Your car-free yrs.

Suddenly realized I've been giving the wrong statistic about total no. of my car-free years. (Car-free, meaning living in a home where not I nor other occupant(s) had a car.)

Today earlier on TE elsewhere, I said I've been car-free for past 29 yrs.

Well, only partially true. From babyhood to age 15 yrs., our family had no car. Then parents scraped together enough money to buy car. Between ages 15-21 yrs., I did live a household with a car.


Hence, I've been car-free 44 yrs. (out of 50).
I feel ancient. But not quite horse 'n buggy. :D

Anyone else, besides Beth H (who mentioned 20 car-free yrs.).?

I guess since I moved out from my parents? But we are in a car-sharing scheme. We use it about 2-3 times a year max.

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Car Sharing, launched in 1987 in Switzerland :D:D and later in 1988 in Germany, came to North America via Quebec City in 1993. As of January 1, 2009 - based on data provided by Susan Shaheen, University of California, Berkeley - 24 U.S. car sharing programs claimed 309,437 members sharing 6,093 vehicles; and 46,802 members shared 1,758 vehicles among 15 car sharing organizations in Canada.

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http://www.carsharing.net/where.html

Interesting, alpine. So how many years have you been in this car-sharing arrangement? Somehow I'm not surprised about inroads made into the Quebec City area in that year.

One of my single friends does drive but doesn't have a car (though she could afford a car by now), does belong to car-sharing company/network. I think she "rents" a car to drive for a couple of hrs. usually to get her home reno supplies from Home Depot and gardening supplies since she is a serious gardener.

She does cycle and is quite competent. Done touring solo, etc.
She's probably been car-free for past 20 years at least. (Instead she bought her own home.)

Hrm. I'm in the US. I've never been car free. I walked to grad school for 6 years - but still needed a car to get groceries, or go away for the weekend (often had to go back & forth about 180 miles to do things for family). I bike to work & shops now, but still do a fair amount by car. I haven't figured out how to load my kayak on my bike and drive to the coast yet.

The public transportation system isn't all that developed in most of the US.

I haven't had a car in 20+ years, but it's not because I'm virtuous. It's because I live in New York City.

Pam

I'm not car free now, but I was my my daughter was small. In fact, I think I'm was one of the first people to strap a carseat in a Burley, and at 4 months she had a helmet! I didn't mind it, it is just the way life was. I try to be car free as much as possible now, but it's not so easy; we live in the 'burbs, and have to drive 20 minutes to get anywhere.

I was car free for only 1 year, when i was a freshman in college. pretty pathetic, isn't it?

I was car-free when I lived in Philadelphia, Chicago and NYC. I lasted a year in DC before I gave up and got a car.

I was car-free for one year when I was a freshman at college. Actually, now that I look back, that was a pretty big deal considering that we had nothing within walking distance except campus - and no public transportation where I went to school. But I did have a car on campus for my sophomore year and beyond (though I did bike to campus the one year I lived off-campus).

Now I don't see how my current lifestyle would allow me to be truly car-free. We live 10 miles from the nearest hospital, have no public transportation near our home, and 20 miles from the nearest vet and from my work (though I am getting better about commuting by bike). We try to be 'car-light' as much as possible...

Maybe someday!

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

I was car free for only 1 year, when i was a freshman in college. pretty pathetic, isn't it?

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Not pathetic. I was car free from 17-20 (out of poverty while in college). :)

I will go car-light soon, but can't go car-free. My city is too spread out with poor public transportation offerings.

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

I was car free for only 1 year, when i was a freshman in college. pretty pathetic, isn't it?

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No, it's not pathetic. It's just the way things are in many places.

I tried to figure out how to do without a rental car when my mother went through a long illness in another city. I could have bought quite a nice bike for what I paid Avis. But there was simply no way. Most cities and suburbs are built for cars, and public transportation, if it exists at all, is a joke.

Pam

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Originally Posted by PamNY

I haven't had a car in 20+ years, but it's not because I'm virtuous. It's because I live in New York City.

Pam

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Well, being car-free for a long time, doesn't feel so lonely here in TE, after all. :)

During the years when I was an older teen and before I left home after transferring to another university, I never really had much access to drive the family car much at all. By evening, my father had to have the car for his work commute. His work included most evenings. He didn't get home until 1:00 am. regularily. And I was too busy with my studies.

So about 40% of time, I walked to university in my home town..which was close to 8 kms. 1 way. Or took 1 bus. Boggles my mind, when looking back to my innocent youth, that I did slog at that distance, through a snow blizzard with winds 40+ kms./hr. and a backpack full of 4 thick hardcover texts. Wearing a long, heavy wool coat, at mid-calf. :eek:

I don't do my lifestyle for environmental reasons: a) I had problems learning to drive a car and never felt comfortable. b) save money.

My partner has been car-free for last 19 yrs. of his 66 yrs. After his divorce, he never bought a car. On the days, he had custody of his children, the children took streetcar/bus to school. The stop was outside his home. They were already in their teens.

So we rent cars occasionally and use taxis several times a yr. Really the whole cost of these 2 car-based modes ..works out probably um....less than $300.00 CAN/annually.

I've been car free for about the last 2 or 3 years. 6 if you count college, but I was close to home so there was a lot of back and forth.

I've never owned a car and only driven enough to get a license (required to prove residency for grad school *hrrrumph*)

I do occasionally take advantage of friends who are going hiking or to the store or whatever when rides are offered, but that's the extent of it. Riding in cars now makes me extremely nervous, especially when I go home and we have to go through downtown traffic.

I have car free days. Like today. :D

I have never been car free, but in the last two years, I realized how much less I drive than most of my friends and it is intentional, too. I fill my car up once every 10 days to two weeks. Of course, some of this is because on the weekends, if we go out, we usually do not take my car, but still... it's made a significant drop in my gas expenses. This week I have to drive to Newton, twice (suburb next to the city), so there goes my budget for this week. I plan my errands and everything is done within a five-seven mile radius. In the summer, I go to a lot of appointments and some small shopping by bike. I could do more here. In the last four years that I worked, I rode my bike to work twice a week, for the last two months of the school year and in September. It's not really feasible for me to do a full grocery shopping trip on a bike; the closest one is 3.5 miles, but it's up a big hill on the way there and on the way back. My commuting bike only has one pannier, not really meant for shopping. I do go to Trader Joe's, farms for produce, etc. on it.
I couldn't live without a car, but I have lessened my dependence.

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.

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

I was car free for only 1 year, when i was a freshman in college. pretty pathetic, isn't it?

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Nope, I actually did even less than that ;)
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.

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Originally Posted by redrhodie

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.

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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.

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.

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Originally Posted by redrhodie

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.

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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.

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.

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Originally Posted by shootingstar

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.

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Not so common down here in the states. It's an extremely car-centric culture.

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.

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Originally Posted by shootingstar

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.

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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.

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.

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Originally Posted by deeaimond

....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?)

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Wow, I guess because a Singaporean/resident there, has to always import a car where you are?

Coincidentally the people that I know who don't have a car and are not cyclists, happen to be each, a single woman, who purchased their own home...and some do not have high-paying jobs. :)