Choosing to Live Without a Car

The fewer households own cars, the emptier the nation's parking lots. Photo by Phil Kemp/iStock Facebook Twitter

It's easier for Americans to live without a car today than during any time over the past 60 years. In fact, it's becoming eminently practical and increasingly common for some people to live

either car-free or "car-lite" (defined as one car per household rather than two or three).

Patricia Blakely, 70, gave up her Subaru seven years ago to save money and now walks and takes buses all over Minneapolis, even though she rarely took transit earlier in her life.

For the past 20 years, Roslyn Rubin, 68, has used buses, trains, bikes and her own two feet to get around Arlington, Virginia.

Even folks in rural areas can reduce their car trips, as shown by Diane Miller, a 57-year-old teacher from Harrison, Michigan, who bikes 20 miles round trip to work throughout the school

year. 

Read their stories and others in "Why Older Adults Should Give Up Their Cars."

Most of the attention about this non-car trend focuses on millennials, who are getting drivers' licenses and buying cars at lower rates than previous generations. But people of all ages —

including many older Americans who grew up when the car was the unrivaled King of the Road — are taking advantage of the opportunity to save money, improve their health, and enjoy their

communities more by driving less.

Here's what's driving the trend toward car-free and car-lite living:

Overall, Americans are driving less per capita then they did 10 years ago, reversing a century-long pattern of ever-increasing auto use. Miles driven by Americans ages 50-74 declined 3.2

miles a day from 2001 to 2009 (latest figures available), according to AARP's analysis of Federal Highway Administration data. Actually, more than 9 percent of all U.S. households do not own

a car, with the figure reaching upwards of 25 percent in Seattle; San Francisco; Chicago; Washington D.C.; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and other cities, including New York City, where a

majority of households do not own a car. 

Transit is expanding and improving in many places, with total ridership up a sizable 37 percent since 1995. Trips on buses or trains by older Americans jumped to more than one billion in

2009, a 55 percent rise since 2001, according to an analysis of federal data by AARP.

The number of miles of bikeways in U.S. communities has mushroomed over the past 20 years, including the off-road and protected street lanes favored by many older cyclists. The rate of

bicycle riding is growing faster among older Americans than any other age group, according to a recent survey from People For Bikes. Census data shows that the number of miles biked by

people over age 50 skyrocketed from 175 million miles in 1995 to 2.6 billion miles in 2009.

Walking accounts for 8.9 percent of all trips for people 65 and older and 7.8 percent of trips for people 40-64, according to Rutgers University professor John Pucher. This is despite the

fact that 65 percent of Americans over age 65 live in suburbs, which typically offer fewer walking opportunities. A survey from the National Association of Realtors says "sidewalks and

places to take walks" is the number one transportation preference for all Americans. Nearly eight out of 10 Americans also believe it's important to live "within an easy walk" of shops,

cafes, schools and other community places.