109 replies to this topic

[Michelley262003]

I don't know if this will help anyone

San Diego (Lived here my entire life)- I would not recommend living in San Diego without a car. UCSD is do-able with a bike. Although it could make life potentially hard. San Diego's public transit system is in the works. There is much room for improvement. The trolly system is alright, but trolly stops are few and far between. I would recommend getting a car at least for the winter months when gas prices are low. Use your bike in the summer when the weather is beautiful.

Shreveport Louisiana- (I did my undergrad here) It's virtually impossible to not own a car. There are virtually no walkable sidewalks. And it gets to be a billion degrees in the summer, making being outside pretty brutal. The winters can be rainy and cold and icy. Get a car.

[Jakrabite]

Gainesville FL:

UF has a fairly good public transportation system. The RTS bus service is free for gators and is clean as well as reliable. The routes run pretty much through all the places you may need to go to in Gainesville. Most students travel to campus on the bus system. Quite a few students with cars also go to the uni by bus because parking is a big hassle on campus. The only cockup is that there is a reduced service on weekends and through the summer. During this period a car might well be indispensable. On the whole having a car is obviously more convenient by far. At the same time, it is possible to survive without one.

[hhw]

Portland, Oregon. I haven't owned a car for 3 years, and I had another 2 years car-free a few years before that. The closer you are to downtown, the easier it is. There's good public transit and ZipCar has a big presence here, in part because it bought local business FlexCar, which was one of the first carsharing companies in the US. There's also a strong bicycle presence which makes for (relatively) educated car and bus drivers, good signage, and many bike lanes.

The only thing that's missing is a major graduate school, or I wouldn't be moving away! Portland State University has some strong departments but poor funding overall, especially for graduate students. Other than a few professional schools, there aren't other options for fulltime, in-person graduate study here. Oregon State University and the University of Oregon are 1.5 and 2 hours away, by car. Unfortunately, public transit doesn't extend that far (yet), and neither Amtrak nor Greyhound are ideal for commuting purposes.

[schlaggy]

Can anyone comment on Santa Barbara?

[afeef745]

As i will be attending OSU at Columbus this fall, can some one kindly comment on Columbus as well.

[rising_star]

afeef745 said:

As i will be attending OSU at Columbus this fall, can some one kindly comment on Columbus as well.

You may have better luck asking this in the Columbus, OH page on City Guide.

[binclintonusa]

I was only there for 6 months though, and did not attend OSU, so I don't really know. :D

pret auto

[Sgt. Pepper]

livin' car free in Minneapolis Minnesota. Car free but with one sweet bicycle and an awesome unlimited bus pass.

[Michelley262003]

How about Burlington, Vermont... can it be done without a car?

From my understanding its quite small, and can be done in the summer just fine. Im more so worried about the winter.

Im not exactly Lance Armstrong and do not expect my tour de france to be anywhere in the near future.

[KatieinNewYork]

For the person who mentioned Binghamton University - biking is legal on the Vestal Parkway, but no one does it (for the most part) because too many people have been killed walking/biking there. But, there is a much smaller, safer road that runs parallel to the parkway (Old Vestal Rd.), so you could ride a bike to all the places you need to go without fear of death. I've always had access to a car in Binghamton, but I have friends who live there without cars. Challenging, but definitely doable.

Ithaca, NY: Really, really easy to live in town without a car. Public transportation really is very good, especially if you are living on the college campuses. If you're out late at night, you may have to take a cab, but the town is very compact and most of restaurants/bars/etc are within walking distance of Cornell. Ithaca College is a lot more isolated. I have lots of friends there that bike everywhere. Yes, the town is almost entirely made of hills, but honestly, there are something like 25,000 students + local residents walking up and down those hills, so you can do it, too. Getting out of town without a car is a bit more difficult, but greyhound makes it easy to get to NYC at least.

Washington, D.C.: As everyone's said, fabulous without a car. Just a word about Georgetown. Yeah, it's not on the metro, blah blah, but really - bus service into the area is excellent, especially the Circulator. The Rosslyn metro stop is 1 mile away (15 minutes) over a very scenic bridge. There are multiple shuttles that take you to the Dupont, GWU, and Rosslyn metro stops if you can't walk for some reason. So really, it's not as cut off as people make it out to be. Also, I have a lot of friends who bike in DC without any real problems. I'm actually moving out of the District this month because my new job requires me to have a van, and I have no where to park it.

[pea-jay]

Going to bump this thread up.

I've seen some good recommendations on the urban portions where many campuses are, but don't forget the suburbs as well. All US cities have 'em and some in the Sunbelt are pretty much suburban in nature.

For example, I lived in Norfolk VA, near ODU and never drove to school or basic shopping. My GF at the time and high school buddy both did their entire stint there without a car by walking, bus and catching rides with me (I had free parking at my place). That said, anything other than high-priced essential groceries required a car trip. Since Norfolk was long past its retail prime when I was there (that's changed now), ALL shopping trips other than groceries and laundry had to be made in the suburbs. Unless you had a half day to kill riding a bus you found a way to get a ride.

Another place I see referenced is DC. Great place to go without a car. As long as you stay INSIDE the Beltway, particularly in the "old" areas Arlington, Alexandria, any Metro stop as well as DC proper. Beyond that it SUCKS. Big time. Used to live in the DC suburbs without a car and the trip to DC using the regular suburban buses and a metro transfer took two friggin hours, without traffic. And that was only 24 miles out. Nothing is walkable and unless you get a government or NGO job, most employment has migrated to the edge cities like Tysons. You literally have to drive next door since nothing is internally connected. Yet if you get a car, you are going to sit in traffic. A lot. Commuter rail is mostly a weekday commute thing (unlike NYC, Boston, SF or Chicago) and wont help out mid days or on weekends.

