Living Car Free - Is carfree feasible in America? (Room for Debate blog in nytimes.com)

At least you are using the company truck. Construction is a tough industry to be car free in, hauling tools and going from jobsite to jobsite.
What kind of work do you do that you travel 1000 miles for a project?

At least you are using the company truck. Construction is a tough industry to be car free in, hauling tools and going from jobsite to jobsite.
What kind of work do you do that you travel 1000 miles for a project?

Industrial/Commercial roofing and siding. We are an OSHA VPP company and have done projects in 46 states. My specialty is industrial, places like DuPont, Alcoa, IBM, Smithfield Foods, etc. We also seem to thrive on projects that most contractors walk away from.:twitchy:

The company provides crew vans for transportation between the office and out of town projects, so theoretically a car free person can work for us. I suspect we do have some guys that do not own vehicles, but do ride with those that do.

Aaron:)

I used to own a roofing company in NC, years ago while I was in college, a small residential repair company. I had a van that I had to go drive through the neighborhoods in every morning to pick up the crews.

What do the car free people do when they have to travel and time is not a luxury you can afford?

Same thing that car owning people do when they don't have the luxury of free parking or open roads. Move to somewhere else.

You pick the way you want to live and then you make the choices which make it possible/efficient/affortable/etc. It's not rocket science.


^ Yup, car light is a great middle path. You have a car when you need one, but it doesn't cost much to sit there when you don't.

I disagree. Most of the cost of car ownership is incurred just by having it whether you use it or not: you still need to live somewhere with ample safe parking (ie with poor mass-transit/bicycle infrastructure), you still need to pay for insurance, you still need to have access to repair services, you still need to pay for the vehicle itself, etc, etc.

IMO car-lite is the worst of both worlds. Look at Village Idiot. He's trapped. He can't travel intercity without his SUV even when he wants to. He probably can't even have a few drinks with friends without breaking the law because he has no way to get home. He has to work extra side jobs to support his car and the home he keeps it at. All because of the sacrifices he made to accommodate car ownership.

I disagree. Most of the cost of car ownership is incurred just by having it whether you use it or not: you still need to live somewhere with ample safe parking (ie with poor mass-transit/bicycle infrastructure), you still need to pay for insurance, you still need to have access to repair services, you still need to pay for the vehicle itself, etc, etc.

You're free to disagree. Different things work best for different people in different situations. I've lived in places where CF was my best option. I've also lived in places (and currently am in one) where CL was my best option. I go with what works for me.