Living Car Free - best places to live car free

Hi,

What are the best places in the world to live car free?

I have a career guidance post in Foo, and one factor would be a great place to live car-free which I do now in Australia. I am the ONLY person I know though. Everyone thinks it is ABSOLUTELY crazy!

:( :( :(

Not even cool original and arty crazy, but wacko crazy :(

Paris, London, Melbourne are cities I am familiar with in which it would be dead easy to live car-free

I took the question to mean, rural, urban, suburban. Should you live in the city, never know what restrictions a US city might put on bicycle use. Rural, then you are far away from potentially needed services with a car. Suburban , traffic can be wicked. With the US so infatuated with the car. I vote, Holland , the country in Europe.

Should you live in the city, never know what restrictions a US city might put on bicycle use.
As long as you imagining things, anything is possible. What "restrictions" are you dreaming about?

As long as you imagining things, anything is possible. What "restrictions" are you dreaming about?
ex. There is a current thread here at BF's about pending changes in Chicago ordinances' about bikes having to stick to bike lanes, or not ride at all. That will not get a cyclists to work.
And I thought Mayor Daley was pro cyclist. There's just a starter. Cycists need get a little more militant. Not that installing bike lanes, makes many of us a more comfortable cyclist.

ex. There is a current thread here at BF's about pending changes in Chicago ordinances' about bikes having to stick to bike lanes, or not ride at all.

Where is that thread? I tried to find it, but only found the one about the guy who saw the sign that said "bike lane closed, please walk your bike on the sidewalk" or whatever, on Lincoln Avenue. An obnoxious construction sign (that's been there for several months) does not equal "pending changes in Chicago ordinances". Again, I might have missed the thread you're talking about.

Boston is a decent place to live car-free. The city is compact enough for practical cycling, if you can take the winters. Mass transit (for all we gripe about it) can take you just about anywhere in the city and surrounding areas. There are also commuter rail trians that can take you to more widely-spaced locations up to 60-ish miles from the city, and you can generally take bikes on these trains. There's also a heavy Zipcar presence, which just about rounds it out.

On top of all that, parking here costs an arm, a leg, and your firstborn. Auto maintenance (potholes, salted roads) can cost you the other arm and leg, which leaves you to pedal your bike with your forehead. Not recommended.

I've never done a study of different places, so I can only share my own experiences, FWIW.

Cities--I believe that cycling instead of driving is feasible in most locations, but the things to look for, to make it easier, include:


Nearness of common locations--work, school, shopping, entertainment, hospital and doctor, etc.
Adequate public transit
Grid style street plan
Dog leash laws :)


Notice that most metro areas have some or all of these features. It's more important to find the right neighborhood within the city, IMO.

Small towns--I lived carfree (no bike) in a small town and I hated it. However, I was working in the city, 25 miles away, and that's what sucked. If I had been working in the small town, it probably would have been OK. Obviously everything is nearby and traffic isn't a problem.

Rural-- I only tried this carfree for one summer. I thought I was Thoreau or something, and it was OK for a while. I wasn't working at a real job--just caretaking and chopping firewood.

Suburbs-- Sorry. Never have and never will live there. Not my cup of joe.

Hi,

What are the best places in the world to live car free?


Plainly said.......ANY third world country or the Netherlands:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

ex. There is a current thread here at BF's about pending changes in Chicago ordinances' about bikes having to stick to bike lanes, or not ride at all. That will not get a cyclists to work.
And I thought Mayor Daley was pro cyclist. There's just a starter. Cycists need get a little more militant. Not that installing bike lanes, makes many of us a more comfortable cyclist.
As already pointed out by Mugsy; this zealous "example" is making a dang mountain out of a non-existant molehill. Definite tin foil hat material. Your "starter" is nothing but just wild and wooly over-reaction to exaggeration and bizarre extrapolation from the whaa -whaa brigade.

The city of Toronto is a pretty great place to live car-free. Cycling in traffic is hard work, but the drivers here seem to be more aware of cyclists than in most American cities. The public transit system is fantastic in the downtown core and OK in the inner suburbs. The city police take the crosswalks seriously, so walking there is pretty safe.

Toronto's suburbs are generally a bad place to live car-free. Most of the suburban cities are based on 2 square km supergrids, and the only through streets are multi-lane arterials with high speed limits. Suburban transit is pretty sketchy, and walking is not really feasible because everything is too far apart. At least the drivers usually act correctly around bikes (with a few very irritating exceptions.)

I live in the suburbs, but I'm lucky enough to be only 5km from work, and have several shops and restaurants within an easy 10 minute walk. Car-free is doable, but definitely not as easy as it would be downtown. Car-lite is pretty reasonable, if you live close to work.

