If you are car-free, where do you live? - Page 4

[scrapadoozer]

Originally Posted by shayinme

Where I live now we only have 1 car and my fear/dislike of driving holds me back but with my youngest now entering school, I see the pressure ramping up to drive. Its hard to manage play dates or anything because things are just so spread out. What bus service we have is not terribly and actually pretty costly, to get into the city here is $10 Rt on the bus, yes $10. So from a cost perspective its not a good deal at all, which bugs me.

My dd is 6 now and the fact that I can't drive is becoming a real issue. If my DH, my brother, or friends can't drive us, we can't go. My daughter is missing out on playdates, potlucks, educational experiences and more due to my phobia. I feel like a liability when someone has to take away from their day to cart us around. I sometimes dearly wish I lived in a big city so it wasn't such an issue. I want to get my driver's permit before Father's Day so it can be my present to DH. He is such a prince for picking up my slack in this department. Shay, I SOOO feel your pain!

[thehappydeer]

We have been car free in Boulder CO, and Olympia WA. Boulder was great, super amazing transportation, and a lot of sunny days. It does snow, but its a dry snow usually and more easy to maneuver, I remember even riding our bikes in the snow without too much trouble, but this was before we had kids. There are a lot of bike and walking trails there that make for a great car free community. Olympia was harder with all the rain, but we just got good rain gear boots and water proof bags and made friends with the many types of precipitation you can come to know.

[leilay]

We were car-free in Ames, Iowa. When we moved to Minneapolis, everything was so spread out that we felt we needed a vehicle each to head different directions.

[lemonapple]

We are currently car-free in Berkeley, CA. The transportation system here is absolutely stunning and cheap. I have no desire for a car here..even on the rainy days!

We also lived car-free in San Juan, PR which sucked pretty hard core. The transportation system there is awful...there's just no telling when a bus is going to come, and they don't have a very far extension outside of the immediate city. Taxis were fairly cheap though.

[darling_deedee]

Hello!

I'm car-free in a town of 75,000 ppl outside of Vancouver, BC. The population count is misleading because we have miles and miles of farm land that they include in that total, plus the fact that my town is split into quarters. There is a really terrible bus system in place but I opt to walk. Because the town is in quarters, just about everything I need (bank, groceries, doctor, etc) are all well within walking distance.

If I desperately need to go to one of the other quarters I'm usually already going with someone who has a car. If not, I'll sometimes call up my mom/dad/sister and see if one of them is available to take me since they have vehicles.

I enjoy the money I save by being car-free (plus they don't let people with random seizures, like me, drive. teehee).

-Deedee

[CarsonBookworm]

We live in Northern Nevada car and license free, in a city of 50k that has reasonable inter-county public transportation....but horrific local public transportation. It is hard on us, but...we carry on.

[changes]

In what way do you experience trouble/challenge regarding driving through SPD if I may ask? I'm genuinely curious, because I belong in this tribe too, and I am not so sure why (even just) being in a car makes me so uncomfortable, or at I least havn't figured out every reason behind this.

 

Originally Posted by WindyCityMom 

Well, I don't drive, don't know how, and don't care to learn how (and have attempted). I've got SPD and man is it a challenge in itself!
 

[juniper_mama]

I'm a US expat in Canberra, Australia and it's a great place to be car-free!  Especially if you're willing to bike - great network of bicycle paths.  Public transport okay from my experience but haven't had to rely on it too much.  Going on five years without a car here (now with 14 month old DS).

[habitat]

Car-Free in Jamaica Plain. That's Boston, MA and TTC in January 2012. I hope to be car free forever. I do a lot of at-home work as well as nannying part-time around the corner from me. Baby and I walk to nearby grocery, bank, etc. I absolutely love it. I cycle a lot (without baby) to get around the city, but when I'm staying in the neighborhood, I walk. I can also take the commuter rail to my mom's area.

[The Imp and I]

Im in the scared to drive catagory. I can drive (or should that be could) and did when neccesary in England but once i moved to Texas I would only drive on the dirt roads where we lived in the boonies. Now that we live in San Antonio Im terrified. i get upset even as a passenger! This has been incredibly isolating as the sidewalks end abruptly the drivers have never heard of pedestrians and the distance between average house and grocery store is monstrous. oh and the bus is beyond sucky! I was majority car free in Bristol England because it was easier to walk/bus/train than drive... Now we're trapped from the time DH goes to work to when he comes home. He's bee a rock and does anything he can for me. We're moving to a better walkscore...69 from 0 and I think Im going to do something about my phobia. Now If I could just get people to quit trying to kill me on the cross walk when they turn right on red at 60mph. seriously.... its like they thought that traffic rule up to reduce the walking population!

[TracyGladRags]

I live in Portland, OR and am car-free!  I don't have a driver's license (partly 'cause I'm scared, and partly 'cause I've never really needed one).  I bike, bus, or walk most places.  We have ZipCar here, and my boyfriend has an account so occasionally we use that -- for trips out of town, or when we moved and needed to buy some furniture.  It's definitely easy to be car-free here.

[itsybistyspider]

expat family in Denmark. LIving in Copenhagen for 2 years, gave up our car (left it in USA) 

We have a trailer to tote our 2.5 year old around in, i love it, she likes her space. Just wish it was warmer.....

[gingerandpickles]

We were car free living in Capitol Hill DC. It is a great place to be with kids and to be without a car. Outside of the city, there are lots of granola types and walkable neighborhoods in Takoma Park, MD

[philomom]

I'm not car free but wanted to chime in that a lot of folks in Portland, Oregon are.

[melodyka]

I have a friend that is casting for a new show to highlight people that are eco-friendly- car-free would be a great fit! if you are interested, please contact Sara at [e-mail].

Must be contacted by Friday afternoon March 18th

[melodyka]

deleted post