The Blind Beggar

As their website explains, “World Carfree Day is an annual celebration of cities and public life, free from the noise, stress and pollution of cars. Each year on September 22, people around the world organize events of all sizes to showcase alternatives to the automobile.”

Fran and I have already been limiting our car use and it helped us a lot when we sold our second car. Only having one requires (forces) you to do better planning and to use your feet and/or public transportation. And we are not unique. Data on how people get to work in Portland shows that 13.5% take public transportation, 11% carpool, 5.5% walk and 4.4% bike. That still leaves over 64% driving solo, but that is coming down (down 5.2% in ten years) and is pretty good for a fast growing large metropolitan area.

We are also pretty lucky because of the investment we (the citizens of Portland) have made in public transportation. You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to get around in Portland without a car, so much so that our two boys didn’t get their drivers licenses until they were 19 and 20. They just hopped a bus and off they would go. You can read more in this BBC report on Portland titled, “Where the Car Is Not King.”

Although World Carfree Day is an effort to address global climate change, which is important, for me one of the fundamental changes we see in reduced car usage and increased use of alternatives is the building of compact neighborhood communities that have a high quality of life, lots of community interaction and much of your daily needs can be met with a short walk. Just adding sidewalks in our neighborhood has brought our neighbors out of the backyards and house. Not a day goes by now where I don’t see and talk with a half-dozen of them. Sure is easier to “be missional” in such an environment.

As a side note, the World Carfree Network has chosen Portland as the location for its 2008 conference.

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