Over summer I worked hard to get fit because I knew what my goal was for the year – to give up my car. This I did over a month ago now and as I have settled into a daily pattern I feel I can talk about the experience.
Now I have some advantages:
- I live about 100 metres from a Dominion Road bus stop.
- I live 300 metres from Mt Albert Rd.
- I live within 2 stages of the CBD.
- I work in the CBD.
- I own 2 bicycles.
- I don’t have children.
- I drive up to 6 hours a day at work and have some access to small purchases by car.
So bus-wise I’m pretty golden, I generally have a bus to the CBD roll past my house every 5 minutes, I have access to Lynfield and Blockhouse Bay from the Dominion Rd routes and with Mt Albert Rd so close I have the 008 giving me access to suburbs from Pt Chev to Penrose.
The positives have been fantastic, I never thought I’d feel better about a decision than the decision I made to give up alcohol, nicotine and caffeine a few years ago but I do. I feel far less stress, an example of why is this; just after my car went, my flatmate had her car broken into and after endless hassles and quotes, wrangling with the insurance, she has ended up having to buy a new car (the insurance company wrote off her old one) and then handle a new round of LTNZ info and insurance companies. During the same period of time I’ve to fill my bus card……. once. No more WOFs, repairs or rego renewals for me, its a problem for NZ Bus now!
Another great thing is the extra energy I’ve had, in part due to focusing on fitness but in part due to the mental act of letting go. Before I used to begrudge the 200 metre walk up to shops and couldn’t bring myself to take the car, now I don’t think twice, my enjoyment of walking has increased immeasurably, ditto cycling.
The problem is of course the system. The lack of integration is noticeable when you rely on it. The Dominion Rd buses terminate at the Civic Centre which is great if I want to see a movie but not so great if I want to connect to the ferry or train system which I do almost every weekend. This means that after my bus ride I have to walk 5 or so minutes to Britomart or the Ferry Terminal and then my travel pattern starts all over again, a new waiting period, a new timetable and most importantly a new fare on a new card. Simple changes like having my bus terminate by QE2 square 5 minutes or so before the connecting trains and ferries depart and a single ticket I can buy before I get on the bus, will make all the difference and that takes integration and planning.
Reliability of vehicles you have no control over becomes an ever present thought. I guess this is why I feel more passionate about PT advocacy now than ever, I have skin in the game! For example the PTMA format makes a huge difference in my life.
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One of the positives about living in Auckland (and in NZ generally) is the outdoor lifestyle. One of the hardest things about giving up the private car is about how we mangage to still enjoy trips to the parks, fishing, sailing, trips to the beach / ranges etc, playing sport etc without a car, and this is a real challenge for Auckland.
But Germany is a good lesson here. They have the highest rates of car ownership in Europe (I think), but not the highest level of car usage – which is the critical issue. Most commuting trips can be by non-private car, and many local trips can be by non-car, but then the Germans can get the cars out at the weekend to carry out their leisure activities. This means that most residential developments still have high levels of parking (with some exceptions like Freiburg), but the (city and town) centres have very low provision for car parking because they are serviced by fantastic PT, walking and cycling.
Providing alternatives to centres (and therefore main commuting) is relatively easy. Providing PT etc to our very dispersed leisure / free time destinations is much harder, but not necessarily critical if we get the former right.
Al, agreed.
I couldn’t totally give my car up, I would find it extremely hard to get me and all my snowboarding gear up to snowplanet, me and all my cricket gear to the ground, me and all my sailing gear to the harbour or me and all my surfing gear to the beach by PT. Not to mention the boat to the batch. But in terms of weekday travel to and from work, it’s more than possible. So most NZers will need a car at some point, it’s when we use the car that make the difference rather than having one. Weekend services are very important for when you’re not having to cart all your gear from one place to another but then at times you will need to, for me this is once every weekend.
I only really use my car on the weekends to visit friends or family or doing things like the weekly shop but I would use the car for getting to work unless I really had to, I much prefer catching the train as the station is only about a 800m walk from my house. We also sometimes catch the train to places like Newmarket and so are growing more car independant.
Good for you, Jeremy! It is nice to see someone prepared to put his money where his mouth is.
I didn’t have a car between 2006 (in Australia where my wagon gave up the ghost with over 300,000km on the clock) and the middle of last year. I didn’t miss it much and only bought one last year because it’d be nice to go out to non-urban areas at the weekend. I did, and do, a lot of walking and cycling.