It's easy to be car-free in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing. That said, cycling in Hong Kong is for crazy people (twisty two-lane roads around hills with lots of blind corners, no shoulders, not enough cyclists for drivers to know what to do), and Singapore has no bicycle infrastructure (but is still fun to ride). Beijing is great on a bike except for the pollution. Tokyo is a pretty good place to ride, and the subway system is fantastic.

Many people who are themselves "car-free" in these cities rely on public transportation and/or taxis. I know of people who primarily get around on bikes in Singapore, Beijing, and Tokyo. Not so in Hong Kong -- there it's busses and MTR (subway).

The city of Toronto is a pretty great place to live car-free. Cycling in traffic is hard work, but the drivers here seem to be more aware of cyclists than in most American cities. The public transit system is fantastic in the downtown core and OK in the inner suburbs. The city police take the crosswalks seriously, so walking there is pretty safe.


+1 on Toronto, particularly near the downtown core.

My experience in London was brief and did not include cycling, but I could easily see living there without a car.

Houston or Dallas. Just kidding, although it probably could be done, if you can learn to ride the buses, and don't need to visit the suburbs.

Not all US cities are bad for bicycles. My personal favorites include Denver, Seattle, Portland,and, yes, Chicago. (Chicago gets a bad rap sometimes, but in reality, it kicks ass on most other major US cities. You heard it here first.)

In the U.S., San Francisco and Seattle. My brief visit to Toronto made me long to live there.

Houston or Dallas. Just kidding, although it probably could be done, if you can learn to ride the buses, and don't need to visit the suburbs.
I was a bike commuter in Dallas for most of 1981-82. Lived in University Park near SMU, worked in Farmers Branch, and went to graduate school at UTD. Married with children, wife had a car. Cycled about 33 miles a day. Never rode the bus. It worked and it was glorious.

I've visited Dallas a few times since I moved away in 1983. They now have by far the best light rail system in Texas and the bus system seemed to me to be quite adequate. Dallas could work okay for a person who is able to select their residence and job with an eye to being carfree.

Houston, well, ah, hmm. That's a head scratcher for me. They have the start of what could someday be a great light rail system, and they do have a bus system. But where Dallas seems committed to making public transit work, Houston just does not buy into the idea of alternative transportation.

Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Spain...

On the subject of living car-free in Chicago:

I lived car-free in Chicago from 1999 until about six months ago (I still don't own a car, but my fiancee does, and since we live together, and I ride in her car and occassionally drive it, I don't think I can say I am car-free). Ironically, I only started using my bike for transportation about two months after moving in with my car-owning fiancee. But before then, I lived without a car for many years, relying only upon public transportation, cabs, and my own two feet to get around.

I think, in Chicago, it depends a lot on where you live and what you want to do to live car-free. Most of my car-free experience has been living in the north side neighborhood of Lakeview, and working downtown in the Loop (although I did work out in the suburbs for about six months, and did that without a car as well, but it involved a lot of bus transfers and it pretty much sucked).

I lived my life in about a four-mile radius. My apartment was a block away from the Brown Line, and I took the CTA to work every day. Most everything I wanted to do was within a few blocks of my house. Occassionally I would take the Metra (commuter rail) out to the suburbs to my parents' house. Obviously, for things like trips to Target or Costco I would hitch a ride with a car owning friend who was already going. Grocery-wise, there was a Dominick's about five blocks from my house (which burned down last summer, so I had to resort to Peapod).

Nowadays, I tend to avoid the car if I can. I bike anywhere I am going by myself - if my fiancee and I are going somewhere, we tend to drive (she's not as much of a biker as I am). And, of course, if we're going somewhere with the dog, we take the car (the dog park we like is not walkable from our house).

My top pick for an urban area is Graz in Austria. The central area is flat, and is criss-crossed with bike paths and lanes. There is a well developed public transport system that is really, really easy to get around, with both buses and trams. The trains (from the two stations) are designed to carry bikes, and can easily get you out into the country. The surrounding countryside is often a lot hillier, and there are great mtb tracks.
Also, the town centre is a world heritage site. Ohh, take me back to Graz!

nyc hands down. but it's a special case.

I seem to do just fine here in Portland. I perceive that my life was a great deal more stressful with the car than without. I can't speak for anyone else, but there are a lot of other car free folks around here, and they seem happy enough. My brother is for sure.

Now, my bro and I are in complete agreement that we would not be happy living car free where we grew up in metro Detroit. In fact, if you create a worst list, definitely put metro Detroit on it.

