I’d be careful about using “what can be done with a bus” without mentioning the trade-offs involved. Retrospective planning (seeing what kinds of trips you’ve made in the past) is easy, but maybe less informative than hoped - the difference between [going to the store for something] and [knowing two days ahead what’s going to be for dinner, so you can make a plan the day before to go to the store at a certain time, fit the shopping to the bus schedule and plan the route home, and decide how much time to allow for contingencies] can be significant.
I agree but that’s what people who ride buses do. Not my cup of tea but a car is something that should serve the owner. When it becomes a liability that sucks the life out of your budget then you can use a mix of solutions to replace it.
The idea that you can have all your purchases, including groceries, delivered is a real plus if you’re tired of paying for a car. The number of alternatives means you can pick what works for each situation:
- bus
- taxi
- friends
- delivery service
- family
- car pool (you pay each driver for your turn)
- bicycle
- car rental
I think the op should seriously look into this.
That’s very dependent on exactly where the OP lives,though. In my neighborhood those wouldn’t be issues- you wouldn’t even need a bus to go grocery shopping. I have a car, but lots of my neighbors don’t - there are enough supermarkets, butcher, and greengrocers that everyone is in walking distance of at least one of each.The same streets that have those stores also have hardware stores, dry cleaners, doctors, dentists, drug stores etc. Driving to these stores from my house most of the time would be no quicker than walking - because the time saved by driving would be eaten up by looking for a parking space.
I spent a few years living quite happily without a car. Used to either walk home with the groceries, or grab a cab if it was the Really Big Heavy Shopping and occasionally rented a car if I needed to travel.
This wasn’t in a big city, but in a couple of regional towns. Nothing was too far to walk and, as a bonus, I walked a lot so healthier.
I have lived and worked in Manhattan, Indianapolis, and a mid-sized city with a major university in southern Indiana. I also spent a year as a college student in Washington, DC.
When I was in DC and Manhattan, I did have a bicycle, but no car. I managed just fine with public transportation, because it is a dream in those cities. You can get virtually anywhere. I even had a dog in Manhattan, and managed public transport with the dog. We had a vet within walking distance for well-dog visits, and took a cab for things like coming home from being spayed.
It is not that hard to do your shopping without a car. In a big city, the chances of getting a good parking space near the place where you are shopping are dicey anyway, so the best thing to do is to buy one of those rolling carts that you pull behind you. I had one like this, but smaller. I also had some string bags. The roll up in your pocket very small, but can carry a crapload of stuff if you are out shopping. I got mine in Russia, where they are something absolutely everyone owns, and are better-made than the American ones.
If you need to purchase something large, like a TV set, for that you can take a cab. $40 dollars for a cab 4-5 times a years is peanuts compared to the cost of keeping a car in the city. And Uber didn’t exist in my time. It may be an even cheaper option, although I don’t know. It’s so easy to get a cab. In Manhattan or DC, you just step onto the street and hail one. There’s no need to call ahead for one.
Now, Indianapolis, which is a huge city, is not public transport-friendly. It is easier to park here, though, with the exception of the downtown area. If I have to go downtown for some reason, I take an Uber, unless I am going to some place with its own parking structure. But except for the immediate downtown area, Indianapolis is a place where you can keep a car cheaply. There is virtually no rental space which does not allow each tenant a parking place, and usually allows two. All shopping areas have parking, and even during the relentless season of mirth, you can find parking.
I would start out without a car and see how it goes. You can always change your mind and buy one if it seems to inconvenient not to have one.
Are you in shape enough to ride a bicycle? My bike was great to have in the cities. It wasn’t always the best choice for transport, but if I needed to go a medium distance-- long enough that a walk would take too much time, but not so long that I felt like dealing with the bus-- I biked. Got my weekly exercise too. You don’t need an expensive bike (a really expensive one will probably get stolen anyway). I had a Schwinn, and it worked fine. It was a woman’s bike, and no one steals those. I just had a pretty simple chain lock, and the bike lasted through years of Manhattan outside parking.
This. I’ve been car-free for seven years. There are three supermarkets within twenty minutes of my house, including a Whole Foods*. I have a couple of shopping panniers and can carry two full grocery bags with ease. I also see the same people on BCycles every day. They’re commuting for a yearly fee of $80.
However, women’s bikes (or “step-throughs” as they’re known for men who can no longer throw a leg over a top tube) have gotten enormously popular in urban areas here. They’re as inviting a target as a men’s, except perhaps for a good mountain bike.
This has been a great discussion, thanks for all the input. FWIW where I will be living has my bank, pharmacy and multiple grocery stores in walking distance. Heavy groceries could be a bit of a hassle but I have a fold up hand cart.
I hadn’t considered a bike. I walk a lot so walking seemed the way to go but I will have to think on it.
Please feel free to keep discussing. This is interesting.
A cheap bike is easy to get, and easy to get rid of if you find you don’t use it or don’t like it.
Another point in favor of a bike: most city transit systems have bike racks on the vehicles. Biking to a transit hub and catching the bus or train to your destination saves a lot of time spent on transfers.
