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If you live in a major city, I think the question to start asking yourself is "America WITH a car...how long can I last?"
For me, living in the city without a car is so much easier. No trips to the mechanic, no insurance payments, gas bills, breakdowns, etc! There certainly are times when you do need a car, so I just use a car sharing membership (Zipcar) and they are in almost every major city in the U.S. now. Do the math and it is much cheaper to live this way--plus, cutting out the car bills makes it much easier to afford to live near a subway station!
There are so many American metro areas that have nothing to speak of for pubic transit. They show no effort to having any, and quite frankly the people that live there can't be to interested in it, or something would have been done. There are so many people in this country that cannot pay these gas prices, food prices etc. what are they going to do? I think in these hard times that are going to get worse this should happen. Any large metro area that does not put into operation at least an efficient bus system as their public transit should lose Federal Transportation Funds. Trying to find a place to reside in the USA based on which one has public transit is so limited, its a joke. For one thing those that have efficient transit are completely unaffordable like Boston. The warning signs were so clear in the 70's when gas was actually rationed, and nothing was done, obviously nothing was learned either. I can't honestly feel sorry for the general population or the politicians that allowed this to happen. There is no excuse for big metro areas like San Antonio and Phoenix, and Atlanta the list goes on and on, to be this car dependent.
I live in the southern california megalopolis, but get by without using a car monday thru friday year round. I bicycle commute every day, a round trip of about 25 miles on the suburban streets. Nearly all of the main arteries in my area have good bicycle lanes, and the car traffic on the routes I take is fairly light. Weather year round is mild, and on the few days per year it might be simply unsafe to be out pedaling around, I can hop a bus and get to work in about 20 minutes for $1.25. I've been doing this for many years, and I really prefer this over driving a car to work.
Most retail stores I need are within half a mile of where I live, so I can walk to those places to get most things. On weekends I dust my car off and take it out of the garage and make a shopping loop to a few places that are not nearby. Or, the car is used for an occasional weekend trip to escape from the megalopolis and visit a less crowded area in the mountains, coastline or desert. My transportation mode is not "car free", but it probably fits the definition of "car-lite".
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