Originally Posted by
DrIsotope
As a SoCal dweller, and one who is pretty "car light"-- I average less than 3,000 miles a year on my car-- I can say that attempting to be car free here is difficult at best. Everything is too far apart, and the infrastructure is unabashedly auto-centric.
If I weren't married with children in SoCal, and lived alone somewhere friendly to bikes, going car free would be easy. But here I manage to do 250+ miles a month just buying groceries/supplies and taking my kids to medical appointments, etc. At least for me, car light is manageable, but car free would be utterly impossible.
About the same thing here. I go abut a year between oil changes and get a great rate on my insurance. But in my case my wife doesn't ride a bike and has medical reasons for not doing so. I put on about 5000 miles a year even considering leisure and vacations driving. I thought my neighbor was ready for the transition but he cannot take the direct sun on longer scooter runs. I don't mind the heat so I never thought if it.