Carless In OKC

[Ross MacLochness]

The Wheeler thread got me thinking about some questions I'd like to ask all of the people who are living a (largely) carless existence in OKC:

I would LOVE to go carless. For anybody who knows my positing history, I'm definitely pro-walkability and transit, and have lived happily in other cities without a car. "Having to" own a car is my biggest gripe about OKC.

That being said, I would like to ask few honest questions from the gallery of those who are carless in OKC:

1. Were you born and raised in the OKC metro area and have you lived the majority of your life here?

2. Do you have a majority contingent of close friends and family who live more than 10 miles from the Santa Fe Intermodal Hub?

3. Are you married?

4. Do you have kids?

5. What are your average annual expenditures for ride-sharing, bike/scooter programs, and train tickets/rental cars (which I would assume you'd use if you wanted to take a non-flight trip to something like Turner Falls)?

6. What do you think would be the minimum household income to sustain this lifestyle in OKC for 1/2/3+ people?

7. Public Transit, Density, and Bikability aside, what are one or two small but significant changes that could be made to OKC to help ease some of the pains associated with a carless existence in OKC?

1: Yes! But I have lived briefly in other places.
2: Most of my friends live near me, most of my family lives in Edmond. I will likely hail a lyft or ride with friends when visiting my family ion the future.
3. No
4. No
5. So far, I haven't spent any money on these things and rely on my bike and walking. I have a close friend who I ride with/drive to the grocery store once a weekish. If I need an Item here or there I have multiple options near by that I can walk or bike to. I expect I won't have to ever go over $100/month unless I need to rent a car long term.
6. Depends on how close you are to school/work/grocery store etc. I honestly have no Idea. If I had a family here, I think we'd be able to get by with one car easily for childrens activities that might be all over town. But I really have no Idea.
7. Besides those three, Trees and perhaps a car sharing service for when I want to get out of town. I travel a lot to go climbing but luckily thats a sport that usually requires multiple people. My partners so far have been content with driving so long as I cover at least half of gas and drive some of the way.

To be completely honest, while I already walked or biked 90% of the time the past couple of years, I only wen't the extra 10% due to deferred maintenance on my car that was more expensive than my car was worth. But since i have completely stopped driving, I realized that that extra 10% can be cut down to even fewer car trips pretty comfortably and the total costs of renting or ubering for me seem to lower than a car payment. I'll likely get another car in a year or so once I have some more money saved up, but I might not.

Keep in mind when reading all this that despite having a functioning car at the time, I still walked to work pretty much every day this winter on even the coldest days and very much enjoyed the experience, so I might have a different perspective on what is comfortable. I don't feel like I sacrifice much not owning a car, but others might not enjoy biking or walking in the elements which can be pretty extreme here. I also live less than two miles from work and my favorite hang out spots, and only about two miles from the climbing gym that I frequent multiple times a week.

[shawnw]

1. Were you born and raised in the OKC metro area and have you lived the majority of your life here?

Not born here, but moved here after high school and have lived here ever since, so the majority of my life.

2. Do you have a majority contingent of close friends and family who live more than 10 miles from the Santa Fe Intermodal Hub?

Yes

3. Are you married?

No

4. Do you have kids?

Yes, but they're grown

5. What are your average annual expenditures for ride-sharing, bike/scooter programs, and train tickets/rental cars (which I would assume you'd use if you wanted to take a non-flight trip to something like Turner Falls)?

A bus pass is $50/mo, but I have an annual pass ($600 value) I got for free for this year and I bought one for half price for next year ($300).

I've spend about $500 on Uber/Lyft/Scooters in 2019, but at least a third of that was in other cities, on trips, so I would have spent that anyway. A non-trivial portion was airport trips that I would have car shared anyway. The remaining is when bus or bike was simply not an option at the time. At least $80 was calling Uber's for my daughter when she was visiting me.

I've not rented a car locally in some time.

6. What do you think would be the minimum household income to sustain this lifestyle in OKC for 1/2/3+ people?

People who are making much less than me are doing it every day, I see it day in and day out on the bus. I see some of the same people going to work or going shopping or coming home, etc, every day. You make it seem like this life style is more costly, but the reality is it is less costly. I'm not putting $20-40 of gas in my car every one to two weeks. I don't have a 200-600 monthly car payment. I _am_ still paying my $60/mo in car insurance until I decide for sure to get rid of my vehicle once and for all, but that will be gone at some point.

7. Public Transit, Density, and Bikability aside, what are one or two small but significant changes that could be made to OKC to help ease some of the pains associated with a carless existence in OKC?

Sidewalks and lighting for sure. I've done plenty of walking for "last mile" of trips where the bus didn't get me all the way there.