angelaharms

I hear people tell me that they "can't" and that they "wish they could" be car-free, and I just sort-of smile and nod. But I know that lots of people become car free not-by-choice, so "can't" is relative. You *can* but it would mean changes that you arent' ready or willing to make, right? Of course I don't say this, cuz the people who tell me that are already feeling defensive about their choice, or envious, or something. Usually.

What have you given up? No, what have you *changed* in your life in order to go car free? (It doesn't feel like "giving up" stuff to me. There are trade-offs, but the result is a beautiful, amazing thing--to live this way--and I wouldn't trade it.)

Our family has shifted to living within a much smaller circle. We've given up regular trips across town, and learned to shop in our own neighborhood. I gave up a dojo that I love because I couldn't make time to cycle to it three times a week. Spending much less time at our favorite Zendo, etc.

How about you? Have you changed grocery stores? Churches? Jobs? Moved to a new house? What have you had to change to make it work?

Indie

That's how it always works, with any choice that you're making for ethical reasons. I'm a vegetarian, but it doesn't feel like I've 'given up' anything. I don't miss eating meat, and I feel healthier and more at peace without it. It was the right choice for me, so it was easy to make.

I don't think it's fair to go around daring other people to make choices that were easy for you but might be hard for them. What ethical choices have other people made that you have not?

uke

Interesting thread. A lot of the time, it's social convenience. For example, in many parts of the country, summer temperatures in the daytime are above 80 between sunrise and sunset, which means any cycling beyond a mile or two will result in sweating, which, depending on whether one will arrive in the company of others, may necessitate showers, changing, etc. Alternatively, when meeting others, one might not want to deal with carrying a helmet and QR seat about to prevent theft (not to mention locks and such). It's easy to be car-free when riding to the local grocery store to pick up milk and eggs. It's harder when attending social gatherings, particularly those where one will be situated in close quarters with others immediately upon dismounting, or those where storage of support equipment may not be available.

Indie

Uke, very good points. I wish more people would recognize that it's not a contest, and that cutting back on driving where possible -- even if you still use the car for a few things -- can make a huge difference.

The really sad thing is that it would make even more of a difference if more people did it, but because of the healthier-than-thou mentality, people think it's all-or-nothing. They figure if they can't do it completely, they might as well not do it at all.

angelaharms

What makes you think I'm daring them? *They* bring it up. I'm just noticing that it's not that they *can't,* it's that they choose not to. I'm not judging that choice. I chose not to, too, for a long time.

It's funny you make that leap. When I was a vegetarian (for ethical reasons) I had this conversation, or one like it, several times.

Them: Do you mind my asking why you became a vegetarian?
Me: Oh, well... (mumbling, maybe) it's nothing, you know, everybody makes their own choices...
Them: No, really, I want to know. What made you choose that?
Me: Well, you know, it just seems right for me... ... How about them Buckeyes?
Them: Why won't you tell me?
Me: <sigh>
Them: I'm really just curious. It's no big deal. You can tell me.
Me: Well, ok. I looked into it, and determined that I don't think it's right to kill animals for food, since it's not necessary for our survival.
Them: Well, geez... you don't have to get all pushy about it!
Me:

Angela, currently convinced that meat is a good idea, but happy to share the road with vegetarians.

Indie

Frankly, I see no reason why we have to choose between being pestered about our lifestyles and pestering others with our lifestyles. I live the way I'm comfortable living, I talk about it in casual non-preachy contexts, and I just show people that it can be done. It knocks down stereotypes and it's encouraging rather than discouraging or snooty.

angelaharms

Uke, you're right. It's *danged* inconvenient. That's why I was asking what folks have had to change. When I'm faced with something that I can't figure out how to do on a bike, I get a chance to look at it and see what the deal is. Is it social issues that make it hard? Sweat? Fatigue, if I bike there? What stands in my way? Can I change it? Do I want to, or should I get a car?

That question comes up all the time. Should we rent a car for this? Reevaluate our intentions? Find a way to do it on a bike? Buy a car so life can be easy again?

Here's a silly example: I've changed my hair to accomodate regular use of a helmet. Now I take off my helmet and don't look quite so much like I just got out of a boxing ring. I walked by a chick at a checkout the other day, with flowing locks, disabling shoes, and an awkward hand-bag. Those choices are incompatible with life on a bike, I think.

