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Life without a car
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Written on: 01 February 2009 [13:35]
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ecoadmin
Administrator
Topic creator
registered since: 20.07.2007
Posts: 586
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I thought I would like to share a few experiences with you about the decision to live without a car (at least for a while). Its now almost a year since I have sold my gas powered 1.5 Nissan Almera. The good news is: I am still alive!  Conclusion: There is a life without car.Let me first tell you a bit more about my situation: I am living in an area where public transport is at a pretty good standard (Switzerland). I have a bus every 30 minutes to next bigger city, where I can board trains to virtually any other place. The earliest bus leaves just after 5AM, the last one arrives near my house around midnight. I am working irregular hours and occasionally also at night, meaning that the bus is no option. On these occasions I book a taxi (happens about 2-4x a month). If the weather is not too bad, riding a bicycle to work is also an option (5 miles one way). Pros: The public transport system is generally very reliable. Coaches are clean and well maintained. Long distance trains are comfortable and very on time. Transportation is inexpensive and you don't have to worry about road conditions, fogged up windows and the like. Just relax and let others do the driving. Its likley that your health benefits as well, because you do more walking too. Cons: Commuter trains are often a bit filthy and packed at rush-hour. This kind of travel is certainly not much fun. What is also clearly noticeable is the reduced flexibility. Good planning and sticking to your travel itinerary is essential if you want to reduce travel time to a bearable minimum. Since we do not own a car, we stay more at home. Our activity level has somewhat dropped, but on the other hand we now enjoy more relaxed weekends at home. Sticking to bus times and timetables can be stressful. Even with good planning, you find yourself sometimes running to catch a connecting train or bus because of network delays or unfamiliarity with the station. With luggage this can be a strain and I am not sure whether your health is actually benefitting from it... To summarize it, I find public transport very helpful in city and suburban areas. Finding parking lots can be difficult and driving is often not much fun. If you live a few miles away from main traffic arteries, a car offers you freedom. We are looking forward to get this flexibility back when our EV arrives but we will remain a frequent user of public transport, especially on long distance trips. Been without a car once? Survived it too? Tell us about it.Stefan Twike 890
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Written on: 21 February 2009 [21:47]
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besttools
registered since: 21.02.2009
Posts: 1
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Though I easily can handle without a car, I do not think that the solution is about limiting us, our driving freedom. The whole world must simply choose a trend for eco friendly vehicles. With serious standards for their "eco-friendliness" You see, it is just about 10 years that people started to get concerned about this issue, and we already have lots of solutions. Some of them are naive, some of them are - not working, but some are showing a very nice future. We simply need to put it as a mantra "you do not have to quit your car, you need to make it eco friendly". A good start can be converting a car to EV. |
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Written on: 08 March 2009 [10:31]
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ecoadmin
Administrator
Topic creator
registered since: 20.07.2007
Posts: 586
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You're right, cars are here to stay and many of us need a vehicle. No question about it. They are great to get around comfortably. We just have to learn that transport puts an enormous pressure onto our environment. We should endavour to reduce the impact of it as much as possible by switching to greener cars fulfilling serious eco-standards and by avoiding unnecessary trips. REDUCE is the word here or CHANGE if you convert Twike 890
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