necessities for a car free lifestyle

[nasiralpharia]

What are the most important factors in living car free?

Location, I am sure is everyones most important factor. I moved from raleigh to durham NC, to close cities, and I have a much better cycling experience here. The roads in general are wider, at least around the places I need to go. Everyone says live close to grocery stores, but what does that mean? I live a 1.5 miles, so walking takes a while, but biking only a few minutes so I consider that close for this area. What confuses me is sometimes I here a city is great for living car free, sometimes I hear they are not, like Atlanta for instance, it was mentioned in another thread that it may not be so great, I thought since it was densly populated that it was.

Public transportation, Do you have to have public transportation in order for it to work. I just hate taking the buses here, but they do cover the entire city and they have bike racks. We do not have local trains however.

Tools, How many bikes do you have to have. Also would you need a trailer or extra attachments?

Basically I am trying to find out, if you had to move, or start over, what do you think you have to have in order to live car free? I understand everyone has their different opinions.

[nasiralpharia]

Also I see my grammar was off, sorry very late... I wanted also ask if anyone had opinions on being car free in my area specifically?

[carless]

The most important factor in living car free: A personal commitment to walk or bike instead of driving. You can buy, fix, fabricate, plan, learn, or borrow everything else.

[Platy]

I'm retired, so not having to commute to a job makes carfree living easier for me.

If I were planning from scratch, I'd look for
(1) a close-in older suburb
(2) with a grid street layout
(3) containing quite a bit of retail and professional services and especially
(4) a grocery store.

I'd give plusses for
(5) a nearby light rail line
(6) a bus stop served by multiple bus lines.

Minuses for
(7) hard to cross arterials, train tracks, watercourses, steep canyons, etc.

Big plus for a college town based on my personal preference.

[swwhite]

I actually would be afraid to go car-free, unless there were a society-wide effort to go car-free. There are some things one MUST be able to get to in a timely manner under adverse condions with dependents. I have in mind, of course, the doctor and the vet. A good example is our local medical care provider. In order to "serve us better," they closed the clinic that we could have reached (theoretically) by foot, bicycle, or bus, and moved our doctor to a suburban clinic about six miles away, across some major highways and railroad tracks, so it is practically impossible to get there in any way besides private automobile. And that's the nearest clinic for this particular health care organization.

If we as a society were all working toward less car use, then the medical organization might have decided that to "serve us better" they would open more, smaller, clinics that more people could get to without driving. And don't get me started on the death of the corner grocery store.

[cyclezealot]

living close to needed facilities. Public transportation. Having a bike with an ability to carry stuff. Maybe a trailer for heavy items. Unusual problems will always arise. Like carrying heavy items, such as a tv on a bike trailer! Can always sell out and rent a car.

[atman]

swwhite, my urban density is such that the vet is within half a mile and the hospital within a mile and a half, while I would have 100 yards to go to hail a taxi in the event of a non-ambulance type emergency at any hour of the day or night.

The three factors for easy car free living are location, location and a good bike. In that order.

[swwhite]

swwhite, my urban density is such that the vet is within half a mile and the hospital within a mile and a half, while I would have 100 yards to go to hail a taxi in the event of a non-ambulance type emergency at any hour of the day or night.

The three factors for easy car free living are location, location and a good bike. In that order.

Good point. My clinic is six miles away and the vet is five miles away, but a hospital is two miles away, and a different vet is four blocks away. One might have to do a little foundation work. For example, put into the cell phone the numbers of all the taxi companies. Then, once a month whether you need to or not, take a taxi ride somewhere just to get the procedure down, find out how much it costs, learn which taxi companies are the best, etc. Get a little jar of dedicated taxi money in the kitchen. Get all the relevant bus schedules and clip them to the refrigerator. Rent a car now and then just to make friends with the car rental company and learn how to do that operation expeditiously. Get an Xtracycle for the grocery store. Get a winter beater bike.

Actually, I should be doing all that now even though we own two cars. A few weeks ago circumstances hit us in such a way that BOTH cars were in the shop on the same day. We were in quite a panic. It's disgusting that one can hardly function in modern life without having two motorized transportation appliances on-line 24 hours a day seven days a week. Besides, we ARE going to run out oil SOME DAY, so we better get ready.

[gwd]

What are the most important factors in living car free?
........

Basically I am trying to find out, if you had to move, or start over, what do you think you have to have in order to live car free? I understand everyone has their different opinions.
I never thought of it in terms of what I have but the decisions I make. At any time when your life changes you have a range of options, some options are in the car free direction and some are in the car dependent direction. No matter if you are currently car free or not you choose which way to go. Since our culture provides so little help in moving toward car free we in America need a sense of experimentation. When I was car lite I rode in bad weather to test my car free neighbor's assertion that "It isn't so bad." I found out for myself that she was right. Once you get going the cold rain/sleet/snow feels refreshing. Lesson learned. Or , can I really carry all the stuff for Saturday night's party in one bike trip? I tried it, I could. Another lesson learned.

