Living Car Free - Defining car light

If we talk about car free, we all have a pretty good idea what we mean, but defining car light seems a little more elusive. It is about distance, ownership, frequency of use or something else?

For myself, I refer to my lifestyle as car light since my preferred transportation is walking and cycling rather than driving. Last year, I logged more distance on the bike than in the car and this year will probably be similar.

I think it's what each person makes of it. Even car free can be pretty vague.

Yeah, to some people carfree means you don't own a car, even if somebody else in the household does. To others, carfree is very strict and dogmatic--you NEVER get in a car. Most, I think, fall somewhere in between.

I think it's even harder to define carlight. The OP got at one possible definition: " I [log] more distance on the bike than in the car." It'll be interesting to see what kinds of definitions people propose.

Even defining car can be difficult. I think patc said a car is a motor vehicle that's privately owned and used for personal transportation. That means you can be carfree even if you own a car for business purposes only.

I would consider myself car lite. I put more miles on the bike than the car and I am considering selling it at the moment.

To me, car free is simply not owning a personal car. Technically, that would make me car free, as my parents' car is in their name, but for all intents and purposes, I'm the only one who drives it and the official owners are a state away. So to me, being car free is not having a car that's effectively yours (one you can drive whenever you wish).

Being car light, on the other hand, is simply logging more miles in other forms of transportation than in the car you (effectively) own. Or even more simply, I'd define it as viewing a form of transportation other than your car as your primary means of travel. Whenever I plan a trip, my default mode is the bike, so that makes me car light.

Does anyone differentiate between personal car use and work-related car use? For example, how would one classify a pizza delivery person who drives his or her own personal vehicle for work but does not use a car for any other purposes? Or what about a computer tech worker who has to drive to the various sites to install and upgrade equipment but does not drive for other purposes?

Does anyone differentiate between personal car use and work-related car use? For example, how would one classify a pizza delivery person who drives his or her own personal vehicle for work but does not use a car for any other purposes? Or what about a computer tech worker who has to drive to the various sites to install and upgrade equipment but does not drive for other purposes?

That is my situation. I maintain a heavy truck primarily for work. Last year I drove a total of 38,000 documented miles for business and less than 4,000 for personal/farm work. And at least 1,000 of that was charity work. So by some standards I would be car light...but is sure doesn't feel like it most days:(

Aaron:)

What if you own a car and only drive it once a year. For the entire rest of the year you cycle, walk, or take the bus everywhere you ever need to go. However, that one time a year that you drive your car is a cross-country road trip, San Diego to New York lets say. Thats about 7,000 miles give or take which is probably more miles than you put on your bike, walking, or busing and maybe even more than all of those combined! I would say that person is still car-lite. So.... we need a better definition, unless someone disagrees that this scenario is car-lite? (This is not me, I made it up. I am car-free but I do ride in cars on occasion and sometimes they are long trips)

Until mass transit improves and we move about less as a whole society I think the clear definition of car light is going to elude us. I take long train trips up and down the Eastern Seaboard to get to places like NYC or Tampa. I could drive, but don't want the hassle of having to deal with a car on either end. We also fly to some places because of limited time. So many places are inaccessible by anything other than car we quite often have no choice. Of the 5 major cities in NC only 2 are connected by rail, the others sort of by bus, if you want to take 5-7 hours to travel what would normally be a 2 hour drive.

Aaron:)

One possible definition of car light could pertain to the proportion of trips by means other than car within a certain distance of one's home. The proportion and distance should, of course, vary by person, depending on their personal situation.

These are the types of car trips that environmentalists encourage everyone to cut down on. The "jumping in your car to get bread at the corner store" trips. If everyone started to think about these car trips and then expanded slowly from there, we'd make huge strides as a society, IMO.

Does anyone differentiate between personal car use and work-related car use? For example, how would one classify a pizza delivery person who drives his or her own personal vehicle for work but does not use a car for any other purposes? Or what about a computer tech worker who has to drive to the various sites to install and upgrade equipment but does not drive for other purposes?

Gotcha covered--I already mentioned this in an earlier post:


....Even defining car can be difficult. I think patc said a car is a motor vehicle that's privately owned and used for personal transportation. That means you can be carfree even if you own a car for business purposes only.

I think Newspaperguy's definition of car-lite -using a bike or walking more than you use the car- is as good a definition as anything else. At least it's easy to measure/quantify.

Car-free is a little trickier. I'd define car-free as not owning a motor vehicle at all, and not riding in one on a regular basis. Going any farther than that, in North America/Europe/Australia, at least, is not really possible unless you're fanatically committed. I'm willing to bet that most people on this forum who describe themselves as car-free still get into a car at least a couple of times a month.

There's also the issue of the family car. I frequently hear people talk about "my" car, but, in my personal case, any car belongs to the family... so we have a family car that my wife or any of my (adult) sons or I drive when we need it.

To a certain extent, this is all pulling hairs or describing lines in the sand. The fact is that I use an automobile a lot less than I did 8 years ago. All my personal transportation is currently by bicycle unless I need to travel more than 10 miles.... which is actually pretty rare. Even my wife doesn't use the car a lot any more.

However, I do reckon that I use a car more than I should or need to and so I have to constantly ask "Do I really need to make this trip?"

I tend to define car light by use, not ownership: As in, using a car only when absolutely necessary due to distance/time constraints, amount of load needed to be carried, weather constraints, or a lack of practical alternative transportation. Yes, I know we can always just walk, but there is that distance/time matter.

I can only speak to my own situation, I suppose. Were I to get a car, which may happen in the next couple years or so, it would be pretty much exclusively for out fo town type stuff, as in driving to go backpacking, mountain biking (ironically?) skiing, etc. Perhaps for some larger loads, though that will not be so necessary if I can get an extracycle built up.

