Where In America Can One Live Without A Car?

[Yavin4]

When can you live in America completely car-free? I just don't mean going back and forth to work. I mean being able to get to places and have a normal out-going lifestyle without having to have a car to do it.

Here's my partial list:
NY
Boston
Chicago
SF
Philadelphia?


Any place else? This is important because after compiling such a list you truly realize just how important cheap gas is in this country.

[siliconefreak]

1. Carfree Database

This may help you:

http://www.bikesatwork.com/carfree/carfree-census-database.html

[fishwax]

59. Awesome link. Thanks!

[FogerRox]

2. South Orange NJ --17 miles from NYC

[Yavin4]

5. I have lived in South Orange, NJ

You do need a car. The train to NYC only regularly runs during rush hour.

[FogerRox]

63. 5 years --no car- Work local-- NJ transit to work

trains, buses, taxis, friends

[UdoKier]

3. South Beach in Miami is pretty walkable.

They even have a free electric bus that goes up and down Collins ave.

But it is a bit of a small town in a way. I would get sick of nothing but beach and condos and clubs...

[Selatius]

4. Many cities used to have light-rail/street car networks

But many of these companies were bought out by car manufacturers. The light-rail lines were ripped up, and the street cars were junked in favor of diesel-engine busses and taxicabs.

[htuttle]

6. Madison -- maybe

I get by with a scooter, but that's only because I'm too lazy to ride a bike 2 miles into work. Lots and lots of bike paths, though.

We have numerous 'neighborhoods' here. A neighborhood is one of those old fashioned institutions where you have a bunch of residences, small stores and shops all within walking distance. They used to be common in many cities. Still are common here (except for the West Side).

However, our bus system sucks unless you happen to live and work right near the lines.

So you could do without a car here, but you'd want to plan where you live accordingly.

[Yavin4]

11. You see my point

Our entire economy heavily depends on cheap gas, because in 99% of this nation you need a car in order to have a normal life. In most of America, there is no public transportation to get you around.

[undeterred]

25. I live right on the lines in Madtown

I had no car in Chicago the last 5 years, but found Madison is another story. The bus is fine for going downtown or to the university, but there are lots of employers that aren't downtown, and you wait forever for buses during non-rush hours.

Its the only thing I miss about Chicago!

[ComerPerro]

7. Really just the major cities. That's all I can think of

And even then for some people its difficult.

[brainshrub]

8. Asheville, NC.

I have a car, but as an experiment I'm trying to ween myself off it.

Asheville Transit leaves much to be desired, but it can be done.

[ThomWV]

9. Pittsburgh

Lots of small towns of course.

[hiphopnation]

10. I live in the fourth on your list.

While it's possible to live without a car it's still not easy and, frankly, not many people CHOOSE to do it. They are forced to because of the cost of keeping a car in the city. Like me! And we've got two children so getting around is even more difficult.

There are positives and negatives about living in the city as well. My wife and I have an ongoing list and so far the negatives about living in the city outweigh the positives. But that's for us with two children.

But EssEf has the best public transportation of any city I've ever seen. Clean, timely, comfortable, and it goes everywhere.

[CrispyQ]

12. Denver/Boulder area isn't too bad.

You could get around in Boulder just fine without a car. I'm not as knowledgeable about the Denver transit system, but it seems ok.

[Lilyhoney]

13. How about JAIL

You can go to lunch with your friends, go to the gym, take night school classes, All your friends will come to visit you and bring you presents. Walk to work. Laundry drop off and pick up. They even come by and see if you would like a book to read. But if you don't want to go there then go to CHICAGO. Serious major transportation. No problem. Actually better if you don't have a car. I am spent about 25 years of my life in chicago and would go back if it were'nt for the weather. Good luck.

[Warren DeMontague]

39. Yes, like you, I am OUTRAGED that my tax dollars are paying

to send so many people- particularly non violent drug offenders- to jail on my dime.

Clearly, the solution is to stop locking people up for victimless crimes.

[Deja Q]

14. Live local and it can be done...

except so few jobs or our society is made for the purpose of living close in.

[SoCalDem]

15. The way we shop, would present some problems without cars.

Europeans shop for food daily, but our culture makes that pretty difficult.

Unless you happen to live really near a store, you would have a problem grocery shopping on a bicycle..(unless you lived alone)

Mega-stores have all located themselves in a usually hard to get to area on the "edge" of towns...near freeway exits..

[deutsey]

16. DC

My friend lives and works in DC (walks to work in 20 minutes or less). Doesn't own a car and doesn't miss the one he sold shortly after moving into the city.

DC has a pretty decent metro system.

[lastliberalintexas]

24. Yes, the DC Metro is great

You really only need a car if you're going to leave the city and head west into VA. Otherwise, even Arlington, Alexandria, Silver Spring and the like are stops on the Metro. And the train runs constantly to Baltimore and points further north.

I absolutely loved not having to worry about an automobile while I lived in DC.

[displacedtexan]

37. Baltimore has it all: Public Transportation-wise!

Light rail

Metro (SUBWAY)

Water Taxi

Bus lines

Taxis on call

Trains to the rest of the world (no driving to DC, Philly, or NYC for me).

I live downtown, and I rarely drive anywhere.

The 18th century Lexington Market (huge indoor market with tons of stalls & restaurant counters) is down the street. There are also fab neighborhood Italian markets, Oriental markets, seafood markets, and grocery stores.

And the cost of living downtown isn't high at all.

[lastliberalintexas]

41. We've actually looked at moving to Baltimore

in the past. It has much the same to offer, but is much cheaper than DC and still close enough that you could visit every weekend if you wanted. Plus I really liked Baltimore the one (or was it 2?) time I was able to visit.

At this point though, if we make that drastic a move, we'll likely end up even further east!

[annerevere]

17. Downtown Denver

Good transit system, lots of business buildings, great eateries and lofts to rent. And one or two great beer brewery pubs.

[Hobo]

18. Philadelphia

I lived there for years without a car. Good buses, trolleys, subway, el.

Even can get to good places in the suburbs.

Hobo

:beer:

[Igel]

19. Depends on your requirements.

I was without a car for years in West Los Angeles, no problem. I worked, shopped, ate, and went out in a rather small area, going by bike longer distances.

On the other hand, a lot of my friends required a car: they wanted to go to other parts of town for restaurants, shopping, entertainment.

[greendog]

20. College Towns

I've lived car free in both Boulder, CO and Bloomington, IN.

[ailsagirl]

58. Davis, California too (UCD)

Tons of bicycles (even the cops are on bikes!)

[Neecy]

21. San Francisco

It's actually easier to not have a car in SF, because the parking is so horrible.

You can get to just about anywhere on MUNI or BART, and they're fairly safe and reliable. Of course, you'll pay more to live in San Francisco than you'd pay to live with a car elsewhere, but it's still the best quality of life in the country.

[micrometer_50]

22. I've been doing it in Tucson for about three years now. n/t

[distantearlywarning]

23. Pittsburgh, PA

As long as you don't work or live in the suburbs. If you live and work in the city you can get almost anywhere you want to go on the bus. Easily.

ETA: I actually do own a car and prefer to take public transportation because it's tremendously easier to deal with than the hassle of traffic, parking, etc. Trips from home to work and back would take me twice as long and be twice as frustrating if I drove instead of taking the bus. The bus here is like having your own personal taxi service - it goes everywhere and one comes along every 5 minutes in the East End. Walking is also an option here, because Pittsburgh is divided into many small neighborhoods, each with it's own grocery store, library, movie theater, etc. So if you lived and worked in the same neighborhood you wouldn't even have to take the bus ever.

[miyazaki]

26. Disneyland?

pffffffft...

[mcscajun]

27. Portland, OR

http://www.portlandtransportation.org/getaround/

[Lydia Leftcoast]

30. Definitely Portland, and even some of its suburbs!

I lived there car-free for ten years, and I was inconvenienced less than the typical driver is by car trouble.

Living in Minneapolis now, the transit system is what I miss most about Portland! :cry:

I still take the bus to many of my favorite destinations, but unlike Portland, transit to the burbs runs only during rush hours, and all my relatives live in the burbs.

