Car Free Chronicles

[CBGanimal]

@Judd 177000 wrote:

I went car free this morning. It’s the first time in 22 years that I haven’t owned a car. I decided to donate my car to WABA, which I looked into after Jeanne told me that she donated her car to WAMU.

Here’s the tow truck taking her away:
https://twitter.com/LumberjackCycle/status/979682537835515905

Wow! I’m impressed!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[musclys]

We spent two years car-free in NYC. Two glorious years. Even with a little kid, that worked in New York. Congrats!

[DCAKen]

Welcome to the club!

[drevil]

@Judd 177000 wrote:

I went car free this morning. It’s the first time in 22 years that I haven’t owned a car. I decided to donate my car to WABA, which I looked into after Jeanne told me that she donated her car to WAMU.

Here’s the tow truck taking her away:
https://twitter.com/LumberjackCycle/status/979682537835515905

Nice! How’re you supposed to go mountain biking now?

We went from 2 cars to 1 a few weeks ago when we left one of them at my ma’s place in Vegas, so we’re halfway there

[hozn]

I lent my car to visiting family for the weekend, which seemed appropriate since I don’t drive it. So we’re down to 1 car for a few days! Scary!

I’ve considered getting rid of my car, as for most errands and outings the bike and main family car are sufficient. But I do use my car at least once a month for an all-day, a-few-hours-away race or ride. And as the kids get older I want to more mountain biking with them. So for those reasons I think the second car is worth it (it doesn’t cost much to insure, since it isn’t driven much).

If I was single lving in the city, though, I would probably get rid of the car and use Zipcar for the races/rides. OTOH, if I were single I’d be doing a lot more MTB and travel for races …

[Judd]

@drevil 177004 wrote:

Nice! How’re you supposed to go mountain biking now?

Can I bum a ride?

My new place puts me a couple of miles closer to biking out to Wakefield.

[bobco85]

@Judd 177000 wrote:

I went car free this morning. It’s the first time in 22 years that I haven’t owned a car. I decided to donate my car to WABA, which I looked into after Jeanne told me that she donated her car to WAMU.

Here’s the tow truck taking her away:
https://twitter.com/LumberjackCycle/status/979682537835515905

And thus, the countdown timer to Judd getting either a cargo bike or a bicycle trailer begins…

…also, congratulations on becoming car-free! Zipcar and bicycle trailers work well as a replacement. I look forward to hearing about you riding with a trailer/cargo bike to get furniture from IKEA*. Trust me, it’s fun 😎

*FYI the IKEA in College Park is easier/safer to bike to from Arlington than the one in Woodbridge because of all the trails you can use (MVT, MBT, NW Branch, NE Branch, Paint Branch).

[Steve O]

Left the car behind in August 2015. For two years my daughter lived with me 1/2 time. Now she’s away at college [emoji26]
Goal is to never buy one again

Mountain biking? Or anything else, for that matter:
– Hertz
– Zipcar
– Metro
– Car2Go
– Friends
– Uber
– Taxi
– Amtrak
– MARC
– Etc.

It’s not hard.

Sent from my LGMP260 using Tapatalk

[lordofthemark]

We are car lite (one car for the two drivers in the household) and have never been car free. A couple of months ago QOTM was out of town with the car, so I got to try several weeks of being car free. Harder than it needed to be, as I have never set up a rideshare account, or used a car sharing service (we have used car rentals of course, but none I know of close to where we now live) Nor have we ordered groceries delivered. I relied on transit, walking, and of course my bike. And had not yet discovered that we own a cache of bungee cords.

It was doable, though groceries were moderately challenging. Our auto use is mostly for out of town trips, grocery shopping, or for trips by my wife (or us together) where transit is inconvenient (because of destination – like our dentist in McLean – or time (pretty much anywhere on a weekend).

While I don’t think we will be car free anytime soon, its on my list to explore several ways that would make us less dependent on car ownership. Actually using Uber/Lyft is one way (and something I probably need to do anyway, since I am in the transportation field, and need to know first hand how ridesharing apps work) but of course the more fun way is going to be exploring what I can carry on my bike with bungee cords and a milk crate.

Note, when we were leaving Fairfax, we looked at some locations in DC where we would likely have gone car free – places where parking was more expensive, where groceries were more handy, and where car sharing was well established. At the time I had barely dipped my toe into biking for transportation, and uber/lyft were far less ubiquitous. That did not end up being our choice however.