I’m also lucky that I live in the lowest neighborhood in the central city, so the ride home is always downhill. This or its opposite is true for a lot of places.
I did without a car for years. I’ll probably do so again once this car is done. My employer offers a membership in Car2Go. Have you looked at things like that and Zipcar?
Wanted to post an update. Since the original post I have moved and yesterday I officially sold my car. We’ll see how it goes. I have to admit once it was real and my car was going away I started to get cold feet but I am sure this is the best decision for me for now.
Please come back and let us know how it goes. 
Surprised how infrequently bikes appear in this thread, as they easily beat walking for speed, distance, and easy of carrying a load. And they tend to be quicker than buses for any trip up to about 2-3 miles. They offer all the “leave when I want, go where I want” of a car, but without all the “where do I park it?” or the “jesus this is expensive.” Plus they eliminate the “shit I never get any aerobic exercise.”
Biking with groceries, children, in rain, in snow, at night, these are all very much solved problems, just Google it. There is no reason to think bringing a 2-ton metal box with you everywhere you go was ever necessary or sustainable. The last time I owned a car or portion thereof, happens to have been 20 years ago this month. Since then I’ve been relying on 1) biking, 2) transit, 3) walking, and 4) for longer distances or larger loads, Zipcar (by the hour) or Enterprise (by the day). I haven’t needed Uber, which is just as well because I hate Uber.
Speaking of loads, I have a rack and two big panniers, that’s enough for the equivalent of about 3 bags of groceries. I have an old Burley trailer, with which I’ve done Costco runs - it’ll hold 96 rolls of TP plus other assorted krappe for example. Going over into what some would consider extreme, I used to work as a musician and haul all my gear (guitar case, amp, other assorted krappe) to gigs in that selfsame trailer. And there are way more badass trailers out there than the one I use. Google “bike move” to see some examples. (Yes it’s what it sounds like - people will summon all their friends and move, including furniture and appliances, by bike.)
The biggest barrier is psychological - sometimes it just plain sucks to be on a bike because it takes (gasp) actual work to get where you’re going. And hey, maybe the weather sucks that day. (Selling the car removes a lot of the temptation to wuss out on those days. Or wussing out just consists of taking the slower public transit.) Also at first, depending on what kind of shape you’re in, you may need to build up strength and endurance, which takes some gumption. And you also soon realize many places in America either don’t have the infrastructure to accommodate you, or said infrastructure treats you like a 2nd class citizen. So you need to live somewhere where it’s doable. And finally a lot of people have trouble getting over their anxiety about endless vain status-signaling, i.e. believing they are whatever they’re driving… and therefore the instant they sit on a bike, they’re totally a homeless loser meth addict. You’ll see some of these people all dressed up in stretchy bike clothes trying to convince themselves otherwise, but it’s not necessary. (The shorts are comfortable though.) But when I was in Copenhagen I saw streets filled with total fashion-models riding bikes in everyday clothes to their everyday errands (without helmets by the way… me neither… I haven’t fallen off since I was about 12, and you don’t have permission to hit me, so I won’t be needing a helmet) and that’s the image that stuck with me.
Congratulations.
I live in a big city, and I don’t have a use for a car. Also, I’m of a younger generation, many of whom don’t consider driving a big priority.
No, cars aren’t especially convenient, but they are often necessary to shop and get to work, and affordable temporary alternatives are relatively new.
I have not had a car for 30 years. A full 30. Don’t miss it for one moment. Certainly don’t miss the expense. Still have a license and sometimes will rent a car if we want to drive around for a day or so. My advice is do it if you can.
Scooters have been around for half a century - it’s weird how Americans seem to only recently start considering them. Around here you need some sort of wheels - public trans is barely there, taxis take an hour’s notice, etc. A co-worker whose life is pretty much a festival of bad decisions was lamenting not having a car, and thought a used scooter for 3-mile commute was just nuts; it would have taken about 10 minutes to get to work, rather than the 1.5 hours of bus switching he was doing. (Yeah, I pointed out even walking would take half the time).
A lot of the possible alternatives offered assume good health, full mobility, and no children. Or, in the case of scooters on an interstate, a death wish.
I loved being car-free, but had to get one when I could no longer afford to live close to work. A used or older car still costs less than the rents or mortgages in urban transportation hubs.
Scooters are ubiquitous here in Taiwan. I had just a bicycle when we first arrived. (We did have a car, but my wife took it to work as she had the kids and her work was further.) Then I got a job further away and got a scooter. It’s quite nice and really great for getting into town as parking is so much easier. The only drawback is that it rains so much here, about 2685 mm/105" per year.
So you really haven’t seen the people riding scooters in other countries. There’s most definitely a pic somewhere of a one-legged grandmother hauling five grandkids on one.
As far as the interstate - they make scooters for that, too.
My only gripe about them in the US is the belief in “scooter magic.” On my motorcycle, if I go down on the street at 35mph I could get hurt, so I wear safety gear. Apparently that can’t happen on a scooter. :rolleyes: