Towards the Future by Adam Welker

How to go Car-Free or Car-Lite

August 8th, 2011

My goal last year was to break my car driving habit and rely solely on my bike, public transport, or my own two feet. Minus a couple of exceptions when I had to haul a large amount of supplies or big models to the studio, I’ve done it.

As of this week, I’ve successfully gone a whole year without driving to work/university. And this past year I lived further away from my office and campus than I ever have before.

Here’s how I did it.

#1: Bike it

My bicycle became my default mode of transportation. It was hard at first; some days you just want to hit the snooze and drive to work in 5 mins rather than biking there in 20. In the beginning, I had to trick myself into thinking that my morning bike ride was something to look forward to. I was getting exercise, I told myself, and fresh air and sunlight. After awhile, I really did start to enjoy it! In fact, I was kinda bummed on the bad-weather days when I had to take public transportation.

#2: Bus it

When the weather was bad, or when I had to lug a lot of stuff with me, I would take public transportation. In Columbus, Ohio, that means the bus. I envy ‘real’ cities with their trams and metros! But the bus wasn’t soo bad. Once I got used to the schedule and timing, I started to enjoy it as well. It was like someone gave me an extra 40 minutes everyday to read, study, play my DS, or just think. Plus, once you get the hang of it, you seem like a real hip urbanite with the skillz navigate the bus system. Not to mention the weird/crazy/awesome people you can encounter.

#3: Hoof it

Sometimes, I would just miss the bus home. Or some nights I might stay in the studio a little too late and miss the last bus. Sometimes the way the bus schedule synced up meant that I could actually walk there faster, rather than waiting for another bus and riding it. It was a nice time for reflection and catching up with my podcasts, or having a chat on the phone while I walked. Some mornings it was so pleasant outside that I would opt to walk anyway-even though I could have biked. It’s great to slow down and get to know your neighborhood, take different paths. I took to collecting photos of interesting building as I explored.

The benefits of this year-long experiment were great!

  • I got daily cardio exercise
  • Lower carbon footprint
  • Had extra time to read (when I took the bus)
  • Saved a bundle of money (gas, parking passes, etc)
  • Explored my neighborhood and discovered new restaurants
  • Enjoyed the fresh air and sunlight (things architecture students don’t get enough of!)

If you can swing it, I highly recommend going car-free or car-lite. Try combining modes of transportation too. You could take your bike on public transport, take it close to your destination and bike once there, or bike to a destination hub, park it, and walk everywhere else.

Have you tried going car-free or car-lite? Tell me about your experiences!

Now it’s time for me to come up with my next big experiment :)

Please share this article with your friends!

  • http://www.evbogue.com/ Everett Bogue

    How much money do you think you saved during that year by not owning a car or paying $4+ for gas?

    • http://www.towardsthefuture.com Adam Welker

      Interesting! Though just to clarify, I do still own a car, I just didn’t use it except for some special circumstances. Services like Zipcar aren’t as widespread here in the midwest, and most things are so spread out that it’s just not feasible for me to go totally car-free. Once I finish my master’s program, I hope to move to a city with adequate public transportation so I can leave the car behind. I did my best with what I had here (like living within walking distance of a grocery store, etc).

      Anyway, let’s do a quick calculation.

      Gas:
      52 weeks in a year
      Fill up roughly every 1.5 weeks=35 times a year
      Average $45 to fill gas tank
      $45×35=$1575

      Parking pass: $250

      Parking tickets (eh, it happens…) say, $40

      Total=$1865

      So that’s pretty significant for my car-lite year, even with still paying for insurance.

  • http://www.worldhackingguide.com Robin Raindropcatcher

    I decided that I don’t want to get a driving licence anytime soon. I simply don’t see the necessity for me anymore. I either take public transport or I organise a lift.

    As you said, this way you do a lot for the environment and have more time to read or manage Twitter and G+ ;)

    • http://www.towardsthefuture.com Adam Welker

      I’m so jealous of you Robin, I envy Europe’s rail system. It’s incredible that you can just hop on a train and be in a different country for the afternoon. I can’t even do that for a different state in the US! Maybe the government will catch on that people actually want these services and we’ll start to rebuild the old lines. One can dream…

      As I recall, getting a driving license is fairly expensive in some countries, right? And you get them at a later age as well, compared to 16 here. So it makes sense that people would just do without.

  • http://www.thepanamericans.net Mark David Robertson

    In Brazil, cars are a dream for 60% of the population. We just got our first car in 5 years: a 1997 Honda Civic. It’s considered luxury b/c it’s Japanese. Instead of getting it polished and repainted, we choose to use it (a) to travel locally, or (b) to taxi others to events.

    It’s so wonderful unlearning to drive. It’s second to killing the TV.

    :D,
    M

    • http://www.towardsthefuture.com Adam Welker

      Financial barriers aside, I think a lot of it comes down to urban planning. If your town/city is properly designed, you shouldn’t need a car. We’re starting to re-learn that fact here in the United States. Cities which were transformed to be more car-friendly are starting to take on ideas like bike lanes and pedestrian zones. New developments are focusing on bringing city planning back to a human scale. The problem is, we’re lacking the larger rail infrastructure that really ties it all together. I recently came across this article, which sums it up quite beautifully. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/opinion/sunday/the-dutch-way-bicycles-and-fresh-bread.html

      There’s a movement in architecture and urban design called “new urbanism”. Worth a Google search if you’re interested in that sort of thing like I am. :)

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