Living with no car

[Alewife]

This conversation is absurd. You need a grocer a few blocks away, a Wal-Mart or Target will do. You move near the office. You can live for the extent of the job like that. A bus stop gets you to DART rail. That's not even biking.

What's with all this Uber.

[Sunbather]

Originally Posted by Alewife

This conversation is absurd. You need a grocer a few blocks away, a Wal-Mart or Target will do. You move near the office. You can live for the extent of the job like that. A bus stop gets you to DART rail. That's not even biking.

What's with all this Uber.

When I want to get from the M Streets to Oak Cliff for an evening event, I'm not going to bother taking a bus, DART isn't greatly connected down there, and - while I bike to Oak Cliff now and then on weekend days when I have more time - I'm not wanting to bike 15-20 miles round trip for a social event. In that case, I'm taking a 15 minute Uber.

Additionally, public transit stops early in Dallas. I'll take DART to Deep Ellum, but it's not running when I'm on my way home at 2am. Once again, Uber works great here.

Uber still has a place in living a 'car-less' life in Dallas. It fills in the gaps and it works for times when you dont want to spend / dont have the extra time for a bike or bus.

[HP48G]

Originally Posted by Alewife

This conversation is absurd. You need a grocer a few blocks away, a Wal-Mart or Target will do. You move near the office. You can live for the extent of the job like that. A bus stop gets you to DART rail. That's not even biking.

What's with all this Uber.

the criteria rules out vast areas of the metroplex for the OP.

DFW is not NYC where you have a tiny bodega in the every corner to buy stuff daily.

"a few blocks" in DFW can be 1-2+ miles, carrying bags in the summer or winter or rain in areas with no sidewalk, crossing high speed roads.

Most -if not all - of the WalMart/Target/Kroger etc are built in areas with maximum car traffic and high speed road access. Very few places in dallas will be convenient for walking to a grocery store on a weekly or daily basis. (with no car, you can't carry more than 2 bags of groceries perhaps)

At least theres UBER and online delivery. but you'll have to pay for the convenience

[badgers54]

There are multiple posts saying things along the lines of "you will probably just have to bite the bullet and get a car." The way the OP phrased it in his original post "PS: I don’t drive, so please no zipcar suggestions" suggested to me that he doesn't drive because of some sort of disability.

I then pulled up his other posts and in a couple of his other posts, he was more explicit about being visually impaired and that is why he does not drive.

I don't think there are many "warm" cities that are not extremely car-oriented, even if it is technically possible to live there without a car. Does anyone care to disagree with that?

[RoamingTX]

Originally Posted by Alewife

This conversation is absurd. You need a grocer a few blocks away, a Wal-Mart or Target will do. You move near the office. You can live for the extent of the job like that. A bus stop gets you to DART rail. That's not even biking.

What's with all this Uber.

Life. That’s what’s with all the uber. While you may be content to rot behind your keyboard and monitors pumping your maga crap. Not everyone is.

The OP is long gone anyway. He’s been posting the same garbage for 6 months. Probably to activate the other fake profiles on this thread.

Y’all got played.

[DTXman34]

Originally Posted by turf3

Sure, it's possible to live without a car even in a car-centered city. Blind people, people with uncontrolled epilepsy, people who have lost their license do it. But it is going to be a huge pain. And I would not suggest that a college senior looking for a first job out of the chute place a limitation that it must be near public transport, not in a city like Dallas where there is little of it. That rules out entire huge swaths of the city just because it's not practical to walk multiple miles in the summer heat (to a professional job where you need not to come to work covered in sweat). Don't forget, too, that besides the heat there are also the torrential rainstorms where you could come to work looking like you just went for a swim in all your clothes. It's also not real pleasant to walk three miles from the train or bus stop when it's 33 degrees, drizzling, and windy.

Have you considered how much it's going to cost to have everything delivered, too?

If you truly want to live without a car, you will find it a lot easier in the cities on the East coast where they have well developed public transport. If you want to live in Texas with a professional job and a middle class lifestyle, your life will be much better if you just bite the bullet and get a car.

There's obvious practical reasons why car-free living in Dallas isn't the most ideal, but weather is a LAME excuse. Minneapolis & Chicago are freezing cold in the winter, yet they do fine. Rock salt on your pants isn't pretty either. Many northern cities also have to deal with a higher frequency of rain, snow, and ice than here, so your weather "elements" excuse is poor.

Chicago = 124 rainy days, 28 snowy days (>0.1 in); total of 152 wet days
Dallas = 81 rainy days, 1 snowy day (>0.1 inc); total of 82 wet days

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago#Climate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas#Climate

Minneapolis winter highs are in the 20s Dec-Feb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis#Climate

Seattle is practically a drizzly, water sprinkler most of winter. New Orleans, a sauna most of summer, does fine. While summer heat complaints are legit, it should encourage even shorter walking distances (aka more density) and more shade. Not an excuse to live in your car and continue to build things further and further apart.

[pharpe]

I live in Lakewood and my office is off Henderson. I bike to work or bike to the DART and go to uptown/downtown when the weather is nice. I've tried the bus but it sucks. It's very slow. With some very good planning and luck you could get to about 90% carless in Dallas. However, that last 10% will be really painful.

I'll sum up. It is "possible". It most likely will be not be very enjoyable. You will be extremely restricted on job and housing options. You will spend many unconformable days walking or biking for miles in 105 degree heat, 30 cold or rain. You will be very limited on what you can do. You will spend a ridiculous amount of your income on food delivery and shared rides. You will annoy all of your new friends because you will always be the one that "needs to get picked up".

It comes down to if you are satisfied with simple existing or is happiness a factor?

[NawfalKulam]

Originally Posted by RoamingTX

Life. That’s what’s with all the uber. While you may be content to rot behind your keyboard and monitors pumping your maga crap. Not everyone is.

The OP is long gone anyway. He’s been posting the same garbage for 6 months. Probably to activate the other fake profiles on this thread.

Y’all got played.

Nope, OP is still here. No fake threads. I ask the same question over and over again so other people can respond. I just want as many answers as I can get.