And I notice that life is full of choices when you're living car-free. I was just curious what some of those choices have been for other folks.

Angela

unrevealed

before my DUI, car-free was not even a concept to me.

i was forced to be car-free and have been ever since. my dui was years ago.

sbhikes

I am not car-free and one reason is that I don't want to go through the hassle of purchasing a car should I decide I want one later. I have a pick-up truck that's perfectly good, has low miles, runs great and is paid for. It comes in handy once in a while. I would hate to have to pay thousands of dollars to replace it some day so I just keep it.

As far as why I don't give up using motorized transportation? (I drive a Vespa when I want to drive at all.) Sometimes I just don't want to spend all that time and sweat getting from here to there. It does take time to travel to some of the places I need to go. I just don't want to make certain errands all day adventures.

Since I haven't gone a purist route, I feel that my car-lite lifestyle has not required me to give up anything at all. Except maybe I might have lost a little competency in the driving department. I don't know how people can drive so fast. It feels like sensory overload to me.

Newspaperguy

I use my car for work and for the occasional out-of-town trip. Dropping the other car uses hasn't had a significant impact on my life as I'm close to everything in town. Walking or cycling to places and events gives me a little exercise, which is a benefit. And because I drive as little as possible, I don't need to spend as much money on fuel and car maintenance as I would if followed normal driving patterns.

If I had thought in terms of sacrifices, I wouldn't have gone car-light. Instead, I've chosen to look at the benefits and advantages for a much more positive approach.

sykerocker 

Being a mechanical junkie, I've never had a problem with having a garage full of, well, vehicles - which gives me the alternative of picking and choosing according to the situation what I'm going to drive that day.

1. 150cc scooter - this is my main commuter (40 mile round trip). Handles all roads except for the three major ones in the area where the average speed is 55mph+. The back roads get me to work every day in only five minutes more time than the main roads. Upside: Quick, handles traffic wonderfully, can't complain about mid 60's gas mileage. Probably the ultimate mid-distance commuter. Downside: 20 miles each way is about the comfort limit for this vehicle. It's Chinese, so I'm still watching long term reliability (short term has been great).

2. Two motorcycles - a combination of hobby/lifestyle use (I'm active in a patch-wearing motorcycle club) and daily transportation when I'm going to have to travel on the high speed roads, or, the day's commute is going to be significantly more than the daily 40 miles. Upside: Mid 40's gas mileage, nicer in traffic than a car, good for cold weather use as they're both set up for electrically heated clothing. Downside: More cumbersome in traffic than a scooter.

3. Way too many bicycles: Besides daily workouts, main commuter to the small town near which I live (3-5 miles each way), Saturday commuter to the job - it's a short work day, and I'd probably spend the afternoon riding 30-40 miles just for enjoyment anyhow. Upside: Cost, I'm a damned good mechanic and build my own, exercise. Downside: I consider a bicycle fairly useless for daily commuting over 5-7 miles one way. It's fun on a Saturday, but there's no way in h*** I'd want to do a 40 miles trip five days in week in all weather. Or even most weather.

4. Small pickup truck (Chevy S-10): For serious travel with the wife, serious load hauling (start with the trash every two weeks), and inclement weather commuting. Upside: Weather protection. Downside: Cost - low, mid 20's on gas.

gerv 

Good point. We sometimes get so wound up in the lifestyle issue, that we fail to see the grayish nuances of the black-and-white story. So you'd love to be carfree, but for reason x... Well, that's Ok. Don't worry about it. And, by the way, did you know that riding your bike to the farmer's market is a great Saturday ride? You don't have to worry about parking and you don't even have to carry a bag. Just put the bag on your bike...

I suspect that most people won't see the advantages until they try it out. I wouldn't want everyone to leave their house in the suburbs and sell their SUVs for a new Bianchi. That would really be chaos. I'd just like to see those SUVs staying more and more in the driveway... while the owner gradually discover alternate means of getting around.

donnamb 

I think the thing that I miss most is day trips out to the Columbia Gorge or to the coast. You know - those trips that aren't planned out and require a lot of driving to accomplish.

