living without a car

[uk elephant]

BF and I manage just fine without a car. I commute to work by a combination of train and bike, BF rides his bike. To do our shopping we strap on big backpacks and take the train in to town. The three or four week-ends a year when we get away to see his family we rent a car. Works out a lot cheaper than owning a car for the whole year. I suppose we are lucky that we live in a place with pretty good public transport and mild winters for cycling year round. All you need is some good raingear.

[Ebet]

I sold my car a few months ago so we just have one car now which I rarely use. I use my bicycle for local trips and sometimes to commute to work (with train). On the other days I commute by motorcycle, which gets good fuel efficiency.

[eofelis]

We are not car free, but are car-lite.

We deliberately moved to a neighborhood that is close to many things that we could walk or bike to.

I have a 1991 Subaru and it hasn't been expensive or a problem to keep running, so I'm loathe to get rid of it entirely. Insurance is $250/yr and it hasn't needed many repairs. Currently I try to run it once a week so it doesn't die of neglect. It is still reliable enough for long road trips too, and not bad on gas.

My SO sort of inherited a 1994 Toyota 4wd truck. We do like to use it for camping trips, but only drive it about once a week otherwise. Tomorrow we are going to go spend a few days in the San Juan mtns looking at old mines and driving on the 4wd roads.

Sometimes I think of getting a newer Subaru (one that's only 10 yrs old) and my SO thinks of getting a different Toyota truck (he'd like an extra cab, the one he has is a regular cab and is not very comfortable), but then we think that we really don't drive enough to spend money on changing the cars.

[light_sabe_r]

We are not car free, but are car-lite.

I love that line!

That describes us too. We can go weeks without using the car.

I need one for Tri season though. ^_^

[shootingstar]

I've been to Kelowna several times..and we are always struck by how sprawly the city is, given the reality that the population isn't huge.

I know several people who as a result of city wide transit strikes, rode their bike....and enjoyed it enough that they commuted to work by bike regularily / dropped ownership of their 2nd car.

And these are people with very healthy incomes.

My partner actually has a sleep disorder where he tends to fall asleep if his body is still..ie. driving a car. He finds driving beyond 250 kms. daily a strain..in concentration. So cycling seriously keeps his whole body awake and alive. His sleep disorder has been tested at a teaching hospital sleep lab.

[indigoiis]

Ugh. We have four cars, two drivers.
We live on a farm, so one of the trucks is an un-plated farm truck for plowing, trucking manure, and hauling stuff.
The other truck is my husband's. He is using it to commute to work. It is a toyota, though, so the mileage is pretty good. And when I change jobs, he'll be commuting with the Prius. But we will still need a pickup for going to get hay, hauling the trailer, or when he needs a truck for his job.

We have a minivan for transporting animals.

And we have the Prius, which I currently use to commute (but come December, will be biking to the bus to commute.)

One of our problems is that I have joint custody of my daughter, which means that some nights, I have her, some I don't. This requires transportation and, as another poster mentioned, she is not interested in biking the eleven hilly and not bike-friendly miles to her Dad's. She'll be sixteen in two years, and very likely we will have to get her some economical beater in order for her to go back and forth between houses.

This also affects my bike commute, because I have to make sure on my days with her that she gets to the bus, which is five miles from our house. I have thought it up, down, sideways and backwards... I thought of getting a tandum but then, how do I get it home at night if she goes to her Dad's that night? So I am resigned to the fact that, for now, the days I have her, I will have to drive to the bus. At least it is shorter to the bus than it is to my current job... I will be saving some gas and carbon points.

[Geonz]

Yesterday I saw a fellow riding a tandem solo. Might be worth trying.

[Melalvai]

my daughter...is not interested in biking the eleven hilly and not bike-friendly miles to her Dad's.

My daughter is 12 and not overly enthusiastic about long (>3 miles) hilly rides. Other people have actually said things like "Just make her do it"!! Obviously these people do not have children. We pick our battles, and if a ride in a car means we don't live in a war zone, so be it!

[Tuckervill]

You need a scooter! SHE needs a scooter! Very economical.

Karen

Ugh. We have four cars, two drivers.
We live on a farm, so one of the trucks is an un-plated farm truck for plowing, trucking manure, and hauling stuff.
The other truck is my husband's. He is using it to commute to work. It is a toyota, though, so the mileage is pretty good. And when I change jobs, he'll be commuting with the Prius. But we will still need a pickup for going to get hay, hauling the trailer, or when he needs a truck for his job.

