Living car free

[fastbilly1]

The idea that you need a car, is I think, vastly overrated.

Depends on your culture and where you live.

It certainly does depend on where you live but I think "culture" is part of what I'm getting at. People who've grown up with cars tend to think they "need" one way more than people who grew up using public transport. This was my point.

I can see your point, but in the US most cities just have poor mass transit. Take my old home town of Atlanta for example. You have one major transit provider, MARTA, which operates bus lines and a monorail. However, thanks to jackasses in power, we do not have bus lines or rails into TWO of the major counties surrounding/inside of the city. So something that could have been awesome and caused most people to not need a car, becomes a joke.

Why does it not reach those counties? Those in powers in those counties when expansion was happening were racist, plain and simple.

As for me, I live far from work because I live halfway between work and my wife's family farm. And one cannot operate a farm without vehicles anymore. Cutting 25 acres of hay behind a team of mules takes a full 14 hours. Cutting it behind my John Deere model B, takes about 2 hours.

[Luke]

My dream is to move to a flat city so I can use my bike to ride all the way to the metro stationB

You seek Columbus Ohio.

You don't even need PT. You push your bike pedal once and you are off for miles upon miles. The biggest hill you will encounter will be a speed bump.

[JsGameRoom]

Haven't hit the strip clubs there. The strip clubs here in South Carolina are garbage other than Charleston/Myrtle Beach.

Food is okay at best

I have limited experience in the strip club field, but "service" was exceptional. But also really expensive, but again I don't know what qualifies as "expensive".

if lap dances are more than $25 a song.. too expensive for my taste haha

[Erik_Twice]

I would hate the feeling of being stranded in the event that I needed to go out of town to see a sick relative or something else of that nature.

You can always take a taxi if it's something urgent and if not you can simply take the train or the bus so it's not something I'm worried about.

America is just to vast for everyone to have public transportation, especially once you get to the middle of the country. Just wide expanses of nothing but farm land, but the cost of living there is much lower than in a city, which helps us afford to having a car.

You'll never have a good subway on Podunk Town, but that doesn't mean the New York subway couldn't do better than 50 year old trains running on dirty stations full of steam leaks

It is hard for public transportation to thrive when lobby groups ban it like they did in Tennesse and the choice of replacing the trams of San Francisco with highways is still seen as the right one. Sprawl and oppossition to mixed used spaces hurt, but they are all choices that can be fixed.

Madrid may now have a truly great transist system but its history is not that different from those cities. Its huge tram system was tore down by the fifties to make room for highways and roads, so much that the most historical plaza of the city had six road lanes running through it for more than 40 years.

But fifteen years ago the mayor decided to end that and limited it for pedestrian use. The subways were extended, roads reduced and driven underground and a train station was built underneath it. It went from being a busy junction back to being one of the meeting points of the cities and now you can happily relax and take a coffee or just go for a stroll on it. What matters the most is the will of changing things and I think that's the biggest problem of the US in this regard.

[MrPopo]

Cutting 25 acres of hay behind a team of mules takes a full 14 hours. Cutting it behind my John Deere model B, takes about 2 hours.

I like to think you researched this carefully when trying to decide if you wanted a team of mules or a tractor.

[Ivo]

I never owned a car (and like it that way) but I'm aware that in certain places it is very hard not to have one.

The U.S., at least certain places I've visited (California for one), particularly comes to mind in that respect.
There are rather strong lobbies that want to keep car as a necessity (or at least, the idea that the car is a necessity).

One example is that many car drivers are aggressively against measures that make e.g. cycling more accessible (which is IMO nonsense, as there would be less traffic and more parking for the remaining drivers if several car drivers converted to cyclists).

Personally I'm biased as I really like not having a car - I don't like driving and I don't like spending for what would be, for me, lower quality of life.
I vastly prefer paying higher rent to live closer to the workplace, saving on commute time and preferably cycling to work, which is already a bit of a workout and therefore allows me to spend less of my free time on exercise (although I still like to do some more sports).
Alternatively, I would try living close to a metro / light rail station that connects fairly directly to the workplace (so I can at least play a handheld on my way).

[ninjainspandex]

you know everytime I see this thread I think the title is "living care free"

[MrPopo]

One example is that many car drivers are aggressively against measures that make e.g. cycling more accessible (which is IMO nonsense, as there would be less traffic and more parking for the remaining drivers if several car drivers converted to cyclists).

Except we have to share the road with cyclists, and when they're going 1/5th of the speed you are it leads to more traffic problems as you have to dodge around them. Similarly, out here in Seattle a bill to add funds to the bus system through a tax on the vehicle tabs was voted down. I wasn't surprised by this, as people paying for vehicle tabs don't tend to rid the bus regularly and the buses cause additional traffic problems (stops every so often, sometimes needs to merge across multiple lanes of traffic for their route and might be double long).

[Ivo]

One example is that many car drivers are aggressively against measures that make e.g. cycling more accessible (which is IMO nonsense, as there would be less traffic and more parking for the remaining drivers if several car drivers converted to cyclists).

Except we have to share the road with cyclists, and when they're going 1/5th of the speed you are it leads to more traffic problems as you have to dodge around them. Similarly, out here in Seattle a bill to add funds to the bus system through a tax on the vehicle tabs was voted down. I wasn't surprised by this, as people paying for vehicle tabs don't tend to rid the bus regularly and the buses cause additional traffic problems (stops every so often, sometimes needs to merge across multiple lanes of traffic for their route and might be double long).

What should be done is to make cycle lanes that are not shared with cars. Ideally they are not even on the road (cyclists lanes on wide pavements for extra separation and safety), but even the ones on the side are better than nothing and most roads are wide enough for it - and cars can just go by, slowing down a bit when passing of course and keeping a safe side-distance.

Bus lanes are also usually what should be done for buses, but that does take a full lane, and as far as mass transit is concerned I'm fairly sure light rail is a better bet longterm than buses (even if the tracks can't be underground).

Where was it in the U.S. that streetcars were basically removed from circulation?

[Jmustang1968]

Many people here also dont like living all close together and in apartment like structures. I enjoy a larger home with a yard and such. It is also a lot quieter and more private. I need a car to get there.

Cyclists can be frustrating. They are more used for recreation or exercise here and not transportation. Houston is so spread out that actually travelling somewhere by bike isnt very feasible unless you happen to be going somewhere close by.