So for me it took two things. 1) the ability to make conscious decisions 2) a positive attitude. Car free just came along. I'm still getting better at it.

Car free would have come faster if I had received more proselytizing or encouragement from car free advocates. The car free people I knew while I was a car person never tried to help me use my car less and never talked about living car free unless I asked.

The month before I finally dumped my car I moved 7 miles further from work so I guess being close to work wasn't so important for me. I moved from 3 miles one way to work to a good 10 miles one way.

[Dahon.Steve]

Public transportation, Do you have to have public transportation in order for it to work. I just hate taking the buses here, but they do cover the entire city and they have bike racks. We do not have local trains however.


I consider lightrail to be an essential necessity in becoming car free. Here's what I did.

Step 1 --- I looked at www.lightrailnow.org to see where the lines are.

Step 2 --- I moved within blocks of the lightrail stop

Step 3 --- I found a job on the other end of the line

I was now car free and end of story.

[bike2math]

Car lite lurker here, but I thought I could maybe contribute something I've learned. It was only after I fell for the love of my life that I realized I wanted to be car free. So I would add to the list of important factors in personal order of increasing importance,

1. bus lines
2. good bike
3. bikeable grocer
4. bikeable job
5. like minded significant other (far and away the most important, else you end up only being car lite and being guilted into driving more than you'd like, trust me).

[PaulH]

Another car lite type here.

I think a really important factor is the convenience of riding versus the convenience of driving. An ideal place for being car free (or car lite) is a city where driving is slow and unpleasant and parking is difficul to find.

Paul

[HardyWeinberg]

I'm into my 2nd yr of dealing w/ my kids w/ bike only (my wife works 30 miles away). My son is 5 now, and in his first ~2.5 yrs he had 2 events where I had to bring him straight from daycare to MD (once to regular doc, once to emergency room). Both MD office and hospital are midway between my job and their daycare, and at the wrong end of a big hill, so going to get them and trailering them back doesn't seem appealing. w/ my current setup, if either kid needs that, I will just get a cab and, if it's really bad, an ambulance. If it's that bad, I guess they'd take the ambulance from the daycare and I'd meet them at the hospital. 5 yr old starts kindergarten in Sep, that will be the 1st time they're going to different places. More logistics to figure out!

I guess the biggest necessity for car-free that I see is schedule flexibility. As long as I can find the time to bike here and there, give or take time to change a flat and whatever other stuff happens, dry off from the rain, it keeps working.

[bmclaughlin807]

I ride my bike 8.5 miles each way to work. It's 15 miles to the VA hospital where I'm being seen, and I take my bike there, and then about 8 miles back from there to get to work.

The grocery store is about a half mile, I haul everything on my bike, with a rack and grocery panniers I can haul a half cart of groceries easily.

As far as a Vet, my dogs haven't been to see one in a year, I guess a taxi or friend would have to do in that case. For medical emergencies, I'll definetely choose an ambulance, for minor things that don't warrant an ambulance, the bus, or a friend.

That said, I hardly ever take the bus unless I'm going someplace with my wife (we haven't gotten her a bike yet, and even when she has ridden, she's a lot slower)

When I have some money to spend, I'm going to try to find a tandem that we can ride together, but next on the list is a bike for her.

Oh... and we have lightrail, it just doesn't go anywhere that *I* need to go... I have yet to ride it even once, and I've lived here for two years.

They're extending the lightrail out in the next few years, but by that time I may have moved on to other things and places.

[tsl]

I think carless has the best advice, and bike2math has a good list to start from. I would add proximity to services (doctor, hospital, etc,) to entertainment (theater, movies, sports arenas, restaurants) and, perhaps most importantly, proximity to a good LBS.

Comparing cities as you did, is probably less important that comparing locations within cites or metro areas. There are suburbs around here that would be nearly impossible to live in car-free and a challenge car-lite. Ditto for sections of the city itself. Eleven years ago, back when I was still in full car-nut mode, I sort of fell into a great neighborhood for car-free. I was able to go car-free seven years ago without changing address, employment or where I shop.

I've also found that transportation infrastructure (bike lanes and paths) is less important to me than bike-friendly destinations. If I can't lock up, I don't shop or work there.

