The Chainlink

Quite a few threads have me wondering what your lifestyle is like that it doesn’t necessitate owning a car.   I think it is great that you are able to live car free, but I am wondering how this is. Many people have expressed the feeling of freedom that comes with not owning car, but for me it feels like a lack of.

Do you work in the city or commute to the suburbs? Are you otherwise required to commute to areas outside the city on a frequent basis?  Is your family local and how often do you see them?  Would you describe your lifestyle as minimalistic?  This is the part of me wondering how I would have gotten that all-in-one printer home the other day or the cans of paint and bbq I just bought.  When I run my weekly errands, I get everything done in one shot.  How is that possible on a bike?  Do you use car-sharing services?  How often would you say not owning a car creates a hindrance?  Do you ever feel like you are losing time in your day due to a reliance on public transportation or that it is more of a hassle?  

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I've never owned a car and simply put, there is no reason behind it. Growing up, I was never handed the keys to one by my parents and once I became an adult, I found it easy to get around by walking, taking a bus or train, riding a bike or borrowing a car from a friend. Buying a car never seemed like it was worth the money.

I have nothing against people who own cars, I just think like anything else, if you've had something you're entire life, it's hard to give it up.

Something that helps indeed is watching people shell out their time and money servicing their car; it's definitely a detterent. Traffic adds to the equation as well.....

I don't run weekly errands. I'd rather go to the store a few times a week and pick up items rather than one big haul because a) its easy and b) I like fresh food.....I suppose if I need to buy a big item I'll phone someone up with a car and ask for a ride or borrow a car.

Situate your home close to your work, it makes things easier... :)

Most importantly, I don't think of myself as someone living a car-free lifestyle, just like I don't think of myself as a cyclist or a pedestrian. cheers.
Do you work in the city or commute to the suburbs?
I'm a freelance writer/editor and stay with my kids, who are 5 and 10. They are unschoolers, so we are together a lot, but also out of the house often with activities, lessons they want to do, park days, etc. We live in Evanston. Husband works in Skokie, so one easy bus ride for him.

Are you otherwise required to commute to areas outside the city on a frequent basis?
We're lucky that Evanston is an ideal place to be if your carfree (that rhymes), since we recently came into being carfree, after our car was essentially totaled in an accident. We decided not to have one for now and probably for awhile.

Is your family local and how often do you see them? My family live very close, grandma lives with us part time, husbands family is in the burbs.

Would you describe your lifestyle as minimalistic? Definitely, we're a family of four plus grandma in a 2bdrm apt, that is quite small, but we don't collect much stuff other than books, toys and our necessary items. Part of our reasoning for not having a car was our desire to live more simply. Not live without, but live more fully. Experience being outdoors more, free up money to do more long distance travel with the kids, it allows us to use the funds in ways that are more meaningful to us and less draining on the environment, in my opinion.
Do you use car-sharing services? How often would you say not owning a car creates a hindrance? Do you ever feel like you are losing time in your day due to a reliance on public transportation or that it is more of a hassle? We borrow my mom's car when we can, but generally do errands by bus, groceries is easy for us, we never buy too much at once now. I love to bike to get errands done and most places, like the bank and the post office, library, etc are very easy for us in Evanston to get to. For larger items, like going to Home Depot or the garden store, I'm looking into buying a trailer for our bike. We love not having a car, my husband and I have lost weight doing more walking, the kids sleep better at night, because they get more exercise. We experience more of the places and people of the city we live in. There is less stress from them bickering in the back seat and the budget is definitely better without the added expenses. We feel actually freer to do more without the default situation of owning a car and paying for it to get around. We haven't done car sharing yet, because we usually need the car for several hours at a time if we were to use it, but may look into it once a week for my son's music lessons. Or maybe just cab it that day.
I live in a great neighborhood for walking, bus, and the metra. the El is a bike or bus ride away, so i don't use it anymore. when i used to live off of it, i used it for trips to the loop, but those were rare.

H3N3 said:
I don't see the bicycle as the automatic solution to all transportation problems (although I personally prefer to bike when it's 30 degrees and under over summer temps)-- is there any chance at all you could move to a place that's easier to get around in by walking, bus or train, and where the things you need aren't so spread out?

This is a great thread with lots of good information. Its reinforced my decision to ditch my car when my insurance expires in November. I've had a car pretty much since I was old enough to drive, so its been hard to imagine being without it. I've flip flopped for a few years now, but enough is enough!! If all of you can do it, why can't I?!
If nothing else, try it out, for awhile, you may like it and can always go back to having a car a later date. We did this with television, we got rid of ours when we moved to our new place (choice between the big box, it was an old one) and our bookshelves). Guess which one we picked? We can still watch lots of things online or dvd anyway, and turns out we liked it. That was 2 years ago this fall.


