The real estate service Redfin recently rated D. Several organized citywide initiatives, such as Car-free Day and Bike to Work Day , promote car-free commutes. The D. Council is also considering a bill that would require employers to offer transit benefits or cash in lieu of parking subsidies. A car-free lifestyle in D. It can lower household commuting costs and promote a healthy lifestyle. It can reduce citywide traffic congestion, increase accessibility for businesses, and help the city meet its goals in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
However, for some residents, getting around the city without a car may be easier said than done. The index incorporates relative walk-ability, bike-ability, and public transit scores using data from Walk Score , as well as average availability of private transit services such as Car2Go and taxicabs. The map above illustrates the range in car-free livability values throughout D. Scores are highest in central areas such as Chinatown 96 , Dupont Circle 93 , and Logan Circle 92 , where the abundance and density of public transit and on-demand rental options make it relatively easy to live and work without owning a car.
At the ward level , residents are much more likely to walk or bike to work in these areas, with an average commute time of 24 minutes for residents living in Ward 2 compared with 31 minutes for the entire city. Meanwhile, the lowest scores are concentrated in neighborhoods to the south and east, specifically in neighborhoods such as Kenilworth However, at the ward level , residents in Wards 7 and 8 are still only somewhat more likely to drive to work than take public transit, and face average commute times of minutes.
Turns out, I'm not the only Washingtonian to have experienced this! Factors that helped Redfin compile the final list included a persons proximity to restaurants, grocery stores, parks, and their jobs.
Accessibility to these locations are some of the key perks of urban living. Baltimore's public transit options are more limited than nearby Washington, D. You can get around town via the Charm City Circulator, a bus that runs every 10 minutes for most of the day, seven days a week, and transports 4 million people a year.
The best part: It's completely free. Baltimore is considered only moderately walkable by Walk Score. This scenic and eminently livable university town boasts a walkable core and solid bus service for a city of its size, but where Boulder really shines is in bikeability.
Miami ranks fourth among Walk Score's ranking of the most walkable U. Its public transit includes commuter rail, buses, and the free Metromover servicing downtown.
Miami's most walkable neighborhoods include Little Havana and Wynwood-Edgewater. This city doesn't rank highly for walkability, but it's exceptional among non-coastal cities for its bike-friendliness. It ranked as the third-best bicycle city in the nation, with multi-use paths and over and underpasses across major intersections. The most walkable neighborhoods here are Old Town, University Park, and downtown.
Pittsburgh doesn't enjoy quite as high a walkability score as that other Pennsylvania metropolis, Philadelphia. It's public transit system of bus lines and light rail is somewhat more limited as well.
But the city has some very compact residential areas, such as the Central Oakland and Friendship neighborhoods, and average commute time for public transit riders is nearly on par with driving, according to one study. San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit system, bus lines, and commuter rail add up to some of the best public transit in the country.
With a rental, you pay for your car by the day. You also pay for gas, insurance, and parking, if needed. With carsharing programs, you pay a monthly fee to get access to a fleet of cars.
On top of that, you pay by the minute, the hour, or the day when you check one out. Gas, insurance, and parking are all included. Which service is the better deal depends on how you use it. In the U. Car rental costs vary by city, time of year, and type of car. Based on these rates, you can see that for long, infrequent trips, renting a car is clearly cheaper. However, if you regularly need a car for a few hours at a time, carsharing is a better deal. However, these services are too pricey to rely on for everyday use.
First, is there some combination of car alternatives that can get you everywhere you want to go? And second, would trading your car for this mix improve your overall quality of life? To answer these questions, you have to think about where you live, where you work, and where else you travel. You have to look at the car alternatives that are and are not available in your area. And finally, you have to consider how these options stack up against driving in cost, time, and safety.
All this will give you clearer a picture of what your life could look like without a car. Compare that potential scenario to your life as it is now and decide which looks better to you.
The first step in planning out a car-free life is to make a list of all the places you drive to regularly, or even occasionally. Here are several locations your list might include:. Your list needs to be as complete as possible. Now go through your list item by item. For each place, think about how you could get there using one or more of the car alternatives shown above. Then write down all the choices that you think would work for you.
But adding a rack or a trailer to your bike could make this a realistic option. If you only visit those places once in a while, perhaps you could borrow or rent a car on those occasions. You need to consider all the difficulties of traveling to each place without a car — the cost, the hassle, and the time involved. Then you can see how these problems stack up against these costs of driving. Cost Go through your list again. For some methods of travel, this is easy to figure out. For instance, walking is always free.
For other methods, you need to do a little research. You can check bus and train schedules to find out the cost of a round-trip fare to each place on your list. You can also visit the websites for taxi cab companies and car-sharing services to see how much they cost. Multiply that by the cost per hour and then add in the monthly fee.
For bicycling, you can estimate the yearly cost of owning and maintaining a bike, then divide that by For example, you might make 23 trips to and from work, five trips to the grocery store, and five to the library. Add the costs of all these trips to figure out the cost of one car-free month. The AAA survey gives average ownership costs for small, medium, and large sedans. With this information, you can see how the cost of owning a car compares to the cost of living without one.
For most people, going car-free is likely to be cheaper. However, if you use your car a lot, keeping it could be cheaper than giving it up. Time If time is money, then the costs of going car-free should factor in time costs as well. Figure out how long it would take to walk to the post office, or get to work on the bus.
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