Car free in Baltimore?

[Hocam]

I've been car free throughout college, would like to continue and am graduating this year. I've been thinking about where to go and Baltimore seems like a nice enough city, but I really haven't been there enough to feel confident in my judgment. Looking at a map, it seems easy to ride out to the countryside for nice riding which generally takes 15+ miles of urban decay and sprawl where I live now.

So, does anyone live car free in Baltimore? Any advice on where to look?

[makeinu]

Baltimore is a great city to live in without a car.

I've never lived in Philly, but compared to NYC Baltimore is much smaller. This affords several advantages for the car free:
1. Baltimore's smaller geographic footprint is well served by its lesser transit system. People say that NYC has the best public transit system in the country, but NYC is so big that it needs a better system to get around it. In my experience, it's just as easy to get around Baltimore on public transit as it is NYC. Unfortunately, Baltimore's public transit system is under appreciated because it's also easy to get around in a car (unlike NYC, the roads are fairly open and cheap parking is widely available).
2. It's well known that the fastest way to get around NYC's 303 square miles is on a bike. Well, Baltimore's 80 square miles are just that much easier. Unfortunately, Baltimore's ample parking and lack of congestion once again blind most people to the convenience of getting around by bike.
3. Like you said, you don't have to go far from Baltimore to get to the countryside. This makes fresh, locally grown produce easy to obtain. In fact, if you live in the right neighborhood in Baltimore you might even be able to get your locally grown produce delivered with a horse!

Now for the bad:
1. The city of Baltimore itself can feel abandoned at times. Sometimes it seems that there are more jobs, nightlife, etc in the suburbs than there is in the city, which brings us to #2...
2. Public transit service to the outer suburbs is terrible. The only way to get to/from the outer suburbs is on weekdays during rush hour. Unlike NYC, the commuter rail/buses don't run on afternoons, nights, or weekends.

Now, where to look....well that depends. Do you want to get around exclusively by bike or would you also like to use public transit? Do you want your housing expenses to be rock bottom or do you want to pay a little extra for enhanced comfort? Over half your travels are probably going to be to/from work. Where do you plan on working?

[gwd]

I've been car free throughout college, would like to continue and am graduating this year. I've been thinking about where to go and Baltimore seems like a nice enough city, but I really haven't been there enough to feel confident in my judgment. Looking at a map, it seems easy to ride out to the countryside for nice riding which generally takes 15+ miles of urban decay and sprawl where I live now.

So, does anyone live car free in Baltimore? Any advice on where to look?
I've spent days at a time car-free but biking around both Philly and Baltimore, Philly is much better.
There was a thread on this forum discussing why Baltimore isn't as bike friendly as other cities with Baltimorans weighing in on the subject. If I were moving to Baltimore, I'd go car free, I just wouldn't expect it to be as fun as Philly. We used to bike out north of the city for country riding like to Monkton and Loch Raven resevoir but that was a decade ago those areas might be surburban hell now.

[Hocam]

I'm graduating with an engineering degree, so I'm mainly looking at possible areas before the job search.

I wouldn't mind public transit once and a while, but like using my bike and the accessibility west philly offers. Thanks for the replies guys, I'll have to look more into it.

[makeinu]

I'm graduating with an engineering degree, so I'm mainly looking at possible areas before the job search.

I wouldn't mind public transit once and a while, but like using my bike and the accessibility west philly offers. Thanks for the replies guys, I'll have to look more into it.

Well, I think you're going to find that engineering jobs are hard to come by in almost any American city. Most engineering jobs today are in rural areas, where facilities are cheap.

Anyway, you might want to check out either the Fells Point of Hampden neighborhoods in Baltimore. Neither is very accessible by public transit (not terrible, but just not the best), but both have their share of cycling young hipsters.

As far as accessibility goes...I'm not sure what you mean. Baltimore doesn't have many bike lanes or bike racks if that's what you're talking about, but those are pretty useless in my opinion anyway. There is, however, plenty of pavement, and in my mind it doesn't get any more accessible than that. There is no where in the city you can't reach in less than 45 min on bicycle.

The question is: Can you find an engineering job in Baltimore as opposed to the rural exburbs of the Baltimore/DC metropolitan area?

[rhm]

Baltimore and Philadelphia are both well served by Amtrak, but I suggest you also compare the regional train networks --MARC for Maryland, SEPTA for Philly. I don't know how or where the two meet. SEPTA meets up with NJ Transit at Trenton. With these train systems and a folding bike, you can get just about anywhere.

[makeinu]

Baltimore and Philadelphia are both well served by Amtrak, but I suggest you also compare the regional train networks --MARC for Maryland, SEPTA for Philly. I don't know how or where the two meet. SEPTA meets up with NJ Transit at Trenton. With these train systems and a folding bike, you can get just about anywhere.


MARC doesn't meet SEPTA. In Washington DC MARC meets the VTA (Virginia), but if you want to head up the Northeast corridor your options are Amtrak, Chinatown Bus, Air, car, or Greyhound. Amtrak is the fastest, Chinatown Bus is the cheapest, Air and car are in the middle...Greyhound just sucks.