So far so Good. Rebecca & I have been without a car for a couple of months now and it’s about time I give a feedback on how it is going.
Long story short…no worse than before!
As before we’re still using walking, buses and taxi as our main source of movement. We use the bus every working day and have about 2-4 up-the-hill taxi trips a week which is mainly dependent on weather. In the winter it’s bound to be more.
About once a month we’re using Cityhop to get around. One thing about that that I’m noticing is that this is either on a weekend or after hours during the week (utilising the 6PM-8AM $30 special). But I do see that we’re using Citihop not quite as intended. We’re usually booking it for more than a few hours i.e. using it more like a day-rental. For that it seems to be a bit expensive. Maybe there’s better solutions out there… I’d definitely like to see a service where the car does not need to be brought back to the originating place after use. Mercedes is doing that successfully with Smart cars in a few towns in Germany. The point of origin issue is certainly the most annoying with Cityhop or any other rental car shop.
As for missing a car…I drive to Petone a lot less now (although it has a good bus connection). But that also saves a bit on food expenses 
. From a money/saving perspectiveit looks like we’re starting to feel the benefits. There’s more of it left at the end of a fortnight. Which is a good thing in this time.
We’ve also got a scooter for those small trips that no other form of transport will do cost effectively. But we have noticed that it’s use is also less than once a week. It might get a bit more in summer but from a use perspective it’s not really necessary. At some point we might contemplate getting rid of it again.
From what we’ve experienced we would now appreciate:
- More buses on weekend that have the odd service up to midnight
- Buses that travel between suburbs not only to the city center
- Cycle lanes
- More Cityhop cars at several stations with returns wherever
- Wellington bus-tunnel fare for 50ct or $1
- A tunnel through Mt Vic for pedestrians that has no car fumes
- Conversion of more Wellington central streets into malls
- Less cars i.e. stop all planned roading extensions and subsidise public transport as an option
One thing I do probably have to admit is that a car is practicable what you have a child. I do know what I’d like to have when that becomes the case. I’d like to have an all electric vehicle that has two passenger seats and a small boot, can go about 100km/h, have a guaranteed radius of 70-90km per charge and cost no more than $20.000-$25.000 new. Four seats is fine too but not really necessary at least in the first years (don’t forget I have no kiddie-experience so I might be totally wrong about this!). Oh I think I just described a Smart-4-2. Or this thing… http://tinyurl.com/pvyflb.
Tags: car less, electric car, Environment
It’s great to get the update Oliver. I’m glad being car-free is working out for you.
Re the child thing: remember that kids require associated ‘stuff’ such as bags of gear, and are often associated with other kids: friends, or returning a babysitting favour.
And if you *do* decide to sell the scooter do let us know in case we’re interested….