Carless??

[Sara_H]

I'm in a position whereby I don't have a car, but my OH who lives a two centre life (so spends two to three days a week not here) does.
So some days I'm completely car free, some days I can use his car.
I mostly get about by walking, bus and bike. Even in an urban environment, some journeys that are only 10 or 15 minutes by car become frustratingly difficult by bus. As an example, my sons home football ground is about five miles away, on nasty roads that aren't safe to ride. The bus journey on a Sunday (which is when we need to be there) is 1.5 hours. On these occasions I beg a lift or take a taxi. Life's too short to spend it waiting in the city centre for connecting bus services in the freezing cold.
I generally find I need to be abut inventive about the buses. Using the online journey planner will only tell you what buses are close to your destination, whereas I'm generally happy to have a 10-15 minute walk to/fr the bus stop.
I do the bulk if my grocery shopping using a granny style shopping trolley (they are all the rage now!) And I'm thinking ofgetting one that can also be used as a bike trailer. My nearest supermarket is just over a mile away across our local park, so I usually incorporate doing the shopping into a dog walk. Alternatively there's an Aldi near my bus stop home from work, so I do the shopping there on my way home.

 

[Twinks]

Interesting replies. I suspected there would be many who managed without. Think we'll give it a month or two's trial.No kids at home now and not having a car might mean they came to us instead of us travelling to them a lot of the time. Have taken advantage of an offer from Tescos to do big shop online this week so see how that goes, can pop to shops daily for fresh stuff.

If I see someone cycling up Chunal with a trailer full of shopping I'll give you a toot!

Do give us a toot but it'll be him not me, I'll be the one up in front carrying the money

 

[andyfraser]

We have to have a car so my OH can get to work. I manage without a car at all. We used to live 10 minutes walk from the big Asda but having moved we're 30 minutes walk from the smaller one so we use the car for convenience. OH often takes her mum shopping so it makes sense to use the car and for her to get our shopping at the same time. If I only need a few items or I'm going to town (3 miles away) I'll cycle. It's all cycle paths to the town centre and supermarkets and is quite pleasant when it's nice out. I cycle to work of course.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

We've gone down to one car from two and I rarely drive it.

 

[Drago]

Technically yes, a I only have an olde pick up truck. If I genuinely didn't need it wouldn't have it.

 

[mjr]

Using the online journey planner will only tell you what buses are close to your destination, whereas I'm generally happy to have a 10-15 minute walk to/fr the bus stop.

Where are you? Our http://traveline.info/ planner lets us say how far we're happy to walk to/between/from stops.

 

[Nytsom]

My car is hardly used; but couldn't be without it! love my bicycles and cycling; although a poor (very poor) circulation means that I hardly cycle at all during the winter; just make attempts at shorter rides on the road bike and a wee ride on the MTB occasionally. Severe arthritis and advanced spondylitis. Just a part of getting older and too much wear and tear from marathons and triathlons in the past. need the car for some things! hat's off to all who do-without a car altogether.

 

[si_c]

Don't have a car, don't see the need for one either for my purposes. I live in the middle of a city, and have four large supermarkets within walking distance, so shopping is no problem for me. My wife uses public transport which takes about half hour to get to work and I either ride or walk depending on the day.

We talked about getting a car, as it would be nice to go on day trips at the weekends and stuff, but for the cost we decided it would be easier and cheaper just to hire one when needed. If you prepare for the adjustment after a while you won't even notice it so much, but I appreciate that not everyone's circumstances are the same.

 

[uclown2002]

We've gone down to one car from two and I rarely drive it.

Well, you'd barely have time!

 

[confusedcyclist]

I went car free 3 weeks ago, so far its been hardest adjusting to needing the odd taxi here and there, I always feel a twinge when handing over crisp £10 notes because I'm proper tight, admittedly, the odd taxi 4 a month tops is more cost effective than owning a car.

Otherwise I have just been getting to and from work on the bike as usual. The main thing is being super organised and ordering home delivery of the weekly shop well in advance, however one side effect has been using up more left overs in the fridge which will result in less food waste.

My missus does get annoyed with me when I say I can't go out on a whim, but the lack of car is a good excuse to stay in rather than go out to places I'm not interested in visiting (marks and spencers, debenhams, house of fraiser etc zzzzzzzzz) so its win win.

 

[Saluki]

When we went from a 2 car household, in 2010 to a 1 4x4 household, it was odd. However, I had broken my arm and there was no end in sight to not being able to drive so my Mini went. Once I was driving again, I missed the second car but I quickly got used to not having it. Now I don't miss the 2nd car at all. Aldi is 300 yards up the road, the doctors is half a mile away, as is the chemist and the dentist. I can't walk to our vet but I can walk to a vet if necessary.
I could happily live without a car, especially now we have moved house. We have discussed it recently but we do like going off in our caravan and hiring a car with a towbar is awkward. Not to mention, some hire places are a bit sniffy about having dogs in their cars.

 

[Sara_H]

Where are you? Our http://traveline.info/ planner lets us say how far we're happy to walk to/between/from stops.

don't think i get that option on the planner i use.

 

[Sara_H]

When we went from a 2 car household, in 2010 to a 1 4x4 household, it was odd. However, I had broken my arm and there was no end in sight to not being able to drive so my Mini went. Once I was driving again, I missed the second car but I quickly got used to not having it. Now I don't miss the 2nd car at all. Aldi is 300 yards up the road, the doctors is half a mile away, as is the chemist and the dentist. I can't walk to our vet but I can walk to a vet if necessary.
I could happily live without a car, especially now we have moved house. We have discussed it recently but we do like going off in our caravan and hiring a car with a towbar is awkward. Not to mention, some hire places are a bit sniffy about having dogs in their cars.

Funny you mntion the vets, I've just ordered a kit that converts the toddler trailer into a pushchair in case i ever need to take the dog to the vets when the OH isn't here. For some reason it'd been really plaing on my mind about what I'd do if the dog couldn't walk!
The vets s easier to walk to than ride, so this seemed agood idea.

 

[Saluki]

Funny you mntion the vets, I've just ordered a kit that converts the toddler trailer into a pushchair in case i ever need to take the dog to the vets when the OH isn't here. For some reason it'd been really plaing on my mind about what I'd do if the dog couldn't walk!
The vets s easier to walk to than ride, so this seemed agood idea.

In the road around the corner is a kiddy trailer that's just rotting away. I've been thinking of knocking on the door and asking if they'd consider selling it to me. I am sure that I could do it up and make it pooch friendly for trips to the vet.

 

[raleighnut]

In the road around the corner is a kiddy trailer that's just rotting away. I've been thinking of knocking on the door and asking if they'd consider selling it to me. I am sure that I could do it up and make it pooch friendly for trips to the vet.

Go for it, the top of my trailer has rotted due to UV but the chassis is sound, I've just got to sort out the walking problem and it'll get modified.