The Chainlink

How  many people here are 100% car free? Not part-time or just for those "larger" items some believe only owning a car can deliver, or so they can visit family somewhere else, or they are so happy with their dentist out in the burbs' they refuse to find a new one. Taking public transportation in combination with riding and walking count as being car free. I would just like to know who has taken riding bikes to the next level and ditching the car completely.

About me: I have been car free for 5 years and counting. I sold my 5 years ago to Car Max (I wanted to get rid of it immediately and didn't want to deal with selling it myself). I let my drivers license expire this past Jan. 11th. (My 30th. birthday) and to celebrate (I have been waiting for this moment for a long time) I cut my license up (I have a state ID and have for years) and had a toast with myself. It was one of those moments in my life that will stick with me for life. So, who else does not own a car, will NEVER own a car again and is much happier this way? I have seen so many people ride bikes to only witness that same person jump into their car down the street. I have know many people to ditch the bike for suburbs because they think it is "best for the kids" type attitude.

I'm not judging anyone who ditches the bike, moves to the burbs', and buys a car (Or never really got rid of it) so they can put their kids in a school that is acceptable to them. I just want to know how many plan to live this way for the rest of their lives and are actually doing it. Have a good day everyone and safe riding.

Views: 1234

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

There's a lot of ambient potential animosity basically everywhere ready to be deployed against anyone who does things on purpose. 

h' 1.0 said:

There is absolutely nothing smug about anything Uptown Joe wrote.  He laid out what this thread was going to be about, and for some reason it seems to have gotten stuck in someone's craw.

I see nothing wrong with congratulating someone for making life without a car work.

Until you've actually gone car-free you don't entirely understand what it entails-- it's nice to have opportunity to connect with others who have similar experience without someone crapping all over it.

I find it particularly bizarre that the folks who jumped in and went all "divisive" on this discussion are the ones claiming Joe started a "divisive" thread.

This thread is about not owning a car.  It's not that hard to figure out. If you own a car, new discussions are free-- I'm sure we can always use more about being "car light."

I will afford you the courtesy of not posting to it, as it will clearly not have been intended for me.

I do think it's a bit amusing that there's this notion that if you have a family, you will need a car, mainly because I've got one and I don't. 

+1

Peenworm Grubologist said:

I do think it's a bit amusing that there's this notion that if you have a family, you will need a car, mainly because I've got one and I don't. 

i live less than 10 miles from work and grocery stores.  i'm lucky that when visiting friends in the suburbs, they're willing to pick me up and drop me off at the metra station.  when i go on vacation, i take that city's public transportation (not sure how it would go visiting somewhere remote like a national park).  

i've never owned a car, but not by choice.  i never got my driver's license.  i foolishly never took advantage of driving range in high school and private driving lessons are $150-$300.  although to be fair, fear is really what is keeping me from learning to drive.  if i ever got my driver's license, i could stop cycling.  not owning a car has stopped me from doing things i want such as visiting sick friends and going stag to people's weddings (suburban weddings are cheaper i guess).  i will say that i would have to make a lot more money than i do now to justify paying $900 in parking by work and $2000 for car insurance.  judging from most of the posters on this thread, driving a car 3x a year, insurance costs alone is $666/ride.  

Of course you don't need one. I'd hazard a guess that there are millions of families throughout the world without one.

A car is a tool of convenience. Nobody can deny that. But, you gotta pay to play. 


Peenworm Grubologist said:

I do think it's a bit amusing that there's this notion that if you have a family, you will need a car, mainly because I've got one and I don't. 

yai danche said:

i've never owned a car, but not by choice.  i never got my driver's license.  i foolishly never took advantage of driving range in high school and private driving lessons are $150-$300.  although to be fair, fear is really what is keeping me from learning to drive.  if i ever got my driver's license, i could stop cycling.  not owning a car has stopped me from doing things i want such as visiting sick friends and going stag to people's weddings (suburban weddings are cheaper i guess).  i will say that i would have to make a lot more money than i do now to justify paying $900 in parking by work and $2000 for car insurance.  judging from most of the posters on this thread, driving a car 3x a year, insurance costs alone is $666/ride.  

It's not an either/or situation.  Having a drivers license and being able to have a car is not going to stop you from biking places.  If you can afford it, I'd suggest getting a license since there are quite a few places that are impractical to see with just bikes (e.g. quite a few national parks, foreign locations, a lot of remote or even suburban places).  Also, I think your costs are a bit inflated.  Insurance is almost certainly not going to run 2k a year and you don't need to drive to work, just keep using your current means of getting to work.

i hope you didn't get that from my post. i'm about to embark on a family-making journey (should we be so blessed) and i see a future where our family will have a car because my wife-to-be is just way too tied to the idea of always having one at the ready. if it were up to me alone, i'd like to take a stab at doing the car-free family thing, but it's not up to me alone. i have to accept the woman i'm about to marry as she is, not as how i want her to be, and owning a car is just the way she is. she accepts my full-blown bicycle obsession for what it is and i accept her car ownership for what it is, and together we'll make it work.

so i'll have to turn in my car-free bonafides and proudly accept my new permanent membership in the car-light club.

there are worse things in the world.



Peenworm Grubologist said:

I do think it's a bit amusing that there's this notion that if you have a family, you will need a car, mainly because I've got one and I don't. 

S, like I said, I have never owned my car.  So I've never paid attention to the costs of gas and whether restaurants have plentiful parking spots or not.  I got that $2000 figure from a 2007 Chicago magazine article for the average cost of car insurance, which I'm sure is not accurate anymore.  I do still want a driver's license for the same reasons you stated above.  as for the either/or situation, a friend who used to bike commute now only drives.  i can see myself doing the same thing.  it would take a lot of discipline on my part to say i'm not going to be lazy and choose the bike over the car.

This is the kind of decision making I was prodding at in my first post. Sometimes, despite the best intentions, you end up making decisions differently than planned. Nothing to be ashamed about.

Congrats Dan, on embarking what promises to be a great life.



Dan Allison 14.5 mi said:

i hope you didn't get that from my post. i'm about to embark on a family-making journey (should we be so blessed) and i see a future where our family will have a car because my wife-to-be is just way too tied to the idea of always having one at the ready. if it were up to me alone, i'd like to take a stab at doing the car-free family thing, but it's not up to me alone. i have to accept the woman i'm about to marry as she is, not as how i want her to be, and owning a car is just the way she is. she accepts my full-blown bicycle obsession for what it is and i accept her car ownership for what it is, and together we'll make it work.

so i'll have to turn in my car-free bonafides and proudly accept my new permanent membership in the car-light club.

there are worse things in the world.



Peenworm Grubologist said:

I do think it's a bit amusing that there's this notion that if you have a family, you will need a car, mainly because I've got one and I don't. 

I haven't had a car or license for six years, my wife hasn't had a car in 4.5, but she doesn't bike (I'm working on it.) Other than moving, there hasn't been a "need a car" situation yet, and even a good portion of our last move was done via bike.

I did not have a car or license for 10+ years because of "a few" DUI's. I have a car now & tend to use it only when necessary. Owning a car is not as expensive as some people make it out to be. My 12 year bike was beginning to cost me a lot money. Always in the shop & the bike mechanics seem to want to charge me extra.

I just passed 20 years in Chicago and have never owned a car here.  I used public transport up until about 8 years ago and have been getting around almost solely by bike since then.  I do rent a few times a year to visit family and such (in MI and WI).  But living in the city does make it much easier to be car-free.  Not sure what would happen if I lived in the suburbs.

RSS

© 2008-2016   The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.   Powered by

Disclaimer  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service