Did you go cold turkey car free or did you go car lite before you decided?

I always preferred cycling and walking to driving. Some years I was a bike commuter. Getting rid of the last car was still a big leap into the unknown for me.

Car light, I can't think of a good way to ferry my daughter and all her friends around sometimes. Plus I ride the car more in the winter.

If it wasn't for the family, I'd probably go car-free, or at least deregister and not renew the insurance on the car (pretty expensive in NJ). Even if I didn't have family far away, I'd still not sell the car because I plan on going back to school for my masters.

I recently took a new job and found a place to live, and the train station (to NYC and rest of NJ) supermarket, hospitol, doctor, Rx, etc are all within 2-3 miles of each other.

My Ex had an accident (not his fault), the car was written off. I told him we were NOT purchasing another car. 4 months later we separated ... he bought a car almost right away, I didn't. I was car free for 6 years after that.

We had car only a short time and didn't get used to it. It was piece of junk and left us on road couple times. So it was not big leap to leave the car totally.

My wife wants car for good reason. It's quite difficult to go anywhere with 4 kids without car. Public transportation can take us from town to another, but if we want to go vacation to countryside it would require too much effort. Kids are still too young for long bike trips, asking someone else to drive us from the neares bus or train station doesn't work anymore. Oh well - car costs too much. And I don't want one if we just could survive without it. Even renting seems to be quite expensive.

Weekend shopping with bike is pure fun. Last weekend I packed about 10 litres milk and plenty of other food on trailer. During packing the small kid began to stare and then asked from his father:"What is that?" After that his farther dared to ask about trailer and how it affects to riding. This is life style - relaxing and fun most of the time.

Teme

cool - thanks for the replies so far

At the time I had a car, I began to be medically unable to drive it. That part happened over a 6 month period. Right after I had the surgery that would eventually allow me to be able to drive again, my ancient motor vehicle gave up the ghost. As I was recovering, I saw no need to purchase a car that I could not drive. Once I got my bike and was riding it everywhere, I realized I didn't need one at all. That hasn't changed. So in a way, it was both gradual and abrupt.

So how should I vote?

Sorry to hear about that. Anyway, as you're an admin for this site, possibly add "option 5 - other"?

Edit the medical bit not losing the car that is

having said that - I tried to make the options so there'd be no long essays about going car free you either have or haven't. Basically, trying to point out that not everyone can but they still visit a useful part of bikeforums. It's basically a result of some of the nuttier suggestions in the utility cycling thread.

I just went cold turkey. I gave my car to a migrant-worker program sponsored by my church, and walked home. After a short period of feeling stranded (I hadn't been without a car since I was 16), it was easy. I walked for a few weeks, then bought a bicycle, and quickly noticed that getting places by bike was usually just as fast as driving, and that it was a lot more fun than fighting over parking spaces all the time. In addition, I also discovered that a major bus transit center, which I'd never noticed before, was three blocks from my house. (You tend to notice things more if you're in your environment rather than driving through it...)
My house to downtown by car: 20-25 minutes, depending on traffic, not including parking;
My house to downtown by bike: 30 minutes, including parking;
My house to downtown by express bus: 15-20 minutes.

I sold my car in January to help fund a bike tour. Now my wife and I share a Buick gas hog she inherited from her grandmother. When we got back from our trip we moved closer to my wife's work so she could ride her bike. I work from home right now. We still use the car occasionally for out of town trips or when we're feeling lazy. Soon, soon we hope to be shedding about 3,000lbs and $3000 of annual expenses!!!

Cold turkey. At 1:28 PM DST today, when I was in an auto accident. I'm fine, I think. The car isn't. Which way is the commuting forum? :-)

I lost my license and started riding 75% of the time. Worked it to 99% and now I don't drive, but have a fully legal vehicle (still no license, though this has never stopped me). If I make it through the winter I plan on selling my car and buying a racing bike, or maybe a utility bike.

Sorry to hear about the crash. That's car free the hard way.

I've been carfree a few times but the LAST time I had a car it was stolen. Although recovered a few days later, the damage and impound fees made it too expensive to restore it.

A couple months later I had the thought to get a bike....

I had a car for a few months back in 81-82, Probably never drove more than 1 or 2 thousand miles.
So I guess cold turkey.

keep them coming folks

I don't drive 5/7 days. During the weekend it's nice to have a car for that 1.5 hour drive to the beach with 5 people in the car. My wife takes it to work some days, while others it just stands and waits patiently in the driveway.

My first commuting winter should be interesting.... I'm buying a winter bike soon:
https://www.khscanada.com/viewbike/419/
and the studded tires are on order. Next will come the clothing and lighting.

Guess my real test will come when I wake up to -20, snowy and windy sometime in January. But cars are so expensive, even if I had to pay for a taxi that day (or that whole month) it would still be cheaper than actually paying for one for a whole year.


Anyone else here live in a climate that includes snow?

If it snows get up early and go enjoy yourself with your nice winter bike with studded tires.. There is nothing quite like riding on the road on fresh powder seeing all the cars buried under snow. I looked forward to it all year when I was up in Connecticut. I'd even go out and mock commute in the snow when the trains were shut down just to be outside and enjoy it. That and the really steep hills is what I miss about my Connecticut commute.

My wife and I have always had a car. Unfortunately where we have lived sometimes there is no other option for things we'd do. I tried a cab a few times and not only were they obscenely expensive $32 for a 4 mile trip They too a long time to pick you up. I did have my bike and it woudl be a walk through a bad section of town, I consider a half dozen "random" shootings bad. Poor public transportation in Connecticut and no public transportation at all here in Texas where I live.

Another justification is with 5 dogs there needs to be an emergency transporation vehicle, normal vet appointment vehicle and tranportation to their athletic events (agility, flyball which could be 5+ hours away). Annually a car is very cheap for us as we own it outright and have a good insurance rate due to no tickets, no accidents and excellent credit. For all the public outcry I still think gas is pretty cheap for people who don't fillup more then once a week or aren't driving <15mpg vehicles.

We're as car-lite as we can be, but with two kids and two dogs and living in a place where it's virtually impossible to do grocery shopping by bike or on foot, I'd have to classify myself as a car-free-wannabe.

My wife and I have been car lite for years. I've owned one car and one motorcycle in my life. Before I buy a car I'd get another motorcycle.

We've recently got a flex car account but haven't used it. We live in an area where we can pretty much get everything we need without a car. When we do need one, must of the time we borrow my parents.

Worst part is not -20C, windy and snow. The worst part is 0C or -1C, heavy north wind and rain. Late aumtuns are usually the worst and I might drop cycling during it and change to public transportation.

Teme

Did I read your Blog right ?
Were you really 385 lbs. ?

Yes. And I never rode a bike as a child, so I had to teach myself to ride at age 41 and 275 pounds.
Me at 360, February 2006, after losing 25 pounds:


And at 260, a year later:


And at 243 two weeks ago: