Living Car Free - My Eyes are Opening

- hey, i'm not car free (more -lite, really), but this article has really started opening my eyes:

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Jul25/0,4670,LastFreeway,00.html

- ugh! there's no way i'd be *that* excited about a new freeway!

"It's outstanding," said Judy Roberts, 64, who showed up to watch the freeway open. "Cars are a way of life in California _ you live in your car, and this will make a lot of difference to a lot of people."

Makes you feel like crying, eh?

East Hill

Pretty pathetic and petty in my book. We just had a "grand opening" of a stretch of "interstate" here in NC...but they called NC-540 instead of I-540...so they can put tolls on it in the future. It was a whole 4.5 miles long and cost over 102 million and there are going to be "some happy commuters"...until they hit the traffic jams at the end of the exit ramps:D All it did was move the problem somewhere else. One of these days some people may wake up...but I kind of doubt it.

Aaron:)

- hey, i'm not car free (more -lite, really), but this article has really started opening my eyes:


What? And you've yet to be drawn and quartered by the hordes of Car Free ideologues?
:rolleyes:

"Officials say the freeway, conceived in 1948, will likely be one of the last brand-new freeways to open for decades in California because of funding shortfalls and a lack of places to lay new pavement."

If more people rode bikes this wouldn't be a problem.

"lack of places to lay new pavement".


I was young, so I don't know which one it was, but many years ago, a vast area of the city of Norwalk was condemned so that a new freeway could be put in. One foggy evening just before Christmas, we went out caroling. Being youngsters, and in the Greater Los Angeles area, we were driven around instead of walking, as proper carolers would have done.

We later learned that the entire evening had been spent singing Christmas carols to empty houses. That's what I think of when I hear the phrase "Ghost of Christmas Past". Ghostly houses...waiting to be paved over.

East Hill

- hey, i'm not car free (more -lite, really), but this article has really started opening my eyes:

I wonder, folks, what made others here "see the light" towards reducing car use?

For me, as someone who never had a car, I spent most of my life not understanding why anyone would want one. When everyone was complaining about getting to work late because of a snow storm, or traffic, etc., I would arrive on time and relaxed. The car thing seemed dumb, but whatever. :rolleyes:

A few years ago I became politically car-free. Where I live, nearly everything has been downloaded to the city. Health, welfare, schools, policing, road maintenance (save one freeway), etc. We are in a big multi-year budget crisis. Looking at the budget, it stands out how big an expense transportation is. To me it is shocking that special-ed programs are canceled, schools closed, health programs cut, etc. when we are funding a grossly inefficient way to travel. The "one person per car at rush hour" thing we simply can't afford. Add to that air pollution and the resources required to build and use cars, and I was converted :p

From there it was obvious the same problems existed, to one extent or another, in most western urban centers.

So particularly those of you who grew up as part of car culture, why and when did that view start to change?

I wonder, folks, what made others here "see the light" towards reducing car use?

For me, as someone who never had a car, I spent most of my life not understanding why anyone would want one. When everyone was complaining about getting to work late because of a snow storm, or traffic, etc., I would arrive on time and relaxed. The car thing seemed dumb, but whatever. :rolleyes:

A few years ago I became politically car-free. Where I live, nearly everything has been downloaded to the city. Health, welfare, schools, policing, road maintenance (save one freeway), etc. We are in a big multi-year budget crisis. Looking at the budget, it stands out how big an expense transportation is. To me it is shocking that special-ed programs are canceled, schools closed, health programs cut, etc. when we are funding a grossly inefficient way to travel. The "one person per car at rush hour" thing we simply can't afford. Add to that air pollution and the resources required to build and use cars, and I was converted :p

From there it was obvious the same problems existed, to one extent or another, in most western urban centers.

So particularly those of you who grew up as part of car culture, why and when did that view start to change?

Many years ago but I back slid:o and how I regret it. But sometimes we make decisions that affect us for a long time. I was car free from around the mid 70's when I first got a license, then I got a car, but it spent more time in the garage than on the road so I still rode bikes. I was a dedicated commuter/cyclist up until around 1996 or so, then lost a good job when the plant I was working at started cutting back. Took a job that put me on the road (only thing I could find that paid close to what I was making before the shut down) then one thing led to another...Now I am working to undo the damage that decisions 15 years ago did. I will be back to car light within the next year or two if plans hold together. Currently with my wife's line of work there is no way to be totally car free at this point. It may come in the future.