I’ve been mostly car free for three years now, and totally car free since I moved to a place well served by transit four months ago. I have trams on three sides of my block and an interchange station threee minutes away that has eight lines covering half the suburbs of Melbourne, plus of course eight lines means mega quick frequencies head to the city loop. I must say I absolutely love it!
People go on about the freedom of the car, but I love the freedom of being able to travel whenever I want without a car (and traffic, and gas, and parking etc.)
One thing I really love is my local cinema is in a mall on top of a city loop station, two stops away from my house. After a movie I just go downstairs and jump on the next train (they come through every two or three minutes at night). In this case I am back home before I would have even got a car out of a parking building. It’s also pretty awsome when you go out for a few drinks, no one risks their lives and no one has to be sober driver either!
The only problem I have is one particular friend of mine who lives way out in the suburbs, to go to his place I have to get him to pick me up from the nearest station (about 10 mins drive away). In a handful of cases I’ve found it easiest to get a taxi, usually mid-length cross town trips. Plus using my bike or a taxi in conjunction with trains can get you anywhere pretty quickly.
I have also had some issues with moving large stuff, but I find most places have a delivery service that is pretty reasonable, or you can likewise get a taxi.
Plus it saves me an absolute pile of money. My weekly Metcard costs $29 bucks, and it covers absolutely everything all week. So this is $1,508 a year for almost all my travel costs (and if I got my act together and bought a yearly pass up front it would be only $1,080). Add in the odd taxi and country train and some bike parts and I spend maybe $2000 a year all up on travel.
I’m not sure of the figures in new Zealand, but here registration and the equivalent of ACC is $650 per year, plus there is mandatory third party insurance which costs at least $350 a year. So thats a grand a year in levies just to legally own a car, which is almost the price of a yearly Metcard!
Now consider if I wanted to use a car for most of my travel I’d need to drop about five grand in the first instance to buy a car, then I’d be looking at $400 a year for a staff parking permit, maybe $15 a week on parking meters and buildings ($780 a year), $50 a week at least on gas ($2,600 a year) and an annual service and maintenance of maybe $500 bucks. All up that makes $5,280 in running costs each year, meaning I save $3,772 a year ($300 bucks a month) by using public transport.
So if someone said to you, I’ll give you five thousand dollars right now plus another $300 each month in exchange for never having to sit in traffic or search for a park again, what would you say?!
Nick: “my local cinema is in a mall on top of a city loop station”
Does this mall have its own shot tower by any chance 😉
Well done getting rid of the car, Jeremy. Most people only really need their car for the occasional trip and I’m sure thousands could get by without one even given current infrastructure. I’ve never owned a car and have no plans to change that. I love never having to worry about all the bureaucratic fuss of regularly using a car — the upkeep, the insurance, the accidents, what a hassle. The key for me is cycling and also being able to rent or borrow a car from friends or family on those few occasions when I do need one. If we could just get back to a situation of one car per household rather than one car each and invest part of the resulting savings in alternate forms of transport, this city would be fantastically more livable for all.
Obi, sure does. There is also the Greater Union and the Kino by Parliament station and from Richmond I can also get to the Rivoli in Camberwell in about 15 minutes, the Astor by Windsor station in about 8 minutes, the Classic at Elsternwick in about 15, the one at Victoria gardens is about 15mins on the trams, etc… But Melbourne Central is so damned easy!
David, back when I lived in Grey Lynn I think I could have lived my day to day life fairly comfortably without a car, the major problem would have been visiting friends and family in far flung suburbs, or going anywhere late in the evening or on Sundays.
Ha and Melbourne is still a pretty car dominated city… Imagine what it must be like living in Zurich…
Living in the UK it is certainly possible to be car-free – I have been so in all the time (five years) I have been here – and helped by petrol being about $2.70/litre!
That, of course, is helped by living in a city with an excellent and near round-the-clock bus service, topped up with the occasional taxi ride. The distinction made above about differing patterns of car /ownership/ v car /use/ is something to remember for our discussions on transport policy.
“Living in the UK it is certainly possible to be car-free”
So is living without a car in Auckland. I have done so for 5 years now. Take a bit more organisation when you want to range further afield, but for a city-dwelling city worker, it is perfectly feasible right now.
More to the point, it has never felt like a sacrifice to me. A certain part of that is of course feeling virtuous and self-righteous (hey, why not take pleasure and self-satisfaction in doing the right thing, it beats what advertising tells us to be proud of) but also, it just doesn’t seem like there’s anything seriously missing.
