A series featuring car-free women in LA.

Amanda Lipsey of Life Without Wheels

Basics: 29-year-old senior grant writer at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and president of the Dance Resource Center of Greater Los Angeles. Lives in Koreatown. Child free.

Car free since: Sept. 2008.

Blogging since: Sept. 2009.

Notable post: Revenge of the Bicycle Theft Victim or Vengeance on a Bicycle Thief

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On going car-free….

I officially ditched the car after it was totaled in a car accident on September 4, 2008, the day after my second nephew was born. The motorcycling flipping over the backside of my car after it slammed into me was definitely a motivating factor!

During the summer prior to the accident, I had been “practicing” being car free, thinking that eventually I would sell my car and be car free just for fun.  So I had only been driving about once a week or so anyhow. I work for a photography company over the summers, and I was even taking Metro and riding my bike to Orange County, Ventura County, Oxnard, and lots of other remote locations successfully. I think I didn’t make the full transition voluntarily because I had this idea that I had this level of security by owning a car.

So when I was de-car’ed involuntarily, I decided it was the universe’s way of telling me it was time to make it official. I bought a hand cart, put new baskets on my bike, and realized that this was really an extremely simple thing.

I know it’s better for the environment, but that’s not my motivation. It could be because I’m too lazy to go shop for a car, but then again I think I’m too frugal to spend so much money on a mode of transportation that I only really need to take me to locations within a ten-mile radius of where I live. If I wanted to do a road trip or something, I could just rent a car.

I started to question why I really needed a car: what for? Who says? Why? I don’t understand why, exactly, I need a car, other than the bogus reasons everyone uses to try and convince me otherwise. The idea that I need it for emergencies is bogus, because emergencies, in general, qualify as something few and far between, and if there’s an emergency, like a medical emergency, I think I would just call an ambulance. Or if it’s not medical, I could call a taxi.

How she gets around

Until it was swiped, my blue Huffy was my primary mode of transportation, but now it’s a red Schwinn Le Tour that needs a little TLC. I use the bus and my own two feet quite frequently as well. I occasionally will hitch a ride with a friend going the same way as me.

I prefer to ride my bicycle [to work], but I also take the bus. Because of my field of work, it’s not unusual that I will have a meeting with donors during the course of the day, so not being post-sweaty-bike-ride is preferable on those days. However, I’m also a dancer, and it’s also not uncommon to take a long lunch and sneak off to ballet class. Having my bike at work is really handy for those types of things.

I live in Koreatown, almost a straight 5 mile shot from the museum and very close to the studio I dance at. If I had not lived here when my car was totaled, I don’t think I would have gone completely carfree. But it just seemed ridiculous not to. I am in walking distance of everything: the grocery store, the laundromat, even the library.

Since going completely car free, I have rented a car twice and borrowed a car once. I only rent or borrow when it’s absolutely necessary like my mother is coming to visit (although I think next time family comes out I’m going to give them a taste of the car free life) or if I have a photo shoot in a remote area and the time/travel differential is too great.

On the upsides and downsides

I am a tough, bad-ass chick.

No, really, since going car free many of my friends have made statements that I’m really tough or strong or something to the effect that they admire my strength. And then I took a look at myself and realized I am a really strong person, and I’m not sure I had ever looked at myself that way.

Besides getting to be part of the tough, bad-ass chick sorority, I save approximately $600 a month that would be a car payment and insurance plus probably another $300 a month on fuel. Other benefits, great legs and a flexible diet due to biking everywhere.

I think the whole lifestyle has been unexpectedly easy in comparison with what you think it will be like. You think your life will be totally limited, when really, although it does change in some ways, your life doesn’t change all that much.

The only thing that really worries me is coming and going later at night. On my bicycle I don’t worry so much, because a bad guy would have to catch me. Otherwise, a can of pepper spray really does the trick. Also, if it’s really late or early, I’ll just take a taxi home — I don’t want to wait on the bus anyhow.

There are definitely things you have to figure out, like how to do your laundry when you live in a building with no laundry facilities or how to do the grocery shopping. I have been trying to shop for a new futon for months now, but I can’t get a commitment from any of my friends to take me to IKEA so I can purchase said futon and transport it back to my place in exchange for a free lunch. So I would say furniture shopping is definitely a more difficult task to conquer without a vehicle. It could be grounds for a rental.

When my bike was recently stolen, and I was searching Craigslist for a new used bicycle, the thought of having to bus myself all over LA to look at possible cycles was daunting, but I ended up finding one very close to me. I think the tasks are only as difficult as you let them be. Sure, it takes me longer to get to work, but I also don’t have to schedule a time to go to them gym, because I did the whole kill-two-birds-with-one-stone thing.

Again, it all comes back to attitude. If you can get enthusiastic about the new adventure of being self-sufficient and not relying on a machine (which I think is what my full transition has really been about), being excited about seeing if you can exist as nature made you, the bare necessities life, then you’ll find that there are far fewer obstacles than if you approach it like a hardship.

On car-dependent people.

I think the only stigma I’ve experienced (or perhaps that I’ve actually allowed myself to notice?) is that some people (who think it’s their place to judge) think that I’m some kind of failure or poverty case because I don’t own a car. Obviously that’s not the case.

People try and tell me that not having a car limits my freedom and my activity. Well, on one level I can say that’s definitely not true as I get loads of “activity” riding around LA on my bike. But to address the real objection there, being car free only limits your freedom if you a) let it and b) think that it does. I don’t like to be all touchy feely and say it’s the power of positive thinking, but I do think that you’re attitude and how you approach being car free has a lot to do with how happy you are with it.

People think that having a car is freedom. I’ve come to think that maybe a car is a prison cell. It’s this commitment that bleeds your bank account with car payments, insurance, and maintenance plus parking! I’m not saying I’ll never own a car again, but I don’t see one in my near future.

Advice for the car-free curious.

Take it in steps, first try taking alternative modes of transportation to places close by, and work your way up to full time, car free status. Also, the Google Maps application for smart phones has a great feature where it gives you public transit options for getting from one place to another. I’ve used it a number of times, and it’s pretty helpful.

Oh, and look both ways before crossing the street!

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green LA girl’s notes: Another tip for newbie de-car-ers may be to start a blog! Says Amanda about starting her Life Without Wheels:

Prior to starting the blog, I was not plugged in at all to the car free culture in LA. So I thought that starting the blog would be a way to educate my friends and family about what my life was like without a car and also to reach out to the world around me. Until that point, I had been in a sort of denial about the lifestyle I was living. Once I started the blog, it acted as a sort of therapy, and I accepted and began to appreciate and even love my car free status.

Read Life Without Wheels for bicycle adventures and other musings on car-free living in L.A. And if you’re interested in taking a bicycle tour to the Grand Canyon, get in touch with Amanda! She’ s planning a 2.5-week biking and camping trip and looking for fellow cyclists who want to do the same.

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