junebug

I've been carfree 2 years as of this month. I'm used to it and never feel restricted. I've adjusted my life to not depending on a car and it has been very liberating. I tried to do the same thing with my fridge. Last 36 hours with it unplugged. Ha ha. I guess I have my limits.

Luddite

Been car-free nearly my entire adulthood. (I just hit 35.) I had a Chevette back in '03 when I was trying to learn to drive (not my idea, ex bf was trying to force me to learn to drive.) Failed my road test, HATED driving, sold the car and went to Brasil!

I've been car-free ever since. It's easy to be car-free in Vancouver, BC, Canada, quite a lot of people, especially those that live downtown don't bother owning a car. Insurance is expensive, gas is expensive...

I take public transit or my bike everywhere.

andychrist

I'm fifty and have never owned a car. A motorcycle, yes, but even that sees maybe a couple hundred miles a year, while I put around four thousand on my bikes. Would be difficult to live like that all year round for a long time up here though, where the nearest supermarket is about twelve miles away and the winters are severe. But until two years ago I was a city dweller, at least during the colder half of the year; staying here the past couple of winters with just my bikes for transport has been a *****, to say the least. If it weren't for the Quickie Mart down the road, dunno how I would have survived. Not planning to stay here again past Labor Day, I'll tell you that!

Luddite

Hey, a query for you car-free, don't drive etc types:

Do you get flak for not driving/owning a car? I never learned to drive and don't care to. If I need to move big stuff, I pay a taxi driver or buy a friend dinner etc.

Occasionally, someone will basically freak out when I tell them I don't drive...

BlackNBlue

I love biking, but I became a regular biker out of necessity. I lost my license last summer after a few speeding tickets and now I have to bike to work. I love cars and would never live my life for very long without them. More power to those who do!

mw517

I was car light for about a year and a half and loved it. I think I drove my car about 7 times during that period. Then, I gave my car away, and my attitude took a turn for the worse. I'm not happy with myself about this, but I think I feel a little trapped now and a little self-righteous. I don't really want to buy a car, and I am trying some tricks to improve my attitude. Biking is still much better than having to basically sit still in a car every time I travel someplace.

BarracksSi

+ however many to not touching the headlight bulb glass.

(in all seriousness, it usually says so both on the bulb package and in the car's owner's manual... c'mon, these aren't difficult directions to follow...)

Bike Tourist

I'm 73-years-old and have been car free for three years. My wife has a car and will never give it up. She will sometimes let me borrow her vehicle. I ride a Synapse 5 road bike and a Tour Easy recumbent.

Roody

Well some of us are not so used to working on cars.

Roody

I was in Bakersfield once and it was HOT. I give people a lot of credit when they can ride in blistering hot weather. It makes riding through a Michigan winter seem like child's play.

BarracksSi

Obiously. The kicker, though, is when someone says they hate cars because they always break and are such a hassle to maintain -- but the ones they buy are POS junkers that are already broken and need way more maintenance than they deserve. Um... duuhhhh....

terraskye

We've been carfree for almost five years and I couldn't be happier..I have to admit my husband does miss having a vehicle but now that we're finally getting bikes (got mine last night in fact) I think his atitude may change. Right now we bus or walk (or use hubbys work van when he has it)

I dont miss the car payments,insurance and maintainence costs at all

django12

31 years, wife and two kids, never had a car or license.

Alfonzo

Well I been car free for about 6 months now. I pulled the tags of my van and truck and I now use them for storage units.

DX-MAN

The month before my last car quit, I drove it once. I went out the fateful month to go somewhere, and the car took a full minute to wind up to 1500rpm. Looking under the hood, I saw the crank pulley going evry way but the right way, and it wasn't because the pulley was loose or misaligned.

I sold the car for $35, and never looked back.

September will be 5 years.

I like it as well now as I did then, and there are NO regrets.

Ghoulardi

I became car light in January 2008 and car free in February 09.

The only hangup for me is getting out to the suburb my parents live in. It's too far for me to bike and not serviced by weekend buses.

I rent cars and head out there once a month or so, but they hate that I rent a car.

AllanGH

My wife has been car-free for life (50 years plus) and I'm going on my 12th year of non-polluting personal travel--only since September of 2008, on a bike.

rbrian

Last week I sold my motorbike - I hadn't ridden it for 18 months!

tallard

At 43 have have been car free all but 3 years of car ownership (97-99) and approximately 3 years of occasional/accumulated "car-light" using friends' or rentals. Grew up on a single 70km/h rural/fringe road which my mom insisted I stay off of until age 13, but have been cycling steadily ever since.

I am pleased to notice that although some personal actions have little bearing on social trends, others do. As a northerner, I have cycled 360 days a year (mostly commuting) since 1988. Back then it was often only me, and/or one or two other diehards and my buddies from the IceBike Mailing list (before blogs and forums) to break from the loneliness

This Winter, upon returning to Quebec, I found the streets of Quebec City and Montreal were busy with cyclists in the middle of Winter, how proud it made me feel!

AllanGH

You gotta love the Hooked on Phonics generation, don't you?

(Otherwise, we'd not have very much to laugh about.)

brad3104

My car is for sale on craigslist and im searching for a back up/beater/take to the movies bike. Im kind of having a hard time finalizing the sale of my car. A few people have responded. I so badly want to be care free. Maybe just taking the plunge and letting go of the car will be all it takes. Any suggestions?

BianchiDave

I have living car free for just about 2 years. My wife and I have been living car light since I sold my vehicle and she only has her vehicle (hybrid.) We also bought a house in central Madison since that is where we do most things (and I work.)
It has been easy and great!

TwoHeadsBrewing

Hello everyone, I've been car-free for almost 2 months now! Well technically I still have a car in the garage, but that's the wife's for running around the kids and going on long trips. BUT, I sold my commuter car a couple months ago and have been commuting to work and around town on my new Trek Soho.

I can't believe I've been driving to work all these years and it's just 4 miles away from my house <facepalm>. It took 8 minutes in the car, and takes 12-15 on the bike...total no brainer! I really enjoy getting outdoors, the excercise, and saving some cash as well. Even with the short commute I've dropped about 7 pounds!

swbluto

I've been car free for about 1.3 years. I sold my car because the car had served its original purpose (ROAD TRIP!) and the costs of ownership were far too high for me to justify. This isn't to say that I was incapable for I was fairly capable of paying for it, but I just didn't see the convenience and the real need it filled to be worth the cost. And, oh, I hate car maintenance, every bit of it. But yet I hated paying someone $50 to replace the oil. So time to get rid of it.

I then got an electric bicycle because I figured it was a good alternative. Sure, I could've manually biked everywhere, but my practical range and speed wouldn't have nearly been as much and, also, I highly desired riding to work/school sweat and stench-free which would be hard to otherwise in the midst of summer.

Now my bicycle sits parked and I use my rather small stand-up electric scooter to get everywhere (It goes 30 mph and has a twenty mile range) - I really like that I can pretty much take it aboard the bus if there's room to sit, whereas you can only take your bike on the bus if there's bike rack space available which is never guaranteed. The quality of the electric bicycle parts back in the day weren't all that great and it seemed I fell victim to it, so I've kind of abandoned the electric bicycle scene but I may cobble it back together some time in the future. But, I'll readily admit... I don't like a hub motor's performance characteristics - my scooter freaking rocks in comparison.

the ringer

Here's a review I wrote recently about Boneshaker, A Bicycling Almanac
It's a bike culture (and in turn carfree/ carlite) periodical.