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Old 12-28-2017, 10:01 AM
 
Location: Germantown, Philadelphia
13,945 posts, read 8,793,611 times
Reputation: 10256

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Quote:
Originally Posted by pvande55 View Post
New York is a very unique city. Subways everywhere makes owning a vehicle unnecessary. Walkabiliity adds to the convenience. One of my relatives lives there and has never owned one. Occasionally rents a car for some trips. Boasted once of joining a gym that's only a block from home.
New York's an outlier among American cities, but it's not the only one where one can live car-free.

I've managed to do that for 34 years in Philadelphia - not only in the city center, where doing so is not only easy but smart, but also in an outlying neighborhood with good transit connections to the rest of the city.

If you have a thing about riding buses, you might not find this outlying neighborhood a place where carless living is possible, but I don't have hangups about status contamination.

 
Old 12-28-2017, 11:47 AM
 
855 posts, read 618,544 times
Reputation: 1815
I’m in what is rated as a “somewhat walkable” area (as defined by
WalkScore), so that helps. Also, my personality makes up for the rest: I’m
pretty much a modern-day recluse. As an introvert (think Emily Dickinson,
but without the knack for poetry), with a very people-intensive job, once
I’m done with work I just want to chill at home. So my car has been
neglected big time, as I haven’t really been using it, and definitely not
enough to justify the tax and insurance I’m paying on it. That money could
go to Lyft (which I’ve tried and absolutely love) on the rare occasion that I
actually need a car.

As it now stands, I’ve got plans to go officially car-free this week. I’ve given
it enough time, and if my car were a sentient being, it would be bored out
of its mind right now just sitting out there in the lot for days on end. Poor
thing’s probably got a complex now. It needs a new Forever Home, with
owners who actually like driving and running about all hours of the day.
Being without the car will also force me to walk to more destinations,
which, at this stage of my life, is probably even more important so that
I don't end up atrophying, myself.

-
 
Old 12-28-2017, 12:02 PM
 
Location: Northern California
4,391 posts, read 2,873,359 times
Reputation: 8059
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarketStEl View Post
New York's an outlier among American cities, but it's not the only one where one can live car-free.

I've managed to do that for 34 years in Philadelphia - not only in the city center, where doing so is not only easy but smart, but also in an outlying neighborhood with good transit connections to the rest of the city.

If you have a thing about riding buses, you might not find this outlying neighborhood a place where carless living is possible, but I don't have hangups about status contamination.
I'm happily car-free in San Francisco. All in all, the transit service is excellent (at least in the daytime), and I live near one of the best bus lines. Trying to go places by car in this town would be an aggravation anyway... the distances are short, but once you reached your destination, you'd have to keep on driving around, hunting for a place to park.

My East Bay friends are predominantly car-free too... they have longer waits for their buses, but I don't hear them complaining.
 
Old 12-28-2017, 02:18 PM
 
Location: Prepperland
18,829 posts, read 14,013,304 times
Reputation: 16483
The automobile / petroleum / pavement hegemony will be wroth if Americans forego the automobile for mass transit.
 
Old 12-28-2017, 02:44 PM
 
Location: Northern California
436 posts, read 299,807 times
Reputation: 554
I haven't had car insurance for 14 years... ever since I got a DUI for drinking just a drink and a half of wine.
Very small drinks too! Like normal size wine glasses (and I hate wine, I was just drinking to be polite)

It would only fuel the fire of wrongfully prosecuting people if I paid extra for auto insurance. One big circle of money, a conspiracy. So I got out of that rat race.

The solution to high insurance rates? Driving the back-roads where I see very few cars (but usually, I see no cars at all)
I also pull over for any driving behind me. My job even revolves around driving the back-roads! Actually one is a highway but you hardly ever see a car. And if so, I pull over to the side where there is always lots of room. Everywhere I go- dentist, doctor, gas station, store, is backroads or one highway which is probably the least traveled of anywhere I go....so it works.

