alhanson

This is really more of a rant than anything else that was brought on my some recent posts. I just don’t understand a couple things.

I always see posts along the lines of “well, just get out of the suburbs, move to the city center and ride your bike to work, the store etc..” blah blah blah.

I love this section of the fora, I really do and other than the touring page I don’t look too much at the rest. But honestly what gives? Is there no middle ground? I get the feeling now and then around here that if you are bike free one must stick to this urban, very hip, democratic, socialist, what ever label. But I see so many here that are not that. Why is this the only answer for a lot of people?

I live in the suburbs of DC. I don’t want to live in the city. Yep, I work in the city. I have a 20.3 mile one way trip in and yep I am car free. There a few like me that I see on the trails, and roads year round. Some ever travel much further in distance. I am not left nor right in my politics (If I could create a party I would call it the Common sense party) I have to dress nice for work (i.e. suits, ties etc.)

I suppose I am bothered by some of my fellow care free posters as they seem to preach change for this and that but they can’t get it out of there heads that there are thousands of ways to approach a topic.

Why do I like my little slice of suburbia? Easy, I have three grocery centers within a mile, the metro station is 1.1 miles for those lazy two days I give myself for commuting a month. There are three bike shops within two miles and one of which my brother is the manager. I have everything I need and on top of that. I have at my long term rental, an acre of land to grow my veggies and do with as I like: I can let my pup-pup run free and to just sit under the trees (my own little park)

Bless those that do the urban city thing. In DC there are great areas for living well. But why can’t some of us understand that most of these suburban areas were actually outlaying villages that got swallowed up in the sprawl and have some stuff to offer also?


Sorry so long and I will back to the shadows again now

TuckertonRR

Some good points.

Although someone doesn't *have to* live in a downtown to be car-free, (I sure don't), for most people contemplating a car-free lifestyle, it probably makes things a lot more convenient, walkable, & bikeable in an urban setting. But, there are many neighborhoods of large, medium, small, towns, (and even some suburban areas) which could support car-free living. Looks like you've found yourself a good little location.

Though there is an "image" that in order for one to be car free, one must be vegan/vegitarian, live in a run down area in a large city, be single w/o dependents, and have a large amount of descretionary income, there are a lot of us (including myself) who do not fit this stereotype.

gwd

You also have that nice rails-to-trails path and the not so nice I-66 mitigation path to ride into downtown. Without those your commute would stink wouldn't it? I had my recumbent serviced at bikes at vienna a year or so ago, the guys at the shop offered to pick me up at the metro, when I told them I'm car free. The local bike shop guys thought the few mile ride from the metro was too annoying for a car free cyclist. You might have a mis impression. It seems to me people on lcf advise people who complain about their location to be proactive and move to a better location. Do you think we advise people who enjoy being car free, to move? But, I agree that just because some one perceives their location to be bad for car-free living doesn't make it so. Especially if they hadn't gotten out and tried it. I perceive Vienna to be bad for car-free because when I cycle on Maple ave. or get too far from the trail it sucks. The bike shop guys apparently think so too. But, I haven't tried living out there without a car. Next time I ride out there I might explore a bit more thanks to your post.

Commuter76

I'm working more and more toward car free and I live in the 'burbs. I'm within 1.5 miles of the grocery store, my daughter goes to school about three or four blocks from our house, and I ride the bus to my job downtown three days out of the week.

It is possible to be car free where I'm at, but most people I know couldn't even imagine it. One of those people is my wife, so perhaps I'll get to car-lite someday.

I think people with the most insulated view are those without children. I would be happy to move to downtown if I didn't care about my daughter being able to attend college someday.

There are many possible ways to live carfree. Many of them just require creative solutions and tenacity.

billew

Gee, and I thought the stereo-type I had was bum or DUI at least according to the roadies and commuters, as I carry my shopping bags on my bars and don't use a helmet. Also I ride vintage bikes that are cheap and plentiful and I would never spend the kind of money the commuters spend on their fred mobiles, like the guy at the coffee shop with a Surly that must have cost well over a grand with a seat post over a foot long and me with a Raleigh sports that cost me $45. I have lived car free all my life, no license to drive ever. I'm not a vegan or an anarchist or a hipster. I think if you like bikes and can live where you want who cares. I'm not out to win the green sweepstakes and I respect your right to live your life in the "burbs". I live in a small city but I could manage living farther out if I wanted.

Smallwheels

I'm a Libertarian and environmentalist. At this time in humanity's evolution those two don't really fit. There are too many people willing to pollute the world while making a profit.

All of the solutions to the problems of suburban living and commuting already exist. It is just that government and most people aren't willing to create mass transit systems that are comprehensive. Until that time, it is up to each individual to create their own transportation solution and lead by example.