Santa Barbara is nice.

As already pointed out by Mugsy; this zealous "example" is making a dang mountain out of a non-existant molehill. Definite tin foil hat material. Your "starter" is nothing but just wild and wooly over-reaction to exaggeration and bizarre extrapolation from the whaa -whaa brigade.
You are right in this example. I read it wrong. Heck, I stay up all night so often, we all make mistakes.
But, THere have been numerous threads started here at BF's in the past about restrictive laws on cyclists.
One mentioned years back. The state of Illinois, tried to eliminate the use of numerous state highways for cyclists , seems they were between Quincy and Springfield? / A member of Bike forums asked members of this forum to write State Highway officials to stop state plans to restrict cycists to pathways.
I was one who did.
Check in with the League of American Bicyclists, which in the past I have done. They are not imagined.

Davis, California

I seem to do just fine here in Portland. I perceive that my life was a great deal more stressful with the car than without. I can't speak for anyone else, but there are a lot of other car free folks around here, and they seem happy enough. My brother is for sure.

Now, my bro and I are in complete agreement that we would not be happy living car free where we grew up in metro Detroit. In fact, if you create a worst list, definitely put metro Detroit on it.

ooh, i used to live in Hamtramck..man, the people there were great but the city of detroit is rough, real rough

My mom was born in Hamtramck. (yup, I'm half Polish.)

Berkeley is great for cycling-- tons of people on bikes, roads with certain intersections blocked for bike-only traffic, bike routes, bike paths, tons of stores/shops in close proximity to each other and the car-driving public around here is actually really nice to bikers a majority of the time.

ooh, i used to live in Hamtramck..man, the people there were great but the city of detroit is rough, real rough
I grew up in Highland Park--the other city that's surrounded by Detroit. Talk about rough! But we had the greatest neighbors--still friends 30 years later. I was carfree there as a teenager and young adult. There were some scary hairy moments, but I did fine. Crime is lower now, but the sense of hopelessness is still there.

I vote for Toronto - I've never owned a car and I've lived there for 30 years. For a period of time I was car-free, bike-free, and transit-free, I just walked everywhere for about 4 months. I ate, played, had fun, and never missed metal-dependent transportation.

I currently live in Calgary car-lite; we borrow a car for some shopping trips and inter-city travel, but I am able to get to work and do daily chores without a car (don't think I could get by very well without transit or cycling though, it is very suburbanised here).

Considering less than half of montrealers own cars, I would guess that it is a good city to be car free :). Anyone care to corroborate??

For a period of time I was car-free, bike-free, and transit-free, I just walked everywhere for about 4 months. I ate, played, had fun, and never missed metal-dependent transportation.

"Metal-dependent transportation!" :D

But didn't your shoes have those little metal eyelets? ;)

This goes out to the cycle people.

Carfree in Phoenix has its rewards. Living in a Urban core (center of 4 million people) and having country and mountains even horses only 4 miles away or 10 miles away North and South Mountains. Transportation is the top expense in Phoenix becuae of the motor-vheicle.
[....]
I like Urban I also like Rural here you get both.
Thanks, wheel. :) This brings up a point that's important to me too when choosing a location. I also like to be right in the middle of the city, but with rural areas a short ride away. I have a couple small lakes and forests 2 miles from my house, and within 20 minutes I can be right out in the farmland. Within an hour (by mountain bike) there is a good singletrack trail system through fields, swamp and forest. I feel the need to get out of the city at least once a week.

Yea right on Roody,
This is one reason I moved from the big cities of the East Coast. Nature is free and does not cost anything. The desert is an amazing palce to watch a sunset/sunrise, go for a hike, or sit ontop of a 25oo ft mountain and look out at the city below at night. This is a magical place and I never have to venture to far from my apt. if I want solitude.
Yeah...the desert is great, so are mountains and the beach. What we have here for wildness is fields, forests and swamps, and they're great too. It sounds like you enjoy going out on your bike and exploring your little world, just like I do.

One good thing about cycling in an exploratory manner is that you really start to understand and appreciate the geography of your location. For example, on my rides I've been able to see that much of the woods within the city are located on a floodplain, so houses were never built there, and the land has stayed pretty wild and free, with development all around it. Out west, canyons are often like that too. Around here, Michigan State University has huge research farms south of their campus, so that region has never been urbanized either.

NYC

It is way easier to be carfree then to have a car.

