Imagine a World Without Cars...?!

2/27/10

Blog

For a moment, imagine if no-one owned their own car.

What might the streets look like?
Would there be buses or trolleys rolling by? Bicyclists? Walkers? Some people in electric golf carts perhaps?
What businesses would no longer be needed?
What about drive-up windows in restaurants, banks and pharmacies? Would they still be needed?
Would there be garages on the houses? What about driveways? Would there be larger gardens, lawns and outdoor playspaces?
Would there be paved parking lots in front of all the buildings? Would there be more greenspace?
Would the air quality be better? Would people be nicer to one another?
Would there be more wildlife, trees, birds, flowers and bees?
Would there be more space to grow food?
Would more kids be playing outdoors safely?

Might, just might there be an extra dose of health and happiness?

For some people, not owning a car might look scary or unappealing, and questions might arise such as: 
How would I get to work every day?
How would my kids get to school?
How would I get out for fun?
What about long-distance travel? How would I get away to visit my friends or family who live out of town? How will I get to my vacation destinations?
Won’t it take longer to get from place to place?
My job requires that I haul around a lot of tools (or products, or ...) with me in my car or truck. How would I continue to do my job?
What happens when I need to go pick something up, such as groceries, a new couch, etc.?
It’s difficult for me to stick to a schedule when things are unpredictable...so taking the bus is difficult. Would I have to follow somebody else’s schedule?
What happens in an emergency when I must get somewhere fast? or god forbid, if a natural disaster hit our town and everyone had to evacuate at once?!!!
What happens during inclement weather if I need to get somewhere or stay warm and dry?
I have a physical disability, I am elderly and/or I am out of shape and I can’t walk or ride a bike, but I have my car outfitted for me to use or I can easily drive a car. How will I feel able-bodied and self-sufficient without my car?
I like having independence and my car allows me to go where I want to go, when I want or need to go there. Would I have to give up my independence?
Our local, national and global economy seems very dependent on all the businesses associated with cars (car sales, car re-sales, auto parts retailers, auto parts manufacturers, auto manufacturers, auto repair shops, oil change stores, auto accessories manufacturers and retailers, car rentals, gas stations, drivers’ ed teachers, the list goes on-and-on...); so what happens to our economy if there are no cars?
I think that one of our culture’s “rights of passage” is turning 16/17 and getting a drivers’ license. Won’t our young people feel disempowered without that?
I can imagine downsizing to one car in our family, but not owning a car at all seems unreasonable. Isn’t decreasing the number of cars on the road enough to change the pace of global climate change, or do we really have to get rid of them altogether to create a sustainable world?
I bought a hybrid, and plan to buy an electric car and run it off of my solar panels. Would that type of car be okay?
And most importantly, what will happen to all the drive-in movie theaters?! :)

I don’t presume to have all the answers to these questions already figured out. However, I do have some ideas to help spark this conversation to move forward in your own community.

First, consider every non-car method of transportation that you are able to take from the following list:
walking
upright road bicycle
recumbent bicycle
tandem bicycle
tandem recumbent
bicycle with kids’ attachments on the back (trailer, tag-a-long, etc.) or panniers or trailer for hauling large items
HPV (human powered vehicle) - click here for awesome slideshow for ideas!
Humancar http://www.humancar.com
Xtracycle http://www.xtracycle.com
‘bicycar’ (see photo at top right of page - each bicycle seat has seat belts so one person can even be blind or disabled and not do anything physical but sit there strapped in)
small electric vehicles: segway (http://www.segway.com), solar golf cart, scooter, moped or motorcycle
skateboard
rollerblades/rollerskates
scooter
special scooter thing we saw (include photo)
bus
train
trolley
airplane, jet or private plane
helicopter
average-sized motorcycle
a limited number of electric or biodiesel cars made available through a city-wide carshare program
PTV (personal transport vehicle)

Next, consider what trips you currently use your car for. Make a list.
Now add to that list any additional trips you think you might oneday need to use your own personal car for (i.e. when I’m older and can’t walk or bike as easily/quickly; if there were a natural disaster and I needed to evacuate my town; etc.)
Are there any trips on your list that you can remove because they’re actually unnecessary? If so, cross these out.
Then consider another method of transportation that could replace using your car for each trip still on your list. Write this new method of transportation down next to each trip on the list.
Lastly, is there any trip on your list that can only be done by owning your own car? Would it be possible to share a car with someone else or use a town-wide carshare program for these trips?
Now, what about the economy? Without all those businesses I mentioned above, won’t we end up with a large number of people out of work? Indeed we could; but I’m suggesting that we can find and create ‘green jobs’ for each of these people so that their skill sets are utilized and they can in turn contribute to a more sustainable world for all. These include (but are not limited to):
Bicycle manufacturer, retailer, mechanic, trainers and resellers
Small electric vehicle manufacturer, retailer, mechanic, trainers and resellers
Solar panel/wind turbine/etc. manufacturers, retailers, trainers, repairs and refurbish/resellers (to power the electric vehicles)
Accessories inventors, manufacturers and retailers (for bicycles, small electric vehicles, scooters, etc.); such as panniers, trailers, covers, locks, goggles, clothing, etc.
Bus, trolley and train operators and mechanics

I’m suggesting that we can live and thrive without owning our own personal cars, not even one per household; but instead we can easily replace this use with other more sustainable methods such as those above. I’m not suggesting that the above ‘alternative’ methods are completely sustainable, however. Firstly, getting the manufacturing of these bikes, buses, etc. is not currently done in a sustainable fashion. Also, trains, buses and trolleys consume large amounts of power and right now we don’t have nearly enough renewable energy sources in place to accommodate a dramatic increased use of these methods. I even “crossed off” planes, helicopters and motorcycles because there is currently no technology in place to make them anything close to sustainable (though they are not cars, so I had to put them on the list!). However, if we each evaluate our needs for transportation, then use less transportation overall (combine trips, make fewer trips, etc.), and for the trips we MUST take, try to use sustainable transportation, that we can easily transition away from being a car culture!

And lastly, don’t worry about the movie theaters...I’m sure we can start having bike-in movie theaters instead! :)

<-- Wooden bikes made by Sylvan Cycles in Vermont - manufactured locally out of local, sustainably harvested wood. The future of cycling...? http://sylvancycles.com

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This week we had the opportunity to share a presentation at the REI store in Madison WI. We called it “Bikepacking 101” and it attracted a wide range of people - from hard-core winter bike commuters, to seasoned bike tourers to those simply curious about what it might be like to use a bicycle as their primary mode of transportation. On our journey, we’ve seen so many different types of non-car transportation...so many that we’re starting to envision the world without cars!