A recent edition of the New York Times ran a short article portraying actor (and Minnesota native) Vincent Kartheiser and his valiant ongoing effort to get around in Los Angeles via mass transit only. If Mad Men's Pete Campbell can live car-free in the United States' most notoriously car-centric city, can't anyone?

A growing number of people, especially city dwellers, are finding the answer to be yes. The reasons why range from the altruistic (wanting to reduce one's carbon footprint) to the selfish (wanting to save money), but anecdotal evidence seems to show that the trend is doing nothing but picking up speed.

"We'll be eager to see what the new American Cities Survey has to say about the number of people who live car-free," says Steve Clark, Walking and Bicycling program manager for Transit for Livable Communities, a Minneapolis nonprofit working to reform Minnesota's transportation system. "Even the 2000 census showed that parts of the Twin Cities ranged from 10 percent car-free to 45 percent car-free."

Keeping in Touch

For Scott Smedberg of Minneapolis, living without a car didn't require much of an adjustment.

"I grew up in Minneapolis with sidewalks and buses and walking to school," says Smedberg, a youth worker with the Minneapolis Parks Department.  "My family had a car, but walking and biking around the neighborhood were normal for me."

Smedberg's only personal car was a 1966 Pontiac LeMans that he bought partly out of pity for a cash-strapped friend. He drove it twice and sold it 31 years ago.

He and his wife, Jenise, are ideal car-free city dwellers in that their three grown kids all live either at home or nearby, meaning there's seldom an occasion that calls for a car. But at one time, he says, that lifestyle choice was mostly viewed not only as unusual, but downright peculiar.

"There was no such thing as car-free in the '80s," he recalls. "I remember taking the bus schedule into the bathroom with me to see when my bus arrived, because if I took it out in front of people, it would lead to a long discussion about how I was going to get home. People would practically demand that I accept a ride."

Now, the Smedbergs find it simple to rely on bike trails, buses, and walking to get where they need to go. And when they do need to venture outside the city, they can rely on a convenience that didn't exist during Scott's pioneer days of car-free living: Hour Car, the by-the-hour car rental service with vehicle fleets in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

"I love Hour Car," he says. "If nothing else, it helps with the what-if questions. 'What if you need to go somewhere?' 'Well, I'll get an Hour Car.'"

Smedberg says his favorite advantage of living car-free is just being more attuned to the world around him.

"It helps your social skills, helps you feel like you're a part of something, and helps you notice nature," he says. "You see the smiles on people's faces, or the frowns. Driving is isolating, it seems to me; this way, I'm more in touch socially in terms of just being around people."

Location, Location, Location

For St. Paul cartoonist Andy Singer, the inspiration for living car-free literally fell from the sky.

"I lived in Oakland, Calif., near Hwy. 24 and I-580, underneath a huge cloverleaf," he says. "Every few days, our porch would be black from the tire dust and debris that would come down. I didn't have a car then, and that persuaded me that I probably never would."

Singer and his wife, who works at the University of St. Thomas, have made a habit of working around their lack of a car. "We've always picked places to live that are close to where we work," he says. "I know it's just not practical for some people--their job might be where they'd have to change buses eight times to get to it."

Singer says he occasionally makes use of Hour Car, but generally goes the conventional rental car route for longer trips. He says that while living without a car can restrict where you can realistically hope to live--opting for the suburbs is nearly impossible--the tradeoff is more than worth it.

"At first it seems like you're giving up something, but I think you actually gain more time if you situate yourself close to your workplace," he says. "You see your partner more, and you have more time at home to do what you need to do. And it gets you in shape. If it wasn't for living this way, I would be a blob."

Nuts and Bolts of Car-Freedom

So what's a good first step toward living car-free? Clark of Transit for Livable Communities says it's a simple matter of developing new habits.

"It's mostly getting used to planning ahead a little more, and running your errands in a sequence that takes the least time and covers the least distance," he says. He also recommends a bike trailer, which he's found can handle everything from groceries to small pieces of furniture.

For the winter months, Singer suggests a cargo trike, which he says are "incredibly stable on ice and snow."

Smedberg recommends developing a multimodal solution to living car-free: Make use of every means of transportation you can find.

"Aside from buses and bikes, there's taxis, there's walking, there's all kinds of ways," he says. "Explore every way of getting around. Even if you have your own bike, join Nice Ride (Minneapolis's bike-sharing program). It gives you lots of choices."

Dan Heilman is an independent writer and editor who lives in Saint Paul. His last article for The Line explored the cities' best live-music venues.


Photos:

Top three: Scott Smedberg on the Midtown Greenway

Bottom two: Minneapolitans going car-free in traffic. Bikes (and buses) are just part of the multimodal travel picture for the carless or near-carless.

All photos by Bill Kelley