Machka 

How Did Your Year of Living Car Light or Car Free Go?

Tell us about some of your highlights.

Or things you learned.

Or things you'd like to do differently or start doing in 2019.

Or interesting articles or websites about reducing your motor vehicle usage you've come across.

baldilocks

If my records are correct, I didn't get started till May. The snow shut me down last year. This is what I learned. Also, this is my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.
Only use cycling ponchos when it's cooler. Warm rain isn't much of an issue. Be sure to have fenders.
A folding basket (Wald 582) is better for heavier groceries than a pannier. I use one releasable zip tie to hole it open or closed. The metal thing to hold it closed didn't work to well.
Be sure to use the right rack to keep pannier away from tire. MTB Tires chew holes in panniers.
Backpacks are OK in colder weather. I prefer sling backpacks
People think your crazy if you ride in winter (especially very icy) conditions. I did, they did.
Studded tires are awesome. One street looked like pure glass and I slipped less than the cars.
If you don't drive your vehicle, eventually someone will. Especially if it's a truck. They did, it is.
I actually resent the times I need to use my truck, but I'm grateful to have that option.
For me, it's not about only being car free. It's about riding my bike. The street's are not smooth enough to inline skate (Rollerblade) and for me, walking just isn't fun.

JoeyBike

2019 marks my 30th year of not owning a car myself. I do rent them. And I am about ready to own one again. April 15th is my 30th anniversary of car free. After that, no promises! (Except that I will not abandon LCF entirely)

350htrr

Un-fortunately, I went a step backwards in my attempt to try and be car lighter every year... This year I only put about 600Kms on my bike instead of the usual 2,400Kms, Why.? You may ask... Because of the smoke from all the forest fires around here in B.C, some days you needed to turn on the headlights in the middle of the day to see... For 2 months it was BAD, for 2 months it was bad enough... I/we ended up getting an air purifier for the house to be able to have some respite.

StarBiker

I need a car to realistically do most things like get a job, probably have to move further out because it's to expensive to live here. Ain't happening anytime soon, but I will have to get a car, and move eventually.

Rowan

What Machka doesn't highlight at the start is that three-quarters of this year will be based for me on public transport, or walking or bicycles in most of our movements.

While we have two vehicle, one hasn't been operational for over a year, and the other was bought to replace it for me to access work (Machka was already using buses).

But then my workplace accident that critically injured me with a long stay in hospital resulted in my driver's licence being handed over until I can have a serious brain injury cleared (which is likely to happen in January so I can return to the workplace -- the licensing situation had nothing do with my driving).

One result has been that I have slowly but surely returned to bus travel, too, to attend my medical and recovery appointments in the city.

Machka has continued to catch buses to and from work every day and while bicycle riding might appear to be an option for her, there are steep hills over the 15-plus kilometres involved in the route into the city, as well as considerable doubt about safely putting her bikes in storage there. And as far as driving goes, she would have to find car parking several miles from her workplace, or pay an incredible fee of something over $150 a week for city car parking.

And as to my return to work, my experience when driving to the ferry I have to catch along a relatively narrow country road shows that I would be at serious risk from the less than quality drivers I have seen, most of whom are tourists from other states or (even worse) other countries..

As to the bike riding, I have had what could only considered to be limited rides on the bikes since the workplace injury, especially after doing a 300km randonnee just two or three weeks before it happened. But I have done up to almost 30km on one ride, which recently drew a neurologist I had to see last week into a comment that I had made a remarkable recoverable to even go that far and considering the injury I had suffered.

Machka 

I'll add that for about 4 months from just before Rowan's accident until a little bit after he came home, I did not drive a vehicle. Actually, I hadn't driven a vehicle in a number of years, but in those 4-ish months, we did not use one of our vehicles.

Friends drove me into or home from the hospital a few times, but mostly I took the bus.

I got groceries by walking to the little local shop or going to the grocery store near work.

I ran errands at lunch time in town.

After Rowan had his accident, there was a moment where I thought, "What am I supposed to do?", but then I just reverted back to what I did when I was car free for 6-ish years in Canada.

Was that a highlight? I'm not sure I would call it that, but nevertheless, it did feel good to know that I could still be car free if I wanted to be.

And I learned more about our local bus system.

I also learned about the local delivery service(s).


After that time period, I did relearn to drive and do drive on weekends ... mainly to take us and our bicycles to a quiet location to cycle. But as usual, during the week I take the bus into town, and run errands mostly by walking.

