Seattlest: We Refuse To Title This "Car-less In Seattle"

Peter

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 18:26:49 -0800

The bus system is good only if you are commuting short distances within the city, e.g., capitol hill to the u district, capitol hill to downtown, but for commuting elsewhere, it can be very undependable and time consumming, particularly in the evening. Go carless in seattle! With a massive right of way mass transit system that can get you all over the city as well as the eastside and snohomish county, sure why not. But otherwise, forget it. What if your job is in bothell? What will you do? Wait 2 hours for a community transit bus? With the issues of peak oil and increased population coming to a head, we will regret scrapping the monorail instead of creating a more sensible economic plan to get it off the ground, particularly when they tear the viaduct down to build a new one or build the "Nickel Dig". Like we did shortly after the earthquake in 2001, we'll have massive traffic backups on I-5 and the west seattle bridge.

kcip

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 17:33:19 -0800

Big ups, Alan.

langston

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 13:58:53 -0800

Here's something else that anyone looking into going car free should consider. http://xtracycle.com/ My biggest complain with being car free & focusing on using a bicycle to get around is the difficulty in hauling the basics (beer, OJ, packages, et al) around without dieing. The Xtracycle addresses this by extending the back of the bike into a cargo bike!

Jake of 8bitjoystick.com

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 13:23:41 -0800

"Any wagers on how long they last without a car?" Quite a long time actually. There is a pretty good public buss system in Seattle and when linked lite rail goes online it is going to be awesome to live in Seattle without a car. I did not need a car when I lived in Seattle and my freind has gone over a decade with no car. It would be good practice for the coming peak oil crash.

Michael

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 11:47:15 -0800

The family part makes it much trickier. I notice his 18-year-old son is getting hosed because FlexCar (like most car rental places) won't rent to an 18-year-old. For reasons the photo may illustrate. But as a previous car-totaler, I say "Bygones"!