Walter S

Yes, a clear choice to drive or move or change jobs. A 3 hour commute is too long for most anybody. For me, driving a car to work would take 45 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on traffic. Riding the bicycle takes about 1:20 and is almost always slower, but it keeps me fit and happier and comfortable with myself.

Rowan

My personal experience was in bushfires that killed 170+ people. I used a motor vehicle to evacuate the property where I lived, which was destroyed totally by the fire. The place was burning when I left. The speed of the fire's progress was clocked at times at over 100mph. Evacuation by bike would have been fatal for me. I did however save most of my bike stuff, loaded on the back of the pick-up.

mrodgers

99% of car repair is something that anyone should be able to do. 99% of repair cost is also in labor and a rip-off. Case in point, my brother-in-law worked at a dealer shop and had access for personal use after his short shift Saturdays. I brought my truck up to use the lift to change a ball joint. A ball joint swap goes like this: Remove wheel, remove 4 bolts, using a large pry bar, lift up on suspension to release ball joint from top A-arm, remove ball joint, insert new ball joint, lower A-arm, install 4 bolts, install wheel. 5 minute job and that is how he would have done it on a customer's vehicle. Labor charges by the shop on the other hand goes by the book no matter how the service tech does the job. We looked it up and the book has 2.5 hours of labor with disassembling the entire front suspension to remove the ball joint. 2.5 hours at $80/hour is $200 for an actual 5 minute job.

Same here, except mine is a 20 minute car commute vs. 3 hours on a bike. I average 6 or 7 mph on the roads with the hills I have. It would be 20 miles and 2100 feet of climbing, but that climbing would only be about 10 miles because for every uphill, there is the same downhill thus half would be coasting at 30 mph on the brakes for 2 seconds, then 15 minutes of climbing back up at 3-4 mph every quarter mile or so.

Owning a car lets me be free. Free to live where I want and have a nice big yard, and a pool in the back yard, and a garden, and a relatively cheap house, neighbors who couldn't tell if I was out in the yard naked or not, a place right outside my back door to fly my RC airplanes, and no one telling me I have to have a certain mailbox or that I have to keep my driveway plowed and my grass no longer than 3 inches or my leaves raked up in the fall, or can't leave my car in the driveway so I can have woodworking tools in the garage, or plant whatever I want in my landscaping, or have the 20 or so apple, peach, plum, cherry, and pear trees that I have. To have what I have where I live for $80k it would cost $300k to live where I wouldn't need a car. In 30 years of mortgage, I wouldn't have close to even 1/4 of $300k in vehicles owning 2 vehicles for myself and my wife to get to work.

yote223

mrogers, You hit the nail!! My Hobby Farm with the 40 acre woods would only be a dream without a vehicle instead of a reality with one. I Love riding bikes. I'm just not willing to limit my choices in life by centering my life around bikes as my only transportation option.

I-Like-To-Bike

IMO, some of the posters on LCF believe placing arbitrary limits on themselves, as well as arbitrarily limiting choices and options in life is a virtue. Voluntarily being car free is just a reflection of their belief in asceticism.

Roody

I don't limit myself to bikes either. I also do a lot of walking and take the bus. I get where I want to go and that's the main thing. I definitely feel my own life is richer and freer because I don't own a car.

roadandmountain

Not necessarily. Lots of people I know who live in big cities don't own cars. They commute to work by train and then party it up in the city on nights and weekends. Everyone I know who lives outside of big cities usually owns a car. They need one to drive to a big city to party on the weekends.

If you already live where the action's at, no need for a car. Bus, walking or cab will do just fine. Most of the city dwellers I know are far from asectic. At least they try not to be.

Roody

The time you spend working on your car, is time I spend riding my bike. But I'm glad you're happy with the choices you've made. Naked leaf raking sounds like fun!

Ekdog

Yes, indeed! We city slickers know how to enjoy ourselves.

cycleobsidian

I lived in a rural area for the first 45 years of my life. Raised my kids there too. Eventually however, the daily commute just got me down. I often decided to just stay in on evenings and weekends rather than head out again. When my kids got older and needed me less, frankly I found country life as boring as heck.

We've since moved to the city. Not a huge one, but one that still has a lot going on. Even though I can't run naked in my back yard without being spotted, or I have to cut my grass every so often, I do enjoy having a variety of things to do with like minded people, and it's not a great distance to go. I can even get back and forth to do these things on my bike within 10 minutes.

In my case, not having a long commute sets me free.

I-Like-To-Bike

Of course not necessarily. Are any of those friends posters on this discussion list posting about their simple life?

El Cid

It doesn't. Cars are expensive and I don't make much money.

Freedom is a matter of degrees, and perspective. We all have obligations, restrictions, and some degree of choice in our own lives. I could afford a car, but it would be a major financial burden. With a car comes the freedom to travel hundreds of miles quickly, conveniently, and with a large carrying capacity (relative to your backpack and some panniers). I've traded that for financial freedom, and I can definitely think of better ways to spend those thousands of dollars.

I'm not going to say that life is better without a car, but I can get by. It's the right decision for me.

shipwreck

As a car owner that prefers to ride whenever I can...

