A Post-Car Society

Posted By: jtate @ 03/15/2008 12:45:35 PM

Comment: I live in a VERY car-oriented, sprawling American city, where public transportation ranges from abysmal to non-existent and a suburban existence can mean it can be 2 or 3 miles to even the nearest supermarket and perhaps 15 or 20 miles to an average office. So as far as it goes, this is a place where people depend on and live in their cars.
All that said, I made a conscious decision to live and work downtown and learn how to use what little public transit there is. It wasn't easy, and I REALLY had to examine my priorities, but I am car-free! I walk to work and pretty much everywhere else I need. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! For any sacrifices I may have made (my smallish apartment and lack of a backyard, for example) I have gained so much in lifestyle and would never give it up! I happily describe myself as "car-free"!
The most interesting thing would probably be people's reactions to my car-free choices.
The older generation tends to be skeptical and assume I just can't afford a car, and would move to the suburbs if only I made more money. (This is not the case, I make plenty of money to afford a car and a suburban mcmansion. I just don't want one.) Or they assume that my life must be terribly inconvenient. (also not true!)
The young - the lower end of gen X and the millennials - tend to be envious! Once they overcome initial surprise, they immediately start to fantasize about a world free of parking tickets and rising insurance rates and dishonest mechanics, the benefits for the planet are there as a consideration but almost an afterthought. They immediately see the joys of walking out the door of my apartment to my choice of restaurants and a supermarket only 6 blocks away, and mere blocks from local pubs. Think of a life without even the *chance* of a DUI!
Lots of young people can't make the choices I have, and are stuck in the 'burbs, but the values and ideals are changing. We dream of a post-car society, too.