S/o sort of, Life with no car

[Ellie]

On 2/24/2024 at 9:08 AM, Bootsie said:

I lived in College Station, Texas without a car.  There was a grocery store, a post office, several churces, a couple of doctors, and several other businesses within walking distance from my apartment.  I could cycle to campus.  There was a bus route that went from my apartment complex to the campus several times each hour; most other services I would want or need were available either on campus or the area directly adjacent to the campus.  

Lucky. I'm in the Austin area, and there are few places you could live that would have everything within walking distance. Especially grocery stores. For some reason, there is a noticeable scarcity of grocery stores, even in areas with massive growth. I am aghast. A friend lives in Manor; she has groceries delivered, and meds (from H.E.B.), but she has no vehicle, and an Uber to *anywhere* will cost her $50 or more. She cannot afford that.

[kbutton]

On 2/24/2024 at 10:36 PM, catz said:

 

Lots of college towns are maybe not as expensive as the bigger cities and will be very walkable.   Ann Arbor MI, Madison WI, Columbus OH, Bloomington IN, etc.  College town tend to have nice amenities as well for their size.   You can look up walk scores for an address at https://www.walkscore.com/

Bloomington has a big variety—sidewalks, bike trails, and busing. And the hated rental scooters driven by drunk college students. 

21 hours ago, Heartstrings said:

So you’re saying we should move north sooner rather than later? 

That’s what I’m hearing!

21 hours ago, YaelAldrich said:

A person or family could live in Boston with no car. I can walk to several grocery stores, the post office, drug stores, doctors offices, dentists, hospital and bus or trolley to much more. But housing prices are INSANE. 

Yep, move before prices go up where they are okay now. But quietly so you don’t drive them up yourself. lol!

[Faith-manor]

I should say that there are areas of Kalamazoo, Mi where one can get away without a car. My sons' apartment complex is walking distance (2 blocks) from a Meijer (big box store and pharmacy), Walgreens, Ollie's (discount store that buys out closeout stuff and has a lot of housewares), and the bus travels to all the shopping stuff. plus the hospitals and clinics. One son drives to work because he commutes outside the city proper where the busses do not go, the other walks, car pools, or takes the bus everywhere. They can also hop on the train and go to Chicago if the notion takes them.

[-----]

nm

Edited August 30 by kathyl

[Ellie]

2 hours ago, kathyl said:

Oh wow, we're seeing the same thing with the lack of grocery stores here, too.   North Texas, growing rapidly.  It's crazy.  

I can't speak for the rest of Texas as I have only lived in the Austin area, but good grief....even in urban areas, you can drive forever before finding a grocery store. Hundreds of apartments have been built along the road my subdivision is off (I can't figure out how to write that better, lol), but not a single new grocery store. The existing ones are generally built along the freeway, so not really near most of the homes but contributing to congestion at the freeway exits. We could do with at least one more grocery store, probably two more.

I say this as someone who never lived further than two miles from at least one grocery store, usually several, before moving here. And there was a variety of stores; here in Central Texas, we get H.E.B. In the past few years a few Aldi stores have opened, none of them close enough to me to make it worth my while to go there regularly. Ditto WHole Foods and Trader Joe's. Going to them is a field trip I'm not always willing to take, lol.

[KungFuPanda]

21 hours ago, Ellie said:

I can't speak for the rest of Texas as I have only lived in the Austin area, but good grief....even in urban areas, you can drive forever before finding a grocery store. Hundreds of apartments have been built along the road my subdivision is off (I can't figure out how to write that better, lol), but not a single new grocery store. The existing ones are generally built along the freeway, so not really near most of the homes but contributing to congestion at the freeway exits. We could do with at least one more grocery store, probably two more.

I say this as someone who never lived further than two miles from at least one grocery store, usually several, before moving here. And there was a variety of stores; here in Central Texas, we get H.E.B. In the past few years a few Aldi stores have opened, none of them close enough to me to make it worth my while to go there regularly. Ditto WHole Foods and Trader Joe's. Going to them is a field trip I'm not always willing to take, lol.

Sometimes I don’t have it in me to go all the way to Costco because it’s almost 4 miles away and there are at least 5 stores that are closer. 🤣

[lewelma]

I'm not a big car person, and my dh gets road rage so we sold his car early on in our marriage. So we have always looked for places to live without a car. Typically, you need to live either downtown (in a highrise) or in the early suburbs (1920s) where they have trains into town. Many of the 1920s suburbs are too tightly packed for box stores, so the mom and pop shops still exist and are walkable. I'm not a big bus person, so we have looked for either walkable or near a train line.

These are the places dh, ds, or I have lived in the USA without a car:

Reno, NV (Near University)

Seattle, WA (Pioneers Square, walk to downtown for work)

Cleveland, OH, (Cleveland Heights, train to downtown for work)

Boston, MA, (Near MIT)

Ithaca, NY ('downtown' area)

Richmond, VA (in the 'Fan' the 1920 subdivision so close to downtown).

Washington DC (near subway line)

Newburyport, MA (biked everywhere, worked at the wildlife sanctuary)

Here in NZ, we live in the 1920s subdivision of Wellington (walking distance to downtown)

We have lived for close to 30 years in places where a car is not needed, and my older boy has chosen not to learn to drive so is committed to living a car free life. lol

Edited February 28 by lewelma

[Bootsie]

On 2/26/2024 at 10:27 PM, Ellie said:

I can't speak for the rest of Texas as I have only lived in the Austin area, but good grief....even in urban areas, you can drive forever before finding a grocery store. Hundreds of apartments have been built along the road my subdivision is off (I can't figure out how to write that better, lol), but not a single new grocery store. The existing ones are generally built along the freeway, so not really near most of the homes but contributing to congestion at the freeway exits. We could do with at least one more grocery store, probably two more.

I say this as someone who never lived further than two miles from at least one grocery store, usually several, before moving here. And there was a variety of stores; here in Central Texas, we get H.E.B. In the past few years a few Aldi stores have opened, none of them close enough to me to make it worth my while to go there regularly. Ditto WHole Foods and Trader Joe's. Going to them is a field trip I'm not always willing to take, lol.

I am surprised at how much grocery store density varies.  I lived a couple of places in San Antonio which were within walking distance of an HEB.  One place I lived was within walking distance of two HEBs (one had formerly been an Albertsons) and an HEB Central Market.  Where I now live in the DFW area, I am within very reasonable walking distance of a Krogers and within walking distance of a Tom Thumb, Albertsons, and Trader Joes.  My son who lives in the metroplex, has a WalMart that would be within walking distance but no regular grocery stores within about a 5-mile radius.  I have been in areas of Dallas in which I have driven and driven and driven trying to find a grocery store.  What really doesn't make sense to me is that when I do find a grocery store in those areas they tend to be empty.  But in San Antonio where there was an HEB on every corner they were always crowded. 

[-----]

nm

Edited August 30 by kathyl