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It's easy to park in the many decks and lots downtown, but I usually snag a place on Henderson Street. At any rate it's an easy, level, bike ride or walk from Carrboro (preferably inside 54) to downtown Carrboro and downtown Chapel Hill. I used to bike it way back in the day when I was a student. Walking up the hills isn't too hard, but I hate to bike up them. I'm a lazy cyclist.
It's easy to park in the many decks and lots downtown, but I usually snag a place on Henderson Street. At any rate it's an easy, level, bike ride or walk from Carrboro (preferably inside 54) to downtown Carrboro and downtown Chapel Hill. I used to bike it way back in the day when I was a student. Walking up the hills isn't too hard, but I hate to bike up them. I'm a lazy cyclist.
Turtle Lot? Oh, by the PNC bank? Gotcha. Yeah that's a good spot. I actually rarely have a problem parking on Franklin St. I usually park up there every two or three weeks and just circle the block once before I find my spot like an old dog lying down for a nap. We walk up the hill to Franklin, too. This would be a great quiet weekend for it.
Turtle Lot? Oh, by the PNC bank? Gotcha. Yeah that's a good spot. I actually rarely have a problem parking on Franklin St. I usually park up there every two or three weeks and just circle the block once before I find my spot like an old dog lying down for a nap. We walk up the hill to Franklin, too. This would be a great quiet weekend for it.
I'm morally opposed to paying for parking in Chapel Hill. I always find the free lots. Before they tore down U-Square that was my go to . On-street parking on Franklin is something I don't like to deal with so if the free lots are full I'll go to one of the rosemary parking garages. If you stay late enough (past 11 I think) they are actually free too!
European who spent several years in Chapel Hill without a car here. It's fine on a day to day basis, but over time the little annoyances start to mount up. This being the USA and not New York or Chicago, a lot of the best restaurants, for example, are in areas where there is simply no public transportation. And Chapel Hill rejects big box stores, which are mostly strung out along the highway between CH and Durham, with no easy means to reach them. Same for things like the movies and clothes shopping.
I found myself borrowing friends cars more and more, until it reached the point where I bought one. It can be done, especially if you live near a car club car (one you can rent by the hour), and the financial savings are real, but don't underestimate the inconvenience. Just a little example: the main ABC (liquor) store in Carrboro is in an out-of-town shopping area, which is not easy to reach without a car unless you happen to live along one particular bus route.
The ABC store in Carrboro Plaza CHwboy? That doesn't strike me as particularly hard to get to at all w/o a car. I'm more of a beer person myself, but I don't think that would be very hard to walk to or catch the bus to, especially if you lived in some of the areas I mentioned like Fidelity Street.
MurrayOlive another older complex you might look at is the Chateau on Poplar Ave in Carrboro. I like that it's on the inside of 54. Poplar is pretty flat and easy to ride bikes on, close to the farmer's market and Weaver Street co-op. Also very close to that shopping center where the ABC store is which has a Dollar General, Food Lion Grocery, Asian Grocery, Sushi, Panaderia, Latin Credit Union, a Bath and Lighting Home Store, and a bunch of other stuff.
As a pedestrian and bus-rider, I have to say the most annoying thing about Chapel Hill is the lack of sidewalks, even in places where it would make sense to have them. It makes getting anywhere much more difficult than it needs to be and I have to completely agree with everything that CHwboy mentioned. The bus routes ARE limited and if you don't live on exactly the right one, it can be hard to get to where you need to be, and going to other cities...you can almost fuggetaboutit.
I may have mentioned this once before, but I currently live in St. Petersburg, FL: it's REALLY spread out here (quite a bit larger than Chapel Hill area), HOT HOT HOT for 7 months out of the year, VERY high-traffic and just a miserable place to be without a car. Closest city (Tampa) is an hour and 15 minutes by bus.
I know that living carless has it's challenges no matter where you live, but Chapel Hill without a car has to be easier than St. Petersburg...and that's what I am looking for, really.
My life-style is super simple: I don't drink (so not having access to ABC is OK ), am quite a homebody, and really require access to simple amenities: work, food shopping, farmer's market, vet/dog park/walking trails for my dogs, library.
My idea of a night out is an occasional show at a club (Cat's Cradle?), movie or dinner...and I do like coffee shops and art galleries (FRANK?).
For times when I do need wheels to places where bus does not go: Uber/cab/ride sharing/renting a car are all options, yes?
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), am quite a homebody, and really require access to simple amenities: work, food shopping, farmer's market, vet/dog park/walking trails for my dogs, library. 
