that's kind of what I've been doing too, but I can go a month on a tank of gas :D I drive on Saturdays and once or twice during the week.
i save up car chores so i can do them all at once.
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that's kind of what I've been doing too, but I can go a month on a tank of gas :D I drive on Saturdays and once or twice during the week.
i save up car chores so i can do them all at once.
I guess I have been only care free for one year- this one.
I'm not sure how to count last year; our roommate had a car we just couldn't use it.
In my senior year of college either a roommate had a car and would schlep us around or let us borrow it. this was a very nice thing that we never abused.
Junior year: I was in London for half of it and for the other half i had a roommate that would only let us drive her places but not borrow the car.
Sophomore and freshman year: no cars on campus allowed!
But my parents live very close by to my undergrad and were super accommodating when I "needed" it. I didn't get my license until I was a senior in highschool and my friends and I just carpooled to get to school.
But I have never had a car myself and consider myself car free. I might have to get one next year and it is taking some getting used to just the thought. Eventually it is going to have to happen because of medical rotations. I just want to go on road trips and to be able to have a car I can plop my canoe, the Dreadnought Scot, on by myself.
I was car-free from the time I left home for college until age 27, when DH and I bought a car together. Was fortunate to live in cities with good public transportation. If I needed a car, I was able to rent or borrow.
I just remembered that while I did have access to my mom's car in high school (and she pretty much let me drive it any time I wanted), I didn't have a car for my first two years of college. Then, when I started my junior year, I needed a car to get to class and to my required field experience at various schools. The public transportation in Miami was pretty much non-existent at that time. So, I got my first car at the height of the "gas crisis" in 1974. I transferred to ASU for my senior year, and again, I used my mom's car to get to class. Aside from a very short time after I graduated, I have always had a car.
Nope, I actually did even less than that ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Biciclista
Loved cars my whole life and periodically owned some exotic sports cars too - but I did live car-free for like 11 months once, about 7 years ago. I sold a car, moved to a new city - and waited almost a year before deciding on a new car. Which is not a long time, compared to those really car free by choice and for many years But in my case, considering that again, I really love cars - it was a big big change!
One thing I learned during those months was how to hang some grocery store bags on the handlebars :D
I have only been truly car-free for a period of about 2 months when I moved from the city (I didn't have a car there but my mom did...and I didn't need one because of public trans so I don't count that as car-free really). Once I moved to the suburbs when I was 17, I needed one. I rode my bike to work (about a mile) for 2 months until I saved enough to be able to pay for my car insurance and then I was able to find a better job.
Unfortunately, living in the American suburbs really precludes one from going totally car-less. Everything is much too spread out and doing a 20 mile round trip on a bike to get groceries is a bit much.
Well living where I live, it's be next to impossible to be car-free but I can proudly say we've been a one-car family for more than 2 years now. (We still own a second car but haven't insured it for 2 years.) Next year will be more challenging when we both teach at different schools but we're going to try to make it work.
I was car free for 12 years when I lived in NY. The ironic thing is I didn't ride a bike once in the city.
There are many (thousands) people living in big cities who live in car free households but they are not cyclists at all. It becomes pretty obvious when there is a city-wide subway/bus transit strike. It's happened several times in Toronto and at least once in last few years in Vancouver.Quote:
Originally Posted by redrhodie
I lived 1 block from a subway station in suburbs of Toronto for 14 yrs. During cycling seasons, I was regularily bike commuting 30 kms. round trip into downtown where I worked.
About 80% of my bike grocery trips was also that same cycling distance since the food stores of choice were downtown. To cycle this distance for groceries was just easier and more pleasant to get there through an interconnected bike route of ravine parks and waterfront routes to avoid 50+ (yes, that many) 4-way traffic road intersections.
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On the rare occasion, I am in a car due to taxi or generosity of a driver, it's nearly unavoidable, to automatically gauge the road in its design and distance as something whether or not I could cycle it. No doubt, there are many TE members, that think this reflexively too while in a car.
So far in 2009, have been in a car 3 times :) :
2 wks. ago on a Sat. -2 cycling friends visiting briefly from 400 kms. away, offered me a short car ride with my bike (and their bikes), so we could get out quickly to meet friends for bike ride. They had multiple things to do on visit..family wedding, etc.
early Jan. 2009- we rented a car for 2 days in Maui, Hawaii. For us to whip quickly for north end of island. Rest of time, we biked.
I didn't get a driver's license until my first child was born and I lived in the middle of nowhere. I was car light until then, as I depended on DH to drive me when a car trip was necessary.
For a while, we lived in different cities and I was truely car free. The bike, walking or the bus were pretty much my options. (I was thinner, then. . .) The older neighborhood we lived in was pretty walkable/bikeable, so I didn't feel a great need for a car.
Now, I'm back to car light. There are three drivers, including my social butterfly daughter, who share one car. There is much negotiation, and I'm on the bike as often as not when I need to go somewhere.
So, in answer to the original question, I've only been car free one year in my life. It's kinda pitiful, when put like that.
I bought my first car when I was 34 years old. I didn't buy a bike until several months after I got the car.Quote:
Originally Posted by redrhodie
I relied on mass transit, taxis and walking (lots of walking) when I lived without a car. I never needed a bike for transportation.
Is it just me? But I've known a number of people for many years who still do not have a car and are not cyclists.
Not so common down here in the states. It's an extremely car-centric culture.Quote:
Originally Posted by shootingstar
I've been 2 yrs now, though there were other chunks of time, before.
Last night, though, I had one of those very realistic dreams... that I had bought a car. Only thing is, I couldn't *find* it in the lot. It changed models during that process to a Toyota Camry... but I still couldn't find it... and I was wondering how it had happened and had I really planned on how it was going to be paid for (my memory was even worse than real life ;)) and how this was going to change what people thought of me and what I thought of me...
... it was good to wake up and still be car-free ;) I think maybe that radio had gone on for that public radio fundraiser schtick and planted the seeds...
I do not know how to drive. I do not intend to learn as long as I am living in Singapore. It's too expensive to get a license (upwards of 2K) and even worse to get a car. (20-30K secondhand anyone?) So i'm happy with public transport and taxis when I need it. I cycle to work.
A co-worker of mine falls into that group. He lives in Washington, D.C., has 2 good legs, a bus pass, a metro (subway) pass, and if he NEEDS a car...he rents one. I'm not entirely sure he knows how to ride a bike.Quote:
Originally Posted by shootingstar
Like some others here, I fall into the "use the car on the weekend, maybe occasionally during the week" and "bundle the trips" category. I just filled up my truck today...it's been almost a month since I last filled it. I suppose if it got better around-town mileage, I could go longer. But, I have a couple of long trips planned this weekend (to a bike ride and to the airport where it will sit all week), so I suppose I'll be filling up again fairly soon.