The Miaoli Train Station in Taiwan
With a little effort, you can live a happier life by not owning a car. Here’s how:
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Borrow a car. Rent a car, hire a taxi, find a carpool, take a shuttle — whatever form you choose, you can borrow a car instead of buying one. Borrowing a car is extremely handy when you only need to drive occasionally.
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Ride a bike. Bicycle commuting is extremely practical in biker-friendly cities, which include Portland, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle, Boulder, and even New York City (1). The city of Irvine has an amazing network of bike paths. Look up your city on Google Maps to see what bike paths are available.
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Run. It’s obvious, yet often overlooked. You can run four miles in about half an hour 45 minutes. If you run to work, you can ditch your treadmill.
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Bus / Subway / Train / Metro. This heavily depends on where you live. Taiwan has great public transit, while California’s transit system is mediocre.
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Move closer to your work or take it online. Telecommuting also gives you the freedom to work anywhere in the world.
The most effective tactic is to simply commute less. Try to shorten your commute by moving closer to your work. Often, you can combine multiple errands into a single trip. Lastly, avoid unnecessary trips to the mall, department store, or restaurant. When you must shop, you can order online and have it delivered to your door, bypassing the need for a car (2). But often, there’s no need to shop at all. When you shop less, you’ll reduce the need for a car while saving money and time.
It’s helpful to make the transition slowly. Test-ride your bicycle for a few weeks while keeping your car parked in the garage. Weaning yourself off the car should be a gradual process; it takes time to get accustomed to bicycle commuting or riding the bus. And remember, even if you don’t want to live totally car-free, any reduction in driving will save money and gas.
Most importantly, don’t get discouraged easily. Commuting without a car will take longer, but don’t let it test your patience. Always remind yourself of why you sold your car in the first place. You’re protecting the environment by conserving oil and metal; you’re exercising more, freeing up garage space, and avoiding repair hassles. Think about the tens of thousands of dollars you’ll gain each year by selling your car, cancelling your auto insurance, and by not paying for rising gas prices. The trade off is definitely worth it.
Not only is living without a car possible, it’s actually enjoyable. I’ve lived for 18 months now without owning a car, and I’ve never looked back. With a little patience, you can join me, too. Together, we can show the world that life doesn’t have to depend on gasoline.
Can you thrive without a car?
1 Here’s the top 15 biker-friendly cities in the world, and here’s the top 50 US cities. Some cities on the US list aren’t truly biker-friendly; they just have a lot of dedicated cyclists.
2 Online shopping still wastes gas and often contains a lot of packaging. Still, it might help you sell your car.
I love that you go car free. I would love to do that. I’m trying! Blogs like yours are really helping me make the switch!
Let me correct one small thing. You cannot run four miles in an half an hour. Well, maybe YOU can, but I, and most of America I dare say, cannot. I’ve been running for about 6 months now. I run every other day. I’m training for a marathon. I run four miles in forty minutes on a good day. Usually it takes more like fifty. So I assume that if you’re not used to running, you just sold your car and want to run four miles to work, you really should give yourself at least an hour.
Hey K La,
You’re absolutely correct. Thanks, I’ll fix the post.
Reserve extra time for running or biking; it always takes longer than you think.
I highly recommend Trudy Bell’s The Essential Bicycle Commuter. It’s out of print, but this book is one of my favorites because it goes into specific detail about what gear to get, how to plan routes, and how to bike safely.
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Love the post! We recently sold our car (hey, it was still worth 100 bucks, why drive it to the dump? *lol*) and are now relying on bikes and trains for our transport.
We live in Holland, where riding a bicycle is socially acceptable and cities are very well accomodated to cyclists. We really had no excuse, so to speak. You’d think we’d face a problem having young children, but our two little ones love it!
Onto a greener planet and a smaller budget! ;)
Greetings from the Netherlands
Hi Jurino,
When your kids were young, did you pull them using a bike trailer? When Hsinya and I have kids, we might get one. Maybe also get a tandem when they get older.
Hi Aaron!
We haven’t ever used one of those trailers, because they tend to be a little expensive. However, many other parents around here have them and they seem very convenient! (except for when you need to park) – especially great with VERY little children that can’t yet be put in a regular child seat (plus it keeps them warm). So even though I haven’t got any personal experience, I’d say: go for it!
We now use a back-seat for our oldest (5 y.o. – she is currently learning how to ride her own bike instead) and a front-seat for the 1 y.o. He’s been in it for about half a year now. Before that, we just used the stroller and walked everywhere.
Greetings from the Netherlands!
My main fear with child seats is that it adds a lot of weight to the bike and so it might affect stability. If I lose balance, I’m afraid my kids would fall out and be crushed by the bike. So far your experience has been positive?
Do you grocery shop with your bike? At first, I wanted to get a grocery trailer, but it’s a pretty esoteric item. Ultimately, I settled with getting a rear rack with folding baskets, and a basket attached to the front handlebar. Instead of using a bungee cord, I used a spare inner tube to tie the groceries down.
Note: Don’t buy the gear from Amazon, just remember what the parts look like and get it from your local bike shop. A bike shop will help you better fit custom parts.
You’d think they add weight and that you would actually feel it, but honestly: you won’t even notice a child in a front-seat, feeling-wise. Since they are so centered, there’s no weight on either side. These are good up until they are 2 years of age.
Later, they go on the back. You will feel the weight a little, but if they sit still, there’s no instability.
We’re lucky to live near the shops (I should rephrase that, Holland is tiny so everyone lives near some shops!) therefore, we shop for groceries every 3 days or so and never have to carry loads of stuff. Usually, we transport it in one of those front-baskets you mentioned.
If we do want to get a lot of stuff, the stroller (with lots of storage underneath the seat) comes in handy again. You do have to walk though. :)
Greetings from the Netherlands!
Awesome! Thanks for your perspective. Can’t wait to try it out with our (future) kids.
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