I would happily give up the car for most around town trips if my city had decent public transportation.

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This is a good idea ONLY if you live in a city. A lot of America doesnt live or work close enouigh to bicycle. I myself live 30 minutes from work and 10 minutes away by car. Not to mention 20 minutes from my Church. My county has no real public transporation, a person cant survive here without a car.

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I agree totally with what Jackie says. I live in a rural isolated county (which is surrounded by water on three sides) with a population of 2,000 people all together, mostly retired!. We don't have a school in our county, nor hospital I use the term rural loosely because it is not a farming area. It is all woods between the small hamlets. And we average 200 inches of snow a year and the snows begin in November and are finally gone near the end of April. The closest grocery store, hospital, and schools are 25 miles away, the nearest mall (if that's what you'd call it), fast-food restaurants, movie theaters, and most employment is 50 miles away.I just don't have the time to travel by foot, or on bikes between these towns and forget public transportation. Even most of the churches are at least 25 miles away, although there are some summer month services nearer.

My suggestion is that people should be required to have two vehicles, one gas-powered (for long-distance travelling-more than fifty miles on the rural interstate highways) and one non-gas (or hybrid) vehicle for in-town travelling, bikes and horses included. Or no in-town vehicle would be needed if the person used public transit (preferably non-gas).

Most in-town traffic could easily be handled by an electric or hybrid car.

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I would happily give up a car if I lived in the city or at least in a town where I could purchase food, clothing, etc. within a reasonable distance. But alas, Americans, myself included, didn't think that way when we adopted lifestyles based on cheap oil, and cheap goods made overseas by workers paid a small fraction of what one would make in America. We built our homes far, far from work centers and readily hopped in the car for the myriad of activities of which our children "must" be part, usually far from home. Ever wonder why you don't see many kids in suburban neighborhoods playing with each other after school? They're all at dance lessons or organized sports and they don't get there by bus. I unhappily have to admit I am part of the problem, but strive to be part of the solution.

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I live in the south where public transportation is few to none. So it impossible to not own a car. I am certianly not riding a bicycle 25 to 30 miles one way to work. There is also another issue of no sidewalks in my neighborhood to walk or ride a bike less than two miles to the store.Its just not safe. It great that you have found a way to not own a car. Your story doesn't relate to a lot of other american. You should have bought an American owned and manufactured car.(Chevy or Ford). KEEP the bragging to a minium.

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Stupid, irresponsible parenting ... What do you do when it rains several days in a row? When your child is sick? When they get bigger and you can't haul them around? When you hit a pothole - or any one of a hundred ways you can fall - and break your child's arm or leg? You want to bike, great! But you better have reliable transport for your kids sake. Maybe your under-employed hubby should get a second job or you should get off your high horse and buy a reliable, economical car that doesn't cost an arm and a leg for prestigious name that got you nothing but bills.

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Actually I'd LOVE to live without a car. However, like many of the posters before me, it is highly impractical. The state I live in has virtually NO viable public transportation system. When I lived in the city, the bus routes were so awful that most employers refused to hire anyone who depended on public transportation to get to work. This is a question on most job applications and interviews. I love riding bicycles however there are no safe roads here for bikes, no bike lanes, no bike racks, potholes etc are the standard here. I live 12 miles from work, but the road I travel ( the only way to get there) does not allow non-motorized vehicles. Also weather conditions here are not conducive to anything other driving a car. We recently had a week of solid rain. Before that, the heat and humidity were unbearable. This winter, there will be ice and snow. If I could figure out how to overcome these obstacles, I'd be tickled pink. I'd save enough money on gas, insurance, maintenance and car notes to raise my standard of living significantly.

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I live in the south where public transportation is few to none. So it
impossible to not own a car. I am certianly not riding a bicycle 25 to
30 miles one way to work. There is also another issue of no sidewalks
in my neighborhood to walk or ride a bike less than two miles to the
store.Its just not safe. It great that you have found a way to not
own a car. Your story doesn't relate to a lot of other american. You
should have bought an American owned and manufactured car.(Chevy or
Ford). KEEP the bragging to a minium.

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It is ridiculous to assume that everyone could live without a car. I have to drive 40 minutes by highway to get to work. By bike takes about 3 hours and I don't think the people I work with would enjoy the smell too much. Instead I chose to buy an extremely cheap Honda Civic, which by the way I have only spent about $500 into, for a total of $1500 dollars plus $1500 in fuel. That is a grand total of approximately 3000 dollars to drive the car to work for a year. Otherwise I would have to take a taxi since there is absolutely no public transportation in my area. To come out to the same cost I would need to find a taxi that would only charge me $5.00 each way. I doubt they would even let me sit down in the car for that amount. And at the end of the day I still have a car that I can drive and only pay for fuel. So I hope I have shown that I definitely need to drive I vehicle. I would gladly drive an electric or hybrid, so show me one for $1000 and I will take it.

