Can you live without a car where you are?

[digitalwanderer]

We've been having some vehicle issues lately and have went from a 3 car family to a 1 car family temporarily for too damn often and too damned long lately. I know it sounds dumb to a lot of people who live somewhere with public transportation and mass transit to hear someone say they can't live without a car, but when you're 5 miles from anywhere with no transportation it's a different story! I'm going more than a bit stir crazy in the house lately as I've been on an exercise/get in shape and start going out again kick...but this car thing is just freaking busting my nuts. Everything is suddenly a pain in the ass/big deal to do. My son has some new glasses ready at the optometrist, but it's a 14 mile round trip walk on narrow country roads with no sidewalks and people driving 40-75 mph. Grateful as hell for cheap supermarket delivery in my area as I can't get to the shops, but I prefer to do my own shopping. To make matters more interesting my wife's hours changed so she's working shorter shifts but more days, and since her store is short handed she's basically working 6 days a week and on her day off usually has medical appointments. I'm seriously thinking of taking a stab at bring the Cabrio back to life, but I need to get either a new battery or some actual jumper cables just to turn her over to find where all the water dumped out of.

<sigh>

Nothing important, just a rant that's been building up since Sept last year probably. Just checked the dealer on the Renegade and the part that was supposed to be in today wasn't on the truck and I talked to Jay about the Wrangler and he just got the block back from being remilled and is heading out tomorrow for a Jeep adventure until Monday so we probably won't see the big jeep any time soon either. BOTHER!

 

[homerdog]

We've been having some vehicle issues lately and have went from a 3 car family to a 1 car family temporarily for too damn often and too damned long lately. I know it sounds dumb to a lot of people who live somewhere with public transportation and mass transit to hear someone say they can't live without a car, but when you're 5 miles from anywhere with no transportation it's a different story! I'm going more than a bit stir crazy in the house lately as I've been on an exercise/get in shape and start going out again kick...but this car thing is just freaking busting my nuts. Everything is suddenly a pain in the ass/big deal to do. My son has some new glasses ready at the optometrist, but it's a 14 mile round trip walk on narrow country roads with no sidewalks and people driving 40-75 mph. Grateful as hell for cheap supermarket delivery in my area as I can't get to the shops, but I prefer to do my own shopping. To make matters more interesting my wife's hours changed so she's working shorter shifts but more days, and since her store is short handed she's basically working 6 days a week and on her day off usually has medical appointments. I'm seriously thinking of taking a stab at bring the Cabrio back to life, but I need to get either a new battery or some actual jumper cables just to turn her over to find where all the water dumped out of.

<sigh>

Nothing important, just a rant that's been building up since Sept last year probably. Just checked the dealer on the Renegade and the part that was supposed to be in today wasn't on the truck and I talked to Jay about the Wrangler and he just got the block back from being remilled and is heading out tomorrow for a Jeep adventure until Monday so we probably won't see the big jeep any time soon either. BOTHER!

Not possible where I live. When I was in rehab I had to walk everywhere before I got a bike. When it's 95°F and the humidity is described as "oppressive" you can't even realistically make a 1 mile walk and not expect to be out of commission, completely drenched in sweat when you arrive at your destination. I tried it once and half way there I started getting genuinely worried. The guy who eventually picked me up had to drape a towel over his seat before I got in.

Also Uber or other services are not always available here when you need them. Gotta have a car. But let's be honest if you live in South Carolina you probably have a truck.

 

[orangpelupa]

Me, possible.

But that would mean

1. I would need to rely on my electric bicycle and keep an eye on it like a hawk to make sure it doesn't get stolen when I'm out to grab something (I wonder whether I can set my electric bicycle to stay on, on max power... So anyone stealing it would instantly crash into something...)

2. I would need to use public transportation that's a PITA. Bus stops that's dirty, unmaintained, and super hot.... Bus that are dirty... Bus route that can be confusing

 

[pcchen]

Currently I live in a big city with a quite extensive public transit system so I don’t have a car right now. It’s difficult to find parking spaces anyway.

However, in my hometown (where my parents and my sisters live) a car (or a motorcycle) is necessary.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Necessary? No. Nice to have? Certainly. Once you get out of the big cities and surrounding suburbs public transport quickly becomes a bit of a pain. I don't really need one and I don't even drive 5000km a year but I like cars so I got one anyway. Cruising around in my 86 and disgracing myself everytime I try to crawl out of it lol.

 

[Mariner]

I live about three quarters of a mile from my office. Both kids will be at school after the summer and that is about a quarter of a mile from home. Youngest currently goes to nursery about 1.5 miles away.

Could probably live without a car to some degree, but public transport around here is so dismal that it would be a dull existence as we'd never be able to go anywhere outside of town (or in much of the town, for that matter). That said, we only live about half a mile from the beach, but there isn't much else to do around here. The beach is an attraction for the few months of the year that the weather is OK! Would be reliant on shopping being delivered unless we got taxis to and from the supermarket.

My wife teaches at a school about 2 miles away but needs to take heavy stuff to and fro (books and so on) so really needs a car. I think we could probably get by with just the one car in the future. Perhaps two cars with one being a small, short-range electric job? I'd then at least be able to ferry the kids around as required.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I live in central London and we've not owned a car for about fifteen years. On the rare occasion we need a car, for example for a holiday in the UK, they're easy to hire and public transport in London (train, tube, buses, trams, riverboats) in my area is excellent.

