Can Life Work Without A Car?
Since the 13th of February 2021, I have lived a life without a car. Why? Because the facts were becoming too much for me to justify owning one. 48% of Aotearoa New Zealand’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions come from transport. There are over 3.3 million vehicles on the road and New Zealand has one of the highest people per car ratios in the world (unfortunately at this time I cannot find that exact number, but it’s more than 1 car per person).
Having biked and bused as much as possible over the past few years, but still predominantly travelled by car, I decided to actually walk the talk (quite literally) and give it a go. I started out with the intent to trial a few months car-free. Here I am, 10 months on, committed to a car free lifestyle.
The purpose of this blog post is not to make you feel bad about the car sitting in your driveway - I owned a car for many years and I know that it’s likely I’ll own another car one day (hopefully electric). On the contrary, this blog post is to encourage you to think about your car dependency, reduce your car trips, learn about the alternative ways of transporting yourself from A to B, and think beyond the social norm of driving everywhere.
Firstly, let’s give my car-free life some perspective and identify the privileges that make car-free living accessible to me plus acknowledge the difficulties of where I live (car-free living would be so much easier if I lived in a city!).
I live north of Auckland City in a suburb on the Hibiscus Coast: public transport is increasing in ease, but intermittent and often unreliable.
There are lots of hills and things are spread out: biking can be tiresome and walking is often unfeasible unless you’re prepared to walk for many hours.
I work for myself: I can schedule my day according to bus timetables and biking/walking times.
I don’t have children: I don’t need to transport anyone else but me (though it’s a pain not being able to travel with my dog).
I have an able body: I can bike, walk, and run.
I can use my husband’s car when we travel together at the weekends.
I can borrow my parent’s or my neighbour’s car (both electric!) when needed - I have done this three times so far.
You can see that there are a few things working in my favour and a few barriers that make this car-free lifestyle really difficult. Anyone could make a list of things that stop and aid them in reducing their car dependency, but I’d guess most of those lists would end with ‘my life is too busy’ and the list would then be crumbled and thrown in the bin.
Going car-free or actively reducing your car usage is not simply a matter of swapping your car trips for buses routes or buying a bike. It’s a lifestyle change. My life is different to when I had a car. It’s not that I bike instead of drive, literally how I plan my days, what I do, my mindset, and who I am is different.
To help you understand what I mean, I’ll walk you through the last 10 months and my decision making…
February: Until February, I made constant excuses around why I couldn’t give up owning a car.
“Oh, but I often need to carry lots of things, like large buckets for waste audits!”
“I live a busy life so I need to get places super fast and I hate turning up late!”
“The public transport around here is just SO terrible!”
In February I felt a little bold and courageous. I thought ‘what’s the harm in giving up owning a car for a few months and jumped on in. I didn’t make any promises to myself or announce to the world “I WILL NEVER OWN A CAR AGAIN”. I eased into it.
March: After a month I was feeling a little hectic. Everything was taking SO much longer. My already FULL TO THE BRIM life was taking even more time to manage. Whenever I wanted to get somewhere it would involve planning my trip a week prior, searching bus routes, mapping out bus changes, or considering if the trip was really necessary.
I felt claustrophobic. Stifled.
Because of the extra time and energy it took to get places, I started not going places. I saw friends less, said no to more, and started to feel like a hermit. As a raging extrovert who gains energy from experiences and interactions with people, this was not good.
I found myself searching for electric vehicles on Trade Me. Even though I was still coping, I was beginning to suspect a car-free life wasn’t going to work for me in the long term.
April: I realised Thea was a piece of shit. Thea is my bike. She’s been around since 2017, but she was really holding me back.
I wanted this exact bike for about a decade and was gifted it on my 21st birthday by my lovely husband, Tim. Teal, brown seat, wicker basket, cute bell… it was (and still is, looks-wise) the bike of my dreams. But after relying on it as my main method of transport for a few months, it was made clear to me that Thea’s looks were all that she had going for her.
Additionally, I was continuing to learn how bike-friendly my area is. The answer: not at all.
It’s rare I arrive somewhere and there is a safe place for me to lock my bike. There are about 2kms of bike lanes in my area in TOTAL and whenever I go out on my bike I feel like I am a warrior fearing for my life amidst an angry mob of cars.
May: Improvement. They say habits take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form. By May, it had been 90 days and I was starting to feel less claustrophobic and more hopeful. I held onto the fact that this entire experience was less difficult (still hard) than I expected it would be, and started to think about the longevity of my transport methods. Additionally, my ‘bike muscles’ were starting to develop. It was becoming slightly easier to get places, meaning I was more motivated to get out and about.
While continuing to treasure but loathe my lovely Thea, I began looking into new bikes with the help of my bike expert brother.
