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Living without a Car : Is it possible in the Charlotte area?
I have lived happily without a car for many years, and in some great cities.
I am now considering a move to the Charlotte area.
I do not want to waste $8-10,000 per annum on a vehicle, if I can avoid it.
Have you got any suggestions for places to live in the area?
A nice Walkable neighborhood is what I am seeking, and one which also has some decent transport links.
So far, I have been eyeing the areas around the Blue Line and Bus routes, such as:
+ Downtown / Uptown
+ Dilworth
+ NoDa, "the arts district"
+ Birkdale Village, in Huntersville
+ South End and Wilmore
BTW, I am self-employed, and normally work from home, and so I do not need to commute every day.
Surely, there must be people in the area, who enjoy the wonderful freedom of living a car-free life, and are willing to share some of their secrets.
If you work from home and plan on living within a 5 mile radius of downtown, you won't have any problems. Uptown would be your best bet, but Dilworth, Plaza Midwood, Noda, Elizabeth, South End, Sedgefield, Madison Park, South Park etc would all work as well. If you don't own a bicycle, I'd highly suggest getting one. Some of the bus stops farther away from downtown could drop you off as much as a mile away from your actual destination.
A bicycle certainly makes the transit experience in Charlotte MUCH easier. All buses have two-bike racks on the front of them that are easy to use. All light rail cars have 4 bike-specific areas near where the low-floor meets with the higher floor. Your only issue with your bike and the bus is the possibility of both bike rack spots being used; which means you'll need to wait for the next bus.
When it comes to the light rail, it can get extremely crowded to the point of barely being able to get your bike on. In most cases, people are sitting down on the seats that are designated for bikers. As a result, most bikers simply walk their bikes onto the train and stand while holding their bikes. As long as you're not blocking a door, the train driver won't say anything about it.
If you work from home and plan on living within a 5 mile radius of downtown, you won't have any problems. Uptown would be your best bet, but Dilworth, Plaza Midwood, Noda, Elizabeth, South End, Sedgefield, Madison Park, South Park etc would all work as well. If you don't own a bicycle, I'd highly suggest getting one...
When it comes to the light rail, it can get extremely crowded to the point of barely being able to get your bike on. In most cases, people are sitting down on the seats that are designated for bikers. As a result, most bikers simply walk their bikes onto the train and stand while holding their bikes. As long as you're not blocking a door, the train driver won't say anything about it.
Thanks.
Its interesting to read that you can take a bike on the train in CLT.
A bicycle would certainly be on the menu for me.
I lived in London for years, and used bicycles regularly, and even cycled 6-7 miles through London traffic to work in the City of London. The only problem there was, my bicycles kept getting stolen, no matter what sort of lock I used. I think I lost six bikes in 10 years. Is that a problem in Charlotte, and are there places to park bikes, and lock them up?
Everyone who I've ever known who has tried this in Charlotte, ended up getting a car.
That's grim news.
It seems like a waste of money, and everywhere I have lived since my college days in Boston, a car would not have improved my quality of life. It might have been a nice status symbol, but rationally, it wasn't worth the headaches in cities like: New York, Chicago, Boston, London and certainly not in Hong kong, where I live now.
I have no absolute prohibition against car-owning, but I want to live somewhere that I will not need one for everyday usage. I also believe that thinking this way will put me on the right side of all the changes that may come in the future if the US dollar drops, and oil prices are forced higher.
So much of what I am seeing coming out of the US suggests that more and more people want to live in Walkable neighborhoods, and join the ranks of the carfree. Maybe this is generally not true (yet) in Charlotte. But videos like the following one (about Birkdale Village) make me think a sea change in American attitudes towards cars is now underway:
The busses are filled with people that don't drive. UrbanCharlotte's advice is on the mark. *IF* you do this, live close to uptown (I'd say within 3 miles away). The transit layout is like a spiderweb. Most of the busses converge in uptown at the transit center.
The website for CATS is www.ridetransit.org if you have not read through it yet.
FOR SOMEONE WITHOUT A CAR,
It probably makes sense to target areas within 5-10 minutes walk of the Blue Line stations:
(LYNX- Blue Line stations)
+ 7th
+ 3rd St/ Convention Center
+ Stonewall
+ Carson
+ Bland
+ East/West Blvd
+ New Bern (Park and Ride stations)
+ Scaleybark
+ Woodlawn
+ Tyvola
+ Archdale
+ Arrowood
+ Sharon Rd West
+ I-485/ South Blvd
/see Route: LYNX Stations and Parking
/Uptown map: http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/c...eUptownmap.pdf
(I am not sure the difference between Blue Line stations, and Park & Ride stations. Can someone explain the difference?)
Some of these stations will have better housing stock and better retail and other infrastructure around them. Those might be the best places to start looking.
In Hong Kong, the further one is from Central Hong Kong, the cheaper the price. You can almost calculate the value of a modern flat based upon how many minutes commuting it is from Central (the main CBD.) I wonder if a similar method would work as can be used in Hong Kong, where the "point of origin" (highest prices*) would be? I imagine it would be in the UPTOWN financial center, since that is where the highest jobs are probably located.
=== ===
*Just guessing, I suppose the Highest Prices might be near:
3rd St/ Convention Center. Is that an accurate guess ?
Park'n'Ride just means a train station with a parking lot. The other stations are simply "stops".
If you want to live on the blue line there are seveal apartment buildings under construction and plenty of available flats in South End already. Look at the stations from New Bern and north of it, if you want LYNX to be your main artery into uptown.
I lived near South Boulevard and Tyvola for 4 years, just before LYNX opened - and took bus #12 into uptown every day. It was about 20 minutes to ride in.
Frankly you can easily walk to uptown anyway, if you live near Bland station or closer in.
I would recommend staying close to the East/West Blvd station since that location will have you within 2 miles of three grocery stores (Harris Teeter, Home Economist, and Publix (coming). The South End area between the East/West Blvd and Bland station continues to grow with more restaurants and housing development.
Don't confuse the OP. Scaleybark is the first station leaving uptown that has parking, and every subsequent station has it.
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