Keep spreading the good word that there are transportation alternatives to owning cars and eventually there will be enough people willing to vote for better mass transit systems. Unfortunately that won't happen for another decade or two unless there is some nation wide catastrophe that forces the change upon us. Right now all of us can vote with our dollars by not buying cars. If one does have a car it won't need to be replaced as often in time if one just rides a bicycle or uses mass transit for some transportation needs.

chriswnw

I completely agree with the OP. While car-free, I am not evangelical about it and don't believe that it would work for all individuals in all settings. I think you should do what works for you. I basically do it for economic reasons -- I am cheap. I also don't align myself with the left-wing political bias of this subforum, although I don't consider myself "right-wing" or conservative either.

folder fanatic

You are probably refer to the "other side of the coin" of the lifestyles people elect to live. This side is one where the extreme opposite of the gas-guzzling, Hummer/SUV driving, wasteful population resides. These people believe that we all must recycle all the time and all circumstances right down to the bones of our cremated loved ones. A more realistic approach is to be balanced in living our lives to the fullest.

In your own case, this means to keep on living in the suburbs if that is a good choice for you at present and in the forseeable future. If you can afford to live there without going into so extreme debt that you cannot put food on the table or clothes on your back to impress the neighbors, then you are living a sane, balanced life indeed. If you are happy and content, screw other people's opinion.

Your community sounds like a sane and rather happy place to live. The worries of urban living (crime, stores moving away, gang violence, etc.) does not touch you there. Stay there.

Torrilin

Some folks can do that. For me, it's not viable. I've had arthritis since I was 16. Some situations will literally cause me to collapse in pain... like dismounting a diamond frame bike. There are some real hard and fast limits on what I can do. We've stayed car free due to careful planning.

If someone is thinking about car free, it's very important that they be realistic about what their limits are. A mom with 3 kids under six will have very different limits than a single guy... and in a lot of situations, her limits will be more forgiving than mine. In others, I win because there's just me, and I am not a two year old . 90% of the time, the single guy will have even more flex than us women... being able to haul 70 lbs in a backpack is a real advantage! Machka or Rowan will make the average single guy look bad, mostly due to experience and many thousands of miles in the legs.

My hope is that everyone who edges into using cars less makes changes that they stick with . Even if the first step is small... once you make that first step, it's easy to see another one you could make. That's why I try to make it clear that the choices we've made are based around my limits. If an arthritic 30something can do it, most anyone can.

(so far, I've converted a sister and have two friends experimenting to learn what they can do with their bikes...)

gerv 

The key to having any success with ditching the car is to live in a "neighborhood". You need to have a grocery store that is easily accessible by bicycle and of course it helps to have an LBS, a library, and video , hardware stores.

For cycling this neighbourhood needs to have some reasonable streets, best laid out in a grid shape so that not all traffic (99% cars...) have to crowd onto major thoroughfares to go anywhere.

I think we all admit that this is often found in city centers, but there are many city centers that have no easy access to groceries... a major problem. On the other hand, there are many suburbs and exurbs that absolutely require a car to get even a loaf of bread. You couldn't survive on a bicycle-only diet.

gwd

Me very hip? I don't see these posts telling people they have to be hip or whatever label. I've seen posts by car culture apologists trying to label car free people but not car free people telling others that they have to be urban hipsters. When you ride into DC don't you see all the geeky policy wonks on their hybrids or the immigrants on their cheapo bikes?

Why stay in the shadows? Why not post about how when you go on vacation you find secure bike parking at Dulles airport and stuff like that? Maybe other car free people would accept jobs out in Vienna and build up a car free community there. I'd like to know how to get to Dulles and park my bike, I usually take the super shuttle or bike to National when I fly. Also tips on biking to the mall at Tysons would be helpful, every time I bike there it's scary. Tips on biking in that environment would carry over on a national level. I've thought of biking on the median, does that work?

Machka 

Of course you don't have to live in the middle of the city to be car-ownership-free. I would hate living in the middle of the city.

When I was car-ownership-free, I lived right on the outskirts of Winnipeg. A 5-minute ride, and I was outside the city and in the country. I had a grocery store 1 km from where I lived, and that's where I walked to get my groceries a couple times a week. My church was about 3 km away ... a nice walk on a Sunday morning. My Dr was also about 3 km away. I had two malls within easy bussing distance. My physiotherapist was about 200 metres away, my suntan place was about 500 metres away. And my job was 6.7 km away ... a very easy cycling distance.

If I had to go further, than my neighborhood, I would either cycle the distance ... a park I liked cycling in was only 50 km away ... made for a great weekend century. Or I would ride the bus if I needed to. Simple!!

And also ...