We have a minivan for transporting animals.

And we have the Prius, which I currently use to commute (but come December, will be biking to the bus to commute.)

One of our problems is that I have joint custody of my daughter, which means that some nights, I have her, some I don't. This requires transportation and, as another poster mentioned, she is not interested in biking the eleven hilly and not bike-friendly miles to her Dad's. She'll be sixteen in two years, and very likely we will have to get her some economical beater in order for her to go back and forth between houses.

This also affects my bike commute, because I have to make sure on my days with her that she gets to the bus, which is five miles from our house. I have thought it up, down, sideways and backwards... I thought of getting a tandum but then, how do I get it home at night if she goes to her Dad's that night? So I am resigned to the fact that, for now, the days I have her, I will have to drive to the bus. At least it is shorter to the bus than it is to my current job... I will be saving some gas and carbon points.

[shootingstar]

I should add that only the last 5 years, I've been living in Vancouver to enjoy milder weather as a non-car resident.

Prior to that I lived several decades in southern Ontario, where winters are like upper New York State,...colder, more snow/slush. During the winters in that province, I did not cycle through snow. It was subway, bus and walking. For a few years, I used to walk almost 1 hr. one way to university every day with at least 4-5 heavy texts in my backpack.

But true, if car-free becomes part of your lifestyle, your whole body becomes adjusted to it.

One good thing being on bus, train or subway, is you can snooze/rest /veg out before or after work. Something you can't do when driving a car.

[smilingcat]

My desire is to be lite on car but in Los Angeles area, you are considered insane to be walking. bike has to be either a beach cruiser or racing bike. Everything is about the looks. You can't ignore it cause if you do, ...

I hate driving over an hour each way on my commute. I don't want to be part of the global problem. Besides every week there are horrific accidents on my commute. I think I drive by a fatality every year. last year, this year... Its just amazing ... to see car pieces in a "debris field" bigger than a football size. How fast do they have to be travelling??

I can only afford one car. My partner has a ten year old pkup, bashed in a few places to add character. Thought about commuting by bike part ways. Not sure what I'm going to do when gas hits $4.00 or $5.00/gallon.

smilingcat

[KnottedYet]

I've been thinking about the part-way commute using bike and car, too.

Been doing it bus-n-bike, but I've been looking at car-n-bike as a safer way to go. (I could drive through the entire hairy-traffic part at one end of my route.) Besides, then my bike would be safely in the back of my station wagon while I drove, rather than a precarious figurehead on the bus rack! (my bus driver almost smooshed my bike into a car once. he was very apologetic. no harm done, but my heartrate went up a little! )

I guess that's kind of car lite, but I do feel a little guilty about trading the bus for the car...

[shootingstar]

I have several good female cycling friends who do have a driver's license but none of them own a car. I'm pretty certain 1 of them has never owned a car while the other gave up her car probably 2 decades ago.

Each of these women, are single, don't have children but they each own their own home (house, not a condo). Not owning a car over a long time period means saving serious $$$$$

I'm pretty certain I couldn't have bought my own home and paid it off myself, if I owned a car on top of all that too.

Getting around by taxi several times per year (ie. for a huge load of groceries)....is still a saving over a car.

I also know a retired woman, a non-cyclist, who sold her car about 4 years ago. She lives near the subway in the downtown core of a big city, near amenities and services. In her late 60's. It's working out very well for her.

[MM_QFC!]

I've been thinking about the part-way commute using bike and car, too.

Been doing it bus-n-bike, but I've been looking at car-n-bike as a safer way to go. (I could drive through the entire hairy-traffic part at one end of my route.) Besides, then my bike would be safely in the back of my station wagon while I drove, rather than a precarious figurehead on the bus rack! (my bus driver almost smooshed my bike into a car once. he was very apologetic. no harm done, but my heartrate went up a little! )

I guess that's kind of car lite, but I do feel a little guilty about trading the bus for the car...

Hey Knot,
Just saw your posts re: riding in to Marymoor area and wanted to share that a few years ago, I had a similar commute. I did the drive and bike bit quite a bit, driving from downtown Edmonds to Kenmore P&R, then rode the trail down to RTC for one job and in the other direction when my main office location was on Eastlake. It was well-lit at the P&R, so I'd park right under a light and have good visibility for seeing all that I needed to as I got ready to ride, and all in reverse at the end of the day.
It worked really well for me to do that, as the bus routes and schedules were not sync'ing up with what I needed.