I had no idea World Carfree Day existed until Logan sent me this article.
Earl and Logan
Remember peeps you don’t have to drive to get around! Take public transit, ride a bike or hop on a horse. 
In all seriousness, there are a number of reasons you should ditch your car, like…
- Saving money
- Improving your healh
- Expanding your social life
- Freeing up your time and
- Enhancing the quality of your life.
This is a short list of benefits, but worth considering. For more information on carfree living read this guest post I wrote a few months ago.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been here for just over a month now, carfree, and I’m absolutely loving it! I can’t imagine getting around Jerusalem any other way than foot and bus, it’s a madhouse on the roads while they build a light rail system…anyway, thanks for reminding people that it is possible!
Jesse
Jesse – that’s great! I’m glad you are happy and having fun.
But, I Love to drive!!!! Really! What about guys like that love screaming engines, the smell of burnt oil, and all that? What am I left with? I guess I can always go hang gliding with holes in the kite for that vroom vroom v-12 sound?
I’ve been car-free for 28 years (I’m 30) and used public transport until a month or so. After about 12 years of using mostly public transport, my friends and feet I got feed up always waiting for someone or using uncomfortable, overstuffed and dirty public transport options and I now use my car to get to work… It’s not that I enjoy it, it’s just that I get home a bit less irritated. There’s a railway practically right to my doorstep – only the train is a real pain to ride with at peak hours when I use it. The bus is actually more expensive that driving my own car
@Darko – thanks for leaving a comment.
Wow – I can’t believe transit is more expensive than a car? How much is it per month? And where do you live? 
It’s not exactly more expensive, more like the same. I spend roughly 20-25€ (can’t say for sure yet ’cause I use the car for other trips as well) of gas for 5 days of work commute and the bus costs me 23€ (2.3€ one way) and it gets stuck in peek time traffic, full to the roof. The train is a lot cheaper but also annoying as hell because I also use it at peak hours – it costs me 15,7€ a week (1,57€ one way). But as I said I’ve had it after 12 odd years so that’s out – these are at least 20 years old diesel trains and they haven’t bought any new ever since I started using them
City transport are also buses (no underground or tram) and those are anything between 20 to 5 year old, mostly diesel engine, uncomfortable and slow. Also full in peek time traffic. Those used to cost 0,80€ but are now a lot cheaper because of a new ticket system. Unfortunately the city bus line does not extend to my town so I have to use either train or a regular bus to get to the first city bus station (at least 7 km, opposite of the shortest route to work). I could use a bicycle to get to work, but it’s at least 14 km one way and I’m afraid to ride in the morning traffic because of long stretches without a bicycle lane. Interesting enough there is a bike lane that goes almost all the way but it’s almost twice as long and it crosses the entire city of Ljubljana
I live in Europe, Slovenia.
So since I have a car I thought I might as well use it. There’s hidden costs to owning a car like registration, insurance and maintenance and I have to pay those for as long as I intend to own the car. So it makes more sense to me to use it as much as possible even though it might cost more than public transport. I figure my time and nerves are also worth something, right? Though morning traffic can be a bit intense at times…
When it comes to pollution I firmly believe my little Hyundai does a lot less damage than those monsters built into old buses and trains.
@Darko – it looks like you made the best decision for your life circumstance and that’s a good thing. Besides, it’s not like you’re driving an SUV.
Thanks for reading RowdyKittens.
Thanks for the link to Utility Cycling! I definitely like to ride my bike instead of using any other mode of transportation, because it’s fun! But even if some people can’t go entirely car-free, going car-lite (and using your car as infrequently as possible), is an improvement from being totally car dependent. And if you can go totally car-free, that is fantastic!
Melanie – thank you for leaving a comment. I totally agree with you. If peeps can’t go carfree, going car-lite is a viable option and something worth considering. I’m going to do a post on going car-lite soon. So if you have any resources you want to share, please leave a comment or send me an email. Have a great day!