Could you live without the car

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 11:43 pm

Nope. I live 19 miles from work. I have reduced my speed though and found going about 5-10 MPH slower (keeping it between 60 and 65 where 65 is the speed limit) makes a big difference in gas mileage especially for my 4x4 which is needed for New England winters.

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:06 am

I guess it depends where you live. In Dallas the public transport system is crap and borderline unusable so I dont see how it would be possible for most to get back and forth across the metroplex without a car. However I have also been to New York where busses and subways are very convenient and heavily relied on by the people of that city.

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:12 am

SlapHappy wrote:

Sure I could live without one. When gas goes to 5 bucks/gallon, I'll just get a horse and buggy, and live a more romantic existance. Cool

Most Europeans would gladly pay that Crying or Very sad

If forced to live without a car I could do so, especially now the kids use public transport to get to/from school and for their social lives (neither is old enough to drive yet). But then again, we live in a large city with good public transport. I've lived the "rural idyll" in the UK with one bus per week to the nearest town and so a car was pretty much essential. Never again.

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:02 am

It possible that I could use public transport to get to work. All it would take was 3 trains, one bus and two and a half hours in each direction.

Obviously a no-brainer!

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:15 am

@k[0]-- i used to live in Ft. Worth, and I wouldn't walk the streets of Dallas or Ft. Worth if you paid me. And that was on the "good"/west side of Ft. Worth...

On topic though... no, i couldn't live without my truck, she may only get 15 mpg, but it's worth it not having to walk 20 miles to work, and the only public transit is EZRider, and they don't come out here where i live, and I've seen the way that the cabbies drive in this town, and that ain't happening either. In short, no, I can't live without my truck in Midland or Odessa....

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:23 am

Sure I could live without 2 SUV's in the driveway. My wife and I would get fired (public transport here is pathetic), the kids would have to drop out of school and grocery shopping would take quite a while, but what the hell. At least I'd be saving the environment! Very Happy

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:28 am

Obi-W�n Knievel wrote:

My wife and I would get fired (public transport here is pathetic), the kids would have to drop out of school and grocery shopping would take quite a while, but what the hell.

Yeah Obi, don't be a chicken about it. Wink

You know, 7 million years ago they also couldn't drive after the dinosaurs in a Ferrari and shoot them with a machine gun! They had to run and throw stones and stuff!
Now that was environmentally friendly!

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

Well, the petrol pumps are running dry around here.
Prices have gone to �1.25 a litre which is about �5.70 a gallon ( $11.30 )
So my car is going to stay put except for emergencies.
Yes I can live without it, life is just that much more complicated.

When my mum first took ill NHS 24 wanted her to go to a clinic for assessment 2 villages away, early on a Sunday morning, in the snow.
If I hadn't had the car I have no idea how that would have been possible

My hubby uses the car to get to work a 7 mile journey. If he doesn't use the car he needs to take at least 2 buses and go via the city centre

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 1:10 pm

We have no public transportation, so we need.

We don't need the 1969 camaro (6 or 7 MPG), but we got her. jump_4_joy

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:04 pm

I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area where public transportation is interesting. One day I decided to ride the bus to the train to get to downtown Fort Worth. I found the people on the bus very unique and the people on the train very professional. Sadly it took me 1 1/2 hours to do this where driving by car it would take 20 minutes.

Can I live without my car? NO! Would I like to live without a car? Yes!

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:00 pm

Of course I can do with out my pick-up, I'll just haul my water in buckets, two at a time and only four miles away. And I give up eating as the nearest shop is at 20 miles, not that they sell much, you'll have to go a bit further to find a real shop, 40 miles, but if you need clothing, electronics or anything cultural, that's only 80 miles. No problem. Wink

Baiting Guru Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 4012

Yes, I can live without a car. I live pretty much in the center of a big city with a very good public transport system. All shops that I need to go to regularly for buying food etc are within 2 minutes walking distance.

The next underground station is also within 2 minutes walking distance, and the underground goes at the very least every ten minutes, 24/7/365, except for about five hours during the night, during peak hours it goes every five minutes, and it is safe to use. Driving a car here sucks, because everything takes a lot longer this way.

I think where I am now is a good place to live for the next years, since I am pretty certain that oil prices have only one way to go - and that is UP. I expect that in five years we will be laughing about how damn cheap oil is today. We are at ~120$ per barrel now, that means the price has nearly doubled since 2006. This trend, I think, will continue for the forseeable future.

In my opinion the question for the topic should be asked differently: what is your plan b in case you cannot or do not want to spend an ever increasing part of your available money on gasoline?

