I have a friend, in Tacoma, who just finished taking a year off of having a car. It didn’t seem like it was incredibly difficult for her. She rode her bike a lot. That’s all it took.

Could do it – two bus routes equidistant from our house, both of us live and work in Tacoma… BUT we need a car available to go to client meetings.

So a yes to most of it except the practical work thing.

Aside from that, we have nearly half our 15 employees here partaking in an alt commute of some kind (e.g. bike, bus, carpooling).

Moderators have to play along, too. :-)

Would have to purchase a bike or (other means of transportation allowed by the rules) and appropriate safety gear, etc. I assume I can’t car-pool with anyone. But a bike would get me by, and with planning, the bus would get me around town, and groceries are a short walk away. My job does require occasional meetings in far-flung places around the Sound, so it would make parts of my job very difficult. In an emergency I could do a small portion of the work from home if I bought a bigger computer. I’d probably use it as an excuse to take some vacation time, too. In summary, errands fine; getting to work a slight pain (but I’d be used to it when the month was over; work itself would have impossible days.

I would just like to add that as I came down the hill to 11th and Pacific today on my bike ride to work, I saw, simultaneously, 3 other bicyclists passing through the intersection in various directions. This made me happy.

I agree w/Broadway resident — WWDD? (What Would Derek Do?)

Hmmm…this would be an interesting challenge and I imagine that anyone accepting it would learn quite a bit about him/herself and also about the her/his neighborhood.

When I lived on North G Street it would have been pretty easy to get by. Wright Park, Stadium Thriftway, the Parkway, and Stadium Video would cover the basics. Add in the odd bus trip for clothes shopping or whatnot and the only real problem would be missing all those concerts in Seattle. Shame on Sound Transit for ending bus service so early.

It’s amazing the things a bike/bus combo can do. My commute is biking from the north end to downtown, hopping on the bus to Seattle, and riding a few miles on that end. All things considered, especially taking out parking time, biking is a quick way to get around. You just have to be ready to ride up the hill from downtown. But a little more exercise never hurt anyone.

What is this farmshare you all keep referencing?

I could probably take the bus to the Target and walk to work from there, though it wouldn’t be a bad bike ride. If I had a bike.

Errands are trickier. The walk to Stadium Thriftway isn’t so bad until you have orange juice and ice cream. You’d have to go two or three times a week so you weren’t carrying much each time. I’d probably also increase the number of times I take work shorts or slacks in for dry cleaning. Or maybe I’d iron more, but that seems unlikely.

I think I could probably do it pretty easily for a month. Add a flex car to the plan and I could lose the Elantra and the car insurance and save a bunch of money.

MON through FRI – walk to bus stop, ride bus, walk to work (reverse on the way home)

SAT – Take car to Federal Way. Not a lot of alternatives to FED. WAY from where I live.

SUN – Grocery Store. Could probably accomplish this by walking….

I live in the Stadium District and have never owned a car.

I haven’t owned a car in several years and have no problems. Bus, walk, ride bikes. Though it would be nice if taxis were a bit more prevalent in this town…it seems every time I call for one they tell me it will be an hour, and it’s usually not that fast.

Enterprise in Stadium also rents compact cars for just $9 / day Friday-Monday. I could rent one every weekend and it would be cheaper than just insurance on my own car.

I rarely drive. I recently received a promotion to our corporate headquarters in Kent and discovered that I could ride the train. Living in the Stadium District, I have two bus routes that can take me to the train station. When I get home at the end of the day, the thought of driving actually annoys me. As a matter of fact, my truck is currently in Federal Way at my boyfriend’s house (the last place I drove)

I will have been car free for 2 years in September. Initially I lived in Lakewood, close to the Lakewood Town Center and my former employer, which made life convenient but complicated my social and cultural life. The Lakewood Town Center has, within walking distance, nearly every convenience one requires. Traveling from Lakewood to Tacoma and back in the evening by bus was not always convenient. As such I missed out on a lot of social and cultural events.

Moving to Tacoma made errands more difficult but made my social life easier. I started riding the PT Route 2 to Lakewood in the morning and riding my bicycle home. I miss my daily rides.

I now work in Seattle and live a short distance from Old Town. I use the PT Route 13 and the Sounder Train to commute. I’m spoiled now. I live with my girlfriend and she has a car. Grocery shopping and dry cleaning, two of the hardest tasks for the car-less, are now simple.

All that said I’ve lived in a few cities, in the Pacific Northwest as well as the Southeast, and Tacoma is by far the easiest to navigate without a car. Being a cyclist helps a lot!

I’d have to break out the ole Rosco Scooter.

Re: “I think the most difficult thing may be picking up the farmshare in the middle of the week out on River Road. Jamie, can you pick up the farmshare for the next… month?”

Remember lovely Denise at T’s B’s? Well she has her own CSA – and guess what??? She Delivers! It’s hard to beat Terry’s but hey, no car required!

So, how many sheets of plywood do you think I could get on a city bus before I start getting the stink-eye?

I guess I’m an exception to Maggie5’s rather strident sounding rules — I live in Tacoma and often grocery shop (at Stadium Thriftway) without a car. And so far, I’ve found it just as safe as when I used to walk to grocery stores in Ballard, Fremont, or Wallingford. Shocking!

That said, I agree that density is a good thing in urban centers like Tacoma, and Tacoma would benefit in many ways from having more eyes and feet on the street.

I was talking about getting a lot of groceries and calling a cab. There was no freedom to do this in Tacoma because a lot of food would thaw out and spoil by the time the cab showed up-sometimes 2 hours later.