My husband, Rowan lived for years in a suburb near the outskirts of Hobart, and was car-ownership-free. He worked a fair distance from his home, and cycled there. Otherwise, most of the places he needed to go (shopping etc.) were all in his neighborhood.

More recently, Rowan moved to the country. He's been living in the country for about the past 3-4 years. And up till very recently, he had been cycling to work about 8 km away, and cycling to do his shopping about 25 km away.

So not only do you not have to live in the downtown of a city in order to be car-ownership-free, you can live in the country.

chicbicyclist

There has to be trade offs somewhere, you can;t have it all.


Besides, density alone will not foster an easier car free lifestyle. You need walkability, density, and other factors like zoning, etc. An ideal place would be a place whee there is mixed-use zoning(that is, retail and residential are side by side, if not occupying the same space) with grid street patterns(natural traffic calming effects, many alternative routes) as opposed to the big box retail zoning and arterial road setup.

These places usually surround the downtown area and used to be considered as suburbs before WWII, when the contemporary suburbs began growing everywhere.

Machka 

Why can't you have it all? Read my post above.

Nickel

Near my metropolis, there are several rings of suburbs. There are people that commute via bike here from another state (~15-20mi in). There are people that commute in via bike from the outer 'burbs. There are people that have chosen to live closer to the downtown area or the city neighborhoods. I think there are a variety of situations where being car-free or car-lite is entirely feasible. There is no one answer.

enine

In my city you couldn't live car free in the center of the city, there is almost nothing there anymore. I was a few miles out and there was nothing but houses and houses and houses. It wasn't until I moved to the suburbs that I could actually reach a grocery store or resturaunt or work within a mile of home. Some cities are deisgned poorly, over the last few years I saw our downtown turn into a ghost town after 5pm when all the big office buildings would empty out.
Our city put out this big report on how "green" it is too, highlighted all the bike paths, but if you overlay those onto a map you will see all the bike pathes are in suburb land, the actual city doesn't have any, they were all paid for and built by the suburbs.

tsl

Car-free simply means without a car.

Everything else is simply personal preference for the many techniques of implementing that.

Don't confuse the two.

No one says you have have to move, or ride a bike. Those are things some of us have done, but no one says you have to do these things in order to be car-free. Living car-free means only that--living without a car. Whether, how and where you do it is up to you.

ericy

I am on the opposite end of town (so the nearest Metro station is ~5 miles away - the Dulles extension will change that though), but I would say that this town has grown on me in the time I have been here. I haven't gone car-free yet, but you serve as an example to the rest of us..

Roody

In my city, downtown isn't the best choice to be carfree (although it is feasible to live there without a car, of course). There are like 30 restaurants in downtown Lansing, 28 of which close by 3:00 PM. There's no grocery, hardware or even bookstore. There are a tiny drugstore and an LBS.

Some suburbs (Holt, Okemos, even E. Lansing) would be good here, others (Delhi, Haslett) have lousy density and trafic patterns for bikes. All are feasible for carfree cycling, and almost all have bus service.

I think a small town is another good location for carfree cycling. The caveat is that you would probably have to work (or go to school) in the same town you live in. Bus or train service to a city and an airport would also be very desirable in a small town, IMO.

the point is, there are many places where one can live a good carfree life. some imagination and flexbility may be required to make it work for you. I believe that there are a small number of places, especially in North America, where carfree cycling would be a difficult choice. Rural areas come to mind, and exurbs where there is no mass transit and locations are very distant.

zowie

Well, one thing you're lacking is a car.

chriswnw

Where is this?

Machka 

Yes! No hassles, no money pit ...

That's like saying a person is lacking migraine headaches.

Newspaperguy

In order for a car-free or car-light lifestyle to work, one needs a few basic conditions.

1. Reasonably close access to work, shopping, entertainment and the like OR a good public transportation network to such places. (A rural farm or cabin 100 kilometres from the nearest services is probably not a suitable place for car-free living.)

2. A job that does not require a car. (Travelling medical or technical support services, some sales positions, various jobs in journalism, musical entertainment and other jobs will require a car for a number of reasons.)

3. A level of physical health good enough to allow for cycling and walking on a daily basis. (There are a number of chronic conditions which impede movement.)

4. An attitude that accepts and embraces a car-free or car-light lifestyle. (Even if all other conditions are in place to allow car-free or car-light living, some simply can't grasp the concept of such a way of living.)

I-Like-To-Bike

Some parents are finding that location of residence comes into play even when they are renting. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/realestate/05Cov.html

Of course the idea that people may rationally choose a residence based on considerations other than bicycling opportunities but rather family oriented issues such as desirable school districts never seems to enters the mind of some of the more provincial car free zealots.

makeinu

Actually it appears we can't because when we do the gub'ment hands over the money anyway.

That's gotta irk your libertarian/environmentalist ideals (I know it does mine).