On the other hand, with gas prices being what they are, a lot of people with cars aren't doing much of that these days. Given my modest income, I would be one of those who don't, so I guess it wouldn't be much of a change for me.

Roody

I'm with Donna on this one. I sometimes miss the day trips and weekend trips. I'd love to go see the towns in Southwestern Michigan where my grandparents lived, maybe visit their graves and try to sharpen some memories that are getting foggy with the passing of time.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to get to small towns without a car. They don't have any transit connections, and they're just a little too far to bicycle to in a day or even in a weekend. Ironically, in some ways it's easier for me to travel to Paris or Hawaii than to visit a small town 150 miles from my house.

Roody

I'm really glad to see you back on the forums, sbhikes. You have a very interesting outlook on life, and you express yourself very well. I remember that I didn't always agree with you, but I always enjoyed reading your posts.

derath

First off, I have to say so far I am impressed with this thread. Often threads like this come down to a fairly "holier than thou" attitude. But in this case it seems pretty balanced.

Just to add an alternate point. There are some situations which will never lend themselves to being car free. My example.

I run an IT consulting company. By its very nature it necessitates driving. We have clients in a fairly wide range which make it impossible to get to them all by bicycle or mass transit. I guess if living car free were a high priority I could dismantle the company and go get a desk job somewhere. But others would take my place. Bottom line, there are some jobs that will need transportation and therefore at least some people in this world will have to drive vehicles for work.

That being said, I have done everything I can to be as car lite as possible. For one, I have designed the company to be as convenient as possible. By virtualizing everything there is no central office. We all work out of our homes. So except for days I have to visit clients my car sits idle. We also make heavy use of remote tools, so much of the time we can fix issues without an onsite visit.

But on those client visit days I can easily put 100-200 miles on my car. I try to plan my client visits to fit into one or 2 days out of the week to make the most efficient use of driving.

In our personal life I bike as much as possible. I even plan on biking my daughter to school next year (about 3 miles away) on our tandem.

Not car free, but good enough for me.

-D

wahoonc

I find that this has got to be one of the major sticking points in the US transportation system. I travel extensively, first thing I do is look for alternative transportation going to and from the town where the job site(s) are located, then look for working alternative transit once I get there. On a general basis it sucks. Buses and trains take days to go distances that can be driven in a long single day. Local bus services don't service the areas where the motels are located and quite often the roads around the hotels are high speed arterials that are not suitable for cycling. Currently I have lucked up and the job site I am at for the next week is within cycling distance of my hotel and it is feasible.

My wife and I have a small retail shop in a town of about 10k. There is a double mainline rail that Amtrak uses, an interstate and 3 major US highways. Closest train station....35-40 miles, closest bus station...ditto. The town is fairly flat and small enough that you can use a bike to get anywhere in town in less than 15 minutes, however no one cycle commutes regularly. FWIW the police department disbanded it's bike patrol because it wasn't "cost effective"


Aaron

Rowan

Rental cars?

I live rural. My weekly Sunday shopping rides are 50km round journeys, and I can turn them into 160km rides for the century-a-month challenge.

I commute six days a week on 16km round trip to work, including a stretch of not-very-good gravel road. The nearest major town with a rental vehicle service is around 50km in the opposite direction to the shopping town, and there is what is known as the Black Spur in between. If I want to travel distance by rental car, I am up early, riding over the spur and waiting at the rental place front door at 10.00am.

I am also "fortunate" in that a bus service runs past the front entrance, but there is only one service each way each day and on Saturdays, I have to ride to yet another town 15km away to catch it because on that day, it doesn't run the full route.

I am not afraid to "stealth" sleep in the urban environment if I have to wait overnight for a suitable connection.

My social life is not brilliant, but then I don't need it to be anymore. I don't have family now, so there is an advantage there.

Before I took up this life choice, I lived in a small Australian capital city and made various decisions on where to live based partly on access to work by cycle commuting, rental cost, general suburban amenity including shopping fascilities close by, and proximity to public transport. The climate was cool temperate, so riding to social functions wasn't a stinky issue. It was actually excellent.

Getting to randonnees and the start of some tours was challenging, and I agree could be time consuming. But there was flexibility in my job to accommodate that.

