Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hey CD. I found out on Friday at my eye doctor that due to my debilitating glaucoma that has left me legally blind in my right eye, I can't drive. I'm getting ready to go to college and due to my condition, I want to go to school in a city that is very walkable and has a good rapid transit system. 9ne that comes to mind is New York, Chicago (although I'm a little worried because of the crime rate there) Philadelphia, etc. Do you guys have any ideas of the best cities for what I'm looking for?
You can find many threads about this with a quick search in these forums on transit, walkability, carless living, etc.
The Big Six are NYC, Boston, Philly, DC, Chicago and San Fran, but you could easily "get by" living carless in a number of other cities. The thing is, since you're heading off to college, honestly many college towns would work as well. Big college towns usually have a good bus system (at least for student commute patterns), and they're usually fairly walkable in the areas around campus. Plus plenty of college kids don't have cars so it's not like you'll be the odd one needing to ride a bike or ask friends for rides on occasion.
Hey CD. I found out on Friday at my eye doctor that due to my debilitating glaucoma that has left me legally blind in my right eye, I can't drive. I'm getting ready to go to college and due to my condition, I want to go to school in a city that is very walkable and has a good rapid transit system. 9ne that comes to mind is New York, Chicago (although I'm a little worried because of the crime rate there) Philadelphia, etc. Do you guys have any ideas of the best cities for what I'm looking for?
There's also DC, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles (walkability is actually pretty good if you're in the right area and its public transit is surprisingly well-covered), Portland, and Seattle.
I think almost any college town in america is going to be very safe and have very good mass transit, even medium size cities like richmond and colleges like vcu should be easy to find bohemian neighborhoods where you can live without a car. If you are attending a college in a large city, you have to be really careful which neighborhood you live in, georgetown, nyu, ucla, usc, are just very small parts of DC, New York and LA.
I would think about a college town like chapel hill,madison, charlottesville, boulder ,corvallis and some places like that, where college is the main focus of the town, it seems to me every college would expect the majority if its first and second year students will not have cars and probably all have excellent bus systems. I would not have gone through the hassle of owning a car in gainesville when I was a freshman or sophomore living on campus as its was to expensive to find parking for it and I didnt need it.
Austin is another very hip place with a very good job market ,from what i read at least, where you should be able to navigate very easily without a car if you are attending UT and live near campus
Last edited by floridanative10; 09-06-2015 at 06:46 PM..
As a general rule, the older the city, the more walkability it has. Cities that developed before the car were walkable by necessity. East Coast cities, Great Lakes cities (excluding Detroit), a few Southern and a few West Coast cities fit the bill.
NYC is the only U.S. city where walkability/transit orientation is the norm, not the exception. Every other city is pretty much dominated by car ownership.
That said, you can get around by transit/walking in most older U.S. cities, or in most any college town.
It really depends on what counts as "walking distance" for you. For some, that might be two blocks, while for others that might mean two miles. How do you feel about bikes? Would you mind carrying back groceries in the snow? How often would you be able to splurge on a cab?
"Walkable" means something different for everyone, and I'd need more information before making a good recommendation.
But generally, you could easily live a car-less lifestyle in most American cities if you live close to the urban core.
Hey CD. I found out on Friday at my eye doctor that due to my debilitating glaucoma that has left me legally blind in my right eye, I can't drive. I'm getting ready to go to college and due to my condition, I want to go to school in a city that is very walkable and has a good rapid transit system. 9ne that comes to mind is New York, Chicago (although I'm a little worried because of the crime rate there) Philadelphia, etc. Do you guys have any ideas of the best cities for what I'm looking for?
I would recommend smaller college towns with an urban vibe (good walkability and transit accessibility). Off the top of my head bearing in mind also reasonable acceptance rates of varying schools I would recommend places like Athens GA (University of Georgia), Bloomington IN (Indiana U), Champaign IL (university of Illinois), Iowa City IA (University of Iowa), Eugene OR (U of Oregon), Corvallis OR (Oregon State U), Ft Collins CO (Colorado State U) or Boulder CO (U of Colorado).
I lived in Portland, Or for a number of years and walked all over. Or I walked to the train or bus stops and used the transit. I did very little driving in Portland, and lots and lots of walking.
Just wanted to mention that the crime rate in Chicago is overblown.
Chicago is actually one of the safest big cities in the country and is never in the "Most Dangerous" lists anymore due to their pretty low crime rate.
Crime happens there primarily in specific neighborhoods. Pick a good neighborhood and you'll be fine.
Chicago is also much cheaper than a lot of big cities and has some great universities.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
