Could you live with one fewer car ?

If we lived with one fewer car, we'd have ZERO cars.

I run 3-4 miles a day...walk and run to and from work as often as possible (luckily, my wife and I live within 3-4 miles of our jobs).

So, I'm already on board with your article...

A little, our jobs are within three miles of each other so my partner and I now commute together when our schedules allow - about six months out of the year. Doing this we've cut our car use by about 300 miles.

I've been trying to bicycle to my errands on the weekend but I always seem to be hauling something too big or heavy to carry on my bike - a week's groceries, potting soil, lumber, etc.

We have only one car and it is AWESOME! It isn't out of necessity that we only have one car, but having just one car is so much simpler. We decided to go without a car for a few months in the summer and our family had a blast. We did things we would not have done otherwise...like walk to our downtown area for meals, exercise and ride bikes more, and take the train for fun little jaunts. Obviously, it is great to have a car in the winter and when you want to visit friends and family that live far away! But, I know so many people that have cars that they don't need. It just takes a little bit of planning and organization to share one car as a family.

Probably not. I walk to work every day, but I still have the need for a car to go to meetings, site visits, and to get around when I need to.

The fixed cost for having a car sit in the driveway is not $5,000 per year. I don't know what kind of idiout would think that letting a car sit in a driveway costs $5,000, unless it's worth over $100,000 and has that much of an excise tax.

I love how the 'green' activists just lie and make up numbers like this. My fixed costs for actually using my car on a semi-0regular basis are much less than $5,000 per year, and that even includes a car payment. Without the car payment, it's almost nothing if you let it sit theree. This Mark Chase person is simply an idiot.

You know what would really help? Better bike lanes! Consistent, non-disappearing ones. I'd love to bike to work more, but I seriously fear for my life when I do.

"Car-owners often are less disciplined. Rob Garrity, executive director of the Mass Climate Action Network, estimates that half of the car trips in the state are discretionary."

I would LOVE to hear their definition of "discretionary." HALF of all car trips? I know that everytime I get into my car and drive somewhere, I'm driving somewhere for a purpose. More dumbass statitistics to guilt trip you into making your life less convenient.

Just for this article, I think I'll buy an extra car for the sole use of driving in circles around the block with the AC on and the windows open.

Not without a MAJOR overhaul of our lives, and even then I don't know if it would be possible. My husband and I work different hours in different cities. I do the drop off at the before school program, my husband does the pickup at the afterschool program. It would be a logistical nightmare - heck, it is sometimes even with two cars!

My wife and I have shared a single car since the summer of 2000. That was especially interesting when she lived on the North Shore and commuted to Boston and I lived on Beacon Hill and commuted to Waltham. We handed the car off to each other in the morning and at night. Since we got married and moved in together, sharing a car has been much easier. We have a house in the suburbs now, and get funny looks with just one car in the driveway...

I sold my car, and haven't looked back. Mostly, I get around by bicycle, and when I must travel at a great distance, I rent a car for the day/whatever period needed. Have I saved a bunch of money on gas, maintenance, insurance!
It's amazing how you can find things nearby that you thought you needed to drive miles to find before, and when It comes to thinking you need a vehicle to haul larger items, I've found that a bicycle trailer works just fine for me. For huge items, I have them delivered or I plan ahead and pick the big items of those days when I a rental car/van/truck.
Another benefit of cycling/walking is that I have been told by my doctor that I now have the cardiovascular system of a 20 year old. (I'm 64.) Plus, do I feel good!

Hey Mikey Monkeypants... $5,000 a year for fixed costs of owning a car are from the American Automobile Association "your driving costs"-- that's for a small car. Mostly it's depreciation and insurance.

While I'm still working on my first car (I'm 22), it is a cheap used car that I bought over five years ago. Accordingly, the savings accrued from parking it would be less considering that I, like many others, do not have a car payment. That being said, I still cut down on driving it a great deal this past summer. I started biking to work more often, about four out of five shifts a week. This was easy for me since I work in the Fenway and had only a five mile bike ride to work, though I do bike in the street through Allston, Brighton, etc.. areas that have no bike lanes. I agree with the poster that said more bike lanes would help spur more bike riding. Hopefully though, this potentially greater amount of bicycling would displace those who would otherwise have driven rather than those who already walk or take the T.

Luckily (??) for me, my fiancee doesn't drive, so she has no car, no insurance costs, no monthly payments, no gas, no maintenance, no extra exhaust fumes into the environment. We live in Cambridge and take public transportation to work and most places, so I'm able to leave the car idle for days at a time. Nice.

The problem with our one car, an eleven-year-old small Honda that has been paid off for eight years, is driving it. A car cannot sit in a driveway week after week without being started and driven a fair distance, the neighborhood mechanic tells us. Our costs are far below $5,000 a year: $800 for insurance (no collision or comprehensive), a tank of gas a month, two oil changes and an inspection sticker every year. (So far, no major repairs, and the car has done about all the depreciating it's going to do.) We walk everywhere we can and use the car only for trips involving heavy loads and for visits to out-of-state family. We'll keep this car until reasonably-priced plug-in-hybrids come on the market, and even then we'll think hard before we go back to making car payments.

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