Well shit. I've lived here for 30 years without owning a car. Guess I have to buy one now...
this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026
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Yeah i have some friends living on NDIS in Brisbane who have never had vehicles or access. Car driving can absolutely be an habitual addiction for some peeps
I also think it influences what their daily schedules were. If someone expects to be able to go to certain places at certain times via car, that may no longer be possible, but if they were never using cars for primary transport, their obligations may be at different places or different times.
edit: I was in a hurry and butchered that sentence: Those without cars will form many of their regular activities around what's possible to do with public transport.
I grew up low income, so no car. Still mostly bike or PT, but I habitually get to places at least half an hour early :)
I think it's more than the city is not well laid out for most people to use public transport.
I live in Melbourne, and it is the same thing here (except that our public transport is better). I can live car free, but don't begrudge those who choose not to.
What I do begrudge though, are the people voting for more roads and car-centric infrastructure. We should be building zero new car roads.
At most upgrades of intersections to make them work better. We need to be making it convenient enough for most people NOT to get in their car.
It probably depends on how you structure your life in the city. If you start without a car then you build your life and contacts more locally. That’s how people did it in the past before cars. Admittedly there were a lot more local shops and employment opportunities. This is where walkable cities comes in.
It would be difficult to just give up the car as a lot of people have too much distance in their lives and public transport doesn’t go where they need to be in a timely fashion.
Being from North America the idea that anyone can live anywhere without owning a car is so confusing .
Some organisation funded a study to learn what urbanists have studied for decades. Good use of the money.
Which organisation?
Is a bike a private vehicle?
This is literally not true, my brother's been doing it for the better part of 10 years.