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:32 pm

I could live without a car, but my 80 year old mother couldn't - and since she lives with us, that's it. We have a village shop that would do if it was just the two of us, but when you have to visit the doctor, the hairdresser, take the poxy poodle to the parlour, and get the extra special yoghurts from the supermarket in the main town - yes, a car is essential Smile

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:11 pm

I live about eight miles from work and I recently started taking the bus. I've found that if I take the bus just three days a week, that it cuts my gasoline bills by half. That will only get better as the price of gas goes up this summer.

But could I live without a car? No not really. I'm still about two miles from the closest grocery, and my bus doesn't go near there. I would have some significant food/shopping issues..

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 8:04 pm

I haven't had a car for 5 years, so I guess I could live without one Very Happy

It keeps you in shape, too!

We may be finding ourselves back in the horse and buggy days!

ETA: After reading what meyer wrote - the first few paragraphs describe exactly how I live and why I don't need a car.

Elite Baiter Joined: 03 Jan 2006 Posts: 1455

I've been fortunate enough to live in places where you don't need one. I hate driving, so I'll be trying to keep things that way.

Though there is currently a last bus where I live at the moment; which I'm just not getting used to. I was on a main road into a city centre until not so long ago, and there was no such thing as a last bus...

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:53 pm

Live in a small town, so for some things, it's not the distances that are a problem. Smile

But do you realize how much time and how many walks (about 3/4 mile each way) to the store for groceries, would be needed for a family of eight? Sad

(And not allowed to keep horses in town here) Sad

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:14 pm

That's why they invented a bike ^^^ normal tool of transport in Holland, hauls everything you need and 1.2 kilometer is not far enough to get warm or tired.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

I've used public transport to commute from Birmingham to Redditch, Birmingham to Coventry, and right across Birmingham - distances of ten to twenty miles, but for the last fifteen years I just haven't been able to do it in a reasonable time. I don't mind 50% over the time it would take to drive, but 200-300% is unsupportable.

The allotment is only about half a mile away, but with two dogs, shovels & rakes and bags of fertiliser, the car is necessary. I suppose a push-bike with a trailer might be possible, but I'm not sure I can teach the dogs to pedal.

I wouldn't get to visit my mother two days a week if I had to take the train.

Most of my journeys are under 100 miles round-trip. Electric or hybrid is a possibility but, without off-street parking, I'd have trouble charging the battery.

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:34 am

I couldn't live without a car. I live in the middle of nowhere. The nearest grocery store is *way* too far away to reach by bike or foot. All the other stores are even farther away.

And there's no way that you could safely ride bikes there anyway. None of the roads have shoulders. The main highway has the outside line...and then a half-foot strip of asphalt. Try to bike on that and risk being creamed.

But, hey, I guess that I could do my part to help the environment. My flattened body would probably make good fertilizer for the lovely bluebonnets that are starting to pop up along the roadsides. Smile

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:01 am

Doodle Bug wrote:

Re: Could you live without the car

Is that a trick question?

I don't own a car, I just rent one when I need one.

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:45 pm

No, there is no mass transit system here. It is all nice and good to say everyone should no longer drive a car, but when you live in a smaller town in a rural area you cannot get anywhere without a car. Even the larger towns in the state I live in only have Taxi's, no trains or subways/tubes. So personally I think this is a biased question based on where you live.

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:26 pm

could i live without my car? yes would I live without my car? no freakin way. even though I its a 5 min drive to work I have to take the freeway to get there. so I have my old POS toyota that gets 35 MPG. but to see my grand kids its a 100 miles round trip, and there is no way I will give up my prostreet truck. gas is 3.50/gal here in new hampshire. and the racing fuel for the truck is about 7.00 gal and it gets about 15 MPG if I drive without my foot in the carb on the highway. at the track. 3 gals per 1/4 mile. but for the fun it is its worth it

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:37 pm

No. My wife and I drive a combined 700 miles a week, assuming we just go to work and come home. I live in on of the largest cities (land wise) in the world. It takes forever to get anywhere. The closest store to my house is about 5 miles. So, even a trip to the food mart is 10 miles round trip. I'll be burning fuel until I die.

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:41 pm

TheGreatOok wrote:

So personally I think this is a biased question based on where you live.

I think it was more hypothetical than biased. Could we get by without cars? Yes. Do we want to get by without cars? Most of us would say no. If driving a car were to become illegal worldwide tomorrow, people would adapt. Goods and services would most likely have to come to you to survive.

Could you live without the car	View next topic View previous topic