Living (& Loving!) the Car-Free Life

These families are bikers, walkers and experts in public transit-and wouldn't have it any other way.

- KENDRA HURLEY

Heather Moore-Farley was pregnant with her third child when her family’s car died on their way home from vacation. To help save both money and the environment, the family decided that instead of repairing the car, they’d see how long they could go without one—it helped that her husband’s office was walkable from home, as was a Zipcar share. Two months before they welcomed their youngest child, “we ordered a cargo bike and just kept going,” says Moore-Farley, who lives in Oakland, CA. That was 10 years ago, and they still haven’t replaced the family car. 

In the U.S., the movement to ditch private cars in favor of active transportation such as walking, biking and taking public transit has been gaining steam as inflation sets in and cities invest in public transportation and bike infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and gridlock. During the pandemic, bike ridership surged nationwide, with bicycling trips up 26% at the height of the COVID-19 cycling boom. And though research links parenthood with increased car dependence, some families, like Moore-Farley’s, are consciously bucking the trend of driving more after becoming parents.

Looking for advice and insights on living car-free as a family in the U.S., I corresponded with dozens of parents without cars in 15 U.S. metropolitan areas. Themes emerged as to how parents manage sans car. Many car-free families choose to live in walkable neighborhoods near public transportation, sometimes paying more to do so. They often stick to schools, camps and activities close to home. “We’ve had to turn down some stuff, like birthday parties, that was especially far away,” says Moore-Farley, “but that seems OK.”