Going car-free

[IllogicalJake]

Alright, my car is going away this week and I'll be finally saving $150/mo on my parking spot and even more on insurance. Now that I'm downtown I've found keeping it is more trouble than it's worth... My battery's been dying from not driving it enough.

So that got me thinking, has anyone else here made the plunge yet? I know it's not for everyone and can be much more tough if you're not downtown and near Target, but I'm curious if any others here live without a car.

[ECtransplant]

I've never owned a car. AMA

[TommyT]

I actually plan to do the same thing next year when my lease is up. Since I started working downtown I've filled up my tank MAYBE once a month and I only ever drive it on the weekends. I think I could manage going without a car, especially if I were to find a place downtown within walking distance to some sort of grocery store (Lunds, Target, Whole Foods).

[grant1simons2]

I wish I could live car free, oh well. Only one more year left of it!

[RailBaronYarr]

We're dropping one of two cars. I have family across the metro, in-laws in Iowa we visit all the time, a kid and 2 dogs so it's worth it to my wife and I to keep an all-purpose vehicle around. But I haven't touched the car in over a month, and put just 150 miles on the van in that timeframe. Time for the Volvo to go.

[Nick]

It's okay. I've never had one and only got my Driver's License at 20. My life is set up in such a way (live in Loring Park, work downtown, shop at the Wedge, work out at the Downtown YWCA, etc.) that it's pretty easy on a day to day basis. I think I've had to solicit three rides to IKEA in as many years--thanks Shawn! Thanks thatchio!

It is, however, kind of a pain in the ass socially at times. Probably the lion's share of my friends live between Lake and Lowry, but there were absolutely people who I graduated with (in '11) who moved to Brooklyn Park or even St. Paul (!) and I basically never saw again. For me at least, having to effectively schedule social time out two weeks in advance because of all the logistics is kind of a bummer. It's also hard if certain groups do have cars. In particular, my boyfriends' family and friends mostly live in the city but have cars and plan things accordingly. Sunday morning brunch in Linden Hills? Huge pain in the ass. We usually end up bumming rides to things and I feel like a bum, especially having graduated a couple years before them and, ostensibly, making more money.

Here are a couple things I've written a boot the experience if you're interested.

[TommyT]

my boyfriends' family and friends...

It surprises me more and more every day how many fellow mo's there are on this forum. Funny that I just stumbled upon it too, once upon a time.

[IllogicalJake]

my boyfriends' family and friends...

It surprises me more and more every day how many fellow mo's there are on this forum. Funny that I just stumbled upon it too, once upon a time.

We're a big gay family! This city being pretty good toward LGBTs is a reason I'm here.

As far as living car-free goes, I guess it helps me that I'm not hugely social so my boyfriend and I spend more nights in than out. But also I've found that most things I want to go to are either along a Metro line or easy enough to grab a Car2Go to, so it still works out.

[FISHMANPET]

Yeah, I just bought a new car last year, and I bought the cheapest new car I could find, and I only put 4000 miles on it in 12 months. I certainly live a car light lifestyle, but car free would be difficult. I have friends that, even though they live in Minneapolis (North Loop, NE), I can't really access via transit in any reasonable way. Ironically I have another friend that lives so far south in Minneapolis he's practically in Richfield, but I can get on a bus outside my front door and be delivered about 100 feet away from his backdoor. Anyway, I can access all of these places by transit, but I don't usually. I would prefer to, but I don't. It's not that it would take a long time, because I don't generally mind time spent riding a bus. But the buses come so infrequently that if I have to make a connection I could be waiting for who knows how long. I live near the blue line so if I can get downtown I can easily catch a train, but the connecting bus may come so infrequently or stop running relatively early that it becomes a serious impediment.

[Silophant]

I'm playing with the idea, since my job moved downtown and I drive my car only a couple times a month. But, at the same time, with my family in Mankato and my girlfriend in Ames, its certainly nice to have a car to visit them, if nothing else. (Jefferson Lines works decently to get to Ames, but their one daily Mankato trip leaves Minneapolis at 6am. Ew.) Additionally, my car is a $1500 rust bucket, and I appear to live in the only building in downtown with reasonably priced heated parking, so just keeping it for the couple times a month it gets used isn't too hard on the wallet.

[FISHMANPET]

Yeah, even with my brand new car, I pay around $250 a month on the car loan (72 months! Only 60 months left!), about $100 a month in insurance (which will certainly go down as the car ages), and $50 for parking in my garage. Gas is basically negligible, since I'm driving so infrequently. Ugh now that I add that up it comes to $400 a month. But my groceries are a pain since I don't live within super close walking distance of a grocery store. Taking my cats to the vet on the bus would be inconvenient, as well as lugging home their food and litter. My life is just easier with a car. One of my friends is trying to talk me into getting a second car for... literally no reason. My wife doesn't even have a driver's license. I take transit to work, and I'd be hard pressed to accept a job that I couldn't take transit to. My wife really needs to get a license since her job takes her to some far out locales, but one car is more than enough for us. But we do on occasion leave the beltway .

Unless you live in a few select places (basically downtown) having a car makes things easier. But in a lot of case having a second car doesn't make life easier.

