Let me first tell you – I am a liar. I don’t live a car free life and I probably could not live a car free life. What I aspire to do is more akin to what would be called living car lite, but that’s not the point. The point is that I have created this blog to tell my story of my personal choices to live my life without using a car for personal transportation. In the spirit of Morgan Spurlock (30 Days and Super Size Me), I pledge to live without using a car for personal transportation from January 1st 2010 to December 31st 2010.
In the process, I will (with spousal permission) sell my car and tell the story of that process. Aghast – A one car family of 3 in a major city! The reaction I’ve received to this has ranged from fear, “What if you need to get your son to the hospital!” ; to indifference, “Why?”
It’s important to understand I am an average Joe, in my thirties, working a 9-5 desk job. I have a wife and a one year old son. I live in an average size city, with an average public transportation infrastructure, and I live 7 miles from the city center. My wife is not a zealous bicyclist, and truthfully, not very supportive of this project! My wife does own a car and I will probably occasionally drive it with my family in the car. I am not an anti-car zealot, but what I want to highlight are the challenges and choices I will face in my every day life and the impact they will have on me as I live this (sadly) “alternative lifestyle.” These decisions may be banal but they just might be something more.
I am choosing not to transport myself individually in a vehicle designed to fit 5. It’s ludicrous, and we all have grown numb to the impact we have on our communities, to our country men and women, and to the world. If I can do it, there are millions of other people in this country who can do the same thing, and that’s the story I plan to tell.
I wish you luck… Ive been enjoying the car-free lifestyle for 15 years and will never return to being a slave to the car. It has been easy for me because after 2 years living in Los Angeles, I vowed never to live in an American city where I could not have a high quality of life without being dependent on the money hungry car. so I moved to Montreal Canada then Boston MA and now Washington DC and live near metro, bus and bike trails. I am within 3 minute walk of movies, gym, groceries, cafes, pubs etc.. in the clarendon area of Arlington VA. I hope that the US will stop building isolated sprawl and move toward smartgrowth such as the area I currently enjoy and make it easier for others to have a great life without being a slave to a car.
[...] If you've ever wanted a breakdown of the benefits of commuting by bike versus commuting by car, Carfree.us has got it for you. The writer of this Streetsblog Network member blog, a resident of Charlotte, North Carolina, is not actually totally car-free, but he has made a commitment to commuting by bike or bus for the calendar year of 2010. From his introductory post: [...]
[...] at Carfree.us, a self-described “average Joe” is trying to wean himself off his car where possible. After two months, he attempts this quantitative estimate of the payoff: In January [...]
How cool! Thank you for trying, and thank you for sharing, I look forward to reading of your adventures, and am inspired to speed up my own personal car elimination goals