JoeyBike

My default was to move to an apartment complex located near shopping districts, malls, groceries. Not only easy to get supplies but also possible to find work if need be.

But for the past 20 years I have been owned by a house. If my wife got disabled for a stretch I would be driving her car to help out. No doubt about it.

Good story Machka! Thanks for sharing that.

Mobile 155

alias5000

I have never owned a car. I live downtown and rent cars for longer trips when needed. This year, I don't think we rented much (~5-10 times?).
My in-town kilometers have gone up a tiny bit due to us joining a CSA with a pickup location adding about 10km per week. Overall, I wouldn't mind a few more than this year's 4000kms for next year.
I used to use a milk crate to transport groceries, which works fine for up to about 20kg (8 liters of milk, plenty of juice Since we decided to buy water (thanks to us not having access to unsoftened water at home...), rather than drinking softened water, my grocery loads went up significantly (extra 20kg per week), so that the milk crate ultimately broke. We replaced it with a BOB Yak trailer, that is able to carry up to 32kg. I have had it up to that weight already, but overall, it's plenty of carrying capacity for what we need. I might add a milk crate again, just for those days when a trailer is overkill, or when the trailer is not enough.
Winter has started for us, and I am planning to coat the insides of the trailer tubes with double-boiled linseed oil, just to keep the rusting at a lower level. We got the trailer used and there already have been some minor rust spots which I treated.

My GF knitted me some lobster gloves earlier this year - they are very warm!

B. Carfree

This year has involved considerably less walking for me than in years past. Previously, any trip less than three miles one way would see me walking, but a recurring issue with my left knee found me unable to walk much without having an unpleasant Baker's cyst form. Fortunately, I could ride without issue, so ride I did. Maybe that's why both of my ancient town bike frames broke these past few months. That was followed by my wife's trusty old town bike breaking recently. For her, we purchased a new bike. I got one of my frames repaired and now just need to deal with a wheel issue it has.

I have plenty of time to fix the wheel, and will build up a 3-speed fixed-gear bike while I'm at it. I'm off the bike for another week and a half while I heal from the surgical repair of that annoying knee thing. The surgeon told me this was just a warm-up for the knee replacements that are in my future. (I do wish someone would have told me that short folks shouldn't take up dunking basketballs as a hobby unless they are fond of early-onset arthritis.) Turns out, you can both use it and lose it, but I sure am glad I live in a time when joint replacement is a relatively trivial procedure. Three cheers for modern medicine.

I did rent cars a couple of times this year. Once was to visit relatives out of state when the train wasn't running because of a landslide (my spouse can't take a bus; she gets motion sick on them) and once to take a friend to receive surgery at an out of town hospital. That friend also can't take a bus or even a train. In fact, the surgery was for a vestibular disorder (inner ear). She's motion sick without even moving.

Cars are a nice back-up tool, but I wouldn't want to use them much more than I do. I'm really not sure what people see in them.

I-Like-To-Bike

3-speed fixed-gear? What is that? If it is actually fixed, what would be the advantage, especially for someone with knee issues, over a regular S-A 3-speed IGH that allows coasting, and if equipped with a coaster brake has a dependable all weather legal rear brake?

Dahon.Steve

Good one.

I'm approaching 20 years carfree myself and I often worry about having to buy one in the future. Getting fired from my last job of ten years made me realize I may have to do something like Uber or Lift as an alternative. At the moment, I'm doing contract work but my age of 51 is becoming an issue at finding employment.

Since I'm earning less before, I'm thinking of working at Uber-eats on a bicycle in New York City for additional income! I know a couple of cyclist who are making $100.00 dollars a week part-time. I too am trapped by a mortgage. ;-(

JoeyBike

Yeah, I'm with ya. Looking for a job with benefits at age 60. So might need a car to at least FIND a job. Then figure out logistics. I am a lot closer to Medicare age than you but you should be OK getting a job at 51. A good friend died in an auto accident this week and two more are in cancer treatments, so don't think I am complaining about needing a car. Happy to be alive and healthy!

Good luck in 2019 man! Should be awesome.

Fargo Wolf

How did it go? Same as always. Drove a little bit and cycled when I could, which was rarely, thanks to my (now former) job. For 2019, I want to cycle more of course, including to from what ever job I might get.