In other words, to me being car lite is not using a car day to day as your main/most common means of transportation.

The problem is that a car is such a big and expensive thing for occassional use, which is part of why I don't have one. Most of the time it would just sit there, eating insurance money.

In other words, to me being car lite is not using a car day to day as your main/most common means of transportation.

The problem is that a car is such a big and expensive thing for occassional use, which is part of why I don't have one. Most of the time it would just sit there, eating insurance money.
I like that definition.

Car insurance is an expense, but it's not too bad. The problem comes when the car isn't fully paid off and there are regular vehicle payments associated with it. Then the car becomes a huge burden, no matter how much or how little it's being used.

I like the more miles on foot/by mass transit/on a bike than in a car definition. It's putting the emphasis on an attainable goal, not on hatred of cars. And there's some room for flexibility.

Car-free is a little trickier. I'd define car-free as not owning a motor vehicle at all, and not riding in one on a regular basis.To me, "motor vehicle" is considerably broader term than "car". And you would seem to include public transportation in the "not riding in one" -part?

--J

Most people in a car-heavy culture just automatically take the car everywhere. People who think about whether they need to take the car find that other methods are better in some situations, and end up driving less than they would have.

Within that latter category there are different levels of car dependency based on necessity. Some people live in cities while others are rural; some have access to good transportation infrastructure and others don't; some people have disabilities or health problems that prevent them from getting around under their own steam.

In my book, they're all car-light because they're consciously thinking about whether they need cars, and in general that makes them more car-light than someone who mindlessly defaults to driving. It's meaningless given those variations to use some arbitrary measuring stick like a number of miles or number of gallons.

I think I am both. I don't own a car and cycle to work each day from M-F, so in that sense I consider myself car free. However on the weekends when my gf is in town, we use her car, so i'm also car-light.

I call myself car-lite and feel dirty about it.

I don't own a car, we sold the (only) car registered in my name last Spring. But we still have a car, registered to my wife. I also own a motorcycle but use it mostly in a utilitarian capacity. So while I am technically car-free, if you take us as a family unit, I'm not, especially if you add in the fact that I use the motorcycle as a utility vehicle, much like I would a car anyway.

We started bike commuting this Summer and average about two days a week, 35mi r/t. Since we work at the same company, if one of us takes the car, the other one usually rides along. We do most of our shopping on the commute home from work. Weekends, we generally stay at home and bike around. Complicating things, we have to pick up my son two days each week and he lives in a town 15 mi away from our house and 10 from where we work.

There is no public transport in our neck of the woods. Or rather, there is, but for shopping we might as well bike, and it would take us 3+ hours to get the 17 mi into work if we limited ourselves to the bus.

Compared to the general public, we are definitely car-lite. We are the only people in our neighborhood with less than 1 car/person. But compared to the car-free and truly car-lite on this subforum, I only sheepishly call myself car-lite.

I prefer the definitions where you have to use a car for less than half your overall travel time/milage to be considered truly car-lite. Also, I'd expand that to motor-vehicle-lite, because although most motorcycles generally gets better milage than even a Prius, they're still internal combustion. For instance, there have been a number of years when I'd technically qualify as car-lite, but only because I put more miles on my motorcycle than in my car.

If a BF poster "qualifies" under a consensus approved definition does he/she get a merit badge or perhaps a special icon next to his avatar? A nice glowing halo for a Real Car Free member should be appropriate,eh? A slightly dulled halo for a Real Car Lite poster might be nice, and I would qualify too.

If a BF poster "qualifies" under a consensus approved definition does he/she get a merit badge or perhaps a special icon next to his avatar? A nice glowing halo for a Real Car Free member should be appropriate,eh? A slightly dulled halo for a Real Car Lite poster might be nice, and I would qualify too.

We already have red stars, blue stars, yellow jerseys, and little birdies. I don't think we need additional icons like glowing halos and tarnished halos.

Anyhow, you'll always be an unqualified saint to me. (and you can take that any way you want.)

;)

I like the idea of a car-free / car-light icon ... even though I don't know what any of the others represent. I just like to feel special. :p

"Car light" is just a term. Don't worry about it. There are no merit badges, epaulettes or carlight jerseys.

Just drive less.

Or.. even better.. drive a lot less.

If a BF poster "qualifies" under a consensus approved definition does he/she get a merit badge or perhaps a special icon next to his avatar? A nice glowing halo for a Real Car Free member should be appropriate,eh? A slightly dulled halo for a Real Car Lite poster might be nice, and I would qualify too.
The point isn't to qualify for anything; it's to set out the terms. I've seen multiple definitions of car free and car light as well as multiple reasons for moving in that direction.

I like the idea of a car-free / car-light icon ... even though I don't know what any of the others represent. I just like to feel special. :p

How 'bout an iconized version of this image for some of our comrades with the approved car free/car light bona fides?

The point isn't to qualify for anything; it's to set out the terms. I've seen multiple definitions of car free and car light as well as multiple reasons for moving in that direction.

Sounds like multiple definitions would be "correct" too. In fact, any definition that pleases the definer would be correct in such circumstances.

I almost took the car tonight to meet some friends at someone's house. Took the bike. Used my lights. Was all right.

To me, "motor vehicle" is considerably broader term than "car". And you would seem to include public transportation in the "not riding in one" -part?

--J

No, I wouldn't get nearly that dogmatic; using public transportation still counts as car-free as far as I'm concerned.

I think that car light is denominated, as many others have already said, by one's decision to ride/walk/skip instead of drive as much of the time as possible.
Defining a "need" to drive is difficult and will often cause a car free/lite companion to draw up arms.

(= 2 cents)