>> I’m not sure how I missed this, but a couple years ago, Chris Balish, author of How to Live Well Without Owning a Car, was featured in a little video on Planet Green about living car-free in L.A. The upbeat piece is a bit too complementary of Metro’s janky trip planner, but that’s okay because Metro info’s on Google Transit now.
I was on a panel with Chris a few months back, and must check out his book, which Fred Camino at The Source says “makes the argument that by forgoing on car ownership and getting around using the many available alternatives you can save a ton of money and reap all the happiness that comes along with having extra dough.”
Both Chris and I live in Santa Monica — a very car-free-friendly place that many people who think they can’t afford to live in actually could — if they were open to living less car-centric lives. Earlier: Free parking isn’t free — and a Cali bill could make drivers pay.
>> 3 months after its expansion, L.A.’s car-sharing program with Zipcar’s exceeding expectations. Unfortunately, city budget issues are stalling efforts to further expand the program. More news in 120 days.
>> Obama announced $8 billion in grants to high-speed rail on Thursday. $2.25 billion of that’s coming to the California high-speed rail project that, once built, would let us get from L.A. to San Francisco in 2 hours and 40 minutes. With the new funds, rail officials say building will begin by September 2012. A couple years ago, Cali voters approved $9.95 billion in bonds for this project.
Image via simpleliving.net
One of the best ways to cut car usage is to live downtown if you are able to. It’s much easier to do if you are retired and making a move. We live in town center are also close to the central bus stop for an easy trip into Vancouver.
On a trip to LA 10 years ago we got a bus booklet and spent some relaxing days touring. We did the same in Waikiki and it was great.
Comment by Grampa Ken for change — January 31, 2010 @ 10:24 am
Not practical. Especially on the Westside. It takes hours to get anywhere from there. And yes, there is life east of the 405.
Comment by Transit Planner — February 1, 2010 @ 2:04 pm
Hey Grampa Ken — Good point about downtowns :) Downtown L.A.’s gotten pretty transit friendly too, with some hi-rise lofts actually marketing themselves as great places to live for those who want to go car-lite or car-free :)
Comment by Siel — February 1, 2010 @ 3:35 pm
A strong preexisting infrastructure is essential to car free living. Even then, it takes coaxing to convince someone to sell their car. Anything less than the convenience they currently enjoy will be a hard sell. That’s why it’s crucial to make the cost-savings argument. Maybe mass transit systems around the world should market their transportation as a way to have more money to enjoy things in NYC. That would be a neat sell.
Comment by BigBucksAuto — February 8, 2010 @ 11:18 am
Well NYC already has a huge population of car-free people thanks to a great infrastructure…. In L.A. we need to make car-ownership more cumbersome and expensive — i.e. less free parking, fewer freeways — as well as beef up our infrastructure.
Theoretically, the two could be symbiotic — i.e. use the money raised from higher parking fees, tickets, etc. to fund public transit projects — but the money from L.A.’s current proposals to raise parking fees / ticket fees is intended to to fill our current budget gap.
Comment by Siel — February 8, 2010 @ 5:13 pm