of gas per month. Sure as hell isn't going to fund a retirement LOL
gwd
10-13-05, 03:50 PM
Bunk. compared to a modern automobile, the VW Beetle was the maintenance disaster. Every 3000 miles you had to change the oil in the engine, change the oil in the air cleaner, adjust the valve clearance (especially number three exhaust), adjust the generator belt tension, adjust (or replace) the points, and adjust the timing. Oh, and every now and then crawl under the car to tighten up the clutch cable.
If you didn't install an aftermarket fuel filter, you could count on rebuilding the carburator often. Even then, you had to periodically adjust the fuel mixture and idle speed. The throttle plate bushing on the carburator wore out after about 100,000 miles, causing an air leak and poor idling. The heat riser on the manifold tended to plug up with carbon from the exhaust and would need to be replaced. The push rod tubes were external to the engine and the seals would always end up leaking oil until you pulled the heads and replaced them. The floor pan was notorious for corrosion, especially where the body joined it with the result that the heater channels would rot away. These were very expensive to replace but since the heating system was worthless, few people bothered.
More? The fenders were simply bolted to the body with a rubber gasket. This was another prime location for rust to form. Front wheel bearings needed to be regularly repacked. And the brakes were (most years) drum brakes and had to be manually adjusted as the pads wore down.
If the Beetle lasted a long time, it's because you did so much maintenance you didn't have time to put the miles on it.
My experience and friend's and family is closer to dahon.steve's description. My family had several vans, friends had the bugs. We loved that cartoon fix it book, something about complete idiot in the title. My dad had a '73 van that he bought used in '77, drove all over the country, sold to me in '80, I drove it all over the country, sold to someone else... I sold it in 1989 or 1988. I bought a new modern water cooled VW van, it was more trouble than the 73, mostly with the electronics but a blown head gasket too. Some previous owner of the '73 put after market exhaust and a chevy 4 barrel carb on the thing. Last time I was in
Mexico I rented a bug and had no qualms about running the thing miles and miles along very remote sandy/dirt roads in southern Baja.
What is the bike equivalent of these things? I mean the car dahon.steve describes whether you believe it exists in reality. I don't see any one type of bike around that everyone knows how to fix and they trick up with after market parts. Maybe old shwinns were like that, the varsity or something. The old english three speeds came with a little saddle bag and a useful tool kit. With the tool kit you could dismantle most things. I saved the tools and still have one in my current tool kit a good 40 years after my father bought the bike. I'd like a bike like that, self contained with common and standardized parts. It is irritating to go to a bike shop to get a little dohickey that you know how to replace to be told that you have to buy a whole new thingamabob and by the way you need this special tool to install it and we don't sell the tool either. It happened when a bearing race broke- "We don't have the bearing race, we don't have the bearings, but we'll be glad so special order a hub and build a new wheel for you." With the VW bugs and vans even small towns had plenty of parts and expertise.
ViciousCycle
10-13-05, 04:40 PM
What a couple of dufii.
My garden costs me absolutely nothing except for running the well.
I know a car-free couple that had to tear apart the concrete driveway in order to have a place to plant a garden. The article talked about "transforming" the yard into a garden, so I'm assuming that they had to have some sort of similar labor before they can plant their garden. Putting up a fence, tearing up concrete, replacing sandy soil, removing trees to allow for direct sunlight -- these things can all cost money.
Dahon.Steve
10-14-05, 07:47 AM
My experience and friend's and family is closer to dahon.steve's description. My family had several vans, friends had the bugs. We loved that cartoon fix it book, something about complete idiot in the title. My dad had a '73 van that he bought used in '77, drove all over the country, sold to me in '80, I drove it all over the country, sold to someone else... I sold it in 1989 or 1988. I bought a new modern water cooled VW van, it was more trouble than the 73, mostly with the electronics but a blown head gasket too. Some previous owner of the '73 put after market exhaust and a chevy 4 barrel carb on the thing. Last time I was in
Mexico I rented a bug and had no qualms about running the thing miles and miles along very remote sandy/dirt roads in southern Baja.
This is what I was trying to say in the begining. The key to happiness is one that's not going to cost you an arm and a leg. A car does just the opposite. You'll notice the authors happiness came right after selling the car giving him the financial resources to do other things. Our country thinks happiness comes from quick transportation (a car) but it is the activity shared among friends and loved ones that is the key.
Dahon.Steve
10-14-05, 07:50 AM
I know a car-free couple that had to tear apart the concrete driveway in order to have a place to plant a garden. The article talked about "transforming" the yard into a garden, so I'm assuming that they had to have some sort of similar labor before they can plant their garden. Putting up a fence, tearing up concrete, replacing sandy soil, removing trees to allow for direct sunlight -- these things can all cost money.
They might have broken some local ordinances by tearing apart their driveway. Towns today require homes/apartments to have a certain number of parking spaces devoted for the residents. By tearing out the driveway, they probably violated some of those ordinances. It is illegal in most cities to build a home without a driveway.
cyclezealot
10-14-05, 07:58 AM
Most often driving a car stresses me out..Riding unstresses me..I just drove across the country..Even in Kansas w/o traffic- boring. Bet riding across the US would not have bored me..Took a bike ride here in Michigan to totally unstress me.
Being carless..Only concern other than wifes opposition. Grocery shopping.OTherwise I look forward to it. But, I would prefer to live in the right bike friendly climate.
Will get a beater bike for when I have less than Ideal weather too.
cerewa
10-14-05, 08:08 AM
I don't see any one type of bike around that everyone knows how to fix and they trick up with after market parts.
Decades-old road bikes. Most people don't know how to fix em, but anybody could learn. Friction shifters, non-sealed bearings, everything made of steel. No need for a torque wrench anywhere, and you can remove the headset cups with a screwdriver and a hammer (i've done it) and there's no index shifting to get misadjusted. Everything comes down to screws, nuts, bolts, and cup-and-cone bearings. Helps to know how a wedge works and why we sometimes back one nut down against another nut, and once you've got that concept you're set.
humancongereel
10-14-05, 01:23 PM
car-free is the key to happiness...yes. you ever notice "car-free" is only one letter off from "carefree"?
Roody
10-14-05, 04:14 PM
And carless is only one letter from careless. But we won't go there! :D
ViciousCycle
10-14-05, 05:01 PM
They might have broken some local ordinances by tearing apart their driveway.
I feel fortunate to live in a neighborhood where driveways are non-existent -- if you happen to own a car, you can just park it on the street and that's that.
In Michael's case, the drive-way that he was tearing up was a faux driveway -- the previous owner paved over the backyard to turn it into a driveway. Since Michael wanted a yard for his child to play in, he undid the previous owner's paving. This is in a neighborhood where a high percentage of people don't own cars because they live close to transit, have a lot within walking distance, etc.
humancongereel
10-15-05, 02:18 PM
And carless is only one letter from careless. But we won't go there! :D