[mullen]

yea i can relate.

i had a friend who started a new job in Chicago a couple months and didn't take his vehicle because transit is so good there.
i tried being car free here for a year and the biggest annoyance was transferring buses. our bus system works fine for one stop trips but transfers are a major hassle. and i didn't enjoy busing on the weekends. i felt like i was at the whim of a bus driver and i missed a lot of connections. i find the on time performance of metro transit sucks. i spent a lot of time waiting for buses. hopefully our rail system is built out at some point as it's such a more seamless and pleasant experience.

i drive a hybrid but still bus to work and back because my company charges more to park a car in the adjacent ramp and we're part of the metro pass program.

[Minneapolisite]

Car-free since I moved here and managed it back in Ohio where, if you can go carefree there you can just about anywhere.

[IllogicalJake]

Car-free since I moved here and managed it back in Ohio where, if you can go carefree there you can just about anywhere.

Big respect to you for being able to pull off car-free living anywhere in Ohio.

[clf]

I have never owned a car and I'm almost 40. Never had a problem except maybe kitty litter purchasing in the winter. Haha. I am very social and never have issues getting out to meet friends. Just a bit more planning.

[Minneapolisite]

Of course, it wasn't cold turkey. I just ended up using my car once a week for grocery runs, so that pretty much was the deciding factor.

[TommyT]

I tested myself and my ability to maybe someday go car less recently. On Sunday I took the bus to a friends place and home again afterward and yesterday I walked from work at Capella Tower to DT Target, then to Lunds to get the rest of what I needed and took the bus home. The only thing that I get irritated with sometimes are the waits for the bus. When a regular 4 comes instead of a 4L or a 4P it only runs to MCTC and won't bring me all the way home so I have to wait another couple buses before the one that brings me home comes.

[David Greene]

I would love to go car free. I drive to work from Uptown to downtown St. Paul and it kills me to do it. But the reality is that with me working days and my wife working evenings, we get just a couple of hours together with the toddler so any extra time spent on transit is taken from family time. If it was 20 minutes each way, fine, but it's at least 40-60 minutes or more depending on the transfer timing.

[xandrex]

I really wish I could go completely car free, but it's quite difficult in this city.

I recently started working downtown again (thank goodness) and I've loved being able to commute there and back on the bus. For some time, I used to work near Target Field, so Ramp C was a cheap option when I either didn't feel like busing or was running late. Now I'm near IDS and the government buildings where parking is at its most outrageous (when interviewing for this job, I was running late and quickly had to pick a ramp...my 1.5 hours there result in a $23 fee...oof).

Because of that, MetroPass is a no-brainer. It's great being able to just throw on my headphones and zone out for my 10 minute bus ride (On another note: it sort of sucks how living closer to downtown actually makes for a worse transit experience...I have to stand near the front of the bus every single day in the morning while people further out get a seat because they get on earlier. Throw in the jerkiness of the ride toward the end and it means a lot of clutching the handles for my own safety).

And since I've started back downtown again, I've realized how little I use my car. How weird it feels to even get inside it after barely touching it during the week. It makes me think about how I might be better off without it.

But then I remember how much extra work not having a car is. The need to hike it to the expensive grocery nearby (in all weather) or wait for the ever-unreliable 4 bus to get up to the Quarry, adding 30-45 minutes to my shopping trip. Needing to bus to my gym (or bike on some not-so-fun roads) adding 20-40 minutes depending on wait times. It all adds up.

But frankly, that would all be doable if it wasn't for my social life. I could find a way to integrate my gym time and shopping trips into pre-existing work routines (though it would certainly add time, involve lugging heavy things on a bus, and make me less flexible). But friends are different. They're almost all accessible by some transit. Of the people I visit the most, two are downtown, two are in Whittier, one is in the North Loop, and three are in St. Paul. But only the downtown and Whittier trips are transfer-free (and the Whittier trips take 3-4x as long as driving). The North Loop requires a transfer or a long walk. St. Paul takes a bus, a train, and a bus.

Metro Transit just isn't convenient on a moment's notice. When events are planned and the trip is short, it's easy. I'll take that option over driving nearly every time. But when a friend randomly asks for you to come grab some food with them it's hard to say, "Okay, I'll be there in 45 minutes" and then check if you have to cab home because MT stopped running that route at 10 pm.

The only downside is having a car but not using it in the winter. Admittedly, my battery was pretty weak to begin with, but my car died multiple times last weekend and needed a jump only to die the next day. In that way, it's a bit of a liability.

This is a city where multimodalism works best. My car is a clunker, so insurance is $35/month. My gas use is now negligible. My parking spot comes with my apartment. Throw in an occasional Uber and Car2Go. My total transportation costs with a MetroPass barely break $120/month. Makes the decision pretty easy.

[TommyT]

This is a city where multimodalism works best. My car is a clunker, so insurance is $35/month. My gas use is now negligible. My parking spot comes with my apartment. Throw in an occasional Uber and Car2Go. My total transportation costs with a MetroPass barely break $120/month. Makes the decision pretty easy.

I would definitely say that's a no brainer then. For me car + Insurance + Gas = $500 a month. I'd much rather take that money and get myself in a nicer apartment, or pay down some student loans. My biggest thing is my desire to live downtown, but I simply can't afford to live downtown with a car.