Originally Posted by
Phamilton
My wife and I went car-free Sept 2017. We’ve used a combination of Lyft/Uber/borrowing friends’ cars since then. The toughest part has been my daily commute, 12 miles each way. My wife works 1/2 mile from home and daughter rides the bus to middle school. Shopping/entertainment can all be done within 2 miles of home. We live in the suburbs and I commute through the countryside to a small town. I have flexibility with my employer that allows me to work remotely from home with my work laptop when road conditions are hazardous (snow/ice) but it takes some planning and carrying the laptop back and forth.
We are looking into getting an old beater station wagon or small pickup. Healthcare accessibility and zero cycling infrastructure are the primary driving force behind this, pardon the pun. If we lived and both worked downtown, we’d probably be satisfied to stay car-free, and that still remains the long term goal. I personally am finished with using a car for commuting unless/until my body or living situation demand otherwise.
I agree with others about avoiding the LCF sub-forum. I suspect that most of the “car-free” posters there probably aren’t really car-free, and have my doubts about how many of them even ride actual bicycles. The longer I’ve been car-free, the stronger my suspicions/doubts.
In defense of the LCF sub, actually living car-free - or maybe more accurately becoming a car-free convert - outside of maybe highly urban areas, I think can become a social issue as well. It can be challenging to arrange/attend social gatherings that were previously made possible by the car. Not to mention that forming new relationships can also be complicated living without a car in a car-centric place. Some folks seem to dislike cyclists so much that just the knowledge that someone is "one of the someones" on a bike "getting in the way of traffic" is off-putting to them. Spending much time commuting by bike in areas without bike-specific infrastructure and hostile motorists can change a person's outlook on life. Car-free folks who commute exclusively by bike - it requires a different frame of mind than if the car is sitting in the garage waiting until one decides for whatever reason not to ride a bike that day. I don't think they (we?) are a large group of people, but it IS tough sometimes. You just can't let the bastards get you down. (Illegitimi non carborundum?) But it seems to me like there's a lot of rage happening in that sub, and rage doesn't mix well with my brain so I tend to stay away. Advocacy and Safety, sort of to the same effect.
And yes, I'm defending the LCF sub to myself.