cooker

Most probably do some local outings. They may have dogs to walk when they get home from work - in most cases they probably don't stick the dog in the car, at least not every day - but instead walk to the parkette down the block. Some people probably do an occasional bike ride around their neighbourhood: if they're lazy (like me) and a pretty casual cyclist, it's easier than loading the bike on the car and driving somewhere else, which is for more zealous types who want to drive to a trailhead or rural road. However I know from observation and personal experience that a lot of people do drive for short outings when it would be perfectly easy and much healthier to walk, and they do it without even thinking about it.

I-Like-To-Bike

In addition to the peculiar premise that there is anything but a minuscule percentage of people who are "LCF for the sake of LCF". It only happens in a world where people fabricate and then seriously use a term like "Car-heavies."

wipekitty

Car-free outings to the bar seem to be a big one in my community. (Wisconsin...) One of the local breweries offers a free pint on Wednesdays for folks who ride to the bar. There is also a very large organization that does boozer cruisers and fundraising for community projects; though the main organizers are not heavy car users, many of the hundreds of folks who show up for their events on their bikes would normally be driving.

I've noticed other non-alcoholic events that have encouraged people to do car-free outings, like family ice cream rides and trips to the farmer's market. Our Bike Week has some good ones, too, where people get discounts, free coffee, etc. by riding to local businesses rather than driving. There's also the Mayor's Health Walk, though I suspect that it's car-free-light because people drive to it.

It seems to me that making the goal of the exercise something else - socialization, health, free stuff - can do more to motivate car-free outings than any intrinsic value being car free might add (and it's doubtful to me that it has any intrinsic value.) Not everybody loves nature or getting sweaty/dirty/wet, but most people enjoy friends and free stuff.

Jim from Boston

Quote:

Originally Posted by 350htrr

BUT.. Your whole premise is how to get car-heavies to do LCF kind of things, great.... But most people would rather ride than walk to the nearest restaurants, and they would more than likely need to drive a car to get to the park...

Quote:

Originally Posted by cooker

Most probably do some local outings.They may have dogs to walk when they get home from work - in most cases they probably don't stick the dog in the car, at least not every day - but instead walk to the parkette down the block

Some people probably do an occasional bike ride around their neighbourhood: if they're lazy (like me) and a pretty casual cyclist, it's easier than loading the bike on the car and driving somewhere else, which is for more zealous types who want to drive to a trailhead or rural road...

However I know from observation and personal experience that a lot of people do drive for short outings when it would be perfectly easy and much healthier to walk, and they do it without even thinking about it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wipekitty

Car-free outings to the bar seem to be a big one in my community. (Wisconsin...) One of the local breweries offers afree pint on Wednesdays for folks who ride to the bar.

There is also a verylarge organization that does boozer cruisers and fundraising for community projects; though the main organizers are not heavy car users, many of the hundreds of folks who show up for their events on their bikes would normally be driving…

Our Bike Week has some good ones, too,where people get discounts, free coffee, etc. by riding to local businesses rather than driving. There's also the Mayor's Health Walk, though I suspect that it's car-free-light because people drive to it.

It seems to me that making the goal of the exercise something else - socialization, health, free stuff - can do more to motivate car-free outings than any intrinsic value being car free might add (and it's doubtful to me that it has any intrinsic value.) Not everybody loves nature or getting sweaty/dirty/wet, but most people enjoy friends and free stuff.

"By George, I think they’ve got it!"

Finally on page 5, after over 100 responses to this thread, we have two replies directly to the query of the OP.

cooker

Post 21 was also on point.

Jim from Boston

Quote:

Originally Posted by 350htrr

BUT.. Your whole premise is how to get car-heavies to do LCF kind of things, great. …

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimfrom Boston

…Finally on page 5, after over 100 responses to thisthread, we have two replies directly to the query of the OP.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cooker

Post 21 was also on point.

Kinda’, but it was light on the question, How? Also it came just at the beginning of the tempests in the teapot that has been this thread; I was just impressed that we got back on track at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Machka

A reasonable number of people in our area walk to pick up a few groceries or goout to eat or go to the beach or whatever.

I had a friend visit from Dallas who commented on the number of people outwalking everywhere.