By the way, you can't buy a brand new Mercedes and then complain that it costs too much to maintain. That is just stupid.

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Well, yes, this would have/could have been part of my dream: in fact, was.Living out in the country; I rode a motorcycle to town for shopping and work at my full time job instead. Until I got sick, and ended up not being able to walk very far, balance well enough to ride a bike, and not being able to hold down anything but a part time job. Being active with my kids was out of the question.
Yeah, we CHOSE to live 10 miles out of town back in the 70's: I still would not change that decision, when the gang warfare has come back to our town. It's still safer, and I can have my garden and grow my own food without the pollution of the city, My service dogs have room to run when they are not on the job.Nice dream, but reality check for some people. Enjoy your health.

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I recently purchased a bicycle to ride back and forth to work. I only live a few miles away, so it really makes sense. When I purchased the bicycle, the salesperson asked if I would give up my 2008 Ford F350 Diesel. I laughed. Little did I know, he wasn't joking nor amused by my laughter. He said, "I'm serious." I responded with, 'When this bike can pull 12000+ pounds at 70 mph, I'll consider it.'

Damn hippie.

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My husband and I have 2 cars. My husband must rely on the car to get to work(construction and most of the time it is in a remote place) The problem that we encountered was when his car broke down he would need mine to get to work (my job is part time and within 8 miles) Suddenly not having my car to get around became unbearable until I decided to condition myself to life without depending on my car ( at anytime one of them could need extensive repairs anyway)

So my car sits. It acts like a spare for my husband to use. And I use it in emergencies. My stress level has gone down and I have amazing muscle tone from walking and riding my bike to the store. Also I am more conscience of what I am buying because I will have to lug it all home.

This 'program' will not work for everyone. I live in a wonderful city and across the street from my bank and plenty of retail stores (Target, Trader Joe's, Lowe's, etc.) which I can walk to with relative ease.

At first it was a way to save on fuel and repairs, but now I think I like not having a car because it is very freeing. Plus, when overly needy friends 'expect' a ride somewhere, I can say 'oh, sorry, my car is really for emergencies and the like, because it is too expensive to keep up.

My 8 year old benefits as well. He can ride his bike to school or walk( 3 mi round trip) Last November I lost about 30 lbs. simply from walking to and from the school with him. It helped him focus more in class. He was able to sit a little longer, etc.

So, I have access to a car, and I choose to let it sit. You can too!

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When this car goes caput, maybe I will consider no car if even for 6 months. Blessing for me is when my buick went out on me, agood friend gave me her car she was just about to trade in for something smaller. I am now driving a 2000 MP300 Chrysler for $1.00 so now I have no car payment - God is good to me! Walking which I do even now to some close places is still a treat in many ways.

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thanks to those of you who defended me :) and in response to a couple of questions/pieces of advice/attacks:
-- my children all were born in Portland. here, the rain falls, and we wear raincoats, or hats (i knit, and everyone has his own wool hat made specifically to repel rain), or we just get wet. it turns out that getting wet doesn't kill you and my kids have been very healthy despite their frequent exposure.
-- actually, we *do* ride the bicycle if someone gets sick. or we take the bus. in an actual emergency -- someone was bleeding to death or choking -- we'd call 911. the fire station is only a mile and a half away. when i went into labor with my third child, i got on the bus.
-- my husband doesn't drive. he works for the army reserves about 30 miles away from home, about 10 days a month, and he carpools, rides the bus, or bikes. yep, 30 miles, it's great exercise and he's definitely not the only one in portland who commutes this far. it's not for everyone, but it's certainly possible!
-- people in portland do bike in the snow.
-- i work full-time and my kids go to public school. my six-year-old just learned to ride and he rides his own bike now (that was part of the financial output i mentioned), yesterday he rode 16 miles up and down hills while i schlepped the groceries and baby. one of us rides with him to school every day, 2.5 miles away, it's a big investment of time but we get a huge payoff in his mood. when he gets a little stronger, i plan to get him a bike rack and basket so he can carry groceries, too.
-- i like to think that i'm a very responsible parent, one who spends time with her children and teaches them the traffic laws, who tries to live as an example of respect for the world, who treats others without judgment or harsh words. but obviously not everyone agrees with me.

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