The lifestyle decision doesn't relate just to not owning a motor vehicle, but the outcomes are a result of a mix of lifestyle decisions, some of which are very positive, some of which may be negative. But you live with the negatives because the positives, in my mind, far outweight them.

Pax

It was just announced in our local paper that we're getting Zip Cars! It's going to make going car-light or car-free a much more real alternative for lots of folks, very exciting!

gwd

I don't get this thread. Life is all change. I kept making decisions that made my life better and ended up car free. I didn't give up any thing I gained health, wealth and time. Car free isn't a goal to struggle toward it is the result of making rational choices.

derath

So would that imply then that being not car free is a result of irrational choices? Cause I would tend to disagree.

-D

cerewa

I had to give up an attitude of "I'm not going to be inconvenienced by rain". Right now, it is likely I would be taking a trip to the hardware store a few miles away except that it's raining and I don't want to come back and have to clean off/dry out.

I chose not to take a job or two, when I needed a job, because they weren't near me (but still within 80-minutes driving time). I got a better job close to home, but that's not something everybody can count on, even if they live a couple miles from a major city's business district like I do.

I have chosen not to take monthly or weekly hiking trips in beautiful park-land because of the environmental impact of driving to them. I have also had to think more carefully about which parks I will use - there are some beautiful ones in Philadelphia that I wouldn't spend as much time at, if it were easier to get to the parks 70 miles away.

Roody

Yeah, but rational choices almost always involve some kind of trade-off. The fact that you can't have it all is what makes choice necessary in the first place. Most people have to give up some aspect of the "normal" or "standard" American lifestyle in order to become carfree. That's largely because our infrastructure isn't set up very well, IMO. People should be able to get to small towns and state parks or national forests without a car, but in many cases they can't.

I think the OP put this idea very well in the first post:

uke

I haven't changed anything, really. Until a week ago, I'd never had a car. Not in high school, not in college, not the summer after. I didn't even have a bike in college; I walked everywhere. My parents got me a car for grad school, which is parked outside. I haven't used it yet, but that may change when classes start. Fortunately, they also got me a bike, which I've been riding everywhere. When classes start, I'll try to use it as often as practical (not possible, practical). Ditto with grocery shopping. If I need the car, I'll use the car. I don't anticipate needing it for distance or utility as much as for social convenience--arriving at places without sweating, or arriving at places where a bicycle would stand out more than I'd like. We'll see how it goes.

In general, I like how Indie and others put it above about allowing this to be a natural process. Too many people think it has to be an either/or proposition--have a car, or have a bike. But it doesn't. It's more than possible to have both, and to use one or the other, as necessary. You don't need to sell your car to ride your bicycle. You can if you want, but it isn't necessary. I think the all-or-nothing vibe we tend to give off scares many away from even considering using bicycles. They think a life change has to be in place, when it really doesn't. If you go from driving everywhere to riding your bike once or twice a week to the library, or to work, if it's nearby, that's enough. You don't have to live up to anyone else's standards but your own. I think if more people realized this, they'd be more likely to try riding.

To that effect, we could all stand to be better ambassadors for cycling. Sometimes, reading the other subforums (particularly commuting and road-cycling), I get the idea many would rather see people in cars than see them riding bicycles that weren't bought from an LBS, or similar things to that effect. Or when it's pointed out that lots of people don't ride because they don't feel safe next to high-speed traffic/large vehicles, the response is often to HTFU, etc. I don't think that's the right way to go about this, as we can't tell people who are considering an alternative lifestyle like cycling to "toughen up" and "take the lane" when all they want is a simple, safe way to ride to the local grocery store. They just go back to driving.

I think a lot of cyclists--too many cyclists--forget too easily how radical of a shift riding instead of driving is for most people, and whenever we lose sight of that, we lose a potential cyclist. That's all well and good if we truly believe only people willing to wear safety vests and ride beside 30mph traffic while taking the lane and carrying spare tubs and frame pumps deserve to ride bicycles, but if that's what we believe, the percentage of people who ride in the US will never exceed ~5%. To reach higher levels of commuting, car-free living, or just recreational cycling in general, people need to feel safe. Safe enough to feel they won't get run over if they ride to the farmer's market instead of driving on Saturday mornings. My two cents.

bitterspeak

+1

A very good point.