Reducing fossil fuel use and going "car light"

[Trudie]

As a multi -faceted strategy to improve my health metrics, I also started making a concerted effort 4 months ago to go "car light." For me this typically means walking lots, combined with using my city's clean and affordable public bus system. (New electric buses are rolling out this weekend!) In addition to massively improving my health in a short time, I am absolutely enthralled with the feeling of freedom, contentment, and calm I get from slowing my pace down and living my life this way. Every day I feel like an urban explorer, wondering what new place or garden I might see on foot or from my bus window. And with this change I have started to think more critically about my waste stream, carbon footprint, and urban planning issues that affect walkability and sustainability.

For context: I live in a university town of 60,000 near a larger MSA. We have fantastic parks, libraries, and other community services for a city of our size.

Please share your own trials and tribulations of going "car light", including a bit about the place where you live. Would love to share inspiration and lessons learned.

[nereo]

Sounds like a good challenge

You might also be interested in this thread as well:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/stopburningstuff-by-2030-or-sooner/?PHPSESSID=j65tqq7jjhsab12ka6ffsr1eto

For our own experience, we previously lived in a city where we drove our car infrequently enough that we occasionally forgot where it was parked. We loved the lifestyle so much we prioritized finding our home in a spot where we wouldn’t need to drive besides our 3x / week commutes.  Unfortunately we have significant commutes in opposite directions, but Fri-Sun we rarely get in a car, and DD can be walked to/from school.

[Log]

I've found the overall experience and pace of life without a car so much more enjoyable in so many ways. Walking is good for the body and mind. Transit can be reading time or just people watching with some good music or a podcast. Driving is somehow simultaneously a flood of stress hormones AND mind-numbingly boring.

The most efficient driving routes around urban/suburban areas are usually ugly and soulless. The best walking/biking routes are beautiful and full of life.

[Trudie]

I've found the overall experience and pace of life without a car so much more enjoyable in so many ways. Walking is good for the body and mind. Transit can be reading time or just people watching with some good music or a podcast. Driving is somehow simultaneously a flood of stress hormones AND mind-numbingly boring.

The most efficient driving routes around urban/suburban areas are usually ugly and soulless. The best walking/biking routes are beautiful and full of life.

I can identify with feeling like I have been cleansed of stress hormones. As a commuter for 15 years I chalked up countless miles on the road in bad weather. Living in a rural area offered both limited employment and transportation options. Walkability and public transit were huge factors in our relocation decision.

[Metalcat]

I'm disabled, so can't do a lot of things without a car, but when I live in the city, I usually only use the car about once a week for groceries, twice if I have a doctor's appointment as well.

We both work from home, our apartment is central in a major city where so much is accessible by walking and biking. DH tends to walk/bike everywhere.

Where we are now is our summer home, which is rural and very little is within walking distance, so we drive more frequently here, but it's a tiny town, so the distances are very short when we do drive.

That said, we drive the car A LOT to get here and back each year, so that adds a few thousand miles annually.

[oneday]

About a year ago, I moved to a different area of the suburban sprawl that has a bit of a downtown like layout. I am now close to post office, library, park, grocery store and the assorted restaurants and other business on the downtonw-y street nearby. Since my job is 99% WFH, I can sometimes lose my car like nereo mentioned.

However, it's not all fun and games. I've recently started using the bus system to get to a further area that has some of the businesses that are not close by. Predicted busses have failed to show up, predictions have vanished off the app a few minutes before arrival, and once a bus zoomed by me waiting at the stop. Sometimes the busses get delayed: once I saw 3 busses in a row which were all for the same line. Assuming the 3rd bus was on schedule, the second bus was 20 minutes behind schedule and the first bus was 40 minutes late. If I had to rely on the busses for getting to a job, I'm sure I'd either constantly be in trouble for being late (a missed bus usually means a 15 minute wait for the next one, *minimum*) or I'd waste a lot of time taking an even earlier bus to assure on-time attendance.

What I've learned is that *where* you live matters a great deal for going car-free. Not just location, but the public transportation infrastructure is important, too. Car-lite is probably the best I can do in this location.

[Trudie]

About a year ago, I moved to a different area of the suburban sprawl that has a bit of a downtown like layout. I am now close to post office, library, park, grocery store and the assorted restaurants and other business on the downtonw-y street nearby. Since my job is 99% WFH, I can sometimes lose my car like nereo mentioned.

However, it's not all fun and games. I've recently started using the bus system to get to a further area that has some of the businesses that are not close by. Predicted busses have failed to show up, predictions have vanished off the app a few minutes before arrival, and once a bus zoomed by me waiting at the stop. Sometimes the busses get delayed: once I saw 3 busses in a row which were all for the same line. Assuming the 3rd bus was on schedule, the second bus was 20 minutes behind schedule and the first bus was 40 minutes late. If I had to rely on the busses for getting to a job, I'm sure I'd either constantly be in trouble for being late (a missed bus usually means a 15 minute wait for the next one, *minimum*) or I'd waste a lot of time taking an even earlier bus to assure on-time attendance.

What I've learned is that *where* you live matters a great deal for going car-free. Not just location, but the public transportation infrastructure is important, too. Car-lite is probably the best I can do in this location.

I understand your perspective. One reason our system works so well is because it has built in demand from the 20+ thousand university students who pay for the buses through their fees. The city funds the other portion, but there is clearly an incentive for students to use the service. It has helped keep cars off central campus, something which is noticeable both in noise control and air quality. Because the system plays such a prominent role in transportation, it getting students around it has a wide berth in the city, rarely encountering congestion (except due to summer road construction) that slows it down.