Reflections on 5 Years of Car-Lite Life: Shifting Standards, Preferences, and Habits

This is part three of a three-part series. Check out part one here and part two here.

(Source: Flickr/Jen Gallardo.)

When we sold our car five years ago, I wrote a blog post about our decision. It’s fascinating to go back and see how my feelings and perceptions about not owning a car have changed over the years. 

The biggest one that I notice is the way that I described getting around by bike. I think at the time I viewed it as joyful and simple, whereas my standards have shifted a little and I actually find myself biking less than I used to. My husband pointed out that maybe what I perceived as, “It’s easy to bike!” was actually, “It’s easier than I might have thought it would be.” 

When I first started biking, I was happy to seek out low-traffic routes to get to my usual destinations. Now I feel annoyed and frustrated that I have to travel out of my way to get to those routes rather than taking the most direct route. My tolerance for finding places to lock up and lugging around helmets and worrying about our bikes being stolen (which is a major problem here) also lowered. 

Five years ago, I might have imagined the logical progression of our car-lite life might see us eventually leaning further into biking, but that’s not what happened. Even though the bus isn’t always as reliable as it should be, these days, my favorite transportation combo is actually walking and bussing. I hope that as bike infrastructure gets better in the city, my personal scales might eventually tip back more toward biking.

That’s the beauty of a life that doesn’t default to driving: the ability to choose, evolve, try different things and choose the mode that’s right for the mood or occasion.

What Does the Future Hold?

I remember that when we sold our car, someone remarked, “Just wait. When your kids start doing activities, you’ll have to get a car again because that will be your life: driving them all around town.” 

I love my kids, and want them to have lots of different experiences as they grow up, but that vision of the future—of nonstop chauffeuring to all corners of the city—sounded as much like a nightmare to me then as it does now. 

One of the most wonderful outcomes of not owning a car is that we’ve actively sought out recreational activities that are within walking distance of home. We are able to do music lessons, art classes and camps, curling, dance, and yoga classes at various homes and facilities that are all within a 15-minute walking radius of home. As our kids get older, they walk to some of their activities on their own, as well, which is great for building independence and autonomy—not to mention it frees up our time as parents.

There have been some exceptions over the years, but generally only committing to activities we can get to on foot also has the natural effect of preventing a huge schedule overload, which is something I value. Our lives are still busy and full, but we never worry about traffic or car troubles making us late for activities, or need to scarf down dinner during a drive. 

A few folks have remarked to us that we’re so lucky that so many opportunities exist within walking distance, and it’s true, we are. But in a way I also feel like we’ve helped make our own luck by continuing to choose local options over programs in other parts of the city. For instance, my husband used to curl at a club that was a 15-minute drive away. There was a club just a few blocks away from our home, but he’d never really considered it until we decided to put our kids in the youth curling program there, and he became a parent volunteer. He realized there was really no reason he couldn’t also curl there. Now he and his team, made up of mostly other people from the neighborhood, walk to their curling games and enjoy a beer or two afterward, knowing they won’t need to drive later. He’s helping to keep our local club successful and having a great time hanging out with neighbors while he’s at it. 

The neighborly bonds that are strengthened by participating in recreational activities locally are incredibly valuable, especially for my kids, who don’t go to the neighborhood school. I value the close proximity of these activities and the chance to hang out with neighbors, and I like knowing that I’m helping them earn a living and contributing to the continued relevance of institutions like the neighborhood church, which rents space to various groups and classes. 

When I look ahead five years from now, I’m not sure what things will look like. My older kids will be the age where they might have part-time jobs. Right now, I won’t even let them cross the stroad in our neighborhood by themselves, so it’s hard to imagine them taking the bus on their own. But those milestones will come, and at this point, I think what’s most likely is that they’ll seek out work that they can walk or bike to, in the same way as we’ve already done with our leisure activities.

They’ll also be the age where teens typically learn to drive and maybe even get their own car. I think it’s a good idea for them to learn to drive, but I also think it’s totally fine if they don’t want to, especially since we don’t foresee owning one for them to practice on.  

On top of our kids getting older, another thing I see evolving is transportation options within the city and in society, in general. Our local car co-op is rapidly expanding and added a free-floating component this year. For members who live in the free-floating zone, this is already making short or spontaneous trips a lot easier. Our transit system is set to undergo a once-in-50-years route revamp in the next couple of years. Micro mobility has yet to really take off, but I have no doubt that it’s coming. New bike shops pop up regularly, with an emphasis on adaptive cycles, e-bikes, upright bikes, and cargo bikes. And overall, innovation is taking place all the time—the invention of the Mifold booster seat was a complete game changer for us (I can literally put it in my purse).

These changes are encouraging and aside from some big, unforeseen life change, I predict that living life without owning a car will get easier as time goes by. 

A few years back, I read a tweet that’s really stuck with me. It was something to the effect that folks struggle to envision a life without car ownership, because they can’t see how their auto-oriented life could work without a vehicle. The reality is, when you don’t own a car, you develop a new life with different patterns, habits, etc. It’s like if you owned a private jet and you spent your downtime in the Bahamas. If you got rid of your jet, you just wouldn’t go to the Bahamas as often. You’d find other things to do and other places to go. Your transportation options shape your choices in where and what you spent your time on. 

So, who knows what the future holds? If the last five years have taught me anything, it’s that you really can’t predict what’s coming, that change is both easier and harder than we expect, and that attitude plays a big part in everything. In my experience so far, life without car ownership is better than life with a car in many ways; in others, it’s more challenging. On the balance, I think it’s been a net positive for our family.

---

---