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Well for 95% of Knoxville you'd want a car but if you chose your neighborhood & job carefully you could be happily carfree with a car rental once a month for stocking up on staples and a taxi for Dr. appointments.
I'm not proposing Knoxville to be a carfree nirvana but my point is you can get by in many mid size cities if need be. Especially if you bike. So you could look for a city that has what you like in terms of climate & amenities and jobs and then look at those forums for suggestions on neighborhoods.
I know NYC, Chicago, San Fran, etc. are all good, but I'm looking for suggestions on some places that might not immediately spring to mind when considering moving there without a car. I recently went back to school to finish my degree, and I currently live in DeKalb, IL -- a surprisingly easy place to live without a car.
What other areas -- mid-size or overlooked cities, college towns, etc. -- can you think of that would allow me to experience the financial fabulousness of carless living?
Keep in mind -- I'm a very hardy, "scrappy" person who doesn't need *perfect* public transport to get around.
Any and all suggestions would be appreciated!! Thanks in advance!
I moved to Victoria, Texas, because I wanted to give up driving. I still have my car, but I drive it no more than once a month. There is a surprisingly good bus system here for a city of 60,000, with four routes operating 7 days /nights a week on half-hour schedules, with a 75c fare. The city is big enough that it is never necessary to go to a larger city for anything. I chose a location where I am less than a mile from a supermarket, library, and hospital., and I can take the bus to any other necessary shopping. It's a very walkable city without any geographical obstructions or freeways. Housing ie easily affordable, because it not in a major metro area. If I ever needed anything in a big city, there are 6 Greyhound busses a day to Houston, three hours away.
I would think just about any city of about this size would be very easy to live in without a car, although one with steep hills or snowy winters might be tiresome.
Depending on which neighborhood you live in, you can survive without a car in Los Angeles. Westwood (UCLA) and Santa Monica all have amenities within walking distance. Also, Santa Monica has the Big Blue Bus, which is a very cheap and reliable way to get around the west side of Los Angeles if need be.
Many cities in the Northeast are cities where it's plausible to go carless. Hartford, Providence, Syracuse, Albany, and Wilmington are all possibilities.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles.With regards to transportation in Los Angeles.It sucks....you do need a car.Even if you live in the "center" of town such as Santa Monica/Westwood there is still the problem of getting around town easily.
For example,I lived in Marina Del Rey and visited friends(and worked there) in Burbank/Hollywood area.The bus ride alone took close to 2 hours one way!
Forget taking it on the weekend.The service is even worse.Although,if you lived and worked in Santa Monica then you are okay but it can be very pricey.Most one bedrooms will run you about $1200 a month.
Sorry to be such a sourpuss about the transportation issue but it is an "issue".
Here is some more food for thought.Apparently the taxpayers of this state decided to veto funds for adding reliable transportation for years...but decided to pass it about 1-2 years ago for light rail systems.
Sounds great huh?!
The problem is they added these "wonderful" systems to the areas waaaaaaaaayyyyy out of town .If you live on the westside(Santa Monica,Marina Del Rey,Venice,Westwood) you would have to travel to Downtown Los Angeles(not so great) or some other remote part of the city to get to the rail systems itself.
This is time consuming and ridiculous.
You need a car to live in Los Angeles.Many things(such as places of interest) are an average of 11/2-2 hours away.
What good was it to us?...None.
Glad we took the high road and cleared out of there a few months ago.
On the other hand,Northern California has the Muni and Bart systems that can't be beat.
So rethink Southern,Ca. and go with Northern,Ca.You will not be disappointed.
The problem is they added these "wonderful" systems to the areas waaaaaaaaayyyyy out of town .If you live on the westside(Santa Monica,Marina Del Rey,Venice,Westwood) you would have to travel to Downtown Los Angeles(not so great) or some other remote part of the city to get to the rail systems itself. This is time consuming and ridiculous.
You need a car to live in Los Angeles.Many things(such as places of interest) are an average of 11/2-2 hours away.
Ummm.. this is a very "westside" view of things and the westside is not the center of the universe. More people and more dense neighborhoods that are likely to use public transit exist in areas like downtown, Hollywood, Koreatown, Wilshire, etc... eventually the subway will reach Santa Monica and the Expo Light Rail line is just 4 years away from there and will be in Culver City by the end of the year. Perhaps YOU live in the remote part of the city since your population is so much lower than other regions.
L.A.'s transit needs a lot of work, but I just thought it was funny how you said places like "Downtown" are "waaaaayyyyyy out of town" like its in the middle of nowhere.
Westside of L.A. (Santa Monica, Marina del Rey, Venice, Westwood, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, etc.....): Population 530,000
Central L.A. (Hollywood, Downtown, Mid-Wilshire, Fairfax, Westlake, Echo Park, etc....): Population 838,000
South L.A. (West Adams, Hyde Park, Manchester Square, Florence, Willowbrook, etc....): Population 750,000
and the list goes on and on.
The Westside is one part of L.A. and soon you will have some of the best rail in the city. The world doesn't revolve around West L.A. though.
Just as far as bicycling is concerned, the university town of Davis, Calif (near Sacramento) is arguably the most bicycling-oriented in the USA. Huge bike paths and bike lanes everywhere. Portland and Salem, Oregon are not far behind. The university town, Gainesville, Florida is similar.
Scroll down to about 30 threads below this one, the thread that's titled "Most Bicycle-Friendly Cities" and then go to response #23 to that thread and it lists all the top ones in order according to a scientific analysis.
I live in Victoria, Texas (70,000) just fine without a car, the bus system here is really good. As an added bonus, it's very flat, so you can ride a bike easily anywhere, with uninterrupted street grids, so you can go from any A to B without cycling on any arterial streets, just using the back residential streets.
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