When we are driving on actual roads, like freeways and places where you can hit another car, my husband always drives. Driving is something I despise. Cycling to wherever I need to go is usually my choice, weather depending.

Keeping away from other cars is a much better solution than any auto insurance I could buy.
Too bad I didn't move to accommodate this peace of mind earlier.
 
Old 12-28-2017, 02:45 PM
 
512 posts, read 317,450 times
Reputation: 994
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarketStEl View Post
New York's an outlier among American cities, but it's not the only one where one can live car-free.

I've managed to do that for 34 years in Philadelphia - not only in the city center, where doing so is not only easy but smart, but also in an outlying neighborhood with good transit connections to the rest of the city.

If you have a thing about riding buses, you might not find this outlying neighborhood a place where carless living is possible, but I don't have hangups about status contamination.
I am in Philly now and before that, I was in Chicago. I can definitely say that, if you play your cards right, both of those cities allow for one to live [happily] car-free.
 
Old 12-28-2017, 11:37 PM
 
Location: 415->916->602
3,145 posts, read 2,632,730 times
Reputation: 3871
I'm in a city where you need a car.
 
Old 08-27-2018, 02:37 PM
 
855 posts, read 618,544 times
Reputation: 1815
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kophi View Post
As it now stands, I’ve got plans to go officially car-free this week. -
By way of update, it's been about eight months since I
followed through on those plans and got rid of my car, and the
only thing I miss about it is being able to belt out songs with
the windows rolled up when going from Point-A to Point-B on
any given day.

Other than that, I don't miss the drama at all, and when I do
need a car, I use Lyft (haven't tried Uber yet). It’s all the
convenience of car ownership without the liability.


-
 
Old 08-28-2018, 04:58 AM
 
10,580 posts, read 11,991,567 times
Reputation: 16721
Look folks, pro-bike people are going to tell you all the pros of not driving. Good for them.
I drive everywhere and have no plans to stop doing that.

They want to bike, so they do. I, and others who prefer their cars, drive.
Neither side is going to persuade the other to switch. So the conversation just goes around and around.

If someone wants to bike -- and have it take them 25 minutes to go 12 miles - exposed to the elements, at risk of reeeeally being on the losing end of a bike vs car/truck collision more power to the person.

I do agree that in some places it might be faster to bicycle. I used to commute in downtown Washington DC. And I'd see bicyclists pass me. But then I'd catch up. And most of the time when they were ahead of me that's because they went through lights where THEY should have stopped also. So part of their getting ahead of me was because they broke the law by going through red lights!

I'd never give up having a car. Never.
I have been thinking about getting a bicycle, for exercise. But then I ask myself -- realistically -- would I bike three blocks to the grocery store, or get in my car and just save the time and sweat. And not have to worry about buying to many groceries to put on the bike, or not being able to change my mind and go on another errand that's MILES away. Uh, no thanks. (Besides, I never have been much of an exerciser. I tell myself just do some yoga and stretching for free right in your living room. Or walk around the neighborhood. And I don't do that. So am I reeeeally going to get on a bicycle?)

If more people used bikes maybe my commute and driving errands would take even less time. ...Except for them hogging up an entire lane Cyclists don't need an entire lane. But that's another conversation.......
 
Old 08-28-2018, 08:25 AM
 
31 posts, read 24,208 times
Reputation: 33
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grandpa Pipes View Post
I firmly believe that cars are huge drain on any family resources so I use mine as little as possible riding a bicycle instead to satisfy my transportation needs in my small town. Were I to live where mass transit was available I wouldn't own a vehicle at all.

"Growing up as a teenager in the suburbs, I believed cars were a source of independence. Yet, over the years, I've come to see cars as a symptom of cultural sickness. In college, I decided to save money by not purchasing a car and found that I also escaped worries of shoveling the snow from around its tires, finding parking, and arguing with mechanics."

No Car, No Problem: The Benefits of Car-Free Living | Environment | AlterNet
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