As a rule, I avoid the 'burbs like the plague. Most cities that were settled before 1900 have decent to downright excellent opportunities to live and not have a car. In some places they've become run down, but many are coming back to life, if not already. Wont list them here (just read the thread). Even some sunbelt cities work ok without a car (if you are willing to make sacrifices). San Diego has become much better without a car as long as you stay south of Mission Valley. The trolley runs thru SDSU now and close by USD. The bus system is generally ok in the core (commuted with it for several years, no problem). SDSU gave good discounts for transit riders and their parking prices sucked. But want to go shopping or anywhere outside the core, get a car.

Final word, especially to foreigners: transit is often treated like the unwanted child and kicked around and shortchanged in this country. In a number of places (but not all) it is seen as an "underclass service" more than anything else. Very few offer great service like what you can find in Europe and parts of Asia

[marian something]

Aggie, on 17 March 2006 - 10:16 PM, said:

Houston:

Rice or Univ. of Houston-Downtown, you are ~okay~ without a car.

U of H-Main Campus, buy a car.

Really, Houston is just so spread out, you need a car, but gas prices are lower here.

I live in the Montrose area of Houston and go to U of H main campus, and you don't necessarily need to buy a car to get from one point to the other. The ride from my house is about 5 miles, but it does take you through the third ward area of Houston - meaning that there aren't very many places to stop/the streets are pretty torn up.

Overall, I'd say that if you live within the 610 loop, you can get to most places around town, as long as you're willing to work for it (and get up early to be there on time!)

[NeuroNerd86]

UCLA - if you live close to school then walking/biking is fine. However, if you live elsewhere (and in LA you most likely will because Westwood neighborhood is INSANELY expensive) car will save you a lot of heartache. Commute from the valley is painful, but possible; same goes for downtown. West LA is better because public transportation is relatively decent and buses run frequently. If you want to take advantage of what LA has to offer during your days off, you definitely need a car.
UCI - just around the school biking is good (walking - not so much). But Orange County in general has horrible public transportation, so you REALLY need a car to get around.

[BCEmory08]

Atlanta: Impossible without a car. MARTA, the train and bus system, is absolutely horrendous. Very few stops (which are spread extremely far apart), often scary train rides, and as one poster previously mentioned, the ability to only go north, south, east, and west with nothing in between. Not to mention, the system shuts down very, very early. And even though you'll need a car, it will be almost as bad as using the MARTA: endless traffic jams, accidents, and generally insane drivers on all interstates going through and around the city. [Source: I was an Atlanta undergrad.]

[solairne]

Houston and San Antonio, TX

Don't even apply to schools in these areas if you don't have a car or won't be able to purchase one.

[solairne]

marian something, on 30 November 2009 - 06:49 AM, said:

I live in the Montrose area of Houston and go to U of H main campus, and you don't necessarily need to buy a car to get from one point to the other. The ride from my house is about 5 miles, but it does take you through the third ward area of Houston - meaning that there aren't very many places to stop/the streets are pretty torn up.

Overall, I'd say that if you live within the 610 loop, you can get to most places around town, as long as you're willing to work for it (and get up early to be there on time!)

Houston is almost impossible to live in without a car. I go to UH-Main Campus as well and live in downtown and I need my car to get groceries, take dogs to the vet, etc. UH has decent enough bus service, but it is nothing compared to New England or European subway/bus lines.

It's a great city, but you need a car if you want to eat or travel outside of your bubble.

[Angela]

Seattle is wonderful without a car as long as you don't mind the rain. We have finally been rated as having the worst traffic in the U.S., so the bus is definitely a must if you are in the city. They are working on a light rail right now, the downtown is a free ride bus zone and UW sells a pretty cheap bus pass for unlimited transportation. The buses go everywhere and most routes run 24/7. There is even an express route from the UW to downtown. As long as you don't mind walking to a bus in the rain (usually never more than .2 miles), then its great. We are pretty bike friendly too, even though we have a lot of hills.

[alexis]

My take on east coast cities (what I know the most about, but sadly I don't know much about other parts of the country).

Top cities for getting around without a car (i.e. very doable, extensive metro systems; if you're in the "city," you probably would be better off without a car anyway)
1. NYC
2. DC
3. Boston
4. London (ok not an east coast city but...the tube is awesomeness)

Can get around relatively easily without a car (has plenty of bus routes and trains, has metro but not as extensive; I know plenty of people who fare great in Philly without a car)
1. Philadelphia

Would not recommend- transportation is very spotty (Just the marta with very limited routes); city is quite spread out
1. Atlanta

I would also have to add that in Virginia, Charlottesville & Williamsburg are more difficult to get around in without a car. You could make out in Charlottesville with no car--I did for a few years--but if you want to get off grounds and the immediate area of town, it's not the best. Williamsburg, the same, perhaps even more difficult there.

[rainy_day]

Someone commented that Providence, RI is a good city without a car. I live here now and I completely disagree. If you go to Brown, you could get be for maybe a year living close to school and biking to the grocery store in the warm weather, but RI is definitely set up around people with cars.

While it's not the worst city, it is far from one of the best.

[keylimekai]

As mentioned a few times in this thread, Minneapolis is GREAT without a car. In fact, it is absolutely awful to live here with a car. You have to move it at 8am whenever there's a heavy snow. Not fun.