Laura Blake said:
This is a great thread with lots of good information. Its reinforced my decision to ditch my car when my insurance expires in November. I've had a car pretty much since I was old enough to drive, so its been hard to imagine being without it. I've flip flopped for a few years now, but enough is enough!! If all of you can do it, why can't I?!
I'm 29 right now. When I got my license, it was only a couple years before I had my own car and could stop using the family car. At first I lived in the Chicago suburbs with my family where public transportation was infrequent and actually pretty taboo. Then I lived in a couple other, more far-flung places. So, from the ages 18 to 23ish, I was VERY car dependent. If my car was in the shop, I was climbing the walls. I had no bicycle most of these years and even if I did, I saw it as recreation and didn't see it as a feasible mode of transportation.

When I lost my last car, it was because I was sharing with someone, and I moved out. Luckily, having moved to Madison, there was a pretty well-structured public transportation system and I learned it quickly. I saw all the cyclists there and actually witnessed the near-demise of a couple and decided that cycling was far too dangerous an option for me to consider.

Over the course of the three years spent in Madison, I'd abandoned the idea that owning a car was something I wanted to do. Car ownership was really effin' expensive... riding the bus was NOT. And if you knew where you were going and were familiar with how the busses run it wasn't THAT inconvenient.

When I moved to Chicago, I was a fan of the CTA. It is infinitely more convenient than the system in Madison. Plus, from growing up in the suburbs, I had happy memories of riding the El to Cubs games and dug riding it to work for the first few months. The nostalgic value of the El made me giddy that such a relic from the good times of my childhood was now a part of my every day life. I was happy doing that for quite a while. I still held firm on the idea that riding a bike was too dangerous an option.

Then just a couple of years ago, at about the same time, I met two cyclists. Both commuters. One, a friend of a friend, and the other, I worked with. Neither of them seemed like daredevils, neither of them stuck up elitist bastards (as I had imagined the Chicago bicycle community to be comprised of), and both of them overwhelmingly excited to help me get on my way as a cyclist.

I saw this as the next step. From car addiction (and indeed, dependence... I lived in some places where you can hardly exist without one), to car-freedom in the form of public transport, to being a cyclist. I went from buying gasoline and car insurance and maintenance (at the time, at least $150 a month), to public transport (at the time, about $80 a month), to, well... right now I think I've taken the CTA about three times this summer. As far as expenses go... well, I bought some fenders a couple months ago... some chain lube recently... hmm...

Besides the expenses of car ownership, there's the invaluable, obvious fitness aspect. I've lost 30 lbs since I started riding a bike, without even trying. I think I even eat more than I did before.

I do live in the city and commute to the burbs, but I think saying that is cheating since I live in Rogers Park and commute to Skokie. It's a 25 minute ride by bike, and at the time of day I commute, it's 45 minutes on the CTA and 30 by car.

I share a house with my partners and their three children, so they have a van and I'm glad that they do. I can't imagine calling an ambulance if one of them broke an arm or something. The two youngest will be riding without training wheels before we know it and then the five of us will be riding bikes to the Movies in the Park instead of taking the van out.

There are reasons for car ownership, and they're all personal. You can decide on where you want to live and work based on your favorite mode of transportation, or you can just let everything fall where it may and work it out later. I personally feel like I'll always decide on where I work and live based on whether I can get to where I need to go on a bike. I feel like I'll always want my work to be at least 5 miles from where I live.

My dad once tried to give me a car that he was trading up. He wanted me to have it so that I would come see him more often in Grayslake. Again, it's a personal thing. I think my dad needs to be less of a hermit and get more fresh air and stop sitting on his butt in front of the TV and come see me instead... so I declined and gave him an open invitation to come see me whenever he wanted.

Besides, I think it'd be a fun ride from the Metra to Grayslake, someday. I should get on that.

I couldn't call myself anti-car in general, but I can honestly say that for me, a nulliparous, able-bodied, city-dwelling, helmet-wearing individual, I am delighted that I am to a point in my life that owning a car is wholly unnecessary.

Does it make me a cheater if I eat the groceries that come home in the van? Probably. But I bring plenty of the groceries in the house home on my bike, too.

Ooh! Ask another question! I love talking about myself...

:)
1. "Location and locomotion are two halves of an equation where neither is constant." Driving blinds people to distance, which is why drivers measure distance in minutes and not miles. Non-drivers have to pay attention to what's nearby. If nothing's nearby, move.

2. "Every minute you spend walking [or cycling] extends your life by three minutes." You don't "lose time" by walking there slowly. As Alan Durning points out, the extra time it takes to walk or bike somewhere isn't time you would have spent doing something else; it's time you would have spent lying in a coffin, dead. You cheat death by biking. That's how amazingly good for you it is. (Okay, so if you subscribe to "live fast, die young," then that argument's not for you. Next.)

3. As regards large purchases, a few years ago my parents not-so-thoughtfully got me a Costco membership. Some ways I got back from there:
- packed a heckuva lot onto my cargo bike, something like half a jumbo cart full (it's an Xtracycle, looks kinda like Liz's bike with kid. Oh, and I haven't used it in three years -- anyone want to buy it?)
- got a friend to drive there, in exchange for letting him in
- took the bus home with a few bags and a box of stuff
- a few times, I managed to get in & out just filling two panniers with those smaller items which are indeed much cheaper there (e.g., printer ink, tomato paste, and vitamins). On many items, their unit prices aren't really that much lower and it's actually quite a hassle to make a special trip and then find a place to stash a giant box of stuff.