Yea right on Roody,
This is one reason I moved from the big cities of the East Coast. Nature is free and does not cost anything. The desert is an amazing palce to watch a sunset/sunrise, go for a hike, or sit ontop of a 25oo ft mountain and look out at the city below at night. This is a magical place and I never have to venture to far from my apt. if I want solitude.
Having had the chance to ride out in the desert several times, the ironic thing is , the sense of community in the small towns out in no-where is unique.
Riding across Nevada, Arizona we would camp out amongst the locals. On a group tour, local clubs prepared our breakfasts. TOld us about their towns. These small town citizens seemed to have had thriving community civic organizations that were well supported on a Saturday nite. Community projects seem better supported by all, compared to the apathy you sense in a city. Yet, I sensed locals valued their easy access to soltitude.

Here in the next couple years, I'm going to move around a bit, probably starting with Northern California, Oregon, then eventually working my way to Alaska. I've always wanted to see those places, and most seem to be very cycling-friendly.

Cycling friendly. A friend was stationed in Alaska. Cars not a menace, but grizzly bears aren't exactly friendly. He said, a grizzly can outrun a cyclist, and he knew of one ocassion where it did and chewed on the cyclist.

Cycling friendly. A friend was stationed in Alaska. Cars not a menace, but grizzly bears aren't exactly friendly. He said, a grizzly can outrun a cyclist, and he knew of one ocassion where it did and chewed on the cyclist.I mean to carry a shotgun when I get to grizzly territory. I'm sure downtown Anchorage or Fairbanks would be okay, but when I get out in the country, I'll probably have a Mossberg in a BOB trailer. Bears, alligators and mountain lions are just scary, because they ignore how pretensious humans are and still see us as food. Very humbling. :)

Maybe humans would be more humble, if they were to realize they are not always on top of the food chain. Just look down a black tips throat.

[QUOTE=Golf XRay Tango]The city of Toronto is a pretty great place to live car-free. Cycling in traffic is hard work, but the drivers here seem to be more aware of cyclists than in most American cities.

I agree, it seems that the drivers in toronto are very aware of cyclists. These photo's http://www.citynoise.org/article/2770 seem to prove that the driver not only is aware that she is on a bicycle, but seems to be trying to help with some sort of wheel truing :).

September 11 changed all of the best east coast places to live carfree, I found alternatives on the West Coast,
Why is this? Because bridge travel was restricted?

Just FYI, this topic has been discussed numerous times in other threads. Do a search.

That said, in the developed world, I think Holland is far and away the best country for bicycles: especially Amsterdam; there are bicyclists everywhere, and very few autos :)

In the US, Portland is consistently rated the best city for bicycles, and it is richly deserved: The city has a comprehensive, integrated system of trails. Seattle (where I live) is very good as well, though our trails are more fragmented than in Portland.

I agree, it seems that the drivers in toronto are very aware of cyclists. These photo's http://www.citynoise.org/article/2770 seem to prove that the driver not only is aware that she is on a bicycle, but seems to be trying to help with some sort of wheel truing .

That's Canadians for you, always willing to lend a helping hand...or fist :-)

Even thought the drivers are somewhat crazy, DC is a good place to be without a car. NoVA and MD are meccas for biking and I think Arlington, VA would be even better than DC because they have a lot of marked, on-road routes.

Toronto..... I've not bought a tank of gas for over two years.

Car free in Prague is the way to go.

Hey a couple of my buddy's where couriers in Prague. They said its hilly, beautiful and cobblestoney. Though if you dropped your wallet it would be stolen before it hit the ground :D

I was a bike commuter in Dallas for most of 1981-82. Lived in University Park near SMU, worked in Farmers Branch, and went to graduate school at UTD. Married with children, wife had a car. Cycled about 33 miles a day. Never rode the bus. It worked and it was glorious.

I've visited Dallas a few times since I moved away in 1983. They now have by far the best light rail system in Texas and the bus system seemed to me to be quite adequate. Dallas could work okay for a person who is able to select their residence and job with an eye to being carfree.

Houston, well, ah, hmm. That's a head scratcher for me. They have the start of what could someday be a great light rail system, and they do have a bus system. But where Dallas seems committed to making public transit work, Houston just does not buy into the idea of alternative transportation.

We're starting to make some headway around here. Metro just released updated plans for rail expansion, including commuter rail to the 'burbs. At least the city is beginning to head in the right direction.

People are just so connected with their cars in this city, it's going to take a while to show them a different, more effecient mode.

"Metal-dependent transportation!" :D

But didn't your shoes have those little metal eyelets? ;)

They did, but the shoes function would have survived the removal of the eyelets. Therefore the metal was playing a supportive, but not crucial role in the transportation system. And no, I did not have a carbon fiber vehicle :)