Comments on: Dump your car and get a whole month of your life back every year

By: Leif

Leif — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:46:42 +0000

@Daniel – I kind of left biking as a given. But, yes, it all depends on the city. In my Minneapolis, the best biking city in the US (screw you Portland!), biking is nearly always an option, assuming they ever fix all these potholes. Places like Houston, not really.

By: Daniel Mc

Daniel Mc — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:06:53 +0000

Great piece, Leif. But what about bikes? I haven’t driven for about seven or eight years now, but I still don’t use *that* much public transport because I cycle pretty much everywhere. Where I live (Beijing) and where I used to live (London), cycling is easily the quickest way to get from any part of the city to any other part. It can’t be that much different in the US, can it?

By: Dmitrii

Dmitrii — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:04:42 +0000

In most parts of US it is not practical and not even possible to live without a car. While idea is good, unless you live in large metro area, and have access to public transportation, sidewalks, nearby walking distance grocery stores, you got to have a car.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 02 May 2010 18:02:05 +0000

I saw the title of this article and I immediately knew I was going to comment on this. I have been looking for a way to get rid of my car permanently for awhile now. I think I know how I could get rid of it, but I don’t know if I can make the leap and just do it. For now, I am comfortable with my car since it is entirely paid off and the maintenance is low, but sooner or later I will have to replace it. I wish the public transport here was just a little bit better.

By: Clark

Clark — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:50:09 +0000

Yes! Yes! Yes! The car-free lifestyle is far superior. There are so many advantages: cost savings, reduced environmental impact, increased freedom, etc. This is one of the reasons we can afford to do our RTW trip.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 03:20:12 +0000

I’m with you on this one. Gave up the car and couldn’t be any more free and happy of my decision.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:46:13 +0000

Nice calculations. But the fact is, some people LOVE CARS. I’m unfortunately one of them. Now that I live in a public-transport-laden European city, I rarely drive anywhere in town due to the parking issue. But I drive on the weekends: skiing, hiking, other towns, etc.

Many of the places I drive, I *could* get with public transport. But then I’d miss out on something I really love in life: driving.

Fortunately I’m able to keep my cars a long time and not get tired of ‘em. So I have a ’99 convertible and an ’06 hatchback which will hopefully cut down my costs quite a bit with no more payments on either one. Though I get a lot of sh* from friends for having TWO cars when you don’t really even need ONE here.

My congratulations go out to those of you who are perfectly happy without having a beautiful driving machine to share every wonderful curve of these Alpen passes with… sigh.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:34:18 +0000

I completely agree with this argument. Living in London I very rarely need a car as everything is far easier to access by puclic transport. Although, that’s no small cost in itself here, with around £150 a month disappearing to pay for the unbelievably uncomfortable ride on the underground in rush hour. The only other factor i think is worth mentioning is that of safety. As a small female person it’s simply not particularly safe to travel on public transport here after dark, alone.

There are companys such as this: http://www.citycarclub.co.uk/ which seem to be doing pretty well to offer you the best of both worlds.

By: Nomadic Chick

Nomadic Chick — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:39:23 +0000

Very detailed and convincing calculations. If only people would heed, and these ranting posts would disappear. Or would they?? :)

By: Leif

Leif — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:42:58 +0000

@Daniel – That “private space” argument sounds like it’s right out of the car industry’s PR pitch from the 50s and 60s that led to the eventual catastrophic deconstruction of, for example, all the tram lines in Minneapolis, ushering in 40 years of crap public transport. Sitting/standing on a crowded bus isn’t my favorite thing in the world, but that discomfort pales in comparison to the discomfort and stress I felt paying for, maintaining and worrying about my car. And how often (not to mention how prudent after a big night of partying) are you driving between the “next city” after 10pm? If it’s less than a dozen times a year, I’m not buying that as a strong argument for keeping a car all year.

@Tudor – The scenarios you describe sound way too infrequent to warrant keeping a car all year. Taxis and, if necessary, the occasional rental will do just nicely.

@Zora – You took the words right out of my mouth. A couple taxi rides a week still doesn’t come anywhere near the price one pays to maintain a car. And you plucked that supplemental, organic exercise argument right out of my book proposal! Are you reading this over my shoulder?