Roody

You can read reasons why people want to be carfree or carlight on thousands of posts on this forum. This particular thread happens to take a somewhat different slant.

I don't think this forum was ever intended primarily for people who can't afford cars. It was intended mainly for the small number of people who do voluntarily live without a car, or who try to be less reliant on their cars, for various reasons. Like you used to do.

mr geeker

@wolfchild, I can honestly say I have no desire to own a vehicle. If by some horrible chance I were to have a vehicle, that would mean someone gave it to me. They're expensive to maintain, expensive to operate, are expensive to own in general, they smell bad... I could keep going. Why would any sane person want to deal with any of that?

I suppose it's more "convenient" to own a vehicle, just like ordering out dinner every night...

There's your obstacle, vehicles are obscenely expensive in comparison.

Rollfast

I can't use a bicycle when I have over two feet of snow, buildings across the valley collapse and my own mother wouldn't dig out and drive.


That is common sense.


And the only real route to the rest of my family is down the interstate.


I know when not to drive as well. I spent 14 years on the road. My girlfriend died on Christmas Eve 1995 and there was a big snowstorm. I said goodbye to her knowing I'd never see her alive as she was already fading and I cried for what seemed forever when I did go. I got really anxious about my decision when I got to my grandmother's house and went back. I drafted behind semis both ways, it was that bad. She died five minutes after I left to come home.


I sold my last car ten years ago this month. No matter what I would like one more car. I'll never quit riding and fixing up my bikes. I want to be able to see my kin more often and do business for things I need to further my hobbies and enjoy life, something I can't do on a bike because of that same interstate.


There was never a chance to accomplish things like that 60 years ago before the highway either. You can't live 40-60 miles from the people and things you love without help.


This thread is not a call to war. The forum isn't about revolution. It's not P&R. Nobody should be shunned. I ought to unsubscribe but it's like something you can't look away from.

Roody

You can't use a car in conditions like that either. At least not until they plow and salt the roads, and clear away the abandoned cars. Then you need to spend hours digging out your driveway and your plowed-in car. Only then, when the roads are cleared, could you use a car.

Of course, as soon as the roads are cleared you could also use a bike! (And you don't need to shovel out the bike, or even clear the driveway.)

Besides, the days when you get two feet of snow are extremely rare, even if you live in Antarctica or Boston. Here in Michigan, two feet of snow happens maybe once every five or ten years. It seems financially foolish to spend $20,000 on a vehicle that I only "need" once or twice a decade!

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My solution to rare heavy snowfalls often involves walking places on the day of the event. A couple times I have been one of the few to show up for work in a severe snow event. The drivers never made it out of the driveway. The employer (a hospital) had to send out transport teams with snowmobiles to bring in essential workers. But carfree Roody made it all by himself!

Buses will make it through even when most cars are still stuck--although they might be greatly delayed.

More often in winter, I walk my bike a few yards on my unplowed side street, then jump on the bike when I get to the well cleared main street. The bike lane isn't always clear, so I revert to my old VC ways. Bikes are allowed to use car traffic lanes when the bike lane is obstructed!

Neither, in my opinion, is it necessary to frequently respond with a list of reasons or excuses why people cannot be carfree.

I get it--it's difficult or impossible for many people to be carfree. But I would much rather read about some of the ways that you've adapted to carfree/carlight, or made it work for you, rather that these repetitive whangs about how it cannot work for you. If you can't be carfree, or don't want to, that's fine. You don't have to explain or apologize all the time. But what are some ways that you've been successful at becoming less reliant on cars?

tandempower

It would be funny to make a thread, "explanations or apologies for not being car-free." What percent of posts would be rants about how people don't need to explain or apologize for not being car-free?

Roody

It would be funny, perhaps. But more and more, I'm interested in the positive aspects of being carfree, and I encourage a problem-solving approach over an "it's just impossible" approach.

There are many obstacles to being carfree or carlight--some of them having to do with the built environment and cultural attitudes. But many times, the biggest obstacles are a lack of imagination, an unwillingness to try new approaches, or other mental blocks.

tandempower

There are people who want to achieve goals and succeed by doing so; and there are those who seek social validation for trying and failing. Some people want to fail because they don't really care about LCF or anything else. They just want to be accepted as part of a herd and loved. Any other cause or goal is secondary to that for them. They don't believe in anything except personal comfort and indulgence, and vast mental energy is devoted to rationalizing the pursuit of such in a way that deflects any and all question of valor in the choices they make or fail to make.

Choctaw

40 miles away is the nearest city with all the cool stuff in it.

tandempower

Walking/hiking and biking can reveal heretofore unknown 'cool stuff' in practically any area.

Not sure what this has to do with a thread about daily commuting, though.