Going Car-Free in a Car-Centric City

After my bike was stolen the very first day I gave up driving, I was sure I would cave quickly. But one year later, here I am, still car free and still writing about what I’ve learned and experienced.

For quite some time, I opted not to buy a new bike so not only was I car free, I was bike free as well. I started walking my butt all over downtown Indianapolis – to and from work, to and from the grocery, to and from Mass Ave – you name it. Ok, so maybe my walking patterns weren’t the most exciting part of my car free lifestyle, but many perks quickly became apparent from the large amounts of walking I was now doing. For one, my legs and butt whipped themselves into super-shape in an instant, something that was welcomed by my former too-tight-fitting skinny jeans. Lesson learned: walking is a great substitute for cardio at the gym.

After walking to the ends of the earth, one might assume that I would jump at the chance to drive a car and feel the comfort of pushing a pedal to get me where I need to go. The truth of the matter is that when this opportunity first arose, I quickly found myself more annoyed than relieved at the ‘convenience’ a car brings. My first real bout behind the wheel came around week 31 in my year-long adventure when my sister and her family flew out of Indianapolis to San Francisco to visit my brother-in-law’s side of the family. Instead of parking the car at the airport, they decided to leave it with me and in doing so, saved them some money while allowing me to take care of a few errands I might otherwise not be able to do. Well after two days of driving to the north side and back for errands I thought I had to complete, I decided to ditch the car and leave it at my work’s parking garage downtown, and quickly resumed my pedestrian lifestyle. After being used to walking everywhere and the ease of mobility that brought, I found driving offensive, annoying, and a pain-in-the-butt.