You asked about a trailer for shopping, that depends more on you, your family size and your shopping habits (which can change). I used to grocery shop once or twice a month and came home with a carload. When I used the bus, I shopped twice a week and came home with two to four bags. With the bike, grocery panniers and backpack, I shop two or three times a month because I can carry so much more on the bike. If you have a family, then a trailer may make sense. For a single or a couple, it's probably overkill.

For other shopping (a TV was mentioned), just arrange delivery. I've had all my furniture and appliances delivered. (I found it much easier too, to just point and say, "Put it there" rather than having to lug it to a car or truck, and then lug it into my apartment.) Other stuff (clothes, computers, etc) I buy online and UPS brings it to the door. Sure, delivery adds to the purchase price, but that's easy to fund from the savings on a car and related nonsense.

As for tools, I own a floor-pump and a multi-tool along with typical apartment-dweller stuff (screwdrivers, pliers). Number of bikes *required* is one, and that's all I own. For now. More are always better. :) My LBS (a half-mile away) knows I'm car-free and makes special efforts to service my bike right away, usually while I wait. It's how they earn and return my customer loyalty.

[bragi]

Another car lite type here.

I think a really important factor is the convenience of riding versus the convenience of driving. An ideal place for being car free (or car lite) is a city where driving is slow and unpleasant and parking is difficul to find.

Paul

I totally agree with this one. Seattle is densely populated, isn't that big geographically, and is generally tolerant of bikes on the roads. It also has horrendous traffic, and parking can be a nightmare. Driving here sucks. Riding a bike does not, and in some cases it's faster than driving. I'm much, much happier here without a car, and it hasn't been a sacrifice at all. I found that to be the case in some other places as well, such as Denver/Boulder, SF, and all of western Europe. In Laramie, WY, carless might not be the ideal choice, though...

[shishi]

I actually would be afraid to go car-free, unless there were a society-wide effort to go car-free. There are some things one MUST be able to get to in a timely manner under adverse condions with dependents. I have in mind, of course, the doctor and the vet. A good example is our local medical care provider. In order to "serve us better," they closed the clinic that we could have reached (theoretically) by foot, bicycle, or bus, and moved our doctor to a suburban clinic about six miles away, across some major highways and railroad tracks, so it is practically impossible to get there in any way besides private automobile. And that's the nearest clinic for this particular health care organization.

If we as a society were all working toward less car use, then the medical organization might have decided that to "serve us better" they would open more, smaller, clinics that more people could get to without driving. And don't get me started on the death of the corner grocery store.

The twin cities is an awesome bike town. Even though the family might need a car, daily commuting for things should be a breeze.

[gwd]

Another car lite type here.

I think a really important factor is the convenience of riding versus the convenience of driving. An ideal place for being car free (or car lite) is a city where driving is slow and unpleasant and parking is difficul to find.

Paul
I disagree. In your hypothetical city where driving is slow and unpleasant -DC, if more people biked, then driving would no longer be so slow or unpleasant and, by your criteria it would no longer be a good place for biking. This criterion, that the car experience be unpleasant or inconvenient, if applied to everyone would lead to an equilibrium based on an the average city dweller's tolerance for the unpleasentness of the car experience. One pleasant surprise about going car free is the convenience of the bike without regard to what car drivers are experiencing. Why can't a place without cars, but where driving a car would be very convenient if they were there, be a very nice place to be car free?

In case I'm not getting through, I can imagine my neighborhood without private vehicles, where everyone who can bike or walk does bike or walk. In that fantasy world, my neighborhood would be a better not worse place to be car free as well as a more convenient place to operate a motor vehicle.

[Artkansas]

I faced that problem when moving here to Arkansas. It's easier when you have the job first to set up everything else to fit.

I now live 2.5 miles from work. 2.5 miles from local Hospitals. I live in a small valley called "Pleasant Valley", there is a movie theater 2 blocks away, the post office is 3. The library is 4. Lots of restaurants, banks and several drug stores within a few blocks. Two grocery stores within about a mile and a KMart, another movie theater and night club just beyond that. I am in the center between two bike stores, within a mile of both and one is on my route to work.

My apartment has washing machines, a gym, a pool and barbecue pit. My surroundings are pretty well wooded with a stream with fish on one edge of the apartment complex.

In otherwords, most everything I could need is close by. The area is quiet and safe. And if I need to get to downtown and the airport, the end terminus of the bus route is 1/2 block away.

[pedex]

Ive been in or thru almost every major city in the US, most make quite good places to live car free. Almost all the bigger ones are just like the one im in now---> city core is typical american fare, and its surrounded by suburbs and exurbs stretching out about 25-30 miles at this point. If you live close to downtown car free life is quite easy, and mass transit isnt even needed. Here in Columbus, if your within about a 100 square mile block centered on downtown car free life is so easy its strange more people dont do it.