I’m the same as max, although its been 8 years for me without ownership and 6ish without access to one. Since not having access to one I’ve mostly lived in the city, however I was as far out as Three Kings.
It is possible to do so, but as max said it does require planning, unless you cycle as I do.
I have lived without a car in Manchester UK for the last 2.5 years. I would say the PT system is slightly better in Manchester than Auckland, but comparable. One difference though is the regional train network though that means you can get away on PT. The occasional hiring of a car is sufficient for weekend trips not accessible by PT. Now that I have done it for a while, I don’t feel like I am missing out on anything, and definitely feel like I have more money left in my pocket (I also cycle quite a bit).
I had never really considered living without a car in Auckland when I lived there prior to moving (I would say I was barely even PT ‘aware’, having moved up from a Waikato town, with car), but now that I have actually become interested in it, thanks to my current lifestyle (and to this blog!), I will seriously consider it when I move back. Even if I do get a car, it will be primarily for weekend trips. We will likely be living in central Birkenhead which is fairly well served by PT (ferry and bus).
“It is possible to do so, but as max said it does require planning, unless you cycle as I do.”
I was talking of needing to do more planning for wider trips – or do you cycle to Thames? 😉
I cycle a lot as well. Onehunga and New Lynn (from the CBD) are about my maximum practical ranges for trips (of course I can go further, but beyond that range, I usually see about arranging a car, or using public transport).
I’ve ridden to the Tron before, and I’ve ridden competitively around Coromandel in a day.
Anyway, Thames isn’t that far if you go via Miranda and avoid SH2 😉
I’ve mentioned before i lived car free in the UK for two years. I really do miss the freedom of that it was very liberating to not be tied to car. As things improve on the network over the next few years hopefully this will become a realistic choice for more Aucklanders particularly once we have integrated ticketing up and running.
I’ve never had a driver’s licence (but I do co-own a car with my partner – my dream was always: if you I wanted a car it should come with a chauffeur) because I have lived half my life in places where it was feasible to lead a good life without a need for one. Things are much trickier in NZ compared to Europe, as above experiences ample show. Mind you, living on an island focuses the mind too on PT as it is very impractical to run a vehicle on both sides of the harbour.
So forgive me if I get a tad grumpy with Fullers and NZ Bus.
I too have never owned a car or had a licence, and it baffles me how people manage all of the expense and admin associated with car ownership, so thanks for raising that Jeremy! People are always telling me I should drive for the convenience, but I honestly can’t think of anything more inconvenient. Yes, I have to always live by a main PT route, but I think those areas are more interesting to live in compared with the dreary far-flung suburbs anyway.
Also, it’s hilarious how judgemental people can be about it – I had a (female) workmate say to me once “You’re not one of those girls are you? I hate girls that don’t drive!” But then she would have to take days off work if her car broke down because she refused to use PT.
Kira, I guess people just assume that having a car is as normal and basic an expense as paying rent or mortgages or doing supermarket shopping. I was much the same for the first few years of adulthood in Auckland. I guess in that case people only consider the marginal costs of driving (i.e. petrol and perhaps parking), but they just accept all the other base and regular costs the same way we accept income tax or GST.
BTW I used to know “one of those girls”, no licence, except she also refused to take public transport except the one regular route to work in the city and back on weekdays, couldn’t ride a bike and wouldn’t even walk up the road to the dairy! She just got friends, family and flatmates to chauffeur her around for everything she did. Now that is deplorable!
Way to go, Jeremy!
I’ve never owned a motorised vehicle either—but I know how to drive. It’s just another life skill like knowing how to change a lightbulb. I don’t have to do it but in case of an emergency, I wouldn’t be caught out.
Soooo … spent three years in Auckland being reliant on PT and legs; last year till present chiefly on a bike by making sure I never flatted anywhere further than a one-stage trip from the CBD.
Well done Jeremy- an inspirational post.
Think how longer you will live without the stress of Auckland’s rushhour traffic madness.
It’s funny to hear allot of people who seem to live in NZ and not do that much outdoor activities, how do you get to the snow? Can’t take the train, have to take extra days off work for the bus, to get a descent run, and the plane is way too expensive. So how do you get to the Golf Course? By bus with all you gear plus the 5km walk? or just pay a fortune for a taxi? How about going waterskiing wakeboarding or surfing? Hunting would be hard without a car or even travelling around the country sightseeing, as unless you have allot of down time you will never get anything done. All I’m saying is in a city environment doing everyday things fine, but let’s not forget we are kiwi’s and will do anything that can get us killed like jumping off a perfectly good plane.
