gerv 

Not completely car-free, but extremely car light (doing about 5 miles a week by car these days...)
Not retired. But getting ready to work less.
3 adult children but 2 living at home at the moment.
One child living in Canada. Over 500 miles from here. Most other relatives in Canada, too.
54
Urban.

way124

Not retired
No children
Hmmm... another continent
<25
Urban

Bikepacker67

Divorced
No Kids

Not sure why any of this matters though.
Humans can actually live car free, no matter what their situation.
Your choices make it viable or not.

Just the 10,000 years of recorded history proves my point.

Machka 

I was carfree for about 7 years, but I'm not right now. However, when I was ...

-- not retired
-- no children
-- closest family was about 1400 kilometers away
-- I was in my 30s
-- I lived on the edge of the city ... my commute was in the city, the rest of my riding was outside the city.


Why do you ask? Will we see a chart which you've created to summarize all this? Do you have some concerns about living car free?

jdcii

The whole reason I asked was because I'm curious as to the demographics of those on this board. I, myself, am considering giving the car lite life and option. I'll be without a car and my wife will have her car, so calling myself car-free is not really true. However, I will be doing everything possible via two-wheels. Also, if I found someone in a similar situation as myself, then I am able to ask them questions and they can answer me based on experience.

oneredstar

Not retired
No children
Family lives 10km away
30
Live in the city

I ended up driving a truck at work the other day and I got to thinking that it had been over a year since I had driven a vehicle. I hope I can go at least a year again.

Roody

I'm 53 (as of today!), live alone in a city. Work is 4 miles away. My family lives about 200 miles from me. I visit them every month via interurban bus.

wb647

Car light for four days! Sold my pickup and the wife's car, bought a Honda Element. I'd been bike commuting exclusively for a year, and put less than 1000 miles on my truck; most of which was simply to drive it so it didn't rot in the garage.

Still working (wife stays home)
One child- pre-schooler
Family lives within 4 miles; in-laws are 250 miles away (!)
32 years old, living in a suburb, with a 1.5 mile commute.

TOCyclist

I'm about twenty years too young to retire (sadly) and have my son living at home (he's 14) and live in downtown Toronto. Some of my in-laws are within a 15 minute bike ride, but most are an hour or three away by bicycle. My family, for the most part, do not live anywhere near me (hmmm, could it be me? lol). I have six employers believe it or not and can manage to get to all my jobs by bicycle. There are 5 large grocery stores 5-20 minutes away and I have a trike with a trailer to haul both foodstuffs and other items around. In poor weather, I have public transit that is reasonably reliable 'though nowhere near as quick as cycling, available to me. For me and my family, it made a lot of (dollars and ) sense to sell the car and become proudly car-free.

BarracksSi

Car light, but I almost could live car-free. I'll bet that quite a few of my neighbors are car-free.

Not retired
No kids
Parents are about 1150 miles away by car, so maybe 1000 miles "as the crow flies"; sister's in Germany
I'm 36
Urban, in a city with lots of heavily-used public transit.

jdcii

Happy Belated bday Roody.

wahoonc

Planned on an early retirement, but don't see that happening any time soon.

Finally got rid of them for the time being...900sf has it's advantages

From about 250' (the inlaws) to halfway around the world. My parents live 18 miles from us, I have brothers and a sister 100 miles, another brother 1700 miles (the smartest of the bunch IMHO) Children 2, one in the UK one on the West Coast.

Old enough not to want to do it again! (49)

Used to be rural, but getting overrun with golf course communities and housing development, with little to no improvement in infrastructure

BTW I am carfree...I only own trucks But do my level best to minimize the usage of them, last year personal mileage was around 3,000...

Aaron

Artkansas 

Happy Birthday Roody!

Novakane 

Well, I'm about to turn 30 in June.
Retirement is for chumps - although I wish I was self-employed.
No children, at home or elsewhere, but my brother has two daughters and bicycle commutes. (to add to the stats...)
My immediate family (brother, parents) all live within 20km (easy cycling distance) of me. My girlfriend lives within walking distance.
I used to be fairly urban but have moved into the sprawling suburbs to get closer to work and family. Ironically, the ride to work is shorter but less enjoyable from here.

crazybikerchick

Working. 30-something, single, no kids. But would like to have a family sometime and still stay car-free (Bakfiets!) Urban. I have a sister 2 miles-ish away, and my parents are about 100 miles. Cycle there in nicer weather (usually with a commuter train boost to get a bit out of the city first) on a weekend. Or could take a train (that doesn't allow bikes) or Greyhound bus to under 10 miles away for a pickup.

bragi

Until quite recently, I was in your situation: I was car-free, my significant other was not, which made me car-lite. Well, maybe not car-lite. We agreed in principal to use bikes for trips under 5 miles, but, for a variety of reasons, this simply did not happen. In effect, I was car-free unless I was with the SO, in which case I was the the driver of her car. It ultimately becomes a question of values: do you value the whole car-free thing, or do you value her (if she insists on a car)?

monkeymeat

48 Year old, divorced with no kids.
Living with parents since spinal injury from motorcycle accident a few summers ago.
Also fight with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which makes life a bit inconvenient.
But on a good day I can still ride a bike just fine, so I've been "almost" car free since the accident.
Borrow dad's car once in a bit for emergencies, but really simplified my lifestyle so I don't need to.
Rural Illinois small town is not all that bike friendly, but it's not fast paced either and I like it.
Evidently I'm commited to this for the long haul. Just added a new Trek cross bike to the
stable that already contained a vintage Bridgestone RB3.
So bye-bye $4 gas and coma caca OPEC.

darksiderising

I'm 21 and live in rural Sonoma County, CA. My immediate family is about 60 miles away and they either come up to visit me or I take the bus down. I'm a college student and car-free by choice.

pluc

I'm 22, no kids yet, living in an apartment with my flatmate. I'm in a rather dense urban setting (I left the burbs to study, but also to live a car-free lifestyle), but definitely not downtown. Family lives 250 km away from me, for the closest ones.

Newspaperguy

I'm car light right now since I need a car at work. I'm widowed with no kids and I'm living in a small community. I'm one to two kilometres from most of what I need on a day-to-day basis, but some services I use less frequently are 20 to 70 kilometres from here. The rest of my family is at least 1,500 kilometres away.

gerv 

My situation is much like yours (and sounds like the OP is in the same boat..). Of course, your priorities should be with your wife. You could look at it as an opportunity to sway one more person to becoming carfree. My rule is that you should encourage her to get out and walk or bike to the store. Another thing is to encourage her to drive if she has to use the car (that might actually dissuade her. Lastly, set a good example. She might come to appreciate what you are doing and perhaps join you.

Anyway, that's my opinion and if that doesn't work, I might just hide the keys.

robinthehippie

Retired? Nope! I work full time + overtime.
Kids? No, but I have to take my cat to the vet next week and it will be an adventure.
How close is family? I'm single and live alone. Most of my family is a 9-mile ride away (close enough to hang out, far enough that I can be "too tired" when I need a day to myself.) The rest of my family is about 20 miles. I catch a ride or take the bus to see them.
How old? 26
Urban or Rural? I live in Downtown Denver and commute to the suburbs west of town.

I've been car free for about two years, and see no reason to purchase a car in the future.