Do you need the state minimum required insurance when you use car2go? I'm pretty sure you still need such insurance if you rent a car, since the insurance they offer only covers the collision/damage portion of their vehicle (or so I recall) If so, that should be figured into the cost of using either option.

People... don't get so grumpy. No, Austin is not NY/SF et.al. These cities are not Austin either. There has to be more musicians per capita in Austin than in any other city in the world. To me that's a good thing.

I vote for Austin. I live in East Austin and there is a huge bike community. Theres alot to do on a bike here aside from commuting. They have midnight bike rides with hundreds of riders... a 3.5 mile bike course called the Veloway.. a few mountain bike trails and i always see lots of groups of roadies. I was born and raised here, so the weather is not a problem.. i commuted 12mi all summer long and this is my 1st year.

As for the culture.. its very laid back compared to anywhere else ive been to. You can def. do w/out a car as long as you are in Central/East/South Austin.. thats just my opinion.

Check out this facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/365-Things-To-Do-In-Austin-Texas/254063342821
(365 Things To Do In Austin, Texas)

From the austin car2go site:
"car2go provides a simple and fair price structure that allows members to pay for what they use: an extremely attractive standard price of just 35 cents per minute plus tax which includes the costs of fuel1, insurance2, parking, maintenance, and mileage3."

"Base membership coverage includes the following limits: Liability of $100,000 Bodily Injury per person / $300,000 Bodily Injury per accident and $50,000 Physical Damage per accident. Coverage for the car2go vehicle is provided with a deductible of $1000 per occurrence."

Austin sucks. It is hot. The people hate bikes and most of all, it is getting too big. Please don't move here. Austin used to be weird, now it is hip. I prefer weird.

Haha. I live in New York. Talk about hip. NY ain't all that either, which is why I need to get out. Born and raised here, getting angrier by the day. For my own sake. That's just me of course.

Hot is relative. I think anything north of Austin is cold.

The big local pasttime is talking about how cool Austin used to be.

...said the guy with 3 exclamation marks next to Austin Texas lol

not to mention all caps!!!

What's cool about Austin?

James McMurtry
Jon Dee Graham
Matt the Electrician
Scrappy Jud Newcomb
Michael Fracasso
Beaver Nelson
Nathan Hamilton
Billy Brent Malkus
Scott Biram
etc, etc, etc.

I don't care if it's "hip" or not.... great live music is cool anytime.

+
Butthole Surfers
MDC
Big Boys



OK, that's all I know about Austin.
You may continue.

So if you do live further out in Austin is it absolutely awful to find a commutable route into the city? I am an East coaster and many roads here are very tight but usually people aren't total asses about giving you a bit of space. I am used to riding in traffic I'm just curious how bikeable Austin is if you aren't in the 'ideal' location?

Don't live in Austin and have never rode a bike there, but as an Okie(Where it's just as hot)I just want to comment on the heat: It's not that bad. Just stay hydrated and expect to have to clean up when you get to work.

You definitely can make it work without a car in Austin. I've been riding off and on since October when my vehicle started giving me trouble. I finally took the plunge and got rid of my car back in March. I work off Barton Springs and South Lamar and I live in Wells Branch. I take the "train" to make up for how far I would have to ride (17 miles). It works out well for me since I work 8AM-4PM M-F.

I have three HEBs and a Walmart within three miles of my apartment, so I usually just pick one and head out with my grocery panniers in tow. It's really not all that bad.

Yes, it's hot. Having been born and raised in Cincinnati and lived in Nashville and Tampa, I'll take the 110 degree dry heat over the 85 degree 100% humidity any day. Just stay hydrated and listen to your body.

The train is really the only thing I dislike. I'm moving to South Austin next month so I won't have to worry about public transit anymore! Hooray!

The big local pasttime is talking about how cool Austin used to be.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I lived in Austin in the late 70s and that was the big local pasttime then. I regretted that I moved there too late :-)

OK, I'm gonna modify my last response- Austin *is* generally OK for low or zero car. I've been here three years now, and I'm bike commuting from Cedar Park to The Arboretum. Eleven miles each way. It's hot but not dangerous. I'm fortunate to have showers at each end; I get pretty wet even in the mornings and I'd be pretty stinky without. I pass three HEB's (grocery stores on steroids) and two bike shops on the way, and I have bike lanes, wide shoulders and back roads the whole way. It would be very easy to get rid of the car... but I'm not quite there yet...

How do you get from Cedar Park to the Austin area? I wonder if we cross paths. I go from the arboretum to Round Rock via Jollyville, McNeil, then Old McNel.

@ 40spokeOD-

If you're too far from what you're commuting to, then it's kinda bad. austinallie is an example- Wells Branch to South Lamar is pretty much completely from full north to full south, completely through the city. That's a monster commute even in a car, with the traffic. So if you work south, probably best to live south. I work north and live north.

Drivers are no worse than anywhere else, maybe a bit better since they encounter bikes more often than a town with fewer cyclists. There's the occasional a$$, but it's rare and ignorable. The town is generally set up so there are reasonable routes- the urban areas have low-traveled through streets designated as bike routes, suburbs have bike lanes, in the transition regions the shoulders are nice and wide, and in rural areas there's not much traffic. There are a few roads that it's wise to just stay off, but there's usually an alternate route.

I live near Anderson Mill and RR620. I go down Anderson Mill, get off at Spicewood Pkwy, meander through Balcones Woods area, then to Barrington, Rain Creek Pkwy to Great Hills Trail. Sometimes I'll take Jollyville road when I want to avoid the hills, but the traffic is a little fast for me on Jollyville. If I'm going all the way downtown, I'll cross 360 at Great Hills, then take Mesa to Far West, then the Shoal Creek bike route all the way in.

Cool, yeah, I don't love Jollyville either, lots of places for people to turn and not see you.
I used to cross 360 at Great Hills, but have lately been using the new crossing on the Mopac access road, it's a little less stressful, but a little out of the way too.