living without a car

[shootingstar]

I have lived a car-free life for over last 25 years of my life. I'm 48.

My family could not afford to buy a car until I was 15. So yea, I remember walking as a child. No excuses for the 1 stroller because I have 5 other younger siblings!!

I difficulty learning to drive and hated driving on highways. So I gave up my license around 22 yrs.

I have 3 bikes. My partner has 2. I didn't return to cycling until I was 31. Still that's cheaper than a car and its annual maintenance/gas, right?? All my life I have lived in cities with public transportation..and near basic amenities of grocery store and bank,...at least.

We rent a car for a few days annually for certain trips out of town.

Stores, bank, rstaurants, etc. right now are within 5-10 min. walk. Current home and my last home, was a bike route in front of us.


If you are into Costco shopping every weekend, just forget the car-free life, unless you have a bike trailer. I don't have one, but my partner does. He has used it for bike touring and also for occcasional local transport of big purchases....paint canvasses, lumber, boxed up chairs...hey, 4 of them on trailer. He rode VERY slowly in traffic.

We do 90% of weekly grocery shopping by bike. rest is from walking.


End result:

Lots of money saved up...for other things in life.
You are slimmer. Even before cycling, I was 100 lbs. (5'1")
Less consumer oriented....you know being a gal on bike, means less time to window-shopping...you're zipping by or paying attention to traffic instead.

[MomOnBike]

We've gone care-lite, too. We have one car for 2 1/2 drivers (kid is away at college). DH & I both bike-commute. I do some light shopping on the way home from work. The car gets used mostly to haul groceries and musical instruments - though we have taken our instruments on bikes.

We buy gas about once a month. I can deal with that.

I have no problem renting a car for longer trips. I figure I've saved that much money by just not paying insurance on a second Just In Case car. The rental cars tend to be nicer than anything I'd buy, anyway.

Some cities have a Ride Share program where you join and have the use of a car when you need it; when you don't it's available for someone else to use. I know Philedelphia has the program, and I think, um, Minneapolis & others do to. That sounds just perfect for someone who prefers to use a bike for daily stuff, but sometimes wants a car. I sure Lincoln had that program. {sigh...}

[kelownagirl]

We're down to one vehicle and managing ok but we cannot easily "live" without a car in our area. Poor transit system, shopping etc too spread out, cold, snowy winters etc.