Just wondering, im not trying to be rude. Im scared to drive and i dont live near buses, nor do i want to pay someone to drive me? maybe i should save up for a bike?
I stumbled across this community and now im curious…
anyways how do you all get places?
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I had an electric bike and I switched to an electric trike since I am 67 now.
Being European, I had the choice to live in a city that is very friendly to bikes, pedestrians, and has very good public transit. I also deliberately chose an apartment that was so close to my university it’s trivial to go there in the morning, and I have access to a wide transit network if I need to go further.
Honestly, if I lived somewhere car dependent, I think I would just bite the bullet and drive until I can move somewhere better. This is a pretty bad answer but I don’t know what else to say.
I would probably try to get a cheap and reliable electric car to save as much as possible on maintenance costs.
Trains are my primary mode of transportation. In town -> U-Bahn, commute -> S-Bahn, travels -> long lines. I also go by foot or bicycle but this one is currently broken :(. Otherwise bus, and on rare occasions I rent a car.
I live is Stuttgart, Germany.
I walk, ride my bike, or drive. I hate the necessity of my car. I do actually need it, tho.
Its a catch 22, I had a car for a year and it was the most “free” I felt to do things like grocery shopping and hanging out with friends at other people’s houses.
I drive a small car. Sometimes I ride my bicycle or use public buses. Taxis on occasion.
Walking and biking are great. I highly recommend trying one out and there are adult classes if you’d like help learning how to ride and operate a bicycle. A good, used bike with a bike rack can do wonders carrying things around. As a bonus they’re cheap to maintain and safe to work on, completely unlike wrenching underneath a heavy car.
Depending on your situation, you may want to consider a moped. They’re generally easy to get licensed for, often don’t require insurance, and costs about the same as a good e-bike. They require the same skills as riding a bike (knowing the road laws, understanding how to stop effectively, counter-leaning, etc). The bonus is you’ll be able to get up to speed on frontage and other roads that may not be safe to ride a pedal bike on (e.g. roads without any shoulder). Of course you can always do both, like starting with a pedal bike to get a feeling of how to ride a two-wheeled device.
I bike almost everywhere within 15km of me. Outside of that, public transport and occasionally car.
I live in a metro area with transit and bike lanes and I like to walk. My preference generally is walk, then bike, then transit.
I live in Munich.
I bike to work. It is only 14 kilometers (about 9 miles).
If the road is to icy to cope with studded tyres, I take the fast commuter train… it is a tad slower, because bikes are often more efficient.
BTW I have doing that since the last 15 years and the last five jobs, in five towns or cities. That may shock you, but I am 58, and never had a car.
To go to places farther away, I use the train. We have a decent train system here (though it’s not as good as Japan’s or Switzerland’s - these countries lack bribe money from the car industry.)
I use the train for travel and vacation. I have been in a large part of Europe by train, including Greece. For example, in the last years, me and my partner traveled to Scotland, Netherlands, Croatia and Slovenia, and to Denmark - by night train.
BTW it also saves a ton of money. Cars are fucking expensive. In the last ten years, I spent about 3000 € on bikes (I have two, a normal trecking bike and a recumbent one), and about 1200 € on professional maintenance (I repair and clean most stuff myself, but I let look a bike mechanic for it every year, for safety and because it saves time and unplanned repairs). So, my costs are about 420 € per year.
You have to be deliberate about where you live. If you don’t want to be car dependent, you have to move somewhere that isn’t car dependent or you’re gonna have a Bad Time™.
I grew up in a car-dependent suburban shithole called Langley, and moved to Vancouver at the earliest opportunity where I could commute via transit, scooter, or bike. Every time I moved after that (7 different cities so far) it’s been to places where I can safely walk, cycle, and/or take transit because not being car-dependent was a high priority for me.
I should also point out that this decision, while resulting in higher rent & mortgages than if I’d chosen suburban life, has meant I’ve not spent the roughly $10k annually to maintain a car, which meant that I could afford a to buy a good-sized home in a bike-friendly city. We expect to pay off the mortgage this year.
Car-free really is what it says on the tin: freedom.
You have to be deliberate about where you live. If you don’t want to be car dependent, you have to move somewhere that isn’t car dependent or you’re gonna have a Bad Time™.
This. The two most important places are the home and the workplace. It is ideal if average daily commuting is less than one hour. But you can factor in that healthy humans positively need about one hour of daily excercise per day, so you can subtract that as gym time.
Everything else flows from chosing the right places and making it a priority to be able to get there either by bike or public transport.
Having done that, you will invariably find that you do not spend more time on errands and getting around than people which own a car. Inhabitants of Copenhagen or Amsterdam do not spent more time commuting than inhabitants if Houston or Los Angeles.
It is also great to chose a place with a community which has local social interactions. Most humans need that, too.
please tell ishmael I said hi.
You know, I read that book as a kid 'cause my grandmother came to visit annoyed that I’d published a book and not told her. I think was 17 at the time.
It was one of those books that really got to me though. It changed my entire worldview and I still think of it from time to time. I’m now 46.
found it in a cabin we rented in 1998? maybe 99? profoundly changed the way I look at the world.
makes me wonder how the real quinn deals with the impact he had…
Most of us drive cars to get around. This community is more a resentment of the fact we HAVE to rely on cars (depending on where you live).
In my neck of the woods public transport is a joke, and the urban sprawl means living in the city is only for the wealthy so unfortunately, I do have to rely on a car, but I hate that and I’d like to see that changed. That’s why I’m part of this community.
For one thing, I just do it less than someone with the wealth and privilege to operate a private vehicle. A lot of trips can just be done without, without any hardship at all. But clearly you’ve already done that.
Right now, by ebike. In the past I have walked, ridden a regular bike or taken the bus. I do about 100 kilometers a week on my ebike, maybe 5 on my regular bike for errands within town, if I don’t just walk, and also occasionally use the bus or train.
Rural or urban, I have always prioritized living somewhere where I can easily get to where I need to be, by using either public or active transport. I will also happily use digital alternatives like online grocery shopping etc. when it makes sense to. I grew up somewhere super rural (for Denmark) and even did part of my high school online, because doing it offline would have required commuting 3-4 hours by bus or 1,5 by car in total, each and every day. Right now I live in a small Danish town with about 10k inhabitants, with busses and trains, and close enough to the countryside that I was able to find a place to keep our two ponies within biking distance.
I’m in my early thirties and don’t even have a driver’s license.
I live in a small city in England.
Mainly, I walk. When I can go by bike path, I cycle. About once a week, I drive somewhere.
At some point, I’ll sell the car.
So you’re paying what 500 700 quids a year insurance for once a week driving? Been a while I lived in England, what’s the going rate these days?
Im lucky to live in NYC so I use the subway, for other parts of this country I reccomend an ebike or even an escooter depending on your needs
