CURBED ATLANTA: I live car-free in Atlanta—and I love it (buying, groceries)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by CCATL

I agree with all of this - that's kind of what I was trying to say in my post. I'm "car-light", not car-free, with my family in intown Atlanta. We use the car to get that big trunk full of groceries, though. However, it also speaks to our urban environment. I used to live in NYC, and *gasp* I had a car there too. However, I used it for other purposes, not grocery shopping. The urban environment there made it easier to stop at a small market for fruits, another one for meat, another one for cheese. I stopped everyday (or almost everyday) to get what I needed for dinner that night on my walk from the subway station to my apartment. Here, that's not possible. Our options are Kroger, Publix, or another big-box type grocery store. Yes, there specialty stores like Spotted Trotter, but they're pretty expensive - not somewhere I'm stopping for tonight's meat. Also, our built environment in general doesn't support that lifestyle - there is no *affordable* grocery store between my house and the MARTA station where I can pick up the basics. It's all fancy-pants boutique grocery type things. Sometimes I'll stop for bread, but not for every ingredient I need for the meal. We don't need that - we need more bodegas or similar.

So what you are saying is NYC didn't have good grocery options.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by evannole

Correct. The Métro was designed so that you'd never be more than a 1,000 m walk from a station, and you're usually much closer to one than that. I believe that it's the densest subway network in the world, and the connectivity between the various lines is absolutely astounding. The first time I went to Paris, nearly 30 years ago, I became so enamored with the Métro that the only souvenir I bought for myself was a t-shirt with a map of the Métro network on it.

When we are in Paris, which is pretty often, we do get around mostly on foot, with a Métro ride here and there and maybe the odd Uber ride at night if our feet are too worn out from the 20,000 steps we've already done that day, or if it's raining. And, yes, Uber is proving to be a game changer for rides to the airport, especially now that the RER-B stops at every. single. station between CDG and Gare du Nord.

If I lived somewhere as dense as Paris, with a metro system as well developed as the Métro, I would give serious thought to going carless. Alas, Atlanta isn't there and won't be anytime soon, so I will gladly stick to my car for the time being. (And now that I have a car that's capable of semi-autonomous driving, I don't even mind being on the highway anymore; my commute has gone from being rather stressful to borderline relaxing.)

And you need to figure out where to put your wallet or how to secure your purse. My wife and Dad both got pickpocketed on the Paris subways.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by jsvh

That is the way to do it. I am still a car fan-boy. I liked more imports and did some of the upgrades myself including things like springs / shocks. I still might get a car again in the future. Probably a Tesla if I do. They are crazy fast. Their Model S has the second fastest 0-60 time of any production car in the world and can seat up to 7 people! And the new roadster will blow that out of the water and be the fastest car ever built!


But yeah, sitting in traffic every day is not the way to live life. Too dangerous too.

Wait! I thought all you car-free people were complaining about how dangerous it was to walk or bike!?

[Atlwarrior]

What a cool recently release drone of Atlanta. I love all those people walking on the Beltline near Kroger.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2h5Rx6jQtY

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by Atlwarrior

What a cool recently release drone of Atlanta. I love all those people walking on the Beltline near Kroger.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2h5Rx6jQtY

Wow! That is pretty great!

[Saskia Calico]

I thought the article was interesting for the mention of preferring to walk or cycle along Auburn Avenue and see chicken bones and bullet casings, and wonder how they got there, than to keep your shoes clean and your body free of bullet holes by driving.

It was also interesting to read that anyone would feel safe on Auburn Avenue, Edgewood, or in Cabbagetown, which when I moved away from Atlanta were very unsafe, no-go parts of town, and now are desirable neighborhoods? That's a positive, just makes Atlanta seem like another city, not the Atlanta I knew.

I have to walk wherever I go since I can no longer afford a car. I do use a walker, and I absolutely HATE walking around this city because of the broken sidewalks and the complete lack of any sort of public seating where one can sit down and rest for a few minutes before walking on. Even most of the MARTA bus stops lack benches or shelters of any kind.

And the shopping centers are a LONG walk from the bus stops, across acres of parking lots, or can be entered only through dark parking decks; the stores in them have no street entrances. Very pedestrian-unfriendly.

[Saskia Calico]

Originally Posted by DreamerD

I can't imagine this...always having to depend on strangers at the train station to help you go up and down the stairs.

Old people often have to do this.

But then, if we all did it, we wouldn't be strangers.

[Saskia Calico]

Originally Posted by jsvh

A car is not the best solution to those concerns. In fact it makes them worse.

Living closer to hospitals where an ambulance service is readily available if needed instead of stranded out in the exurbs is far more likely to save your child's life:
https://www.governing.com/topics/urb...ral-areas.html
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/...injury-deaths/

Also, the focus should be more on building & living in neighborhoods where your children can safely walk and bike to their activities is far safer and healthier for them than driving them around everywhere.

I mean, seriously, spending all your time driving around your children is nutty to me. The traditional way of letting kids go out and do their own activities is far better. And they get exercise while they are on the way to their neighborhood ball field!

OK, say you want to buy a house on Peachtree Battle Avenue, between Peachtree Road and Northside Drive, and send your kids to E. Rivers School. I say Peachtree Battle, because living there would mean your kids could -- in theory -- walk or cycle to school without having to cross Peachtree Road.

First of all, could you afford to buy a house on Peachtree Battle Avenue? Even if you didn't have the expense of car ownership?

Second, do you really want your kids walking or cycling along Peachtree Battle all the way to schoo? This is not 1960. Do you think they'd be safe?

Where is this neighborhood ball field you mention? I don't know of one in that neighborhood, except maybe one at the school itself. So, in theory, if your kids went only to home games, they could walk or cycle to those -- as long as the games ended well before dark. But what about away games? Do you want your kids walking or cycling to, say, Morris Brandon? Garden Hills?

And how would you get to work? Pay Uber around $500 a week to drive you to and from, say downtown? Because I don't know of a MARTA route along P'tree Battle Ave.

The only advantage I can think of for you in this situation would be being close enough to a school for your kids to walk or cycle -- in theory -- and also for an ambulance to get them to Piedmont Hospital fairly quickly if needed -- provided there was no huge traffic tie-up on Peachtree Road. Caused by construction at Piedmont, probably.

And then what happens when your kids transfer to middle school? High school?

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by Saskia Calico

Old people often have to do this.

But then, if we all did it, we wouldn't be strangers.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Saskia Calico

And how would you get to work? Pay Uber around $500 a week to drive you to and from, say downtown?

We should also remember that ride-hailing services like Uber don't get people out of cars or take cars off the road. They simply shift the driving and maintenance duties to a third party.