4. Major construction on the ORD Blue Line is over, although there's still some little work now and then. I routinely leave my Logan Square apartment one hour before flight departure, paying $4.50 for the return trip. Try doing that in a car.
Yes, he is wearing a cape. If he were not on the bike with his helmet on he would also be wearing his batman mask. He is a superhero you see...and has been for over a year now. But shhhhh.....no giving away his secret identity.

As to making biking work as a parent - it really isn't difficult. Weather is my main hardship. And by weather I really mean icy roads. We ride in the cold no problem but I do not take the risk when roads are icy.

The really cool thing about riding with my kids is that they get to learn that there are ways to get around without a car. My little one LOVES the bike. He will ride for hours. Put him in a car (like to travel out east) and he is cranky within 30 minutes. Also, he gets to experience life going on around him in such a personal way. We can stop for a few minutes to look at this or that. He loves riding in the rain...I get to remember that I don't melt and that being in the rain can be fun...

So many advantages to biking that going car-lite or car-free seems like the only reasonable choice.

milesperhour said:
Thank you to everyone for all of the responses. I never imagined so many people would respond nor at such length too! This is so encouraging. I have a special appreciation for the parents who make it work as well. I am surprised by how many of you there are. And I love the pictures of you kids. So cute! Liz, is your son wearing a cape?

Some people asked me what I meant about leading a minimalist life style and about losing time and the hassles of public transportation. I was wondering if you make do with less given that you don't have a car to haul things around. As far as public transportation being a hassle and taking longer, that has been my experience with it in the past. It's often quicker for me to get in a car and do what I need to do than rely to on public transportation, especially when driving to the suburbs. I guess the traffic doesn't bother me as much. Locally, I would agree that biking is faster than driving and parking though.
Well growing up for in Detroit area in my teens and adult life a car was like water, I had 2 at more than one time.

In 2005 after a simple repair due to weather I was unable to fix and then having a $1700 repair bill (thanks Sis) then after losing my job and having it get repo'd I was on bike/bus. They had just installed the racks on the front of the buses, good timing.

I had been a social rider and would park my car on weekends and ride wherever I needed to go so the transition was a little to get used to but... to answer your questions

Do you work in the city or commute to the suburbs? CITY

Are you otherwise required to commute to areas outside the city on a frequent basis? NO

Is your family local and how often do you see them? PARENTS ARE A 2 HR AMTRAK RIDE AWAY

Would you describe your lifestyle as minimalistic? NOT REALLY

Do you use car-sharing services? NO, BUT U-HAUL FOR MOVES

How often would you say not owning a car creates a hindrance? ONLY WHEN IT'S REALLY COLD BUT THE PARKING ISSUE MAKES ME NOT WANT A CAR AND IF I HAVE ENOUGH DISPOSABLE INCOME TO BUY A NEW COMPUTER, FLAT SCREEN TV I'D GET A CAB.

Do you ever feel like you are losing time in your day due to a reliance on public transportation or that it is more of a hassle? ONLY IN THE REALLY COLD WEATHER BUT NOT DRIVING AND BEING ABLE TO READ OR TALK TO FELLOW COMMUTERS IS A GOOD TRADE.

I
Have you ever had a driver's license?
I'm thinking of letting mine expire.

Marcos Alcozer said:
I only live 4 miles from where I work and live on the street for the bus that takes me there. This allows me to bike to work or take the bus if the weather is particularly nasty. I tend to grocery shop 3 - 4 times a week only picking up the items that I need immediately. This makes it so that I do not overspend and also get the freshest produce. My neighborhood has a coop and 3 grocery stores within a close distance. My family lives 3 blocks away and 1 neighborhood away so again, convenient. When I need to purchase a big item I will either have it shipped to my place or I will make a special errand with a friend who is also going to that store. In short, I have worked to make my life easy without a car. I am 25 and still do not see a reason to get my driver's license. :)
From the American Community Survey (detailed table), 2006-2008 3-year estimates, the portion of people driving to work in the City of Chicago is 61.74%. The number riding bikes is 1.04%. The number walking is 5.62%.

The portion of people driving who drove alone is 83.11%.

BK said:
If any of this sounds elitist, as is sometimes the accusation against successful and proud car-free individuals, I guess I really don't have an apology. According to the 2000 census, only 33% of Chicagoans don't drive to work. Yes, it's been a decennium since then and I don't know how much that number has changed but I hope it has for the better! I'd say going against the grain of the other 67% of the population possibly confers elite status. I see going car-free as responsibility and not a trophy since I not-so-accidentally put myself in a position to do it.
Just sold my car today!! I've had a car pretty much my entire life and the decision to ditch it did not come easy. But oh so worth it! The nervous butterflies in my stomach this morning soon turned to pure happiness as I realized I would never have to worry about that 5000 lb money-sucker ever again. I'll take the warmth of my balaclava over that security blanket any day.

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