Walter S

I am no longer LCF. I have a car because I own and manage several rental houses and need a car regularly for hauling construction/repair/cleaning/etc. supplies related to that. I made-do without this before but circumstances including a business partner have changed and avoiding car ownership is more trouble than it's worth now.

350htrr

and... There is the "problem", in general terms... for most of society today... as I see it...

Rollfast

I used to haul lumber on my bike too, then I took out three sets of bearings using the Schwinn as a mule.

wipekitty

To answer the original question: pretty well! It'll be five years in March since I sold the car; my significant other does not drive (or own a car), either.

I'm still using a bicycle trailer to pick up larger quantities of grocery items, but started ordering more grocery and household items online this year. It's just as cheap as going to a physical store, and leaves more time for recreational riding!

I think I rented cars/drove six times: three times for work, twice to visit family in other states, and once for Family Vet Day (we have three cats and a dog).

Unfortunately, I took up a new hobby (drumming), which may require a van down the road if I ever get good enough to play gigs. I'm also looking for jobs in other places, though if something comes through, we could probably do the move without purchasing a vehicle, and I'd get to figure out a new bike commute.

2019 could be interesting.

Phamilton

cooker

I completed 27 years of mostly biking to work. I say "mostly" because I ride 2/3 or more of the time and take transit the rest. I cut back my days of work this year, so out of 194 commuting days, I drove a car once, took the bus 31.5 days and biked 161.5 days. The 1/2 day aberration occurred when I abandoned my bike at work one Friday because of freezing rain, and retrieved it by car on the weekend - that was my only car trip to work. It was a mistake as the Santa Claus parade was on and it would have been much faster to take public transit down and bike home, than fight the traffic and deal with the road diversions.

cooker

You should have picked bass guitar. I'm sure it is every bit as demanding as every other instrument if you want to get really good at it, but I believe it is the quickest way to develop enough rudimentary skill to contribute to an amateurish band. Just need to find the the first and fifth notes of standard chords and pluck them in random sequences on the beat.

wipekitty

Haha, we have a bass guitar! I never got along with strings very well (I've tried guitar, bass, mandolin, violin).

The keyboard is fun and pretty portable, but my significant other's guitar project really just needs drums I'm finding that drumming is actually good cross training, in a weird way.

Maelochs

not following a passion or a calling to preserve some weird social distinction seems silly. if you want to play drums ... how is that less significant than wanting to ride a bike? if I said, "Don't ride bikes ... the metal has to be mined and refined, and the aluminum takes a huge amount o electricity to form and refine, so it is really very environmentally damaging---it isn't worth the personal satisfaction," you'd ignore me, and rightly so.

Same with drums. if you need a vehicle to move your drums, get a vehicle. Nobody really cares if you are "car-free." if drums talk to you, if playing drums will enrich your life ... Live. play the dang drums and do what it takes to make it work.

Funny thing ... playing bass, you would still need an amp ... and a bass and an amp are not things you could safely haul on a trailer year round (humidity, rain, road shock) and would still be a sizable load making along trips to gigs really difficult.

maybe take up singing, or a really small woodwind like a flute or soprano sax, which you could play through a the PA. Otherwise, being a working musician pretty much demands owning or at least riding in a car ... and it can be a strain on your band mates if you refuse to be self-sufficient. And also ... generally a band is a group of people working as a team, do saying "No, I won't help haul stuff---you guys get a bigger vehicle, and then come pick me up" is not really team playing. Those little frictions can matter down the road.

To me, it is quality of life, anyway. if I want to do something---really want to--I will do what i need to. i used to love MTB riding and there were no trails i could ride to---so I always found a way to borrow a vehicle or get a ride. Now I own a vehicle. The question would be, "Do I value LCF status, even if it is all in my own mind and no one else cares, more than i enjoy riding trails and seeing nature?"

Buy a cheap minivan---they are awesome. You can go on extended vacations and camp in the back if need be (Walmart doesn't have showers or continental breakfasts but they offer rest rooms,) you can bring you bikes/kayaks/guitars/hand drums, you can cruise at a reasonable pace and get good fuel mileage, you can see things you never would have seen staying home, and for less than the cost of rentals and hotels or whatever.

Or not. Some folks would do things differently. That's fine. But seriously, if your passion is to play the drums ... why not follow the call? Life is Way too short not to be living it.

cooker

​​​​​So you're basically Meg White