A huge part of being car free isnt just dealing with the logistics of doing it, it also usually requires some rethinking and dumping much of what we are taught growing up in this country. Things like city life sucks, suburbs are cool, hard work is bad, physical labor is bad, renting is bad, etc etc etc.

[nedgoudy]

I'm retired, so not having to commute to a job makes carfree living easier for me.

If I were planning from scratch, I'd look for
(1) a close-in older suburb
(2) with a grid street layout
(3) containing quite a bit of retail and professional services and especially
(4) a grocery store.

I'd give plusses for
(5) a nearby light rail line
(6) a bus stop served by multiple bus lines.

Minuses for
(7) hard to cross arterials, train tracks, watercourses, steep canyons, etc.

Big plus for a college town based on my personal preference.

You just described the little suburban town
I live in. The only other thing I would add is

8. A Bike Friendly police force. ARGGH!

[Icycle]

If you are trying to go car-free or car-light, it isn't necessary to change jobs or move to reach that goal, but when you do change jobs or move, definitely take your goal into account. When my wife and I decided to we wanted to buy a house, we drew a 5 mile radius around my place of employment, and focused our housing search on the areas within that circle to make sure I would have a conveniently bikable commute. Conveniently, her University is only a few miles from my employer, so the house we found was close enough that she was able to walk or bike to school as well.

[bragi]

Note to Artkansas: I hate you. Well no, I don't actually hate you. I do envy you, though.

[gizmocat]

I can bike to anything I need except work. Unfortunately though it IS possible to bike there, the last two miles are along a busy and dangerous highway, so that's out of the question for me. I have to carpool.

I would add only one thing to the public transport issue: the buses here can carry two bikes on the front in special carriers. This is great for meet-ups in other towns or if you have a flat tire.

When it's raining cats and dogs like it's doing today, I can take the bus to the grocery store and dentist's and walk to the doctor's office.

[nasiralpharia]

I'm retired, so not having to commute to a job makes carfree living easier for me.

If I were planning from scratch, I'd look for
(1) a close-in older suburb
(2) with a grid street layout
(3) containing quite a bit of retail and professional services and especially
(4) a grocery store.

I'd give plusses for
(5) a nearby light rail line
(6) a bus stop served by multiple bus lines.

Minuses for
(7) hard to cross arterials, train tracks, watercourses, steep canyons, etc.

Big plus for a college town based on my personal preference.

The main thing I wish I had off this list is the "the grid street layout".. Right now I am pretty much stuck on certain roads, and its hard to find an alternate that does not take you miles away. A lightrail line would be nice too. I know that I will not live in this area forever, so I'm trying to get it in my head on what I should look for. I have been reading this forum for a couple of months now, and at least I realize now that I don't need or want the big house 30 miles from anything. Well I never wanted that before, but I realize that I am not the only one that does not want that or the big SUV that comes with it.

[rajman]

+1 on the grid

In my experience downtown, or dense urban residential/commercial areas are the best for being car-free.

Of course living in one of these areas also means that a bike is superflous in most circumstances. From my residence in Toronto, all the services mentioned minus the hospital, but also including piblic libraries, indoor and outdoor pools, parks, elementary and high schools, dentists, greengrocers, restauraunts, convenience stores (open later than the grocery store), subway, 24h bus lines, and many more are within 500 m (less than 1/2 mi) from my front door. Less than the width and breadth of a Calgary 'power centre' shopping mall. Is it possible that suburbanites actually walk MORE when they drive than downtowners do when they walk?

In Toronto, I do ride my bike whenever I have someplace to go to that is 'far' (more than a 1/2 h walk), but if you live in the right area, driving isn't just inconvienient, it's downright silly.

[bmclaughlin807]

I would have to say that being an 'urban' area is definitely NOT a requirement for ease of going car-free.

I lived in a smallish town in Arizona... if you drew a circle with a 50 mile radius centered on the town, you'd catch about 30,000-35,000 residents scattered through about a dozen communities .... almost half of which were Summer-only residents (They'd go back to warmer climates come fall/winter)

The roads were nice and wide, there were several grocery stores scattered about and it was a GORGEOUS area for biking. It also had a pretty nice off-road (unpaved) trail system.

I never had any problems getting from one area to another on my bike, and there was only a short while that I lived there that I lived so far from my job that I couldn't ride a bike, the rest of the time my job was between 4-10 miles away.

My grandparents always seemed surprised when they'd ask me to get something for them from the store (about 2 miles away) and I'd grab the bike, rather than the car keys.

Hell, they didn't even have a public transit system till after I left, and the one they have now has a total of 3 routes, it goes along the main streets, and hits the major shopping centers and the hospital.