Roody

You might not be seeing everytning. I see a lot of people walking and riding, especially during a nice spell of weather. We had a sunny and warm February, and the area MUPs wer jampacked with people, from teens to families to seniors. And the trailhead parking ateas were not too crowded, so a lot of those people must have walked from their homes.

Machka 

How?

With feet!

We often see people walking past our house because they've been doing sports in the oval down below or because they've picked up groceries or have been to the beach or something.


A mother and two rather reluctant-looking children just walked past. Not sure if they've been to the beach or have been playing sports, but it didn't look like they wanted to go home just yet.

Then a moment later an older couple with backpacks and cloth shopping bags went past. Guessing they might have been at the grocery store.

jon c. 

People walk a lot more in places where there is somewhere to walk. But in much of the US, housing is relatively far from anywhere people want to go. And if you want to walk from your home to a nearby restaurant and that involves crossing a six lane highway and walking across a large parking lot, the journey is much less appealing.

Some cities are seeing revitalization of urban neighborhoods that allow people to walk to shops and restaurants. But these will never accommodate more than a small percentage of the population. The best way to encourage people to do things without a car is to put those things closer to their homes. But the US has developed in such a way that it's now much harder to do that.

350htrr

Exactly, and that is why people drive everywhere, even 10 blocks to go to restaurants... And they are lazy/probably may lazy/or even could be just not wanting to be "seen" walking, (unless in a jumpsuit) in a class conscientious society, where you walk and not drive... JMO, You know, like England was/used to be/is...

Jim from Boston

Some cities never lost those neighborhoods, like Boston. It seems to me that in order to be an attractive place to support a variety of restaurants and shops to which to walk (and not drive to visit that neighborhood…the basic premise of this thread) a neighborhood must be a large area with a substantial, dense population living there, likely that evolved in the pre-automotive era.

I think a lot of urban revitalization projects tend to create enclaves as driving destinations to walk around in such large cities like in my native Detroit. One of my greatest complaints about the automotive industry/culture is that by by intent, or just popular acceptance, previously vitalized neighborhoods just whithered away, and deprived the citizens of the choice to Live Car Free.

jon c. 

I think setting has a lot to do with that. People don't mind walking in hospitable places in part because other people are walking there as well. It's becomes a communal activity and humans do innately seek community. So walking on a shaded sidewalk or path in your neighborhood is something people are socially comfortable with. And people certainly walk without such issues in trendy urban neighborhoods. Walking is a 'thing' there.

But the psychology is vastly different along the busy highways and vast parking lots that exist in so much of this country. In part because the setting just isn't very pleasant, but also because people don't want to be seen there. They may not even consciously realize it, butI think this is where the class consciousness takes hold. In large part because the only people seen on foot in such places are not the 'right' sort.

Jim from Boston

Quote:

Originally Posted by 350htrr

Exactly, and that is why people drive everywhere, even 10 blocks to go to restaurants... And they are lazy/probably may lazy/or even could be just not wanting to be "seen" walking, (unless in a jumpsuit) in a class conscientious society, where you walk and not drive...JMO, You know, like England was/used to be/is...

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonc.

I think setting has a lot to do with that. People don't mind walking in hospitable places in part because other people are walking there as well. It's becomes a communal activity and humans do innately seek community. So walking on a shaded sidewalk or pathin your neighborhood is something people are socially comfortable with. And people certainly walk without such issues in trendy urban neighborhoods. Walking is a 'thing' there.

But the psychology is vastly different along the busy highways and vast parking lots that exist in so much of this country. In part because the setting just isn't very pleasant, but also because people don't want to be seen there. They may not even consciously realize it, butI think this is where the class consciousness takes hold. In large part because the only people seen on foot in such places are not the 'right' sort.

Good reply, well said. People are somewhat (pleasantly) envious of me because I live in downtown Boston (and even work in a pleasant, somewhat walkable suburb).

tandempower

I hasn't thought about sports or the beach but those are good examples where going car-free means not being stuck inside a car with dirty, smelly bodies.

This is actually another reason it's good to go out to eat car-free; i.e. to be able to freely release all those little forms of indigestion that we want out of our bodies AND out of the car.

Jim from Boston

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonc.

I think setting has a lot to do with that. People don't mind walking in hospitable places in part because other people are walking there as well. It's becomes a communal activity and humans do innately seek community. So walking on a shaded sidewalk or path in your neighborhood is something people are socially comfortable with. And people certainly walk without such issues in trendy urban neighborhoods. Walking is a 'thing' there.

