A family experiment

The Alan Durning family goes Car-less in Seattle.

Interesting experiment. It's not my cup of tea at all but they definitely have the makings of a book....maybe a significant one.

All I ask is that they don't pull punches. Don't make their recounting of the experience a political tract about how much happier they are and how the world is so much better because they don't have a car. In other words, tell the truth. Tell us the good and the bad. Don't let the desire to have a car-free world write each sentence. Let the chips fall where they may. Tell us when they miss the car, too.

They should do this for a year, at least. Keep a good diary etc etc...I'd even suggest a blog, with each family-member posting, but I'd be concerned they'd become so wedded to the image of being a cool car-free family that they would lose their credibility.

The good news is that whatever they do, they won't be able to fake it.

Comments

[Matthew Amster-Burton]

I'm interested to follow their experiment too, because we've been a cool car-free family since 1999, although we only have one kid, and only since 2003. Frankly, the biggest advantage (other than a feeling of superiority, of course) can be summed up in five letters: money.

I remember an opposite story from the Stranger a few years ago where the author, who has been carless for years, gets fed up with the bus and buys a hybrid. Ring any bells?

[AF]

I no longer have a car but am a member of CityCarShare.

What I don't miss: car maintenance, oil changes, tire rotation, registration renewals, insurance payments, car payments, finding a parking space, parking ticket payments.

What I do miss: driving. Car-as-a-big-purse scenarios, transporting stuff. That's about it. But driving I do miss, it is fun.

But driving, when I do it now, is a lot of fun.

[Hal O'Brien]

I was car-free in LA until I was 23. (This was in the mid-1980s) Surely if it can be done there, it can be done in Seattle. (Admittedly, I was also single.)

The real news here is that it's news. There's no real reason why it should be. {shrug}

[Chris Burd]

I bought *my* first car when I was 45. In downtown Toronto, parking was such a hassle and public transit was so good that I figured the inconvenience was minimal. Of my regular weekly chores, only grocery shopping involved carrying a lot of stuff, and my favourite grocery store offered free delivery anyway. For excursions and occasional errands, rental cars were fine.

When I moved to Victoria, I thought for sure we would need a car now, and when we had a couple of kids, I thought for sure *now*. Actually, what decided us was the kids reaching school age and having to be ferried around to playdates and activities. The relative hassle of not having a car is clearly higher in a smaller city, though membership in a car-sharing organization offset some of this. Oddly, perhaps because Victoria is a retirement centre, almost every supermarket offers free or cheap home delivery.

Having owned a car for two years now, I have mixed feelings. Owning or not owning a car honestly isn't nearly so big a deal as the car-bound assume. I walk less, I cycle less; I've gained 10 lbs. I can now shop at big box stores on the edge of town. I don't have to plan my excursions the way I used to. A lot of people here are car-free, though, including families.

I don't find the story you've linked to be so remarkable, in short. Any car-sharing organization can put you in touch with dozens of car-free families.

[Michael Mortensen]

I've been car free in Vancouver BC since moving here with 2 bikes and a backpack after graduating from university in 1989.

Proprinquity has always been my strategy. Now married with 2 kids under 5, I live downtown close enough to walk, cycle, transit, or cab to work. For the odd errand that requires a vehicle, we have a membership which allows 24/7 access to more than 100 fuel-effciient cars (http://www.cooperativeauto.net).

Fundamentally, great city planning and land use have delivered high density, high amenity inner-city neighbourhoods that give people multiple mobility options. To me a house in the sticks with the car as the only option for mobility is something like a prison sentence ... served 2+ hours each day behind the wheel.

Regards
Michael Mortensen
Urban Planner, Vancouver BC CANADA

[Adam Villani]

I was car-free in L.A. until I was 23, also, and I hated it. More power to you if your lifestyle allows it, but for me, being at the mercy of the public transportation system or borrowing cars from family was a major hindrance to work, school, social life, daily business, etc. The freedom that came with being able to afford my own car was worth every penny.

[Adam Krom]

I live in Center City Philadelphia. My wife and I sold our car after a year here, when Philly Carshare started.

All this hand-wringing over cars looks very different from the other side.

If I want a car to go shopping: a few mouse clicks and I can reserve the car across the street (for $5.90 per hour, which includes gas). I want to take a weekend road trip. A few more mouse clicks and I can reserve a car from a downtown car rental agency. Even our businesses are members, using Philly Carshare for almost all meetings and site visits, because of the ease of use and direct monthly job invoicing.

Philly carshare has BMWs, Priuses, Tacomas, Minis, VW bugs, Scions, and Matrix wagons. All for $5.90 per hour and $0.09 per mile (or $48 per day maximum).

Frankly, carsharing is pretty easy and much, much cheaper than owning car. When we owned a car we were spending about $350 per month (parking on the street, no less), without even using it to go very many places. Now we spend under $70 every month, with basically the same amount of mobility.

Once a city reaches critical mass, car sharing can take off, because it basically sells itself.

http://www.phillycarshare.org

[Dan Mac]

I'm working as a planner in local government in south east Queensland--the burbs of Brisbane. But we have a few notable differences from most burb settings: we have Australia's last large population of koalas and one of the world's largest sand islands 30 mins offshore by ferry ride. In many ways it's interesting working in a 'different' culture (I'm from Vancouver), but odly alienating as well. There's no interest in ideas like car sharing, smart growth, the natural step and other initiatives that have a grip on sustainable planning visions. If it's not home grown australian, it won't fly. The idea of car sharing meets with confusion and disbelief. It won't work here, mate, is the chuckled retort.

[Patricia Escalon]

Car sharing is working in Australia: in Sydney and Melbourne. It can work in Brisbane too, but only in inner city burbs. Unfortunately, we're too spread out for it to work in the outlying burbs, where the distances between bus stops are around 1 or 2 kilometres.

[Nic Lowe]

If you are keen on carsharing in Brisbane, please consider GoGet - we are looking for "Paladins" (community champions) in inner Brisbane right now. Checkout our website for more information, or call me direct on 0416 372 713. - Thanks!! - Nic from Goget

(PS It can work in the outer burbs - but not until the inner burbs are done first - its a matter of low hanging fruit!)

[Jayden]

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[daily insurance]

The relative hassle of not having a car is clearly higher in a smaller city, though membership in a car-sharing organization offset some of this. Oddly, perhaps because Victoria is a retirement centre, almost every supermarket offers free or cheap home delivery.