[MissB]

33. You know it's gotten better

The trolleys are running from the Pearl District to PSU and from PSU down to the Riverfront development. Max now goes to Hillsboro, out to the Expo Center, and right to the airport terminal at PDX

:D

[Lydia Leftcoast]

38. Yes, I was there for the line out to the airport and

Hillsboro, but I missed the line to the Expo Center and the streetcar extension to the Riverfront development by a few months (left in August 2003).

[0rganism]

45. Absolutely! In Gresham, Hillsboro and Beaverton, too

One of my co-workers commutes to work at <omit name of megalithic tech company> in Hillsboro by shuttle bus every day, he doesn't even own a car.

[Imagine My Surprise]

28. a cemetery

[chaumont58]

29. Los Angeles!

Not!!!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. Actually, I know someone who lives car-free in Los Angeles

When I was there in 2001, he gave me pointers on how to get around on public transit, and I found it surprisingly easy.

Los Angeles actually has better public transit than Minneapolis does.

[leftofthedial]

31. downtown Portland

this country was built around the automobile.

[grasswire]

34. Portland

Everything is accessible via the combination of city bus and/or light rail and trollies. The bus runs every 15 minutes or more often, and no place in the city or its neighborhoods is more than a few blocks to a bus stop. And public transportation is safe and clean.

AND -- Portland has FLEXCAR. You can pay a modest monthly fee for a certain number of hours of car rental, or you can just pay by the hour when you need a car. You can choose the car, and pick it up near your home. What a foresighted and fabulous operation!

[Jersey Devil]

35. Hoboken, NJ

No car necessary. Ferry to NYC, bus to the Port Authority via the Lincoln Tunnel, light rail, connection to Hudson Tubes to Wall Street, everything within walking distance, including some of the finest restaurants and clubs in NJ

[Disturbed]

36. 92% of the people on this planet do not...

own a car. Interesting isn't it?

[Kazak]

40. Norman, OK

Believe it or not...Norman is one of the more bicycle friendly towns I've ever personally seen.

[Sgent]

42. New Orleans, LA

if you live/work in or near the French Quarter

[shanti]

43. sacramento, ca

we have an excellent transit system with lightrail.

[Mr.Green93]

44. Most any hollow

in Eastern Ky.

[DS9Voy]

46. Why Boston?

Never been would like to know how transporation is there.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

50. Well, I haven't been there for many years, but it

has a commuter train/subway system that covers much of the city.

[CAcyclist]

47. San Mateo, CA

I lived quite well for over 3 years (2000-2004) without a car, but now I am off the wagon.

[Heddi]

48. Seattle

We rarely used our car when we lived in Seattle, unless we were going to Costco or Ikea. Our first apartment was in "First HIll" which is just a few blocks uphill from downtown, so we did alot of walking as well as bus riding. Then we lived between Ballard and Queen Anne--about 5 miles to downtown proper, but right along a major bus route that can take you anywhere in the city.

In fact, none of the jobs my husband and I worked had on-site parking. You could pay $12 a day to park in a garage...uh...no. So we got a bus pass and just bussed it.

Wanna go to a bar? Bus it (We did that on NUMEROUS occasions)
Wanna go to dinner? Bus it
Wanna go to the Mariner's or Seahawks game? Bus it
Wanna go be a tourist? Bus it
Wanna go to work? Bus it

Whenever family would come into town, they (living in small town & suburbs) expected that they would be shuttled to and fro in our car, being able to park right next to wherever you wanted to go. Ha ha ha ha. You can't park within a mile of the Space Needle on a Saturday in the Summer. You can't get near Pike Place market with a 3 mile pole.

So, we'd all get our dollars and quarters and hop on the bus. Family seemed to be non-plussed and thought we were some poor heroin junkies who needed the bus system to get our smack. Well, we explained, why pay for gas AND parking AND sit in traffic when the bus stops both ways RIGHT across the street from our house, and goes wherever we want it to?