As far as seeing the light...I just hate to see the amount of money that is spent on the transportation infrastructure to benefit the people that insist on conspicuous consumption, that is destroying our environment and enslaving people to a way of life that they sure don't seem happy with. I also firmly believe in peak oil and that no new technology is going to pop up and save the automobile so we can continue down our paths of self destruction.

Aaron:)

For me it was as simple as realizing that I arrived at my destination in a much better mood if I road the bicycle instead of sitting in the car.

Add that to the ability to eat like a 25 year old (I'm 40) and not gain weight, and the savings that I have accrued by not paying for a car expenses, it just seemed logical.

I grew up in the sixties and as a boy wanted to be a car designer, even attempting the Fisher Body Guild (http://www.automotivechronicles.com/articles/2004/nov/03/index.php) contest. I built model cars, I drew cars, I raced slot cars and even did a few real rallies aceing one first place finish as navigator.

What surprised me most about the how the real future compared to the one that we imagined, was that no one imagined the SUV. We seemed to think that aerodynamics and efficiency would be the path.

The car-centric view started to change when I first taught myself to ride a bicycle at age 5. It probably peaked when I was a young man, riding my bike all over L.A. during the gas crunch. Cars are still a love-hate thing. I'm strongly drawn both ways.

I wonder, folks, what made others here "see the light" towards reducing car use?

So particularly those of you who grew up as part of car culture, why and when did that view start to change?

Grew up in car culture but hated traffic and studied engineering. Cars are inefficient. So I always tried to live close to work etc. and did some walking and biking for transportation. The thing that got me going with experiments in not using a car was a visit to Amsterdam.
Now with web cams you can see what I saw:

http://www.eyelogue.com/donniecam.html

I decided to see how often I could get away with not using the car. I don't know when but somewhere along the way I realized that life is much better when you don't drive a car. So the "when" is a visit to Amsterdam prompting me to use the car less. The "why" is life is more fun and rewarding for me without driving a car. But I had to actually do it to figure that out. Car free neighbors told me its not bad but with years of car culture indoctrination I didn't believe them. I know a lot of people have these political and moral and environmental issues with car driving but for me if car ownership were as fun and cheap as biking I'd probably drive. If car free living were some kind of deprivation as some car posters say I'd not do it. I really don't feel car free is a political statement.

I second that videocam site. It is the only thing that keeps my hopes up for my future right now. Seeing people actually going about their daily business on bicycles. We are planning a vacation next year to Amsterdam and Great Britain. I am hoping for several weeks and so looking forward to it. We plan to try and make it with no car involved.

Aaron:)

I second that videocam site. It is the only thing that keeps my hopes up for my future right now. Seeing people actually going about their daily business on bicycles. We are planning a vacation next year to Amsterdam and Great Britain. I am hoping for several weeks and so looking forward to it. We plan to try and make it with no car involved.

Aaron:)

When you go, give us a time(s) when you'll be in view of the web cam so we can check you out riding a clunky dutch rental bike with your wife on the rear rack.

I always felt kind of guilty driving, although I did it for nearly all my transportation for years (interspersed with periods of not having a car and biking everywhere). I started getting this image, when fueling my car, of how many gallons of gas I was having, imagining them as those big translucent, one-gallon milk jugs full of shimmering, volatile gasoline. It started seeming really crazy that I was essentially setting fire to a few dozen of those jugs of gasoline every month, just to move my lazy ass a couple miles to work.

Although I have to admit, it wasn't until I wrecked my car almost three years ago that I finally managed to go cold-turkey... I decided that I would use a fraction of the insurance money to finally buy myself a sweet road bike (a slightly used Merlin with nice Campy stuff). I still love it, although all my commuting and transportation cycling is done on bikes that aren't such tweaker-magnets.

"Dude, watch the news tonight! Turn on the TV now! I'm the first on the freeway,"

What a fun place to be! Fresh asphalt! Scorching sun! Crowds! Screaming kids! Carbon monoxide! How can we turn our backs on such stupifying wonderment?

Where's the Doctor and the Face of Boe when you need them?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gridlock_%28Doctor_Who%29

Read: "the Geography of Nowhere" (author's last name is Kunstler) for some real insight into the history of... nowhere in the Western World (notably, the USA). for example.. Detroit once had a great, radial system of trolley car lines that went out of the city. As soon as Ford got his gig going, with the assembly line, he and his wealthy cronies and politicians started buying up Trolley companies in Detroit and all over the country, dug up the tracks, and built roads over them.

this was around 1920

The automobile has truly screwed up the world

At least here in Wisconsin, huge amounts of DOT money is ear-marked for bike-pedestrian projects, like commuter bike paths.