June: I had made it this far (4 months!) and my stubborn self decided my car-free trial would turn into my permanent lifestyle. Instead of buying a car, I would spend the money on investing in a high-quality bike.
I looked at road bikes first. Honestly, I don’t know much about bikes. I picked a few pretty bikes and then sent them to my brother to approve or decline. We were looking at high-quality road bikes for about $3K - I thought this was ridiculous as it’s the cost of a small car (I sold my last old car for $600, hah), but I realised that’s what you get for a good quality bike.
I also visited my brother in Wellington and rode his bike while I was there. I was amazed by the difference between my ‘show’ bike (love you Thea) and a bike that is made to actually get you places. I realised how much extra effort I had to put into riding Thea and I didn’t miss the horrible jolts that would run through my body if ever I went over anything that wasn’t 100% smooth. Basically, I came to the conclusion that Thea didn’t do what bikes should do. She only looked good on Instagram.
July: Continuing to deep dive into bike research and pester my brother, I jumped on the electric bike bandwagon. I’m no cyclist. I like biking, but I am not massively ‘into bikes’ like I know many people are. If I was going to spend so much money on a bike and properly invest in a mode of transport, I figured I should go all in. I test drove an eBike and afterwards my cheeks felt sore like they did from smiling too much on my wedding day! I looked for second-hand eBikes first but didn’t find one that suited my requirements.
My brother said an eBike less than about $3K (new) wasn’t worth it (it would likely be too low quality if cheaper than that). If I was going to buy a bike for leisure, a cheapie would be okay - but I needed one that reliably took me places and removed the feeling of being trapped in my home. I bought the Achielle from Bikes and Beyond.
People see my bike and comment on things about it that I don’t have a clue about (again, I’m no bike expert), but a few of the things I considered when purchasing:
Handmade in Belgium (Important for me to know where it was made)
A carbon belt drive (I don’t have a chain; this means less maintenance and more reliability)
Automatic gear changing (Ease of biking)
150km range on the battery
GPS tracker (If stolen, I will always be able to find it)
Beautiful looking (I needed something I loved riding; something that would incentivise me to ride it on days I was tired)
The total cost of my bike, with all the bells and whistles (literally), was $7,887.96. This included the baskets (not pictured as I still need to pick them up post-lockdown), the epic bike stand, the fancy bike seat, first free service, big sexy tyres, lights built-in, and of course the smart charger. I absolutely could have purchased a good second-hand car for this price, but I chose not to because:
I enjoy biking and love the physical and mental health benefits of it
I hate traffic, parking, and the maintenance of owning a car (I hate washing cars with a passion)
I don’t want to make traffic anymore congested than it is - or create a demand for more roads
Rocking up to places on a bike helps people question their own car usage and challenges car culture
Cars are a status symbol; I don’t want to indulge or be part of this if possible
Having no car reduces my ‘busyness’ - I am forced to prioritise events instead of getting places fast
A few fun facts about my bike, Odette.
Takes around 4 hours to charge the battery - it just plugs into a normal household socket.
The highest speed so far is 55km - when my brother rode her down a hill and complained she didn’t go fast enough for him.
She’s so smooth.
She’s the prettiest eBike I’ve ever met.
I still have to pedal; she’s not like a motorbike! You still get around 80% of the health benefits of riding a bike when it’s electric.
There are three different ‘assist’ levels. Eco, normal, and high. I can also choose to have no motor assist and ride Odette like a normal bike.
August: I picked up Odette and road her from the city, on the ferry, and to my home. This maiden voyage took about 8 hours and my cheeks were sore from smiling too much. We went into lockdown a week later, so she hasn’t been used as much as I expected (yet!).
Purchasing an electric bike was the best thing I could have done. Without it, because of the impracticalities of the area I live in and the life that I lead, I would have definitely bought a car.
September - December: 10 months on and I do not miss having a car. I feel weirdly freer!! I’ve leaned into car-free life and adjusted how I manage my weeks and organise my life. My bus card is looking grubby, I know some bus routes by heart, and I even have a reflector vest for biking - look at me go! I invested in a good quality raincoat, backpack, and bike lock, and I’m planning on buying some panniers (bags that will hang off my bike racks). I’ll be able to do a full grocery shop when my baskets arrive too!
I look at life differently without a car. I see things more locally and am empowered to say no to things that don’t bring me joy. I love it. Car-free living has turned from an environmental preservation decision to a mental health exercise!
Whatever your situation, it’s highly likely you could use your car less. Maybe there is one trip a week you could swap your car for your feet? Or part of your commute that makes sense to cycle? Car trips under two kilometres make up nearly a third of all car trips on our roads in Aotearoa New Zealand! A 2km trip would take about 20 minutes to walk and five minutes on a bike. Think about it next time you pop out.
