Trendsetter

Chris Balish,
broadcast journalist
and car-free convert

When Chris Balish put his SUV up for sale, he wasn't trying to change his life. He just wanted to save money on gas. But when a buyer materialized before he got a new car, Balish turned to public transit and biking--and found himself less stressed, in better shape, and getting out of debt. His temporary solution became a new lifestyle, then fodder for a book, How to Live Well Without Owning a Car. Read an excerpt at livecarfree.com.

Q: What's the best benefit of not having a car?

A: Saving about 800 bucks a month. Anything you lose as far as freedom of mobility you gain in freedom of cash flow.

Q: How have you managed to stay car free in Los Angeles?

A: I found a community with good transit that's close to amenities. Riding the bus or train can take longer, but it's productive time to read and work.

Q: What do you think keeps people tied to their cars?

A: When you rely on an automobile, you don't even notice other forms of transportation like bike paths and transit hubs. Half the battle is just opening your eyes.

(Photograph by Candice Kelsey)

Comments

[Joshua Davis]

we can go car-free all year, and then use just as much fuel taking a plane and rental car somewhere for vacation. i've made a habit of car-free (not necessarily plane-free) vacations, put records up on my blog 360.yahoo.com/josh55408. Bay Area is the best, by the way.

[To Anon]

I don't own a car, never have. I am formerly from New York City. Unfortunately, I now live in an area where everyone owns a car, therfore, I am feeling the pressure to join in. I don't want the expense nor the stress. The problem is, most jobs I have been applying for want me to have a license just in case I have to do some transporting of some kind. What to do?

[Gillian]

I can't tell if you already know how to drive. If you do, getting a license to help your job prospects isn't that hard and certainly doesn't mean you have to then also get a car. If you don't, you just have to figure out whether learning and passing the test is that important in your job search. I certainly encourage you to resist the trend and stay car-free. After all, if the people around you all have cars, you probably don't need one. Is the area you now live in bike-friendly?

[alicia]

I can relate to Chris Balish story:
I am also in NYC.
About two years ago I moved to Brooklyn, (for several reasons, in which I lost everything, personal, sentimental, financial, etc.) I decided that I could do whithout the extra expense of owning a car, and adopted the public transportation way of getting around in NYC. It is a decision that I will never regret, NYC has a
wonderful public transportation system, and I can go places that I would never thought possible while owning a car. I take buses and subways to the beach, parks, shopping, to visit relatives, the movies, etc.; when you leave the beach late in the afternoon on a Sunday and see the long lines of cars with people baking inside in the heat, waiting hours to get home, I just go home in the air conditioned train or bus, I save myself the stress of driving in the madness of weekend traffic, and always get home on time.
No, I would never own a car again.
While living in Riverdale, Bx., N.Y., the agravation of parking tickets and parking regulations would shoot the car expenses to the point of making car ownership unaffordable.
No, today is not just my own comfort, it's the environment that I am concerned about.
And no, I do not want to "contribute" with the unaffordable parking tickets, the high cost of insurance and gas,
and other added costs, like registration and taxes, etc.
We, the two adults in the household, spend about $120.00 in transportation per month. That's it. If every household would decide that not having a car represents freedom, many more people would be out of debt, less agravation, (for ex.: Riverdale in NYC is a hight-theft area, as I am sure there are so many other around the country)

[Jennifer Hattam]

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Alicia. And Gillian, you said just what I would have! The only thing I would add for To Anon is that joining a car-sharing service is an option in many areas. As Balish puts it in his book, "with car sharing, you get to USE a car without the costs and responsibilites of OWNING one." It also helps the environment by taking many individually owned cars off the road and (research shows) leading people to drive less. Balish recommends checking out these sites to see if car sharing is available in your area:

http://www.zipcar.com
http://www.flexcar.com
http://www.carsharing.net

[David Schultz]

All this seems to ignore the fact that most people live in areas with no transit. My mother's town doesn't even have taxis. How would my sister go 12 miles to work and back, let alone bring groceries home for the family without out biking/walking to the store everyday. Seems unrealistic for the majority of Americans.