Could you function without your car for a week?

[jpgray]

[shockingelk]

1. I use it < 1x/week as it is

Work from home, walk to grocery store bank, etc, ride bicycle elsewhere. Only use car to visit folks in suburbs and trips that are too far to bike, which come up perhaps once a month.

And we do have busses here and I have a backpack.

[madrchsod]

2. 60 miles each day to work

same for my wife....

[havocmom]

3. Did it for years

not that hard actually

[Blue-Jay]

4. Probably, but I wouldn't like it.

Depends what week.

[AwakeAtLast]

5. I have a 2-year-old and live in Indiana

Public transportation is a joke, and biking is suicidal. Not much else to choose.

[BiggJawn]

6. It would not be easy.

My daily commute would climb from one hour to almost 3. Shopping would become a huge pain in the ass (14 miles one-way to the store)

On the up side, I would not be pissing and moaning about Prolesunited getting more pedal time than me....

[happyslug]

7. Why no "Maybe" or "It Depends"

For example I HAVE done without a Car for weeks on end, but sooner or later I have had to use a Car. On the other hand my job, at times, require me to use a car on a frequent basis (Sometimes five times a week i.e. every day).

My Point here is the situation is most often is how long can you go without using a car more than going a week without the use of a car.

[Big Kahuna]

8. We lived for 5 years without a car

It was hard, but probably the happiest time of our lives in retrospect.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

9. I have functioned without a car...

For 6 years. Long story and way ugly too.

You can do it, although I wouldn't recommend the experience.

Shorter explanation for why I have not had a car for so long:

I live in NJ, and part of the DMV's job is to get as many people off the road as they can, to keep insurance company acturarial tables managable. Add to that our insurance rates, and...

300 ways to lose your license in NJ.

[shingashong]

10. No. No good bus system here and I work 15 miles from work

although that will be remedied this week!!! (MUAHAHAHAHAA)

And no, I can't bike. I would probably die on the way (big girls on bikes don't mix well). LOL!

[iconoclastic cat]

11. I went without a car for two blissful years.

I finally bought one on Sept. 10th, 2001. Oh, the irony.

[bookfreak]

12. I couldn't get along without it for a day

I drive 20 miles each way for my weekday job
I drive 10 miles eacy way for my weekend job
I drive 12 miles each way for my weekly chiropractor appointment
Then theres any errands I have to do
I need my car

[REP]

13. Funny You Should Ask

I blew a headgasket in my car ten days ago (it's 18 years old with 186,000 miles, so no, it's not getting repaired) and have been renting one. I'm in pretty bad shape from some serious chronic illnesses, plus I'm taking classes in a town 50 miles away, so no, I can't get by without a car for a week. A day or so, probably; but not a week.

[ReaderSushi]

14. What's a car?

I live in NYC, love the subways, buses, and rail networks.
I can travel all over the Northeast with ease!
I bother to get a drivers license only for emergencies and ID.

[BlondieK143]

15. Oh sweet irony.

My roommate (whose car I've been able to use since a wreck claimed mine) left for Texas on Friday so this is the first week I've been completely out of luck. Not too easy and I feel like a bum having to get rides. So no, I can't.

[dr.strangelove]

16. I don't have a car, so I think I'd be fine.

[democratreformed]

17. Only if I quit my job.

Or, if the horse and wagon came back and I could afford one AND had somewhere to keep it. Or, if public transportation suddenly came to the country (rural areas). Or, if I could infringe upon the good graces of a friend or family member.

On second thought, it could be done. I could figure out a way.

[phillybri]

18. No chance in hell...

I'd be screwed...

[Elginoid]

19. It's my bicycle that I couldn't live without-

sometimes I don't move my car for two or three weeks as it is.

[underpants]

20. Easily

I could take the bus and I get most of the foodstuffs from the corner store. Ahhh city livin'

[Cybergata]

21. I can take a week off for a trip away....

...from home, but I really miss my cats. It helps if there are cats or dogs around where I visit, but there is nothing like my fuzzy buddies at home!

:hippie:

[Cybergata]

22. Haaaaa....the was car not cat! Geeezzz...

I'm not awake yet. I drive back and forth to work every day, which is about 5 miles from my home. During summer break (I'm a teacher), I can go weeks without driving.

:hippie:

[WI_DEM]

23. yes and I have

I live within 4 miles of my job and no highways can just walk there and I'm on a good bus line. I live in a neigborhood which has a co-op and a good neigborhood grocery store. Lots of restaruants too. So I'm one of the lucky ones. I've had car problems and not enough funds at the time to fix so I put it off until I did.

[ze_dscherman]

24. Can do since five years

- and I claim it a personal progress. Switched to a bicycle and (occasionally) public transport. Did me a lot of good healthwise, saved me a lot of money and has brought me great experiences. Long distance touring by bike is a great way to spend holidays! Occasionally I drive my parents car, and I don't very much enjoy it.

Sometimes it's annoying I don't have a car available, but I've adjusted my lifestyle around not having one and consider myself lucky as long as I can do without. My current job is only a 5.5 miles drive one way, so I have to keep it x(

But in two weeks, I'll start another bicycle vacation :)

[cmf]

25. Yes

I don't commute by car in the first place, so that wouldn't be a problem. The biggest pitfall would be going to the grocery store, since we live at the top of a pretty steep hill, and the store is at the bottom. It would be a bitch to carry the groceries back up. But I figure I could just wait until Saturday, and go to the farmer's market, which is a little closer than the grocery store.

[supernova]

26. Absolutely not

for a week, for a day or two maybe. But I live in the country without mass transit, so even the most mundane tasks: shopping, banking, etc. require a car.

[MissMillie]

27. My job is 45 miles away.

So unless I were on vacation, the answer would be "no".

[Paranoid_Portlander]

28. 3,168 weeks without a car. (61 years)

Yes, I think I can go another week without a car. Has anyone on DU gone longer than that?