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ChineseBook Review: How To Live Well Without Owning A Car
[tags]car free, uncar, chris balish, book review[/tags]
Last October I told you all about a book called “How To Live Well Without Owning A Car” by Chris Balish. Well I finally got around to reading it and now I’m going to tell you about it as promised.
“How To Live Well Without Owning A Car” is a practical guide to converting to a car-free lifestyle. I emphasize practical because the book more than anything else emphasizes logical and reasonable explanations on the whys and the hows of dumping your car and surviving (happily in fact) without it. There’s not a lot of theoretical mumbo-jumbo, emotional appeals, or political rhetoric to get you sidetracked - just straight up common sense (however contrary that sense is to common culture). In addition to being a practical guide, it’s also a very personal guide to becoming car-free. Countless anecdotes from real people across the country (and across demographics), each with their own unique car-free lifestyle, are presented throughout the book allowing the skeptical or fearful to find a story close enough to their own to prove that it can be done. This book is also about personal finance, because in many ways it’s a book about saving money (akin to “The Millionaire Next Door”) by ridding your life of unnecessary costs. Balish sets out to convince us that by going car-free we can “avoid the gas pump, cut expenses, reduce debt, and simply your life”, does his book do the job?
This book probably belongs in the “personal finance” section of the bookstore. The book is divided into four parts, and part one, “Why You’re Better Off Not Owning A Car”, starts off by saying that being car-free is the way to financial freedom. The first 30 pages of the 210 page book are devoted to teaching you that owning a car is one of the biggest financial mistakes a person can make, and that by getting rid of your car you will free up thousands of dollars a year that can be spent on more useful, enjoyable, and profitable things. Balish presents all kinds of stats and numbers to show us how much car ownership really costs (usually twice as much as the sticker price you paid) and includes a detailed car cost worksheet so you can find out exactly how much your car costs you. He then goes on to talk about the Quality of Life costs involved in car ownership (and differentiates it from Standard of Living), including increased stress and hassle, lost time, traffic congestion, poor personal fitness, road rage, crash risk, and sprawl. Finally he discusses briefly the environmental costs of car ownership in the form of depletion of natural resources, air pollution, oil runoff, automobile disposal, and road, highway, and parking garage construction (the paving of America).
So cars cost a lot. Financially, to your personal well being, and to the environment. You already knew that. Maybe you didn’t realize how much owning a car truly cost, but still, you knew it wasn’t cheap. Big whoop… things on earth have costs. Well, Chris Balish thinks car ownership is an unnecessary cost that through a “self-perpetuating car culture” and the multi-billion dollar automobile advertising industry we believe is necessary. He believe those two forces have caused Americans to become addicted to their cars, but like all addictions through information and lifestyle adjustments, there is respite. Balish presents six “keys” to car-free living: 1) Can you get over your own ego?; 2) Can you get to work reliably without a car?; 3) Do you live in an urban area or a mixed use development?; 4) Do you have access to public transportation?; 5)Do you live in close proximity to amenities?; and 6) Are you flexible? Of these, I think the most pertinent to Los Angeles are ego and flexibility, most people in L.A., whether they know it or not live in an urban area, have access to public transportation, live fairly close to amenities, and indeed can get to work without a car. It just takes a bit a flexibility and a willingness to do ego-shattering things like…egads… ride the bus to realize.
Balish then tells his story (he became car-free by accident, quite literally, and then realized how his life had improved without a car) and then spends the remaining chapters giving detailed instructions on the many ways to live a complete and fulfilling life in America without a car. First and foremost, he tells you how to get to work without a car… be it by mass transit, carpooling and ridesharing (he never said you won’t ride in a car, you just won’t own a car), motorcycles and scooters, bicycling, or of course, walking. Issues of wardrobe, appearance, and grooming are also addressed (ie. How do I handle going into work when I’m all sweaty from my bike ride?). He then encourages commuters to take a trial run, first on the weekend, and then easing into it during the week, of their new car-free commute. If the trail week is successful, consider yourself eligible to be a member of the car-free community!
Balish’s contention is that if you can get to work reliably without a car, then there’s no reason to own one. But what about all those other things you do out of the office? Errands, dates, social gatherings, leisure time? That’s what part three, “Non-Work Transportation”, covers. He puts forth practical solutions (eliminate unnecessary trips, find closer alternatives, and plan ahead and stock up) for shopping for your basic needs. He also implies that being car-free will save you money from all those “impulse buys” that the imagined freedom of a car can lead to (bored? Drive to the mall and buy some shit? It’s easy!). Can not owning a car actually improve your social life? According to “How To Live Well Without Owning A Car” it can and will! Not only will being car-free set you apart as “unique” in the dating field, your improved health and physique from actually walking or riding a bike will make your more physically attractive and confident than that schlub sitting in traffic. Instead of the typical “I’ll pick you up at 7, dinner and a movie” date, you have the opportunity to come up with creative and original dates and outings that will likely have far more impact.
