Comments on: The First Law of Car-lessness

By: mark

mark — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:01:02 +0000

I just discovered this website, and am really enjoying this series of articles on a year of carless living. This article in particular strikes me, because it’s something that I’ve experienced to a lesser extent. I plan to sell my car in the spring, since I don’t really want my first carless months to be a Denver winter.

However, I cancelled my parking at my apartment building, now my car is usually anywhere from 3 to 10 blocks away from my home. I bought gas yesterday, the last time I’d bought any before that? Mid September. This is more than double the usual amount of time I can go without gas. Just that minor inconvenience added to driving has made a huge change, because I consider my options…

By: waxner

waxner — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:24:24 +0000

The reasons for being car free range from concern about energy use and pollution to financial concerns including the rising price of gasoline. There are so many things we do because it’s available to us and, as humans, we’re not good at putting restrictions on our own activities. Not having a car is one way of having an extra boundary put on your lives that makes you live better

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 06:20:54 +0000

I’m wondering to what extent the carfree lifestyle diverts decision avoidance rather than reducing it.I fully agree that owning a car leads to more car-oriented solutions, whether they are really more efficient or not. But I also wonder, in my own carfee life, how often not having a car simply cuts down on the trips that I make. This is a good thing in many ways. I consume fewer impulse items and replace purchases with home-made DIY solutions. However, I may also decide not to attend some party or event, or put off running errands and other travel-related chores. This happens for the same reason car owners drive; it’s easier.It would be interesting to find out how much of the 10% driving reduction due to travel smart is trip reduction vs. mode shift. I imagine that some portion of that decision avoidance is transferred from driving to non-participation.

By: Julia

Julia — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 01:38:40 +0000

Tuning in way late – thanks for a great reflection. Back on car-less vs. car-free: I vastly prefer car-free, because car-less to me connotes some lack. I don’t feel deprived in the least not having a car – in fact, I am grateful to be liberated from all the costs and maintenance associated with owning a car, and all the stress involved in driving around town. I do ride in other people’s cars sometimes and I very occasionally rent or borrow one – but I am so much happier traveling by foot, bike, or bus, and taking fewer trips that weren’t really necessary anyway.

By: MichelleV.P.

MichelleV.P. — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 00:28:55 +0000

Here’s the link to Seth Zuckerman’s great article, “My Low-Carbon Diet: From Gas Gluttony to Fuel Fitness in Three Weeks,” for SIERRA magazine:http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200609/carbon.aspThanks for bringing this up, Alan!And kudos, Seth! The whole nation, and indeed the world, would benefit from indulging in this low-carbon diet. The more the merrier. Cheers!

By: Alan Durning

Alan Durning — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 00:49:25 +0000

Ty,Interesting point. For folks who don’t live in compact neighborhoods, simply shedding one vehicle will have some of the same effects as shedding our only vehicle has had for us.

By: Ty

Ty — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 17:24:00 +0000

I’ve been following this series with interest. It reminded me of how my mom’s parents had one car for thier entire working lives, and my parents had one car for most of thier pre-children marriage. So much of this discussion about shared vehicles makes me think that every household needs one car to survive; more of us live in suburban environments than live in neighborhoods like Ballard, and there are more of us than there are Seattle residents. Even shifting down to one car would be a massive change for most households that currently have at least two and many times three cars. One car puts the members of the household in the space of actively planning travel and making decisions without cutting off access to some of the great things in our region that are only accessible via private vehicle.

By: bottleman

bottleman — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 00:12:30 +0000

Seth's right, as a former frequent car sharer (and renter) I experienced all those issues. However, the price of a standard rental car is often much higher than advertised. You have to pay for gas and they very often convince you to pay for extra insurance (since you don't own a car, you don't have car insurance for the rental, and in all the confusion of signing the contract the rental agents can get you bad). It can easily get up to $60 a day after all that. Also (unless you live right next to a rental lot) it is not always that convenient. So I agree, car sharing is not a panacea. But in certain urban situations it is a great resource that keep economic and ecological logic in line.bottleworld.net

By: Alan Durning

Alan Durning — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 23:24:43 +0000

Seth,Good points! Maybe I don’t have to write a post about car-sharing after all.And your piece in Sierra is GREAT! (Everyone should go read it. Um, I’m rushed and don’t have the link, can someone supply it? It’s the low-carbon diet article.)One thing that’s fascinating to me is that the _existence_ of car-sharing as an option makes possible car-lessness. We actually use FlexCar far less often than we expected to. We also use taxis less than we expected to. What we use more than we expected to is, um, our heads. We plan our way out of a huge number of trips: postpone, rearrange, combine, go online, call first, etc.

By: Seth Zuckerman

Seth Zuckerman — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 19:43:25 +0000

Not to rain on the parade of love for car-sharing, but I have rarely found it to be a good solution for my mobility needs—not when compared to a rental car or a taxicab.The problem is that with the per-hour charge, you pay for the car when it’s just sitting at your destination. That makes the pricing model great for running an errand, but not so good if you plan to spend any significant time where you’re going. For many trips within the city, it would be just as cheap and far more flexible to simply take a cab each way. E.g., if you’re going to dinner at a friend’s house, and you’d need 3 hours of car-sharing at $8 per hour, that would amount to the same as a taking a 4.5-mile cab ride each way.For long trips, when the car would spend a long time just waiting at the trailhead or at a friend’s house, it makes more sense to rent a car for the day (and Flexcar recognizes this through its partnership with a car rental agency)Several times, I have seen Flex-car members phone in to try to extend their reservation, only to find that they can’t: the car is already reserved for someone else. They have thus forfeited one of the chief benefits of driving their own vehicle: the ability to travel on their own schedule. (Alternatively, the user can reserve for an even longer period than they expect to need the car….making it less competitive against a cab ride.) With Enterprise offering a standard rate of $33.76 including tax for a full day’s use of a subcompact, all that Flexcar has going for it is its ease of use.