Giving up motorised transport in favour of biking it everywhere

[travellingwest]

As the title really. I wondered how many of you have currently, or in the past, or even considering it for the future - retirement maybe - giving up your cars and purely using your bikes as your main transport?

If you have, how has that affected how you live your life; what changes did you have to make, how difficult was it? For those of you considering it for the future, same question really: what life adaptations will you need to make to make it work?

 

[briantrumpet]

I'm really close - past three years I've driven less than 1000 miles per year, and if my 23-year car gives up the ghost, it would bre hard to justify replacing it.

Buying decent waterproofs, buying some extra equipment/stuff I could leave at my regular workplaces were the main things, already being in the fortunate position of having only a short (5-mile) commute (which was horrible in the car, being subject to random traffic jams).

Saved me a fortune, which has allowed me to afford things that would have not been possible otherwise. And I'm fitter than I would have been. So, both have been life-changing.

 

[ColinJ]

I decided as a teenager that I would never learn to drive so I don't have a car to give up!

Over the years, I have made sure that I always live somewhere with good rail and bus links (which currently is a 5 minute walk to Todmorden rail and bus stations).

I can walk to Aldi, Lidl or Morrisons stores in 5-10 minutes. I carry my shopping back in a rucksack. If the shops were further away I would use a bike and panniers. I suggest using a very cheap old bike for shopping trips. That would be less appealing to bike thieves, and just a minor nuisance if it did get stolen anyway. I don't like to leave any of my better bikes outside shops even though I have a very chunky lock - it would probably still only take about 1 minute to cut the lock off with an angle grinder.

 

[matticus]

Done about 10 years ago. I have a 5-mile (flat commute). My partner hadn't driven to work for about 5 years before we got rid of the car, so that wasn't a problem either.

Shopping isn't a problem. Holidays obviously get chosen differently (we average about 1 return flight per 8 years now).

Biggest difference is reduced visits to friends that chose to live in the sticks.

If I had to look for a job tomorrow, it's a different world to 10 years ago; I'd consider longer commutes and buying an eBike.

 

[wiggydiggy]

I tried without a car for a while but I found that caring duties, and unreliable public transport, meant it ended up being too awkward.

I have cut down my car use, I tend to walk or cycle short distances and I don't use it for work any more. The main to working from home I think helped a lot of people cut down their car use.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

Old car ditched ~14 years ago before I turned 40. The cycle commutes helped me unwind from work stress and made me realise that ~5 miles each way was no real issue on a bike, while saving money to spend on other bits. But it meant doing food shopping mostly on foot, ~10mins each way, until Tesco started doing deliveries early in the covid pandemic. Going out together outside of work became far harder, as did long trips like to see my family ~270 miles away (so ~6 hours each way on train).

So bit of a mixed bag for us, but given our typical budget, running a car would have meant sacrificing other stuff that would make home life a bit of a misery.

 

[wafter]

I wouldn't want to be without the car as it's relatively rural round here and I'd find it a huge hit to my autonomy.

That said I typically only do one regular out & back journey in the car every week; covering maybe 3-4k miles per year tops, while I'm averaging nearly 6k miles per year on the bike for commuting / shopping / leisure / everything else in and around the city, which seems like progress

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I wouldn't want to be without the car as it's relatively rural round here and I'd find it a huge hit to my autonomy.

That said I typically only do one regular out & back journey in the car every week; covering maybe 3-4k miles per year, while I'm averaging nearly 6k/year on the bike for commuting / shopping / leisure / everything else in and around the city, which seems like progress

Similar - apart from the 6k on a bike bit!

 

[wafter]

Similar - apart from the 6k on a bike bit!

Great work

To be fair much of that is unnecessary - if I really wanted / needed to boil it right down to essentials it would be a lot less; but I find once on the bike there's usually an excuse to stay out

 

[Sea of vapours]

I live in a rural location, the nearest village shop being 3km and the nearest 'big' shop 15km. There is effectively no public transport. I was without a car for five months, three years ago as the car was being restored. The primary impact was that I acquired bike luggage so that I was able to visit people and I used deliveries for everything for that period. That was entirely fine, for me. It increased my bike mileage a fair bit and encouraged me to cycle to places I'd otherwise not have. I've carried on with that approach, using the car very little.

The issue was getting to my gym which is a 25km round trip. It's not that I can't since, clearly, I can cycle it, but in practice I went a lot less due to inclement weather, which I consider a 'very bad thing' in the long term. Also, half an hour cycling each way reduces the efficacy of the gym visit, I'm sure. As a result, I still have a car but I only use it for getting to and from the gym and food shopping.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I went carless for a year in 2010 but my then-wife did also have a car which I had to use sometimes (I was step-dad to a 3yo and a 9yo). But if it was just me, I could have coped. I had a top box which meant I could often get small bits of shopping on the way home from work. The money I saved through not owning a car meant I could have had stuff delivered if I wanted (tools, wood for projects etc). Just being organised was the only real difference - remembering a towel and clean underwear etc.

So in summary, if you're single or don't have any kids who rely on you for transport, it's not only doable but quite liberating

 

[MikeW-71]

Afer I gave up my previous job, I ditched the car completely 1 year later and bought an e-bike with the money I got from that. 3 years later and it's all going well. Everything I need is in easy bike reach and anything else can get delivered.

Relatives are no more than 5 miles away, so it all works out great.

 

[SteveH80]

Giving up motorised transport isn't happening for me because I live out in the sticks.
I can walk to the doctor and co-op (about 1 mile and 120m climb), but the dentist and the big supermarket is a 20 mile round trip. 20 miles cycling is easy, 20 miles cycling with a week's worth of groceries isn't.
Mainly though there is no way I'm giving up my motorbike. And if I could afford and open top sports car I'd have one of them too

 

[FishFright]

I decided as a teenager that I would never learn to drive so I don't have a car to give up!

Over the years, I have made sure that I always live somewhere with good rail and bus links (which currently is a 5 minute walk to Todmorden rail and bus stations).

I can walk to Aldi, Lidl or Morrisons stores in 5-10 minutes. I carry my shopping back in a rucksack. If the shops were further away I would use a bike and panniers. I suggest using a very cheap old bike for shopping trips. That would be less appealing to bike thieves, and just a minor nuisance if it did get stolen anyway. I don't like to leave any of my better bikes outside shops even though I have a very chunky lock - it would probably still only take about 1 minute to cut the lock off with an angle grinder.

I did the same as a teenager, never owned or hired a car since . I did ride motorbikes briefly as youngster but displayed negative talent so gave it up,

 

[raleighnut]

Packed up motorbikes in 1985, only had Bikes since mind after breaking my Femur I got my Trike.