tandempower

Sort of. They install DVD players in the back seats of some cars to keep the kids entertained while in the car; but the car can be moving, so it's more like a drive-through (or drive-while) than a drive-in.

350htrr

There's one here still open, at least it was last year.

Zappie

I can't afford a car.

Rollfast

It was $3/gal gas, debt and people on my heinie leading to a speeding ticket for trying to shake some clod off my exhaust pipe, I turned the license in December 26, 2007 and said the heck with that.

prj71

This is the main reason people go car free or car light.

It's definitely not because it's enjoyable riding a bike in crummy weather.

Rollfast

It sucks some but it's MY bike.

cooker

What was your reason?

prj71

I'm not car free or car light.

I drive a truck with a big V8 motor and put on about 20,000 miles a year mostly grouse hunting, trout fishing and mountain biking adventures. I use the truck to transport me and all my gear to hunting spots, trout streams and mountain bike trails.

My wife puts about 10,000/year on her car running to work, miscellaneous other errands and some recreational stuff.

I also have a fitness hybrid bike and sometimes commute by bike to work if I'm feeling ambitious in the morning and if the weather is nice.

nayr497

Impatience! I was standing waiting for a bus to get to work one day when someone passed me riding a bicycle. I thought, "Um, I have a bicycle, I know how to ride it, I like to ride it, and I'm in perfectly good shape to ride." I started bike commuting to work the following day. That was in 2002. I now bike to work, do long road rides when the time provides, ride and race cross, and do some mtb biking. Way too many bikes to count as well, and an insane amount of bike gear too It's the only thing I really spend any money on. I play soccer, but that's a pair of turfs every other year. I've also lived in two other places since then, one a suburd, one a smaller city. I've made it work in both places. I haven't driven with any regularity since. My wife has a car, but at this point and with our prime house/my office location, it's easier to ride a bike. I'm lucky, I know it's not an option for everyone.

The crazy thing is that my city, which only recently was pretty much laughed at by folks in neighborhing cities, is now the hottest city around. AND with cost of living in the biggest cities, it's now a destination city. It's crazy. Our house has nearly doubled in price since we bought it five years ago. We had zero bike share programs 6 months ago, now we have three. Car traffic has gotten visibly horrible in the past three months, it's blowing my mind. I never thought I'd be ground zero for gentrification, but it is happening ALL around me. Motorists, who used to have zero congestion, are going to start losing their minds. I foresee a lot of road rage and maybe a few more cyclists.

So, I started riding a bike to work because I was tired of waiting for my bus. Now I drive a few handful of times a year. I'll take rain/cold over aggressive drivers ANY day of the year. I even run my dogs to a field to let them mosey around off leash via bicycle. So the first thing I do when I wake up each morning is jump on (one) of my bikes and go walk my dogs in the woods. I count my blessings daily. And one of the last things I do every day is run them again. They both enjoy a lot of exercise. (me too!) I'm now so used to constantly be going somewhere and progressing that my body/mind really, really don't know how to deal with sitting in a car in traffic. I'm so used to constantly be getting closer to something...the grocery store, my office, the library, a park, etc.

TiHabanero

It all started when I was broke and in school. The practice of being frugal, cheap, and a cheapskate taught me how to survive rain, snow, 20 degree temps and inconvenience. Time management is essential and have been car light since 1983. 10 of those years I was carless. Last year I put well under 1000 miles on the car, but the bike saw over 2000 miles. Winter sucks, but is doable if being very, very careful. On ice days, the car has to be used for safety.

Zedoo

I am mostly carfree again. I could probably buy another automobile next year, but there's not much left in the used market I want to buy. Fragile cars with too many gadgets and not enough practical use is the industry standard.

SHBR

I let mine expire, and never renewed it.

I hope I never have to drive again.

SHBR

Why post here?

I can think of much better ways to waste time.

Jim from Boston

Your Motivation For Becoming Car-Free or Car-Light

Quote:

Originally Posted by prj71

I'm not car free or car light.

I drive a truck with a big V8 motor and put on about 20,000 miles a year mostly grouse hunting, trout fishing and mountain biking adventures. I use the truck to transport me and all my gear to hunting spots, trout streams and mountain bike trails.