The car is an asset that is just over-used, I would become bored sh*tless without one, because I couldn’t complete at least one of these per week without one, and part of life is living.
I just feel sorry for people who don’t get to experience these types of activities, get out and about with something active at least once a month if that’s all you can do. PT is great for routine days, but our system is not set-up for spontaneous fun days doing outdoor activities.
You certainly can take a train to the skifields! It departs Auckland at 7.30 and you are at National Park just before 1pm, Ohakune a little later. All the accomodations will pick you up from the station, you can leave Auckland in the morning and be on the slopes by lunchtime. I did that not long ago (in the summer though, for hiking).
Here in Melbourne I use the trains to get out into the hills to go cycling almost each weekend (bikes go on the train no worries), and I use the tram to get to the beach. Waterskiing and wakeboarding I’ll admit you need a car there (if only to tow the boat!), but here we have a ‘kitesurfing academy’ on St Kilda Beach where you can turn up and rent some gear. Why exactly do you need a car to jump out of a plane?! You just need to get to the airfield presumably. Here I can also take a train out to any number of country towns to go horse riding or wine tasting or whatever… an ‘enthusiastic’ vinyard tour is something best done without a car! I was up in Brisbane recently, the train down to Surfers Paradise had specially designed surfboard racks in one carriage… so I guess they go surfing via train up there!
I recently travelled the length of the country sightseeing without a car. I appreciated that, more time to spend looking at the scenery and less looking at two lane blacktop. I had two weeks and managed to cover Auckland to Queenstown, along the way we climbed Ruapehu, went whale watching, climbed a glacier etc, as well as visited all the cities on the way. Plus there are some spectacular parts of the country that you can only see from the railway (over the alps for example). You say you need a lot of downtime? Why? I found it much more time effective than driving. No getting lost or time spent planning routes, trains departed from the middle of the towns while coaches picked us up directly from our accomodation. Not once did I have to stop for gas, take a break or pull over to ask for directions, no traffic issues anywhere either. I have also spent six months in South America without a car too, covered everywhere from Buenos Aires to Bogota.
Its pretty myopic to think that you need a car to do anything interesting or outdoorsy, maybe in Auckland, but there you need a car to do just about anything anyway.
Ha ha, I was pretty outdoorsy before Joshua but am even more so now due to my increased appetite for walking and cycling, here’s an example from the last two weekends (which also ties into my point about lack integration):
On Saturday I caught the 10:37am 267 to the Civic centre which was supposed to arrive at 10:59am, it didn’t get there till 11:05am, meaning by the time I got to Britomart (11:12am) I missed the train to Papakura by 2 minutes and had to wait another 28 minutes (why oh why can’t my bus terminate at Britomart)… I went out to Papakura and spent some time with a new friend and went to a horse show, ice cream bar, movie and regional park in her car before catching the train and bus back home…
The weekend before that I rode my bicycle to my freinds house and 4 of us put in gas money to go in his car to Woodhill forest for a game of paintball…
The weekend before I caught the bus into the city and the ferry to Tiritiri Matangi for a bush walk in a conservation area…
Just because I don’t own a car doesn’t mean I can’t ride in one and I don’t really think I’m leading some sad constrained life in fact I’m getting everything I want from it at the moment…
Yes Jeremy but you used a car, when doing activities we also share cars but take turns with our own, that way all sharing some responsibility to each other. Congrad’s though because I wouldn’t have thought of doing half that by PT.
Nick R – Will have to look at taking train to the slopes, sound like a good idea and didn’t think possible, hopefully still easy enough to get to the backpackers I use, but I have tried to Snow planet (bus) but it’s just no point trying, especially when you want to take use of the night pass.
With regard to travelling, train is great but I tend to like going off the beaten track, off the tourist routes and not many buses go there, the ones that do are either to touristy or expensive, usually both. The other option is by cycle, but this takes forever and my work won’t be too happy about that.
I love Melbourne, in Melbourne I could easily travel everywhere by PT as the city is generally well served. In NZ we don’t have the same services they have in some Australian Cities, or they are just poor.
But why is the train to the ski fields not advertised here, they could offer cheaper tickets for pass holders and gain more revenue easily, NO NEED for Chains!!! So easy to advertise and would be well used…no need to sober up either!