I know a lot of people who don't own cars because they cannot afford them, had a dui and so don't drive, or are hippys who think that cars are evil and so don't want to own one "for the environment, man". None of them want to use a bicycle because there are no shoulders, its hilly, or whatever.

These people are usually free by means of freeloading their car owning friends into servitude.

Roody

A lot of people? How many?

shipwreck

Having been involved with a recovering drug and alcohol program I may have known more car free freeloaders than average.
Currently I know about six people who constantly need rides, and have hit me up. Living in a crunchy granola area there may be a higher percentage. When I was in university there was always some one who needed a ride. Over my life as a car owner, known about twenty five to thirty. At one time or another, giving rides to work, to the store, to or from the bus station, it was a hassle, but as a soft touch I succumbed. Not so much anymore unless its a good sob story. I have actually thought about getting a crappy tandem and offering to give a lift that way, just to see what they say, but really the idea of having a non rider as a stoker would be awful...

So I don't know if that qualifies as a "lot", but for me at least, its enough to have an opinion that sometimes being car free can have consequences for others beyond sunshine and lollypops.

Roody

If Michigan State plays Michigan in the finals, this state will go insane. Literally.

Jim from Boston

Me…me…call on me. I live in a situation so optimal that I have posted:

While not totally car free, nearly all activities where I do use a car have alternatives which just require more time and planning. I have previously posted about my lifestyle which ranges from ascetic on Monday through Friday to gregarious on the weekends.

I did have some reservations about posting to this thread because in my environment, not owning a car is indeed freedom. Driving in heavy traffic to a scheduled appointment in downtown Boston and trying to find a parking place or pay outrageous parking fees is not a liberating experience whereas walking, subway and bike can be. But since you asked...

Rowan

In my book, anything you have to say in any forum is worth posting. You are one of BFs true inspirations.

Rowan

When I was free of car ownership, I almost went out of my way to avoid "sponging" off other people who did own cars. But there were situations in which I didn't bat an eyelid -- use of a company vehicle by a fellow employee who lived at the end of a bus route into Melbourne; the offer of a friend before or after tours that started outside my home city at the time; and use of a company vehicle to get from an appointment at one of the city to another at the other end -- distances of up to 40 miles.

contango 

I'm car light rather than car free but my thoughts for what they are worth.

In suburbia most journeys made by car could also be made by bike or by public transport, so a lot of the time a car isn't really necessary. For instance if I need to go to the station (just under a mile away) I'll walk it. It's just as quick as driving and means I don't have to circle the area trying to park. I struggle to understand my neighbours who drive such a short distance. So in that regard it's good to be free of the need to drive and the associated costs (and since my car is nearly 20 years old it's not as if things like depreciation are a concern)

Things like grocery shopping are where I wouldn't regard being car-free as liberating. I don't want to have to make multiple trips based on what I can fit in my panniers, and worry that hitting a pothole might have broken the eggs and caused them to leak all over everything else.

Security is a way I feel distinctly less liberated on a bike than in the car. Nobody is likely to steal my 20-year-old car but I never know who might steal my bike. The car can't be chucked in the back of a van where the bike can, and people are unlikely to try and take parts from the car where they might with the bike.

Living in London if I need to get out of town I can take public transport. It's just a real hassle if I want to carry much with me. The (relatively) easy journeys are the ones that don't involve going into town to get across town on the Tube to then continue the journey the other side. Even some journeys around town are unfeasibly slow by public transport - during a time I didn't have a car in town (this is many years ago and the situation hasn't changed since then) I needed to get from my place in SW London to a friend's place also in SW London. By public transport it took me 45 minutes. To get home I called a taxi and it took 7 minutes. Today we have friends who live about two miles away - to visit them I'd take the bike but when it's dark and cold my wife doesn't like to cycle so we drive. By car it takes 5 minutes, by public transport it's a 5 minute walk to the bus stop, about 15 minutes on the bus (waiting time and travelling time) and then a 20 minute walk from the nearest bus stop to their place. The choice between 5 minutes in the car or 40 minutes, mostly outside, is a no-brainer.

Personally I think car-light is the most liberating way to be, you miss a lot of the costs of owning a car but don't lose the flexibility of being able to use it for convenience.

Jim from Boston

Wow, thanks for that gracious reply.

You too are one of the posters I always read when I encounter you. It's always interesting to note where various subscribers hang out. For me it's mostly here, Commuting, Fifty-Plus, and the Northeast Regional Discussion Forums; occasionally A&S, Winter, Touring, and General Cycling.

Jim from Boston

These are my limits for transport without driving our own (predominantly my wife's) car, from "Car-free plan B":

timmythology

For me, it has made me more mindful of my self care, or lack thereof. When I had a car I would put off the process of getting ready to leave, and just hop in the car and go. Now that I have to consider the way in which I am going, I have become more mindful of the time and the need to be ready by XX time.

Better self care has translated in to a higher quality of life for me.

Machka 

+1

Ekdog

For me, throwing off the economic shackles of car ownership has been one of the most liberating aspects of my many years of living car-free. A car-light lifestyle would be too restrictive to me because of the expense involved. I've arranged my life in such a way that I can get anywhere I want to go on foot or by bike, train or bus.