In the end, Balish promises a “richer, healthier, less stressed life”, and after reading his book, I think he puts up a good argument that going car-free will reward those things to you. If you are thinking of going car free, are already car-free but want some tips that may make your life easier, or want to convince someone you know to go car-free, I whole heartedly recommend “How To Live Well Without Owning A Car” by Christ Balish. It’s a quick and easy ready, but the impact of the information lasts, and it’s useful as a reference once you’ve made the jump to the car-free lifestyle.
Discussion
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There are some difficulties with going car-free that aren’t addressed in your brief summary. For example, on top of my job, I’m also a musician. That means getting to evening rehearsals with lots of bulky musical instruments (I’m a bass player–both bass guitar, not so hard on public transportation, and double bass, quite a pain on public transportation). In Chicago, this was relatively feasible (and I lived 7 years car-free there). But here, not so much. Public transportation distance to rehearsal spaces measured in time is too long to make weeknight rehearsals, let alone the problem of transport getting home. So I own a car, but don’t use it that often.
I’d add that flexcar doesn’t have a good location for me to be able to use their services and given the relatively low milage I put on (I’d estimate around 5000 miles/year), not cost competitive.
It’s certainly not possible for everyone. Balish addresses this is his book as well, certain people basically NEED cars for their lively hoods, regardless of where they live. I mean, obviously there are people in New York City who need a car to do whatever it is they do, even with the extensive public transit system there and the pedestrian culture and dense infrastructure of the city. Balish mentions construction workers who need to haul heavy tools, outside sales rep who have to travel all over to make sales calls, people with special medical needs, families with children… and now we can add practicing musicians… all these people WILL find it difficult if not impossible to live car-free… no matter how thoughtfully designed their city is. But then again, I’m sure if you wanted to go car-free bad enough (like I did, because I hate the physical act of driving), you could find a way. People lived for a relatively long stretch of time… constructing buildings, raising families, playing music… without the use of a car. And of course, as is the theme of the book, many people feel they need a car but could actually live quite easily without one. For example, for the majority of the time I’ve been legally allowed to drive I’ve owned a car… it’s only within the past two years did I realize I could very easily live without one. To me, owning a car is on the same level as owning a jet ski or something…mostly an unnecessary expense that I definitely don’t need and that I would rarely use… a status item more than anything. But that’s just in my life. In your life, the opportunity cost of giving up a car might mean giving up on music, which would be an unacceptable compromise for you.
But,to paraphrase someone (I’m not sure who), don’t take it from me… read the book.
And of course, there’s also the “car-lite” lifestyle which Balish also speaks of in his book, and which I’m sure you take part of due to your time spent on L.A. transit… trips that don’t require a car, you don’t take a car. Vice versa.
you don, are the exception. if you only drive when you need to haul equipment and the like, GREAT! however most people drive NO MATTER WUT. doesn’t matter where or wut they’re doing. like going to the same place every single day for the same hours every single day (i.e. most of general public) and driving there even though there’s more than likely a perfect feasible alternative in public transit. so good for you and others for at least abandoning driving to and from work if not ridding yourself of an automobile entirely. “car-lite” as balish calls it.
this may sound absurd to people but its entirely true. i’ve never taken walking as a serious exercise, its just something i do and when seeing speed walkers on the side of the road i usually laugh, however, the benefits of public transit on your health are definitely true. in fact metro is even marketing this idea in their transit TV ads (marketing to people ALREADY riding… thats metro for you). anyway, its true for sure. over the last 10 months since taking on the public transit lifestyle (car free for 2) i’ve incidentally lost 12-15 pounds and seeing as that’s really the only thing that’s changed since before i can think of no other thing that could cause such a weight loss. and this may sound egotistical or whatever, i in no way mean for it to be. it’s nothing i’m proud of or anything just a positive effect of a car free life style. going car free and having to walk a couple blocks here or there and bike and walk, whatever the combo may be, its all much better than walking out of your apt/house/etc and getting into a car, then driving to your destination and sitting at your desk or stand in a line at target.
the positives for a car-lite, if not entirely car-free lifestyle are abundant, so any and all should help themselves and their friends to give it a try.
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