Just wondering how people here get around day-to-day.
I personally try to use a bike as much as possible, but end up driving because of the structure of US suburbia and being the friend with a car™.
I’m in Shanghai. I mostly get around by bike, but if I need to go somewhere far or the weather is bad or I’m going with the family, I take the Metro. I don’t own a car and haven’t driven in ages.
Car, though I have a plug in hybrid and fill up the tank once every 2-3 months. Public transit is a joke in my city, and while I do bike to the few places I can safely get to (work is actually one of them, weather permitting), it’s just not something I’d feel safe doing for most commutes.
Mostly by public transport or walking, I do live very close to the city centre in a European city, so that helps. I keep telling myself I should go by bike more, but laziness usually wins :D If there is something I need a car for i use the local car sharing which is quite handy.
Laziness >>> tbh
I made it hard to drive so I bike more often. Every small barrier makes it just a bit more likely that I drive.
I pretty exclusively bike and subway! Being in NYC makes it easy to do so.
My cities public transport is terrible but I live in what’s basically a street car suburb close to the downtown so I can do most of my day to day stuff by walking. I also have an electric scooter for longer trips. For trips that require me to go into the burbs, I do have a car but I prefer to avoid using it
I live in the UK. I take the train to work, but I usually drive to the shops and for errands as there aren’t any cheap supermarkets within walking distance. I do tend to walk into town as parking is a pain! And I do lots of walks around my towns parks.
Should really get on the bike train, but I don’t have a great place to store it and I’m worried about getting killed by SUVs!
Oof, yeah the storage part is probably one of the hardest things tbh. If you commit to biking it is really nice, though u might still need to drive to get groceries and do errands if u carry a lot of stuff tbh.
That’s the thing - when I shop, it’s usually for a week or so and I can’t carry all of that stuff on the back of a bike. All of the discount supermarkets are located on the edges of town in more industrial areas while all of the more traditional / expensive ones are within a 30 min walk.
I do barely use my car - WFH most of the time - and I’m glad I don’t use it to commute any more. That really is hell on earth.
Yeah, that’s a sticky situation. Low costs driven by lower cost of land acquisition. I will say if you didn’t have the car you could probably afford the more expensive markets, but obviously going car free isn’t for most people…
That said, its a lot easier to do grocery shopping walking or biking when you just do it for the next few days max. Though if the closest store is a 30 min walk its pretty inconvenient.
Absolutely. We have tried existing off the “express” store 5 mins from us but the prices are killer. We have had to switch almost solely to the discount markets because of the cost of living.
I barely use my car so I have thought about selling it, but we don’t have a reliable car hire scheme in my town so if I needed one for work I would be screwed. I think though that the savings from being car-free would in no way balance out the costs from the expensive supermarket. Difference of a weekly shop is like £50!
Southern Europe: Mostly by car, sadly. Bike commuting is something that is hard in small cities that do not focus on pedestrian/bike infrastructure. I try to walk as much as I can. But my city is designed for cars, not people.
On the other hand, at least here, there’s an uprising of electric scooters and personal mobility vehicles at the moment. I think it’s mostly because of problems with parking spaces and economic struggles within some communities that prioritize an economical scooter over a second-hand car, which can have higher maintenance costs.
NYC - walking and subway! I had a car and now I’m so happy to live in an area I don’t need it. Also on the plus side, my calves have grown substantially…
Hamburg, Germany: I don’t own a car and get around by by a mix of bike/Public/walking transport. If I need to transport big I either ask a friend or rent a car, though those occasions are extremely rare (less then once a year). Longer distances I also travel by public transport.
@omenmis Romanian here: I take public transit haha.
I live in Bucharest where there’s a really extensive tram network. Basically on the majority of boulevards having at least 2 lanes there’s a tram line (with some notable exceptions ofc). In recent years, they’ve been separated by fences from the car traffic as the drivers use to go on the tracks, especially when waiting at the traffic light, which make it a pain for the trams as they cannot go around.
Besides that, there’s a plethora of bus lines going everywhere in the city and the current mayor promised that he will install some bike parkings around the sector (yes, Bucharest is split in 6 sectors - kinda like the arrondissements in Paris and other French cities - each with it’s own mayor), so I’m looking forward to see if anyone gets built nearby (I heard that these places get reserved at light speed). Bucharest is really lacking in bike infrastructure and car is seen as a status symbol, even in such a place.
Living in a small Dutch city (~90k) near a major city, where I work.
- Walking to local square with supermarkets/hairdressers/cafe’s/etc. Just a few minutes.
- Cycling pretty much everywhere else in the city, mostly visiting family and friends.
- Public transport everywhere else (which makes up the bulk). Two bus stops in ~5 min walk, railway station <10 min bike ride.
Only in the last few years have I come to appreciate how lucky I am to live in such a well designed place. What my hometown does especially well is traffic segregation - there’s a good network of carfree/lite routes throughout the city. Not just great for cycling but also running.
It’s not perfect though. For example, public transport is focussed on going to and from nearby cities, for getting around within our own city it’s quite terrible. Until my wife got an ebike it was hard for her to get to the other side of town.
Small ish city in the Midwest. Car. Fortunately I enjoy driving and like my car (Mazda 3). Putting on some tunes or a podcast is a good way to work up to and wind down from the office.
Mostly walking and public transit, because I’m lucky enough to live somewhere this is possible within the US. It’s often not enough, sadly.
I mostly walk and take public transit, occasionally biking or using bikeshare if there’s a major traffic snafu in the city - I’d probably bike more if I had an ebike which is something I may explore in the future. If I have to leave the city for whatever reason I do drive though, there’s some transit access to the suburbs here but primarily one way trips into and out of the city during commuter hours.
In decreasing order of frequency: on foot, bike, tram, bus, local trains, subway.
I live in Berlin and we are blessed with a very good public transport system but absolutely atrocious pedestrian and cycling paths (and bad roads too). So, on foot and by bike are not exactly pleasant, but they are still the fastest modes of completing the standard daily trips.
