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Great responses, everyone. This thread has really taken on a life of it's own. I appreciate everyone's input.
Re: Boston, I was there for a week last summer & felt the train system was excellent. I had no car, and was able to walk to the train from my hotel, and took it all over the city -, i.e. Boston Commons, museums, the beach, etc.
London & Paris have superb subway systems, and you can literally go anywhere in the city on them. I was in each city a couple of years ago, and really enjoyed being able to easily get around there.
Re: NYC, haven't spent much time there but based on what I do remember & other's experiences, that may have the best mass transit of any city in the U.S. I think I may take my vacation there next year...
Note, I also understand that the cities where mass transit is great the cost of living is expensive - this would especially hold true if you wanted to live somewhere especially close to mass transit (i.e., within walking distance).
Also note: I don't think mass transit is necessarily slower than driving. It all depends. If you're taking a train, that's typically faster than a car. If you're taking a bus which has to deal with traffic patterns, that may be slower than a car. I have sat in my car for hours because of traffic jams. I can say that I've never gotten into a traffic jam on a train, though I have ridden trains that have had other problems.
Last edited by The Big Lebowski Dude; 07-09-2015 at 11:06 AM..
I live in the polar opposite, Jacksonville Fl. If you dont have a car here you are 100% screwed. Even the buses suck here and we have no other public transport. When its 100 degrees and 90% humidity.....
I've been living in Miami Beach without owning a car for a year and 3 months now. There is no rail system on Miami Beach, but busses are frequent enough for most of the day, especially the local circulator route and the trolleys, and if you can stay on the Beach the distances are not very far. You can walk the entirety of South Beach or North Beach in under 45 minutes, though there's quite a distance between those two neighbourhoods. Even going to downtown or midtown Miami on the mainland is not *that* bad (EXCEPT during events in winter and spring). Plus the shorter distances are ideal for biking, and drivers on the Beach are generally more respectful towards cyclists than on the mainland. We have bike share too. The most people getting around on bikes in the State, in fact. Brickell and downtown have better public transportation (Metrorail "El" train, elevated people mover, and trolley busses), but the rents are higher (yep...even higher than the Beach!), and it is not as easy or safe for walking and biking. I do have a Car2go and Zipcar memberships, which I mostly use it to go to the suburbs for Asian groceries and as a backup for later in the evening when the busses are less frequent. Whether it would be practical for you depends mainly on your job location and patience level (well, that and your tolerance for the heat and humidity in summer). It takes me a little over an hour to get to work, as I have the unfortunate commute of a bus to the train to another (somewhat less reliable...) bus which goes to another barrier island (it's 3 miles as the bird flies, but 11 miles because of two causeway crossings).
I was going to suggest the DC area. It is expensive, although all of the mentioned areas are expensive.
I lived in MPLS and while doable, it would depend on your circumstances. I lived in uptown, which was great in terms of walking everywhere I wanted to be including the grocery store, work was still an issue. To really make the bus system work for me, I would have had to work downtown.
I live right next to downtown, so it's pretty easy. There are a couple new grocery stores, many restaurants, and light rail to the airport and MOA. Plus very good bike infrastructure.
I've been living in Miami Beach without owning a car for a year and 3 months now. There is no rail system on Miami Beach, but busses are frequent enough for most of the day, especially the local circulator route and the trolleys, and if you can stay on the Beach the distances are not very far. You can walk the entirety of South Beach or North Beach in under 45 minutes, though there's quite a distance between those two neighbourhoods. Even going to downtown or midtown Miami on the mainland is not *that* bad (EXCEPT during events in winter and spring). Plus the shorter distances are ideal for biking, and drivers on the Beach are generally more respectful towards cyclists than on the mainland. We have bike share too. The most people getting around on bikes in the State, in fact. Brickell and downtown have better public transportation (Metrorail "El" train, elevated people mover, and trolley busses), but the rents are higher (yep...even higher than the Beach!), and it is not as easy or safe for walking and biking. I do have a Car2go and Zipcar memberships, which I mostly use it to go to the suburbs for Asian groceries and as a backup for later in the evening when the busses are less frequent. Whether it would be practical for you depends mainly on your job location and patience level (well, that and your tolerance for the heat and humidity in summer). It takes me a little over an hour to get to work, as I have the unfortunate commute of a bus to the train to another (somewhat less reliable...) bus which goes to another barrier island (it's 3 miles as the bird flies, but 11 miles because of two causeway crossings).