Seems logical to me, and I HATE living where I do now because the bus system has TWELVE busses for the whole city, and they stop running at 6pm (Seattle busses ran pretty much 24 hours a day, altho I think there was an hour-lag between 3 and 4am or 4 and 5am)

[newswolf56]

52. Have to disagree. Lived in Seattle during the 1970s and...

...its bus system was like all other bus systems: slow, stinky and above all else woefully inadequate. A couple of years ago, a car breakdown forced me to temporarily depend on buses for transport to and from Tacoma and inside Seattle itself, and -- with the notable addition of the express buses (which take an hour and a half to bounce and rattle over the distance a train would glide in 20 minutes) -- the service was no better than during the '70s. Moreover the buses I needed all stopped running well before midnight, inflicting profound worry and inconvenience. Tacoma's bus system is even worse: buses once an hour on weekends and no service after 11:30 p.m., not to mention the potentially deadly exposure to street criminals attendant upon waiting at bus stops in many neighborhoods.

[Heddi]

57. I've had no problems with the busses in Seattle

I find their busses to be no stinkier than any other bus system in any major city (incl. NYC, London, Amsterdam, Paris, etc).

No public transit system will meet everyone's need in every way. However, having lived 90% of my life in cities with NO bus service, or service that was so limited as to be useless, I found Seattle to be completely accessable by bus to the point that we didn't need to buy a car for several months after moving (Carless) to the city.

I suppose it also depends on where you live. A friend of mine commuted from Edmonds to Downtown Seattle every day and had to change 2 busses and a train each way, and had to sometimes leave work earlier than she should have just so she could make the necessary transfers and asure that she got to the train on time. Her commute was around an hour each way---roughly what it would have been driving. However, the money saved on gas AND maintenance far outpriced the cost (both monetarily and convenience-wise) of taking 2 busses and a train.

It should also be noted that Seattle has horrid roads that are too small and too crowded. It's expected that the busses will be slow when they're traveling the same roads that are traveled by cars, and sit in the same traffic as cars do.

If you want woefully inadequate bus service, I suggest you visit Yakima--there are 12 busses in the fleet, they don't go to all points of the city, and they run from 7am-6pm with scant service on Sundays.

Or Charleston South Carolina, where the busses ran once every three or four hours (if lucky), went only into the 'Ghetto' and didn't offer service at nights or on Sundays. They've recently cut back the bus service even further, creating much havock for those who are dependent upon the busses to get to jobs and school. I fear that within the next year, the bus service will be cut completely.

THOSE are woefully inadequate bus service. So seattle's buses are slow and "stinky"---that's a Godsend when you come from the 90% of America that has NO metro service whatsoever, muchless one that's so inexpensive AND connects practically non stop from Olympia, WA, to Vancouver, BC and all points in between.

[newswolf56]

61. If you live in Seattle, you must know how...

...the local establishment and the bureaucracy -- the Metro bureaucracy in particular -- has methodically sabotaged rail transport, for just the reasons I noted in Post 51. Seattle has twice voted down subway systems (1969 and 1970) -- the "we don' wanna be like New York" factor prevailing each time. Worse, the Metro bureaucracy (fearing loss of its empire to a genuine state transit authority) organized the defeat of a 1980 legislative measure that, had it passed, would have built a rapid transit system along the entire Interstate 5 corridor, from the Oregon state line to the Canadian border. As a consequence of that betrayal of the state's working families, such a system will NEVER be built; the costs are simply too high, especially since the 90 percent federal funding then available will never be available again -- not in my lifetime, not in yours, not in my niece's grand children's lifetime. But my real objection -- as I noted above -- is not so much to buses per se (which are the LEAST efficient, LEAST economical of all public transport modes) but rather to Seattle's bigoted and irrational opposition to anything that runs on rails and is powered by electricity.

[high density]

62. Interesting. I visited Seattle a month ago...

I was kind of surprised that their more or less exclusive mode of public transportation was by bus and that they didn't have something else like a train/subway system. I didn't dare to try out the bus system because I was a bit overwhelmed with the route network after examining the King County Metro website (I'm a small town kid.) If I were living in the area I'd definitely force myself to figure it out, though I did drive behind some of the electric busses along one road and they seemed to be very old and going painfully slow. Most of the diesel busses I saw looked much better. Hey I did ride the monorail to the Space Needle, though! ;)

[Iris]

49. Atlanta

It might not be comfortable for you but 1,000 of people live here without a car and with inadequate public transporation.