But the psychology is vastly different along the busy highways and vast parking lots that exist in so much of this country. In part because the setting just isn't very pleasant, but also because people don't want to be seen there.They may not even consciously realize it, but I think this is where the class consciousness takes hold…

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

Good reply, well said. People are somewhat (pleasantly) envious of me because I live in downtown Boston (and even work in a pleasant, somewhat walkable suburb).

I often tout Boston as the epitome of LCF/LCL in America, not to brag, but illustrate the possibilities. When I take visitors on a 4-5 mile walking tour of downtown Boston, I introduce it with this explanation:

Several years ago, the architectural critic of the Boston Globe, Robert Campbell, was visiting Southfield, Michigan, a town I know well, and described it as the “City of Towers and Cars” (including “busy highways and vast parking lots" [and tall office buildings, and sprawling office and retail parks]). In his article, he contrasted that that to the “City of Outdoor Rooms” (Boston) which is visited as one would visit a person’s home, passing through the various portals, from room to room, admiring the furnishings within.

That’s the motif I use on my tours as we start in the Back Bay, and pass through the Public Garden, Boston Common, Washington St and Quincy Market, the North End, Beacon Hill and back to Back Bay. The walk becomes the destination.

tandempower

Regardless of what I post in this forum, there will always be people who react against the idea that I'm promoting car-free activities and that by doing so, I'm trying to make people do things they don't want to. All I am talking about in this thread is whether people who otherwise heavily rely on driving could possibly have an interest in and/or enjoy car-free outings.

If you read the OP, you'll see that I am open to considering that most people are even biased against any kind of car-free outing, because driving is almost like an absolute condition of leaving the house in their minds. Still, I am raising the discussion because I don't assume this to be absolutely or universally the case, so I'm inviting discussion of how such people might explore car-free outings, for what types of activities, etc.

Yet here you're posting a response basically just asserting that most people would rather drive. Ok, but why is this interesting to post? You could go through every thread in the LCF forum and assert that "most people just drive" and it would do nothing except water down the forum. The forum is about LCF, not about why most people don't or won't LCF in any way, to any degree, etc.

cooker

I take my dog for one and sometimes two walks a day, almost always from home, but today I did drive 2 or 3 km to a popular dog-walking park, to give her (and me) some variety. There's a small car parking area, but lots of people seemed to be walking into the park from surrounding streets. So dog walking is a lot like hiking and biking - you can do it from home or go somewhere to do it.

However even the more distant outings don't necessarily need a car. As mentioned elsewhere, our last dog refused to walk more than a block or so from the house, but if my daughter took him some distance away on the bus, he would happily walk home.

Roody

I was just going to say that dog walking is a main reason that many car people walk. A LOT of the people I see walking in my residential area have animals with them. Ironically, our family pug seems to prefer riding in the car, although she also loves her walks.

jack pot 

whenever i cross into mexico from juarez laredo douglas ariz i leave the truck in the us and walk my bicycle across ... it's easy and safe along the border ... if you want busses will take you and the bike farther in ... FYI i haven't done this since 2014 so regs/laws now might be dif at our ever changing mexican border

tandempower

Pugs remind of Milo & Otis, possibly the ultimate animal-LCF movie, and with the ultimate LCF song:

Roody

I think this is still very popular, at least at the San Ysidro border crossing in California. I guess it's the busiest border crossing in the world, and far more people walk across than drive, both directions.

Walter S

If a person won't walk without a dog, then indeed get one.

cooker

I partly got the dog for that reason. I'm not retiring, but I will start to cut back incrementally later this year, and dog walking, as well as trailing the dog behind my bike, are going to help keep me stay active.

jack pot 

>>> get a body harness for the dog > neck collar is bad ... start out walking the dog & bike together for about 20 minutes at a time ... most dogs don't (won't) want to run for more than 3/4 ml at a time a> a short rest and another jog > 3 mls in an hour is OK ... its best to remember that you're doing this for the dog too ... I've seen a couple of bad scrape bike accidents when an untrained pooch took off after another dog ... once you and the dog get the hang of each other it's a great car(e) free experience

cooker

Sorry, i don't mean making the dog run behind the bike - I will pull her in a trailer to take her to the dog park or whatever.