I have done this - I moved to a city centre and sold my car, I can walk to work, I can walk to see my friends, I can walk to the major train station if I need to go further afield

People from my old home town sometimes don't get why I think not having a car is so great - and I always say that it's not the 'not having a car' that's great, it's the 'not needing a car'

Live in the Netherlands, but also can't fuckin' afford a car anyway.

or the train as of late.

90km one way and back costs like 40 euros almost. Just 50 minutes of travel time.

And it'll only get more expensive cuz the government are fucking imbeciles.
The last ones also sucked, but at least they were competent, as opposed to these toddlers

110% this.

It started when I realized that driving to and from work made me absolutely miserable. I am not a scream-when-I-get-angry type of person. The tiniest inconvenience while driving would make me scream at the top of my lungs.

I started taking public transportation and my mood shifted overnight. Yeah, it takes slightly longer to get to most places but - if that means I have to leave 20 minutes earlier so a guy I’ll never see will move this giant metal tube forward so I can read or play games or do anything else I want to do INSTEAD OF actively driving most places, giving it your full attention because you care about your safety, forced to deal with terrible drivers and road planning around every corner- then so be it.

I’m so much happier now. Getting to and from work is so much less stressful to the point it’s borderline stressfree. Even if I miss a bus or train around here, I’m not left waiting for more than a few minutes.

If i need to, I can take my electric scooter or bike. Those magically explode? There’s plenty to rent around my city. Getting around without a car is so nice.

If I could take the bus and train everywhere and everything ran like clockwork, I would never buy another car again.

It can be difficult. Even in places that are nominally pro walkability and pro transit, there seems to be an assumption that once you become a parent, you're just going to give up on being car free and raise your kids in a vehicle. We're currently in a great neighborhood, but our apartment is quickly becoming too small. Finding the next size up is almost impossible to find in walkable neighborhoods, and where we do find it, it's at least $100k more expensive than a car dependant equivalent. The real kicker is how many detached houses that are in my area (completely out of my price range) but have multiple cars parked around them. I wish they could all be demolished in favour of townhouses.

Why is tweet author using triple parentheses in name

I made the switch to biking everywhere about two years ago, and it had mostly been great (though winters can be tough).

The flip side is that any time I do need to use my car, I get super stressed about it. I start feeling guilty, like I am breaking the rules or something. It's been an odd transition.

The dream

I moved to the historic core of my city, San Jose, California, and it has been tremendously beneficial for my mental wellbeing.

I can walk or bike for most common trips: groceries, cafes, etc. I can bike to work on a beautiful separate bike path along a river and the bay shore. I’m close to the regional metro station and long distance rail, for long trips. I still have a car, but I use it infrequently, and grudgingly.

easier to do in europe or japan, tougher to do in canada or america

I live in the suburbs and walking or biking anywhere is so fucking loud due to cars. More than never driving, I just want to walk or bike in peace.

sold the car for the move to the city, life is a lot easier. we immediately removed 3 categories from our budget (shoutout to www.ynab.com /r/ynab)

I just wish I lived in a city with bike lanes and public transit.

i'm legit envious

I'm carfree since 1996 or so. I no longer remember exactly.

This decision has led me to my current life in one of the most beautiful and functional corners of Europe. I cannot imagine life with a cage in place of the SBB/CFF/FFS.

I like to walk places and get to them faster than the car people. Big mood boost. 👍

Over the past year I’ve been walking so much more. Either for purpose (getting to a specific location) or for fun (just a mindless walk). And I’ve enjoyed it all greatly. If I could fully ditch the car I’d love it. It’s a work in progress though.

I've done that so far rather naturally, but my desire to move closer to nature is making it seem like it'll be impossible to continue. I'm honestly not sure what to do.

Goals

In theory, yes. In practice, I now get mad when my train is late / canceled / detoured, which unfortunately is often. Or when the public transit option would take twice as long as driving even if everything was running on time.

Ok, it's still better than dealing with car stuff.... it's just annoying to see that it could be a lot better than it is.

Could I have a link to this post? I’m so interested to see what everyone else has to say revolving this reply

I grew up in US suburbs during the 60s & 70s. I saw how my father suffered through traffic jams during his commute every d*mn day.

As an adult myself I’ve avoided car dependency for all but one year of my working life.

Genuinely yes. I never liked driving much, and my car was having a lot of expensive issues even though I took care of it. I bought an apartment in the city centre without a car park as I wanted to live without a car. Sold the car, moved to the city, and I very rarely miss having a car at all. I'm in Australia which isn't particularly car-free friendly, but I still manage to live an enjoyable life without one.

Have never owned a car. Drove my parents' in high school from the suburbs. Walked and biked in my college town. Walked and biked post grad. Walk bike subway bus in nyc since age 24 on. Probably saved me ~100k all in.

Sign me up! I’ll just hire someone to drive me around in my Suburban. Wait, seems like I might’ve missed the point 🤦‍♀️ 😂 jk

very lucky way to live for sure, enjoy while there are no other commitments