Living Without a Car

One sunny, warm day last September Anya exclaimed after riding her bike home from school through the park, "Man, I LOVE riding my bike to school!" I thought then of doing this post about how it is to live without a car. I resisted though, knowing that living without a car in the summertime is not the same thing as living without a car in the wintertime. Now that we've lasted seven months without a car, living through summer, fall and even some of winter, I feel like I'm in a good position to write on the topic. 

Surprisingly (or not), there are some positive points to not having a car.

1. Saves money and hassle

We don't pay car insurance, car taxes or car payments. We also don't have the hassle of buying a car and then turning around and needing to sell it in under two years.

2. Neighborhood

Part of the reason we can afford our very central, spacious terraced house in a neighborhood that I adore is that we're saving money on transportation.

3. Traffic and Parking

Cambridge is not a town for cars. You can often travel faster by bike than by car because of all the traffic. There's very little parking in Cambridge. What parking exists is somewhat expensive and confusing (and constantly monitored by city employees issuing tickets). They also have a system of one way streets and traffic-control bollards that have me intimidated. 

Anya had an evening party at school in December. I'd wanted to get the Zipcar to pick her up, thinking it would be cold and dark by the time she finished. The Zipcar wasn't available though, so we had to walk. I was surprised to see that virtually everyone else was picked up by walking parents also. It's just easier to walk in Cambridge.

4. Forces Exercise

I'm kind of a lazy person by nature, so it's nice that I basically have to get some minimum exercise to get the things I need done in my day. Today, for example, I didn't set out to exercise, but biked 4 miles dropping off and picking up Anya from school, biked another half mile to a mile going to a friend's house and back, and walked a mile or so doing some other errands. Even when I don't feel like going out, I generally feel a little more energetic and refreshed once I get going. 

We're not the only ones in Cambridge making do without a car.

5. Prevents Arguments

I have a daughter that does not like to walk. I know from past experience that if we had a car I would never be able to leave the house without hearing, I'll politely phrase it "requests," to drive. As stated earlier, most of Cambridge is easier to get to on foot. As driving is generally not an option, it greatly reduces the amount of discussion over the matter. 

How we live without a car:

1. All the grocery stores deliver

2. We live within a 5 minute walk of:

     2 grocery stores, a dry cleaners, a mall, an optician, an office supply store, 3 pubs, 1 fish & chips place, 1 Thai restaurant, Camille's school, a bike repair shop, 4 coffee shops (including Starbucks), a fruit and vegetable stand, 2 drug stores, a movie theater and much more! The key to living without a car is definitely choosing your location very carefully.

3. Zipcar

Zipcar is a car share program where you pay an hourly fee to borrow the car. The fee includes gas and insurance. There is a Zipcar handily located a block from our house, and 2 other locations within a 10 minute walk. Zipcar doesn't work for everything. It would be really expensive to use as transportation to work, or anywhere where you're going to drive someplace and leave the car sitting for a long period of time. But for picking up something heavy from a store, driving your child to or from a non-walking distance event or other somewhat local short-term use, it comes in handy. 

4. Car rentals

I should say we kind of live without a car, as we do use Zipcar and rental cars for weekends or trips.

5. Train

Mike commutes to work with a combination of bike and train. A couple of days this week he had use of a car to get to work. I was surprised to find that he actually spent more time away from home commuting by car than by bike & train! It's also very handy using the train to get to London - about an hour ride, and you don't have to worry about parking or congestion fees. 

6. Bikes

Almost everywhere in Cambridge that isn't a 5 minute walk from our house, is within a 15 minute bike ride. Biking to Anya's school, a mile away, is actually just as fast as driving there (according to Google Maps anyway - I've never driven there). I've got my bike set up the Cambridge way now - with mud flaps and a basket (sadly, the cute wicker front-baskets wouldn't fit on my style of bike). 

But even with all the ways going carless in Cambridge is easy and promoted, there are still negatives.

1. Riding the bus
The picture above of the girls on the bus was taken very early in our time here. The charms of riding the bus wear off quickly, as anyone who relies on the bus well-knows. The only reason we have to take the bus is that my church is located 2.5 miles from my house in the outskirts of Cambridge. Dealing with getting there has been my number one obstacle to not having a car. Taking 45 minutes getting to church - walking, waiting for the bus, paying for the bus (it's surprisingly expensive), driving a very leisurely route - is much less appealing than simply getting in your car and being there in 10 or 15 minutes.

2. Requires planning
Using the train, Zipcar, or rental car requires some planning. We've had times we've wanted a Zipcar at the last minute but none were available. We had a time when we had a weekend trip all planned, but not a single car in the greater Cambridge area was available (We'd messed up our reservation. Curse you Day-Month-Year instead of Month-Day-Year!). We've wanted to go to London at the last minute, when for some mysterious reason the only tickets left were insanely high-priced. Having your own car gives you freedom to be spontaneous!

3. Rain and Cold
Rain storms are charming when you are in your pajamas at home with a cup of hot cocoa and a book. Not so charming when it's 40 degrees, windy and rainy and you need to get on your bike and get somewhere. It is NEVER charming then. (That said, I must say that it seems miraculous/magical how very little it has rained when I've needed to be out in proportion to the total amount of rain we get).

So, if we had to do it all over, I think we'd get a car. Except if that meant giving up our house and neighborhood, I don't know! I love where we're at. The number one reason, for me (Mike's is avoiding commuting in bad weather), is that the girls would prefer to have one. To me, living without a car is kind of a fun adventure. Our whole time here is a fun adventure! It's not the same for my girls. Just having a car would be one less thing they needed to adjust to, and for that reason, I think we probably should have got one.

My dream of retirement has long been to live in some central, walkable neighborhood. I love the idea of walking out my door and being able to get to entertainment, restaurants, groceries, etc. After living here, that's still my dream, but our place will have a little garage with a little car parked in it for all the times when walking is not so convenient.