Going Car-free - A Promising Possibility

Going car-free.

To many, this may be a statement of absurdity, an idea so impractical and unrealistic that it is almost laughable. However, once you begin to weigh the costs and benefits, the concept starts to make a whole lot of sense. When pondering the idea of a car-free reality, four distinct thoughts come to mind: money, convenience, environmental impacts, and our collective future. To begin, going car-free is certainly not for everyone. For those who live far from reliable public transport or lack safe cycling infrastructure nearby, a car may be necessary. But for everyone else, I hope this article can bring to light the upsides of this seemingly contentious idea.

One of the main incentives of going car-free is the large monetary benefits. To start, the monthly bill of car payments and auto insurance can be wiped from your mind. In addition to auto insurance, going car-free allows you to forget having to pay for maintenance or renew your license plate sticker. You never have to buy gas or pay for parking. For the cherry on top, you save the cost of depreciation- the dwindling value of your car as it gets older and as you rack up the odometer. All these costs mean going car-free can save $8,000-$14,000/ year - that’s a lot of bike tune-ups and bus tickets!

Going car-free could decrease convenience; however, if you plan ahead correctly, you can minimize this downside. London Transit has greatly improved over the years with buses running from 6 am to midnight throughout most major streets in London. In addition, combining a bike and bus trip is easy as all buses have bike racks and there are plans to add more bicycle-parking facilities near bus stops. The added benefits of the exercise you get while biking and walking instead of driving are immense. Just 15 minutes of walking or biking a day can help lower blood pressure, reduce risks of various illnesses (such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer), help with weight loss, and greatly improve one’s mental state.  There are other less obvious benefits: you don’t have to build time in your day to scrape off the snow from your car windshield nor deal with expensive and time-consuming maintenance issues. And for trips that simply have to be done by a car, renting a car or catching a cab or uber has only become easier and cheaper.. 

For many people, reducing their greenhouse gas emissions is a primary motivator to going car-free. In a 2019 City of London report, it was found that there were 291,600 cars on the roads in London, this is almost 1 car for every adult! These vehicles produce 950,000 tonnes of CO2 or 31% of all emissions in London. These astronomical numbers all come from regular people living their everyday lives, not big, out-of-touch corporations. By contrast, a diesel London Transit bus only needs 7 people on it to be advantageous in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (they averaged 23 people in October). Biking completely negates any GHG emissions and is truly a joy for most of the year. So, by taking the bus and walking or biking to our final destination, we can all greatly reduce our carbon footprint.    

If you’re hesitant to go car-free now, I can assure you that the future holds even more benefits. To start, London is part of an initiative - Project Neutral - to reduce our GHG emissions to net-zero by 2050. As a part of this initiative, London is investing millions into safe cycling infrastructure, Bus Rapid Transit, and electric buses. As London continues to grow in population, it will become increasingly important to use our limited road space wisely. A regular car lane can transport around 1,500 people/hour while bus lanes can transport around 5,000 people/hour and bike lanes can transport around 12,000 people/hour. If we all want to move around efficiently and safely we need to allocate more road space for people on bikes and in buses.

In all, I hope that this article has brought to light the various advantages to a car-free life. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Remember, any change towards a car-free lifestyle is beneficial, no matter how small. Whether you’re going completely car-free, getting rid of one car, or driving less, it all helps our environment and makes us healthier!

~a post by Josh Jackson

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Hailey TallmanComment