[newswolf56]

51. Wanted to get in on this earlier, but...

...a succession of thunderstorms was moving through the Tacoma area, and I had to shut down the computer to protect it.

Where I live, surviving without an automobile is simply impossible: even in downtown, shopping distances are too great, so that shopping that takes a total of 45 minutes by automobile (including both travel and purchases) takes at least three hours by bus. This is because -- despite its outrageously hypocritical claim to be the most environmentally conscious state in the union -- Washington is probably unprecedented in its hostility to public transport.

The real reason Washington is so wedded to the private automobile (without which it is impossible to live even in the largest Puget Sound cities) is a combination of selfishness (both personal and bureaucratic) and xenophobic bigotry -- the latter often expressed as a "we don' wanna be like 'Jew' York" ethos that reveals both the region's generalized and malevolent hatred of all things East Coast and a very specific local anti-Semitism that views "the New York Jew" as the personification of the infinitely despised "East Coast intellectual."

As a result, public transport is totally dependent on slow, lumbering, often stinky and air-befouling buses. Meanwhile, the Seattle bureaucracy and the local Establishment play into the hands of the BushCo war on all public transport by vindictively conspiring to deliberately sabotage local rail projects, so that they are typically many years behind schedule and thus ever more discredited in the eyes of the voters. This growing voter hostility was further manipulated a few years back when -- by bureaucratic coup -- a voter-approved rail project (now nine years behind schedule) was arbitrarily expanded into a massive, taxpayer-funded jobs-and-welfare program to placate anti-rail opposition the rail opponents themselves had agitated in some of Seattle's low-income neighborhoods.

Greatest of the associated ironies is the operating cost of electric-powered rail transport versus fossil-fuel powered buses: because of Bonneville, Washington state has the second-cheapest electricity in the nation (the cheapest is from TVA), but even with the profound advantage this gives to electric-powered rail transport, the ruinous powers of xenophobic idiocy and bureaucratic empire-building are so compelling, the state remains solidly wedded to buses -- never mind fuel prices edging ever closer to $3, $4 or $5 per gallon, complete with all the economic ruination these prices will inflict on working families. The sullenly wanton failure of leadership that has led to this impasse is one of the most vicious economic and political betrayals in U.S. history.

Being one of those hated "East Coast intellectuals" myself, and formerly often mistaken for Jewish because I am smallish and had dark and curly hair (that is, before it turned gray), I can surely attest to the local prejudice -- which by the way is confirmed by a plethora of sociological studies. I can also bear witness to the profound economy and efficiency of REAL rapid transit: the main reason that, during those halcyon years I lived in Manhattan, I had more disposable cash than ever before or since. If such transport were available here, I would sell my automobile in a...well, New York Minute. Alas, it is not -- and obviously never will be.

Edit: inclusion of absent-mindedly omitted specific identification of my locale.

[GoneOffShore]

53. Philadelphia, PA here

And yes, it's possible to live here without a car. When SEPTA (South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) runs properly, this is a great place. And if you live within the city limits and even in the burbs you can get most places on public transport. If you've got a bike you can go even further.
And there is a growing public transport infrastructure so one can get places in Jersey like Trenton (though why anyone wants to go to Trenton, I'll never know) plus Atlantic City, etc. And it's relatively easy to go into NYC on either Amtrak (EXPENSIVE) or SEPTA/New Jersey Transit(Cheap but long).

(Added on edit)
And if you really want to live among progressives there is no better place than a big city. If we strengthen the cities and cut down the sprawl we can absolutely insure that progressive politics will once more be ascendant.

[journalist3072]

54. Washington, DC

I live here in DC, and I don't own a car. You can basically get anywhere you want on the subway, or catch a cab.

Now, it's harder living in the surburbs in Maryland and Virgina. They don't have as many subway stations or bus stops..and things tend to be more dispersed and therefore not as easy to get to.

But living in DC is very convenient for non-drivers.

[pfitz59]

55. Honolulu (Oahu)

Lived in Hawaii for 2 years sans auto. Met colorful poeple on the bus.

[bunny planet]

56. Montclair, NJ

[johnaries]

60. What about Key West?

I haven't been to the Conch Republic (although I'm planning to go), but I understand the preferred mode of transportation is bicycle.