Living in a walkable city means my weekly shop is a few hours of walking or biking instead of being stuck in traffic, and I'm only mildly tired afterwards since I use a bike with pretty large pannier bags. Since I have no car related costs I can afford more fresh food, a healthier diet, and I can afford to be more choosy about the ethics of what I buy. There's a twice weekly farmers market about a ten minute walk away, and quiet walks through parks to get to the shops. Living somewhere with car centric infrastructure, as I used to, this lifestyle was far less feasible.
Have your experiences been different with moving to walkable/bikeable cities? Any questions or points to be made? I'm not very up on the theory side of city planning, but my experiences line up with the whole "fuck cars" thing.
I feel like NYC is playing this game in easy mode. There are definitely many other places in the US where being carless is possible, but nowhere else with as many options
This is part of why I plan to never move out of the city. Almost anywhere else in the US is going to be car centric. So I could move somewhere that's "cheaper" but it wouldn't be as good in ways I care about.
I do somewhat miss this, but a while back I moved to where I can own my own house with a bit of yard.
Carless can mostly work for Boston as well. In my case it was road trips and friends in the suburbs that made it difficult, but transit and walking was mostly easier than car. No Bodegas, though. Of course that was before Uber/Zipcar so it may be easier now.
Currently I live in a somewhat walkable town just outside Boston. We have a walkable town center focussed on a transit hub, and plenty of shops and restaurants. You could make carless work, if you lived a bit closer in than I am. We even used to have a grocery express near the train, that os similar to a bodega, but unfortunately died during COViD