The Urbanophile: “The Downside of Living Carless in a Small City”

We’ve touched on the social benefits of car ownership before. Here are more thoughts on the subject from The Urbanophile:

The Downside of Living Carless in a Small City

…In a metro area that is nearly all auto oriented, much of the setting of civic life in that city is outside of the core downtown area and districts where it is easy to get to without a car. To live without a car is a deliberate cutting off of oneself from those activities and regions – especially suburban – and from that part of society…

…this sort of thing, done prematurely, only widens the urban core-suburban gulf when we need to be bridging it. Things are different in bigger cities, which have commuter rail networks that act as a sort of civic glue, binding city and suburb together…

There’s an old saying in sales and negotiation that unless you meet someone where they are, you have no right to lead them somewhere else. Until other people get that you identify with them and their goals, aspirations, and plans, it is hard to make headway in convincing them to a different point of view.

I think creating regional civic cohesion is an absolute imperative for success in the modern world. Ask Cleveland or Detroit if you don’t believe me…

Owning a car doesn’t mean you have to drive it everywhere… But to get rid of a car entirely is something I don’t think is necessary and does come with downsides beyond the purely personal…

See also:

Car Free with Kids: “Suburban Friends and the Carfree Family”
BusChick writes (somewhat edited here):

“The biggest driver (pun intended) of car use for us is visiting friends. My family lives in the city, and so do most of my old friends. I, do, however, have one or two close friends who live outside of bus range; my husband has several…

I like to reciprocate visits to friends and not always have them come to us, but renting a car just to go sit in a girlfriend’s living room is not something I’m going to go every week—or, for that matter, every month. Most of my husband’s friends have kids, and they are forever having baby showers and birthday parties and Super Bowl parties and et cetera. Sometimes we can take the bus to these events, but these are two-transfer rides with long wait times and infrequent service… Many times, we cannot take the bus to these events and so either have to rent a car or skip the trip…
Streetsblog New York City: “The Social Costs of Car-Free Living in Small Cities”

“Sprawl and Congestion—is Light Rail and Transit-Oriented Development the Answer?”
The allure of the automobile is compelling, and crafting a sensible transportation policy requires an acknowledgement of the wonderful attributes of the car:

The motor vehicle has enriched our lives in countless ways. It has provided the easy connectivity that enables modern, highly interdependent, urban societies to thrive. It has eliminated rural isolation. It has enabled workers to choose employers rather than accept whatever employment opportunities are within walking or transit distance of their homes. The personal truck allowed craftspeople and artisans to carry their tools with them and enter the middle class by becoming independent contractors. The motor vehicle has enabled people to live outside urban centers and still participate in mainstream society.

The car is an amazing piece of technology that has greatly extended our range of choice as to where to live, work, shop, and play. No other form of transport can compete with the automobile in terms of door-to-door mobility, freedom to time one’s arrivals and exits, protection from inclement weather, and comfort, security, and privacy while in transit.[2]

Randal O’Toole: “Dense Thinkers” (Reason Magazine, January 1999)
The “decline” of cities that officials worry so much about is due to the fact that cars, telephones, and electricity make it possible for people to live in lower densities–and most choose to do so…

Smart Growth Winners (Rich People) and Losers (Other People)
Smart growth is great if you can afford to have everything you buy delivered, or are in excellent physical condition with a physically undemanding job; it is not so great if you have to come home from your shift at the nursing home to lug groceries a quarter-mile down the street, and then up three flights of stairs… Smart growth is great if you can afford taxis when you need them; it is not so good if you are forced to take three buses to get somewhere you really need to be…

LA Weekly: “What’s Smart About Smart Growth?” (5/30/07)
[Photo caption:] 11.7 m.p.h.: Average speed of L.A. buses. Yet City Hall pols hope buses will somehow handle the human crush once their plans for multistory living take hold…

[Sharon] Tohline decided to do her part and hop on the bus. Now, she has a commute that consumes three hours each day…

Energy-Efficient Personal Vehicles of the Near Future
Smart Growth advocates are concerned about the energy consumed by America’s many cars and the emissions they produce. With gas nearing $4 a gallon, it’s hard not to share these concerns. However, the solutions commonly proposed–densification to support rail and bus travel–often don’t work well in practice. Many homebuyers resist being packed into dense neighborhoods where costs per square foot are high, greenspace is scarce, roads are congested and parking is hard to find. And, too, commutes by public transit typically take twice as long as commutes by car.

The May/June briefing from trendwatching.com describes how companies are working to combine the convenience and comfort of personal vehicles with the need to be gentle on the environment…