Comments on: Simply Car-Free: Living Without a Car

By: James Schipper

James Schipper — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 02:47:43 +0000

It’s incredibly freeing not having to worry about this expensive “thing” you have to take care of, worry about getting stolen or damaged, insuring and spending so much money just to have it be useful.

By: Mark R. Brown

Mark R. Brown — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 01:23:46 +0000

I just sold my car and had my doubts that I could live in a medium sized city with iffy-transit without one. The money it saves is crazy and I’ve gotten in pretty good shape biking and walking places. Our city also has Zipcar which is good for quick weekend getaways.

Like Andrew said, having a car and car payments stressed me out. Even when a car is paid off, it’s more of a liability than an “asset” since the useful life of most cars is 6-8 years before serious things start to fail (and usually just after the warranty expires).
Mark R. Brown´s last blog ..Mark Steiner Show- Telling it like it is

By: Simple in France

Simple in France — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:00:21 +0000

I’m currently living in France and have been without car since December–ours was totaled then. Since I still don’t have my French driver’s license and since my husband is recovering from the accident that totaled the car (driving=the most dangerous thing most of us do on a daily basis!), I have no need to replace the old car as of now.

I love not driving. Admittedly, it changes my lifestyle . . .but I find I’m ok with that.

By: James Schipper

James Schipper — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:08:55 +0000

Those pictures are Tammy’s bikes. They have more than just the front bag on them. I don’t know what they consider their benchmark, but I see front and rear racks. I don’t think they want to deal with batteries and trailers so far, but you never know!

By: James Schipper

James Schipper — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:49:15 +0000

We do the same. Her work building got moved even further from home, but it’s a nice compromise for us to only have the one vehicle. Everything is convenient for cycling downtown. With winter lasting more than a weekend here this year, it’s kept us from riding as much as we were during the week

By: Justin Wright

Justin Wright — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:09:31 +0000

That’s an awesome resource. I sold my car about a year ago and have since started biking as often as possible. It still amazes me at how much it really costs to own a car. Not only do you have to pay insurance, gas and maintenance, but you also have to deal with registration fees.

I share a car with my girlfriend but have found we rarely use it except for road trips around the area. Once you get used to not driving often, it definitely becomes much easier.
Justin Wright´s last blog ..Sunday Market at Sweetwater Organic Community Farm

By: David Herron

David Herron — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:41:47 +0000

My benchmark for utility bicycling is “4 bags of groceries”. The picture you show of that front basket – well, that’s more useful than just a bare bike but there’s no way it will carry 4 bags of groceries. I’m almost finished building an xtracycle based electric bicycle and have for years used a trailer hauled by bicycle for around town stuff like grocery shopping.
David Herron´s last blog ..Xtreme BugE

By: James Schipper

James Schipper — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:12:31 +0000

I know what you mean. I “had to” have a car since I was a teenager. Being a gearhead, it was kind of mandatory. After I made it so I had no commute, it got downright sickening making a lease payment on a vehicle I had driven less than 5 miles since I made the previous payment. Not to mention I wasn’t getting any thinner sitting around all day then driving a mile to go to the store with prices at $4/gallon at the time.
James Schipper´s last blog ..Simply Car-Free: Living Without a Car

By: Tammy Strobel

Tammy Strobel — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:10:00 +0000

James – thank you for reviewing the book. I’m glad you enjoyed it. And hooray for selling your car!

@Andrew – since you car is stressing you out, maybe you can try a week or two without using your car at all? Before we sold our vehicles, we did a car-free test run and that seemed to help enormously. Now, I look back and wonder why it took us so long to sell the darn things. Good luck!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:09:47 +0000

I couldn’t imagine life without a car until I moved to another country where owning/buying one wasn’t feasible. Upon moving back to the U.S., I went for a year without one (despite being the marketing director at a car dealership). The only thing I really missed was quick out of town road trips. When I moved to a tiny town with no public transportation, I got another car out of habit. Aside from the random out of town trips, I kind of hated owning one. It’s stressing me out right now just thinking about it.

The strange thing is that I was too broke to pay for gas and insurance for a period during college. And while I technically owned a car, I didn’t use it… ever… and things were fine. So it’s weird that I continued to think cars were a necessity after that time. I have a lot of theories on that, but… It’s easier to just not own a car than to keep writing this comment.