My wife puts about 10,000/year on her car running to work, miscellaneous other errands and some recreational stuff.

I also have a fitness hybrid bike and sometimes commute by bike to work if I'm feeling ambitious in the morning and if the weather is nice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHBR

Why post here?

I can think of much better ways to waste time.

Actually, I think that @prj71’s post is relevant to this thread, at at least as an opposing (majority) point of view. He posted a similar opinion on a current LCF thread, “95% Of Our Lives Spent Indoors” to which I replied:However, even in Metro Boston, last weekend I spent two hours in freeway traffic on a normally one hour errand.

I-Like-To-Bike

Why didn't you use your bicycle for transportation for this errand?


Could you have transported the same passengers and/or shopping bags, packages and other errand related stuff by bicycle?


How long would the same errand trip taken if you had traveled by bicycle?

Jim from Boston

If not in Boston, Where?...If not on a weekend, When?

I-Like-To-Bike

This short post is harder to decipher and makes less sense than your long winded nested "conversations".

Jim from Boston

My indecipheral reply was intended to show the seeming futility of a Car Free lifestyle, even in a sanctuary city such as Boston, to provide the favor of a response to a set of seemingly rhetorical questions, which otherwise demanded too much, and too personal explanation.

PS: My reply was a paraphrase:
https://www.redstate.com/diary/barrypopik/2010/04/26/origin-of-if-not-us-who-if-not-now-when-not-rfk/

I-Like-To-Bike

You could clearly show the seeming futility of a Car Free lifestyle, even in a sanctuary city such as Boston, if you actually answered (without any sensitive personal information) the on topic questions I posited, rather than your posting about peculiar paraphrasing and an irrelevant reference to a traffic jam.

Jim from Boston

I guess you could say that about many pithy posts on BF, and conversational posts are TL;DR.BTW, even if I carefully answered your interrogatories with details about my errands, they would still show the futility of trying to be Car Free, even in Boston with my personal Car Lite lifestyle (involving my cherished daughter, unable to participate fully in a Car Free lifestyle.)

I-Like-To-Bike

Especially posts that rely on paraphrased irrelevant quotes to imply some sort of cryptic message known only to the poster. Seems to be a thing for BF posters from the Beantown area.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

BTW, even if I carefully answered your interrogatories with details about my errands, they would still show the futility of trying to be Car Free, even in Boston with my personal Car Lite lifestyle (involving my cherished daughter, unable to participate fully in a Car Free lifestyle.)

That is exactly what I assumed which makes me wonder why you didn't clearly post that upfront without the TL/DR nested quoting baloney.

Walter S

They're WAY down but not non-existent... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drive-in_theaters. 330 operating in the U.S. That's not nothing.

prj71

And this is why I don't live in the big city. Concrete jungle...rat race....

The problem with the rat race is that there's no finish line...Nobody at the end to give you a medal and dump some Gatorade over your head... The wheel just keeps spinning. Stop running and start living.

Jim from Boston

Hi @prj71,

Thanks for that reply. My encounters with traffic jams are rare, and my cycling routes are pretty calm, and numerous for variety. From a “town mouse” (link) to a “country mouse,” we have a country house in a village on the ocean, and it is recuperative to visit, but at night, the silence is deafening.

I probably do live in a spinning wheel here in Boston, but:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

…I cycle a nice distance of at least 14 miles through one of America’s most charming,interesting, and historic metropolises on residential and light commercial roads (and partially on a bikepath in a park) in the reverse commuter direction early in the morning, during all four (pleasant to tolerable) seasons.

For training purposes, I can expand my routes to encompass popular high-level cycling outer suburbs…

However,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

…I have previously posted to this thread, ”Why didn’t I ride”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

My job; either too much to do, so I stay (comfortably) overnight and resume very early in the AM, missing my commute; or have to travel afar for a meeting...and to a lesser extent, family activities.…

To paraphrase one of the best quotes I have heard about City Living,”I may not go to the Opera, but I enjoy knowing it’s there.”

deux jambes