Living a Car-Lite Lifestyle
What does it look like to live car-lite in The Seacoast Region?
Aaron Williams from Strong Towns Seacoast invited Dover resident and SABR member Eric Leaver to share his insights on living a car-free lifestyle in his community. We’re excited to share his article with you!
Cars, Bodies, and Dover
by Eric Leaver
I want to talk about my lifestyle. Not the lifestyle; stop it. A lifestyle. One that fights your inherent desire for convenience, yet potentially pays you back in spades. A car-lite lifestyle.
This lifestyle carries some unfortunate stigma. As a teenager, I wanted nothing more than a set of wheels to go where I wanted, when I wanted, to carry a bunch of stuff shielded from theft and weather, and to hang out with friends listening to a loud stereo. Once I had that car, I then came to pity those who didn’t. Indeed, I loved my car.
But do Americans love their bodies? Billionaire businessman Warren Buffet said the following (lightly edited) to a group of young Americans regarding cars and bodies:
I’m going to let each one of you pick out the car of your choice. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Pick it out—any color—you name it. It’ll be tied up with a bow, and it’ll be at your house tomorrow. “Well, what’s the catch?” The catch is: it’s the only car you’re going to get in your lifetime.Now, what are you going to do… knowing that’s the only car you’re ever going to have—and you love that car? You’re going to take care of it like you cannot believe.Now the truth is, you’re not just going to get one car in your lifetime. But you are going to get only one body… and one mind. And that’s all you’re going to get. That body and mind feels terrific now, but they have to last you a lifetime.
Some people come to the car-lite lifestyle out of necessity (eg, disability or disenfranchisement). But more commonly, people seek benefits such as frugality, reduced environmental impact, and as Mr Buffet emphasized—fitness. Body fitness is perhaps obvious, since you’re doing a lot of walking and perhaps bicycling. Though negotiating any transit system is a sweaty workout for your mind as well.
Of course, fitness goals can be addressed directly. But rather than addressing them by adding things to your life (eg, the gym), the car-lite lifestyle integrates these goals into what you’re already doing. Reducing your car usage then becomes a challenge that you solve both mentally and physically.
This comes at the price of convenience, yes. But no one said taking care of your body would be easy. Indeed, easy is the enemy of fitness.
How much convenience you give up depends, in part, on your town. For example, my gym in Dover has a large parking lot to accommodate all the people that drive to it. That is, people are literally driving to the gym to pedal on a stationary bicycle that goes nowhere. It seems absurd until you see the 5-lane NH 9/108 stroad with no bike lane that you’d have to negotiate to get there otherwise. To their credit, Planet Fitness does provide bicycle parking for those brave enough to choose that option.
The large parking lot at my gym is ironic, if not absurd, yet completely understandable in context.
From the right shoulder—good luck turning left across that bad boy.
Planet Fitness’s color-branded bicycle parking is a nice touch.
Transit is another option, with two bus lines stopping 0.3 miles away and accessible by sidewalk. But as of Oct-2024, the buses only run once per hour. So there’s significant risk that hitting the gym could take much longer than you had planned. Maybe that’s mental fitness—to get the timing just right?
Lack of funding for more frequent transit aside, curious additional gaps exist as well. Like the fact that these two bus lines each use their own separate mobile app for realtime arrival data (c’mon people). Or the third bus line that passes right in front of the gym, but who’s sparse coverage of the stroad leaves its closest stops at 0.5-0.7 miles away.
The unfortunate truth of a car-lite lifestyle is that it means leaning into the walking/biking/transit infrastructure of your town, which may or may not exist in a satisfactory state. But all stroads are eventually repaved, and transit lines are eventually reorganized. Those of us living a car-lite lifestyle or those seeking to do so should make themselves ready for these opportunities to make our town stronger and oppose the status quo. Our bodies deserve better.
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