Where's the Doctor and the Face of Boe when you need them?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gridlock_%28Doctor_Who%29


"Doctor Who: Gridlock"

Yea great episode! Loved the years long travel times and the mindless hyme singing as they all lived out their lives on the freeway.. Hilarious!

I assume the producer/writer/director was making fun of the current automobile situation and covering it with sci-fil 'cheese'..

Love that show.. :)

Cheers!

What a fun place to be! Fresh asphalt! Scorching sun! Crowds! Screaming kids! Carbon monoxide! How can we turn our backs on such stupifying wonderment?

Don't forget about showing up hours earlier to get in line. The money spent idling the car while jockeying for position etc...

Pretty pathetic and petty in my book. We just had a "grand opening" of a stretch of "interstate" here in NC...but they called NC-540 instead of I-540...so they can put tolls on it in the future. It was a whole 4.5 miles long and cost over 102 million and there are going to be "some happy commuters"...until they hit the traffic jams at the end of the exit ramps:D All it did was move the problem somewhere else. One of these days some people may wake up...but I kind of doubt it.

Aaron:)

I was riding with a co-worker today, and he took a detour just so he could check out the great NC-540... Your right about the traffic jams on the ends, only a matter of time. What I don't get, is why don't people learn from the mistakes of other cities, like L.A., if you add more lanes and roads, you just get more traffic.

As soon as Ford got his gig going, with the assembly line, he and his wealthy cronies and politicians started buying up Trolley companies in Detroit and all over the country, dug up the tracks, and built roads over them.
Actually, it was GM (http://www.lovearth.net/gmdeliberatelydestroyed.htm)...but the point remains.

I think I'm going to be sick.


So particularly those of you who grew up as part of car culture, why and when did that view start to change?

I was once what you might call a "car enthusiast" I'd cruise around town in my classic car or go for a drive out in the country, and to be honest it was pretty fun. At first. Then traffic began getting worse and motorists started becoming MUCH more angry and hostile toward...well...everyone and everything. Then some time last year I was driving in rush hour traffic on my regular 31 mile commute, angry at idiot drivers and weary from sitting behind a filthy windshield for two hours every day, and I started to ask myself "why on earth am I making myself do this?!" As soon as I found a job opening closer to home I jumped on it. Now I ride 2.8 miles to work every day instead of driving 31. Instead of being stuck in a miserable traffic jam I quietly glide through a very shady national park. Instead of being surrounded by angry, idiotic, and dangerous motorists I'm being carefully watched by deer, rabbits, wild turkeys, groundhogs, squirrels, turtles, and even hawks. When I arrive at work most of my coworkers are half asleep and pissed, and I'm wide awake and happy (must be annoying for them :D). At the grocery store I lock my bike next to the entrance while some of the...um...more "substantial" customers are let out at the door while their counterparts wait for them with engines running and a/c blasting, no doubt spending $60+ a week in gas. And ironically they look at me like I'm the freak. What a strange country we live in!

"Officials say the freeway, conceived in 1948, will likely be one of the last brand-new freeways to open for decades in California because of funding shortfalls and a lack of places to lay new pavement."

If more people rode bikes this wouldn't be a problem.

I suspect there will be more highways built but it will have tolls on it. It wouldn't surprise me if this new freeway becomes a toll road 20 years from now. Todays freeways are way too expensive and states like California can barely afford to maintain them, forget about building new ones!

And ironically they look at me like I'm the freak. What a strange country we live in!

:D

http://greenhorizon.rec.org/bulletin/Bull113/pic/gridlock.jpg

There's a massive freeway construction project in my city right now. Drivers complain about delays and finding alternate routes and all that, though it's usually good natured because "It will be so much better once it's done!" There's a brand new light rail line that runs parallel with part of the stretch of closed highway. Hmmmm.


I wonder, folks, what made others here "see the light" towards reducing car use?

So particularly those of you who grew up as part of car culture, why and when did that view start to change?
I've always hated driving, hated cars and their smelly exhaust, hated spending over half my income on my car, hated spending half my time in a car, and i get carsick. The town i grew up in had no viable walking, biking, or transit routes. Places like that make it impossible not to drive everywhere. I spent way too much money and time on cars because there weren't other options. When I moved to the city, my combined car costs were more than my rent! Also, when i moved to the city where i had so many car-free options i drove less and less. I still have the car, but i'm considering selling it in a couple months when i move to a tiny rural college town where i'll use it even less than in my urban neighborhood. I could buy a brand new road bike every couple months for the cash i blow away on my car! Or pay for college...