Even then I walk the 4 miles to and from work (8mi round trip) every day; most of that is a nice walk along the southbank of the River Thames (for anybody who knows London) and the savings of not paying car maintenance, fuel, insurance and road tax are considerable.

 

[hoom]

Most of the last 20yrs I've been fortunate to be able to live in 4 different places within same rough area of my city, within a few hundred meters from high-frequency bus loop and with work, urban train station, supermarket & shopping centre all well within about 2km & somehow paying notably less rent than my workmates living in much less convenient locations, having to spend huge amounts of $$$ & time on public transport/car travel.
My current place I have about 20-25min walking commute with train station, bus route transfer area, a major shopping centre & 2 different brand supermarkets all directly along the route.

The problem I have is I have nearly no reason to go off that route with my single, no kids life. My world often feels terribly small.

 

[cheapchips]

We'd struggle with school runs and weekend family stuff without a car. The bit of the city where I live does have good buses and cycle routes, which we use when we can. Rubbish for getting to the train though, and long distance train travel in the UK can be expensive.

I cycle on the days when I am in the office and that's quicker than driving 9 miles. Work has showers, so that makes it viable. Not sure I'd want be stuck with babywipes in the gents as the only option.

 

[nutball]

I could live, but it wouldn't be great.

By public transport my workplace is about a 2.5 hour trip each way. It's a 45 minute drive. Buses around my city seemed very expensive last time I used them, though that was a couple of decades ago.

Luckily I don't have kids, so wouldn't have to deal with any of that.

My feeling is that getting to anywhere in the UK which isn't the major towns or cities is a bit of a nightmare. I have a colleague at work who travels all over the country via public transport - but for him a lot of the enjoyment is the actual solving the problem of how to do it. It's like his hobby.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Thanks for all the comments, it's fascinating to see the variety. I wish we had mass transit but it's really not realistic in my area because everything is so spread out.

Also for all non-Americans out there, would you believe I freaked when I found out what an MoT inspection was and that it was necessary? I think it's a fantastic idea, there are some seriously dangerous heaps driving around out here and I sort of wish we had some kind of inspection/safety standard.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Where you live, where you work, whether you have kids and where they go to school, along with the available and cost of non-car transport options will be the limit for most people.

We consider ourselves fortunate to live in a nice part of London that's good on all counts. But if we lived just one more mile from work, and my walk was 5 miles each way, it would probably be a different story.

 

[Mariner]

I live in central London and we've not owned a car for about fifteen years. On the rare occasion we need a car, for example for a holiday in the UK, they're easy to hire and public transport in London (train, tube, buses, trams, riverboats) in my area is excellent.

Even then I walk the 4 miles to and from work (8mi round trip) every day; most of that is a nice walk along the southbank of the River Thames (for anybody who knows London) and the savings of not paying car maintenance, fuel, insurance and road tax are considerable.

Although none of my schoolfriends live in London any longer, many of them did so after University when they got their first jobs, and not one of them owned a car during that time. Even one or two who could now be classed as 'petrol heads' (and now own 3 or 4 cars, including one for track days)!

Simply no need to own a car in London given the myriad public transport options on offer providing you're working in the greater London area. The rest of the country is pretty much bang out of luck in comparison, even many of the larger cities!

 

[Davros]

Never owned a car

 

[digitalwanderer]

Never owned a car

Have you driven one?

 

[Davros]

Nope, only on p.c

 

[digitalwanderer]

Nope, only on p.c

It's pretty identical except for worse AI in the other cars on the road and no reset button.

 

[homerdog]

On the topic of public transportation, it does exist in my town, but nobody uses it. I see these buses driving around and there's never more than 1-2 people on them (if anyone at all). Seems like they tried to adopt a system that works in dense urban areas in a town with <100K people. Surely there must be a better way.

 

[wco81]

I think big urban areas you can do without cars. In fact probably better, not having to deal with parking. People in places like Manhattan may pay hundreds or thousands a month to park their cars.

I put less than 2000 miles a year. Probably way less than that. Since the pandemic, I've deliberately made efforts to walk as much as I can, unless the weather is bad.

But it can be tough, if you go to the grocery store and buy any kind of liquid, like say a half gallon of milk and fruits, you feel the weight as you take the groceries back home.

The public transportation system in the Bay Area suburb I live in is not an option at all. Well I haven't tried it since I was a kid, before I started driving. But I know for instance that going to a place which is about 6 miles away would take over an hour each way, because the bus route isn't direct, it winds back and forth, probably driving double the distance than the most direct route, to hit so many stops.


Think about this comparison. I'm about 30-45 minutes from an international airport. So when I travel, I take an Uber, which costs me $50-60 each way, not including tip.

I took that Uber a week or two ago and arrived in Nice, France. From there, I took a tram into the center of town, not a long distance though, maybe 10 kilometers, compared to the 50 miles from my home to the airport.

The tram ride cost me €1.50 Euro. Took about 20-25 minutes though and the trains were fairly full.

If we had something like that at home, I would definitely get rid of my car. Not because of the cost but it would cover probably 90% of my transportation needs. The rest could be covered by Uber or Lyft.

 

[Laurent06]

And that 1.50 euro ticket can be reused for 74 minutes on busses and tramways.

On my side, I can’t live without a car: I’m a few km away from the closest town and 25 km from work. In fact I have two cars: one for work and other duties; and the other one to take rides on mountain roads. So I drive because I have to and also for the fun of it.

I have collegues who live in Nice and have no car because the bus/tramway network has become quite good and is priced quite low.