My husband and I live in NE Minneapolis currently and commute to a job 14 miles away. I have been experimenting with running more errands by bike, bus or walking over the past several months. I was concerned how I would be able to cut my driving much more as my kids go to 2 different high schools, 1 6 miles south on the other side of the Mississippi and the other 12 miles west also on the far side of the Mississippi. My car frequently sits for the weekends when I am not shuttling the kids or getting to work. The older son whose school is farther and doesn't provide school buses has been learning to ride the bus to and from school on his own, so I will not have to drive him anymore. The younger one still has practices 2X per week from 7-9 pm but I think we could manage that with 1 car, carpooling or the bus.
Anyway, my husbands car is getting old and has been needing a lot of repairs so I am thinking this is a good time for me to experiment with trying to see how we could manage with basically 1 car. I can get a bus pass through work fairly inexpensively for times when it might be hard to make the bike to work time frames. Have other people with teenagers managed to make incremental changes towards becoming car free? I have learned so much already from this board.
The BikeForums Team
-adv-
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One idea is to park your husband's car for a month and see how it works for the family.
gerv
Have other people with teenagers managed to make incremental changes towards becoming car free?
The hard part will be putting a lid on your teenagers having a car. What I see happening frequently is that the kids get jobs and then need to buy cars to get to these jobs. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad are left paying for the unbelievably inflated insurance until the kids hit 25.
One thing you might work on is showing the kids that you can leave the car in the driveway. Work your way gradually (and with conviction) into reduced car usage. When you have the work->home trips figured out, focus on errand-type trips. Apparently for most families, it's the errands that consume the most gasoline.
Maybe you can get your teenagers bicycles, too.
katmu
The 16 year old seems to have no interest thus far in driving. He bikes to the grocery store, or if he wants to go out for food. The 15 year old I worry is going to be a different story though. He has been better than I might have expected about carpooling to and from school practices so maybe he will surprise me yet. I did run him through the exercise of how mom & dad buying another car+ insurance would impact his ability to go to college, so hopefully I will get through to him that way.
adgrant
The hard part will be putting a lid on your teenagers having a car. What I see happening frequently is that the kids get jobs and then need to buy cars to get to these jobs. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad are left paying for the unbelievably inflated insurance until the kids hit 25.
Why is that hard. If the teenager can afford to buy a car and insure it then they could be allowed to have a car, if not they can go without.
swwhite
Why is that hard. If the teenager can afford to buy a car and insure it then they could be allowed to have a car, if not they can go without.
Well, it is hard to say no to one's kids, I have found, even though it really would be good for them.
My spouse wasn't too happy about me biking to work, but now that the older kid has gotten her driver license, everyone is much more supportive of me getting to work by some means other than a car. And, my efforts to reduce our common carbon dioxide output have been more than offset by the teenager driving.
On the bright side, the teenager just got a minimum-wage job and so is getting a clearer idea of the relationships between income and expenses.
gwd
Why is that hard. If the teenager can afford to buy a car and insure it then they could be allowed to have a car, if not they can go without.
When I had a teen we had many conversations that went like:
Teen: "Dad I want this..."
Dad:"You think that'd be fun?"
Teen:"Yeah!"
Dad:"Do you save enough from your after school job to pay for it?"
Teen:"No....I was thinking you-"
Dad:"No"
Do these conversations still occur? My friends with teenagers can't seem to get that bottom line. Teenagers have a mind of their own but parents can control their own wallets. Or should be able to.
'72 superbe
I also live in the Twin Cities and have been "car lite" for 7 months now. I would bike to do most my shopping last winter but drove to work and picking up the kids from after school programs when needed. I put the effort into finding alternative ways to get to work. I am now riding my bike and busing to work. I do need the car one day a week due to two kids at two different after school programs. It takes effort to go without a car but the payoff is there. Affording myself the one day a week driving allows me the ability to get some errands done that are just to hard for me to do otherwise. I intend to keep my car until it falls apart and at that point I will go without for good.
Groundhawg
One idea is to park your husband's car for a month and see how it works for the family.
I agree with Roody.
wahoonc
I also live in the Twin Cities and have been "car lite" for 7 months now. I would bike to do most my shopping last winter but drove to work and picking up the kids from after school programs when needed. I put the effort into finding alternative ways to get to work. I am now riding my bike and busing to work. I do need the car one day a week due to two kids at two different after school programs. It takes effort to go without a car but the payoff is there. Affording myself the one day a week driving allows me the ability to get some errands done that are just to hard for me to do otherwise. I intend to keep my car until it falls apart and at that point I will go without for good.
Right here is a poster child (pun intended;)) for car light. Very few people, especially those with children are going to be able to go 100% car free. In some parts of the country it might be possible. But the way I look at it every mile that isn't driven, whether thru using a bicycle, consolidation of trips, ride sharing, mass tranist, walking or just not driving period is a good thing. If ALL US drivers could cut their annual mileage by say 20% the savings in fuel usage would be huge, as would be at least some congestion relief and probably road maintenance.
Hey '72 Superbe from your handle I suspect you ride Raleighs? Got pictures? :D My favorite bike is my 1972 Raleigh Superbe....
Aaron:)
MnHPVA Guy
Because I commuted by bike we were able to get by with one car, and drove it very little, while our two sons grew up. We saved so much I was able to retire at 53. My younger son didn't learn to drive till he was 23. Now he's 35 and temporarily car free again. His car died and he's vowed not to replace it till he gets back under 200 lbs.
We've always run errands by bike whenever possible. Starting a car and driving it less than 3 miles (or till it reaches full operating temp) is a poor idea.
We were in a now defunct bike club, the Lake Country Cyclists, that was mostly families. So the kids never thought riding with the 'rents was odd. And they've stayed with cycling. Last night I led a "Hunter's Moon Ride" for Hiawatha Cyclery and my older son, who's a grandfather, showed up.
We now have two cars, a little gas sipper and a minivan. But between the two we only drove 6,000 miles last year.
MnHPVA Guy
Because I commuted by bike we were able to get by with one car, and drove it very little, while our two sons grew up. We saved so much I was able to retire at 53. My younger son didn't learn to drive till he was 23. Now he's 35 and temporarily car free again. His car died and he's vowed not to replace it till he gets back under 200 lbs.
We've always run errands by bike whenever possible. Starting a car and driving it less than 3 miles (or till it reaches full operating temp) is a poor idea.
We were in a now defunct bike club, the Lake Country Cyclists, that had a lot of families. So the kids never thought riding with the 'rents was odd. And they've stayed with cycling. Last night I led a "Hunter's Moon Ride" for Hiawatha Cyclery and my older son, who's a grandfather, showed up.
We now have two cars, a little gas sipper and a minivan. But between the two we only drove 6,000 miles last year.
katmu
Thanks all. I am going to try the suggestion for a month and see how it goes. The 16 year old has really taken to riding public transit to and from school, so hopefully he will continue with the car-free / car-lite attitude.
MNHPVAguy- One of my motivations is certainly to try to retire early and I think being car-lite will help that. I bought my last bike (a Breezer) at Hiawatha Cyclery and love it. Great service there!