I second your comments on Miami Beach (grew up there as a child & we never owned a car). Also downtown Miami & the Brickell district is joined by the heavy rail Metrorail system which now connects to the Airport also, the elevated PeopleMover and the bus / trolley system is very good in Miami proper into the Edgewater / Omni Arts /Wynwood & Design districts as well as Little Havana.
Miami has a very high WalkScore for a city in the South.
I think you (the OP) are looking at this from the wrong angle. Try a SMALL town, under 500 people or so. EVERYTHING is within walking distance, the grocery, the post office, the library, the Dollar General store (where you can probably find a job), the bar, and even the gas station to buy gas to mow your lawn. No need to worry about transit strikes or missing your train.
I was thinking the same thing. Lots of small towns nowadays depend on your ability to drive to Wal-Mart for everything, but there are also plenty still with walkable downtowns.
Aside from that, I think the answer to the OP's question might depend on "literally". You can certainly live in St. Louis without a car, if you're willing to be picky about where you live and work. If you can keep your main destinations on the built-up central corridor around the light rail, you're golden, and WeCar/buses/cabs can fill in the gaps when you venture out of your typical schedule. But your options are certainly much more constrained than NYC where you're limited to "anywhere in Manhattan and parts of the other boroughs".
Of course, that one apartment that's within walking distance of your work in St. Louis is probably 1/3 the cost of your NYC apartment that twelve train stops from work, so who knows. (And not just StL, other mid-size metros are probably similar.)
I live in Oakland CA and I rarely use my car. I have other friends who live in Oakland and Berkeley and do not drive at all (no license).
In most larger metro areas, it is quite possible to have a walkable/transit-able existence if you can make your job location work out.
I have worked at many jobs in all sorts of parts in the Bay Area. Some parts you need to drive to, other parts you don't. Right now I only use my car when I need to go far. I added a bike to my stable and use that for the local trips I used to drive to. My job is transit accessible, and I even do the Target errands on my way home.
I have about 6 or so grocery stores within about 2 miles. I ride my bike to groceries just because it is easier to carry more stuff, but there is a close one in a 10 minute walk. There is a similar number of pharmacies in walking distance. The major medical center with doctors/dentist/labs are all in a 10 minutes walk. Mine is outside of the major medical center, but is still within 10 minutes.
I've got 4 "main streets" in the 2 mile radius, and all have typical stuff: banks, restaurants, coffee shops, neighborhood serving retail. The closest main street is a 10 minute walk. Going car free is easy if daily necessities are close.
I use my bike to get to places in the 3-5 mile radius that are not well-served by frequent transit. It opened up more stuff that I used to drive to.
My other car free friends only walk/transit. None have a bike.
Mostly poor people ride the bus in Houston for their daily getting around. yes people ride the bus to work but most still have a car. good luck getting around without a car here.
1) Being within walking distance of public transportation (preferably a train line, not a bus line) to take me to work.
2) Being within walking distance of a grocery store - this would need to be close enough to where I live so I could take food home without having to go a long distance (a lot of this is because I buy a lot of frozen food, etc.)
I was thinking that perhaps the older metro systems would be more likely to have well established shops that have grown around the suburban train stations so it might be worth checking out the cities with older systems:
What about Philadelphia? Btw I'm not American so I know nothing about the set out of cities but just wondered what Philadelphian suburbs near train stations were like because it seems to have an older metro system.
London & Paris have superb subway systems, and you can literally go anywhere in the city on them. I was in each city a couple of years ago, and really enjoyed being able to easily get around there.
I lived in the UK when I was younger and I think there are a lot of places in the UK where one could live without having a car. A lot of cities and towns have great shopping areas around their major train line.
Also, even if one does get rid of their car, if one really needed to go somewhere that needed a car (eg to another distant town not on a railway or bus line), then one can hire a car for those trips. Living without a car doesn't have to mean never driving again (unless one doesn't have a licence or has medical reasons).
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