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Best Cities in the US - Living without a Car
Many people could not imagine life without a car, but between the economic challenges of todayand theaverage cost of owning a car in the USbeing almost 20 thousand dollars plus theenvironmental considerations of another fossil fuel burning machine, life without a car might notbe so scary of a thought.Without question, living in a larger metropolitan city such as New York will greatly assist inmaintaining a mobile quality of life without a car. Accessible mass public transportation is a keyfeature in making this lifestyle viable. According toWalkScore,a private civic group whosemission is to promote walkable neighborhoods, while 83% percent of Americans live inmetropolitan areas, yet only 5% live within walking distance of decent public transit. Optionsregarding commuter railroads, public bus routes, subways, and streetcars/trolleys can make or break an individual’s decision to live car free.
Based on residential reviews, popular opinions decree that thefollowing are the Best Cities in the United States to livewithout a car:
New York, NY:
 Hands down, New York City comes first to everyone’s mind as the best city for living without acar. It’s one of the most walkable; best suited to withstand an oil crisis, and has extensive publictransportation. Since New York has limited land resources historically, it has been built uprather than out with extensive urban sprawl. Combined with the grid based street structures andpublic transportation, many die hard New Yorkers never even get a driver’s license.
Boston, MA:
While Boston’s transit system is a combination of bus, light rail, subway, and commuter rail linesthat don't intersect at a common hub, the T ("subway") does have a far reach to the majority of the metro area except certain pockets of Cambridge and Allston. Despite the issue that thecertain T lines, such as the Green line, are slower, other lines, like the Red line are deemed“pretty nice”. Boston is a good city to live without a car in as walking and bus routes are veryreliable.
 
San Francisco, CA:
San Francisco has a good system (BART) that incorporates a subway, light rail, and commuter rail marking it perfectly possible to live here without a car, and you can get anywhere in the BayArea if you know how the various systems work.
Chicago, IL:
 
The Chicago train system covers almost everywhere you need to go and busses do the rest.The Blue Line and Red Line both run 24 hours. Major airports that can connect you to anywherein the world, O'Hare and Midway, are both served directly by the local train system for no extracharge. Chicago, like New York City, was one of the first planned cities, so the whole thing is ona neat and tidy grid, with a few diagonal streets radiating out from the giant downtown "trafficcircle" of sorts which called the Loop. So if you are looking to live without a car, Chicago mightbe a good choice for you.
 
Philadelphia, PA:
 Philadelphia is highly walkable with a number of residential neighborhoods both in thedowntown area (Center City) and in the adjacent areas of Northern Liberties, West Philadelphiaand South Philadelphia. While the Philly public transit service, SEPTA, adheres to a uniquestandard of upkeep and scheduling that can be considered challenging, a small subway system,good streetcars, commuter trains and busses make car free living possible.
Portland, OR:
Portland has always seemed extremely easy to get by without a car in and has the benefit of asurprisingly comprehensive public transit system with frequent service. Portland, Oregon hasgreat busses and uncrowded streets for biking, and the distances are extremely manageable.It's cold and wet more often than not, though.
Seattle, WA:
 
Seattle has a very good bus line between closer communities and Seattle proper. There arealso rail and ferries depending on where you are coming from making it easy to get aroundwithout a car. Seattle is hilly, however, and the weather is often windy so the winter can be amiserable time for long walks.
Washington DC:
 
The DC Metro is quite good -- safe, clean, generally reliable -- and it runs to 3 AM on Fridaysand Saturdays, though it still only runs until midnight on weekdays. Also, the network, whilerunning far into the suburbs, does not stop very frequently in those suburbs. It helps to be near Union Station and a bus stop, and walking distance from everything and you can enjoy thefreedom of living without a car.There are also quite a few other cities mentioned where people have lived without a car andenjoyed a quality standard of living.
Car Free Living Honorable Mention Cities
Dallas, TX:
 
Dallas is rapidly expanding their DART light rail system and in a few years or less it will be reallyextensive for a system like that.
Denver, CO:
 
Denver has a very good mass transit system supporting car free living.
Portland, MA:
 
Life in this little city is possible without cars. Downtown's very walkable and reasonably safe,and if you need to escape you can take a train or bus to Boston and beyond.
Arlington, VA:
 
Just across the river from DC, Arlington is small but dense, which allows it to have acorrespondingly dense transit system. Metrorail, Metrobus, ART are all quite comprehensive,and Arlington has plans to build a streetcar or light rail system along one of the main roads inthe next 5-10 years and turning this city even friendlier for car free living. There's one major corridor where walking is very convenient, but this is NOT generally true of the Metro.
 
Ann Arbor, MI:
 
For 8 years with no car. It's a little different than living in a big city with no car, but very doable.The campus and City are quite entwined making it easily walkable with a bus system.
New Haven, CT:
 
While the public transit isn't great, since one can walk everywhere, there is lots of housing within1/2 hour walk of the downtown core so you can live car free here.
Burlington, VT:
 
With a very walkable, livable downtown, and the good county-wide bus system, if you lived andworked downtown you could have a totally car free life. On the other hand, you would want acar, as there is so much to do in Vermont outside of Burlington.
Madison, WI:
 
Downtown or near-west/east sides of Madison have support of a decent bus system and areone of the most bike-friendly cities in the US. There is also the university with some ~50kstudents, so if you live near that you can benefit from all the small shops that are around toserve that huge, mostly car-less population.Then there are some cities that, no matter how green you might want to be, cannot really belived in without a car.
The worst American cities to be stuck in without a car:
Los Angeles, CA:
 
Just as New York City is on the tops of everyone’s lists as one of the best cities for living withouta car, LA is always on the bottom as the worst. Aside from the traffic due to too many cars, asfor living car free, avoid Los Angeles and southern California like the plague. The types of citiesthat tend to require cars are ones that developed relatively recently, particularly those in thesouth, and suffer the worst from suburban sprawl.
Phoenix, AZ:
 
Phoenix had quite a few dishonorable mentions as a city where one must have a car. Thoughthe metropolitan area is finishing the initial state of the construction of itslight rail system, thatwill begin operating later this year so they might be coming out of the worst car free livingcategory.
Atlanta, GA:
Atlanta has a rail system but no commuter rail and few options. Residents claim it is definitely acar city and no one should attempt to live without a car here.
Houston, TX, Detroit, MI,
and
Charlotte, NC
; all were said to be bad cities to live in withoutcars.Overall, it definitely helps to do your homework and make sure that you are living in anenvironment that
can support your decision to live without a car 
. Big Bucks Auto is blessed
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