Car Free Life? good or bad..

Yes, I have a car. It really isn't a necessity but if I didn't have it my world would be horrid. I don't get around well and taking a bus to appointments means alot of walking I can't do now days. And taking a bus means leaving alot earlier and coming home alot later. Inconvenient and taxing on my strength.

I have a car, I'm almost 2/10ths of a mile from the nearest bus stop and I can't walk that far. BESIDES, the bus system is so bad in town that it takes at least an hour to get downtown and then you normally have to change buses, yes - they have transfer passes, but if I wanted to go to, say, the Walmart near my house, I'd have to go down town or to one of the few other transfer sites to get the bus that goes there.

I have a 3 year old daughter that is normal. I have a 5 year old son that is disabled. She was born in 2009 and he was born in 2007. I bought a car in 2006 but didn't pass my practical driving test in 2010. In my adult years from 1990 to 2010 I have been on local transport. It was so very hard when my disabled son went into a wheelchair because not all train stations were wheelchair accessible. Not all buses can take a person bound to a wheelchair. I push my disabled son to school in his wheelchair. My daughter is has to walk next to the wheelchair. From 1991 until 2005 I lived in a village and had to cycle 3 to 5 miles to go supermarket shopping. It was a struggle to cycle home with heavy shopping on my bike. Now I can go in my car and put the shopping in the car to bring it home. If my disabled son has a medical appointment in my local area I tend to drive him there. If the medical appointment is in Bristol or further away I go by train and bus. I only fill my car up with 40 pounds of petrol per month. Public transport can be poor and not all it suitable for my wheelchair bound son. Without a car my life would be challenging and I would have to only go to my nearest supermarket. When I moved here in 2005 I used to catch a bus and walk for 20 minutes to a low cost supermarket. I came back and the bus wouldn't accept me.

It depends on if you need it and can afford it.I can't drive much less having a car.I don't think the car does me any good.I am retired and live in a city.The supermarkets and varieties of stores are all within walking distance,not to speak of the convenient public transport.I reckon the car is a must for people who live in the suburbs and work in the city.

I once had a car and was forced to give it up in 1989. I have not had a car since. I live in a city but I live in a city with only fair transportation. Not having a car has caused me to alter my lifestyle. There are some places that I am unable to get to and other places are so difficult to get to, I do not even try. I have stopped going socially at night because the bus stops running early. It is not necessary for me to have a car to enjoy a basic quality of life but my life is made more difficult without a car. I have had to give up going some places and doing some things but I have learned to live without those places and things. I enjoy the money that I save by not having a car.

We have lived car free as a family for a period of time. It was doable. I thought it was funny when one of the news outlets in Toronto did a segment on a family living car free. They gave the family three public challenges to complete. They succeeded. Online reactions were mostly comments claiming the family's success was a fluke. My kids before they all saw the other comments made the same comment. "Why didn't they give them something difficult to do?" The challenges were as follows. 1) Bring one of the young children's bikes to the shop for repairs. 2) Pick up the entire week's groceries in one go. 3) Dress up in nice clothes and cycle to the waterfront for a family photo shoot. We live close to that right now. The van is used to go to church, haul groceries and if the weather is really bad take me to work. Public transit has been locked out here since the beginning of the summer. There are no buses.