[hozn]

@Judd 177008 wrote:

Can I bum a ride?

My new place puts me a couple of miles closer to biking out to Wakefield.

Riding to Wakefield is, luckily, quite easy. As is Lake Fairfax. And riding to Schaeffer is very pleasant — if a little long. I’d love to learn a good bike route to Fountainhead, though I have not spent a lot of time analyzing this.

[hozn]

@Steve O 177010 wrote:

Mountain biking? Or anything else, for that matter:
– Hertz
– Zipcar
– Metro
– Car2Go
– Friends
– Uber
– Taxi
– Amtrak
– MARC
– Etc.

It’s not hard.

It doesn’t sound *hard*, but … if I have 2 hours to go mountain biking and be home in time to get the kids to cub scouts – or whatever – it’s also not happening. Of course, driving to mountain bike isn’t exactly the most eco-friendly thing in the world. But this is a cycling forum, so it’s a valid counter-argument to restricting transportation options.

[Judd]

@hozn 177007 wrote:

I’ve considered getting rid of my car, as for most errands and outings the bike and main family car are sufficient. But I do use my car at least once a month for an all-day, a-few-hours-away race or ride. And as the kids get older I want to more mountain biking with them. So for those reasons I think the second car is worth it (it doesn’t cost much to insure, since it isn’t driven much).

If I was single lving in the city, though, I would probably get rid of the car and use Zipcar for the races/rides. OTOH, if I were single I’d be doing a lot more MTB and travel for races …

About 95% of my car use last year involved driving to biking events. Last year that was less than 2,000 miles, although the previous year I traveled much more for biking things. It was costing me about $700 a year for liability insurance, registration, inspection and tax so I figured that renting a car for the times I can’t trick Josephine into driving me will probably come out a bit cheaper.

The one other thing that I used my car for regularly was grocery shopping since I buy a lot of canned food. I’m probably gonna have to get all Bobco and get a trailer. The grocery store situation at the new place is a bit less convenient for walking and biking since it’s further away, involves crossing the Pike and has a lot more traffic.

[Judd]

@bobco85 177009 wrote:

And thus, the countdown timer to Judd getting either a cargo bike or a bicycle trailer begins…

…also, congratulations on becoming car-free! Zipcar and bicycle trailers work well as a replacement. I look forward to hearing about you riding with a trailer/cargo bike to get furniture from IKEA*. Trust me, it’s fun 😎

*FYI the IKEA in College Park is easier/safer to bike to from Arlington than the one in Woodbridge because of all the trails you can use (MVT, MBT, NW Branch, NE Branch, Paint Branch).

I’ll probably go trailer, but I did read a great article about subsidies for cargo bikes in Europe last night that piqued my interest. Any bike trailer recommendations?

[hozn]

@Judd 177014 wrote:

About 95% of my car use last year involved driving to biking events. Last year that was less than 2,000 miles, although the previous year I traveled much more for biking things. It was costing me about $700 a year for liability insurance, registration, inspection and tax so I figured that renting a car for the times I can’t trick Josephine into driving me will probably come out a bit cheaper.

The one other thing that I used my car for regularly was grocery shopping since I buy a lot of canned food. I’m probably gonna have to get all Bobco and get a trailer. The grocery store situation at the new place is a bit less convenient for walking and biking since it’s further away, involves crossing the Pike and has a lot more traffic.

It sounds like a fun adventure and kudos to you for doing it!

I should run the numbers more carefully as it might end up being worth it to drop the second car, even with occasional renting. Likely, the cost effective thing to do will be just not to buy another car when this 10-year-old car finally dies.

[Judd]

@Steve O 177010 wrote:

Left the car behind in August 2015. For two years my daughter lived with me 1/2 time. Now she’s away at college [emoji26]
Goal is to never buy one again

Mountain biking? Or anything else, for that matter:
– Hertz
– Zipcar
– Metro
– Car2Go
– Friends
– Uber
– Taxi
– Amtrak
– MARC
– Etc.

It’s not hard.

I had a Twitter friend hook me up with a Car2Go discount which I’ll be signing up for tonight. I am opposed to the use of Uber and Lyft on moral grounds.

[Author]

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