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You're showing NYC bias. 24-hour transit is not a requirement for living car-free at all. And you can get around the cities you listed pretty easily without a c

You're showing NYC bias. 24-hour transit is not a requirement for living car-free at all. And you can get around the cities you listed pretty easily without a car. A bicycle helps in any city. Chicago's transit is good enough to do without a bike, too. Either way, you're not going to be able to bring home large furniture or a cartload of stuff from Target any more easily in New York than in Boston or Chicago. So access to a car (in the form of a taxi, Uber/Lyft, or ZipCar) is useful no matter what. I've lived in cities that only have a skeletal light rail and bus service without a car, and was just fine. If you're willing to bicycle, most major US cities without severe winter weather are quite doable without a car. You'll find many, many people in the cities you listed living carless and doing quite fine. Boston and Chicago in particular are cities where having a car is considered more of a liability than an asset. I wonder if you've actually lived carless in a city other than NYC (college campuses don't count).

mtalantikite 9y ago
I've never had a license, so everywhere I've lived I've lived without a car. Living in Chicago without a car was fine, although seeing friends in different parts of the city could take an hour or so. Or you might get stuck in a neighborhood that doesn't have 24 hour El train access. It also is only about one third of the density of Brooklyn and one sixth of the density of Manhattan, so there are only a few areas with the vibrancy that NYC has. I do like Chicago though, except for those winters. I've spent a ton of time in SF over the past decade working in tech, so while it's not the same as living there, I've on many occasions gotten stranded in Oakland after Bart closing at night (pre-uber). Those cab rides weren't cheap. Same thing has happened to me in Boston. I at one point had to spend a lot of time in Miami (had some stuff in a datacenter there years ago, also pre-uber) and I remember one night I got stopped by a local resident telling me I definitely shouldn't be walking where I was walking at that time of night (about 10 or 11 pm). I was walking and talking with him and a shooting happened a block away maybe 5 minutes after he stopped me. Having other options besides being on foot would have been great. I've spent lots of time in Seattle and Los Angeles without a car, and it wasn't terrible, but wasn't great. Anyway, that's all to say a 24 hour transit system is certainly not a requirement, but it's a great thing to have. New York wouldn't be New York without it.

mtalantikite 9y ago

I've never had a license, so everywhere I've lived I've lived without a car. Living in Chicago without a car was fine, although seeing friends in different parts of the city could take an hour or so. Or you might get stuck in a neighborhood that doesn't have 24 hour El train access. It also is only about one third of the density of Brooklyn and one sixth of the density of Manhattan, so there are only a few areas with the vibrancy that NYC has. I do like Chicago though, except for those winters. I've spent a ton of time in SF over the past decade working in tech, so while it's not the same as living there, I've on many occasions gotten stranded in Oakland after Bart closing at night (pre-uber). Those cab rides weren't cheap. Same thing has happened to me in Boston. I at one point had to spend a lot of time in Miami (had some stuff in a datacenter there years ago, also pre-uber) and I remember one night I got stopped by a local resident telling me I definitely shouldn't be walking where I was walking at that time of night (about 10 or 11 pm). I was walking and talking with him and a shooting happened a block away maybe 5 minutes after he stopped me. Having other options besides being on foot would have been great. I've spent lots of time in Seattle and Los Angeles without a car, and it wasn't terrible, but wasn't great. Anyway, that's all to say a 24 hour transit system is certainly not a requirement, but it's a great thing to have. New York wouldn't be New York without it.