Living in the Motor City with no car

Biking on the RiverfrontFor most of the time that I have lived here in Detroit, I have not had a car. This seems to blow a lot of people’s minds who see this city as being the antithesis to the car-less lifestyle. After all, we are the Motor City, home of the Ford Model T and the Chevy Camaro. Modern Detroit gave life to the American Dream, a place where two and a half kids, a white picket fence, and a car in every garage are practically required for social acceptance.

Things changed a lot when I first moved here. During the first couple of months I started walking around Downtown, getting to know the lay of the land. Luckily we had a very mild winter, with very little snow. Most of the time a winter coat, hat, gloves and some insulated hiking boots were plenty enough protection to battle the elements. At some point I realized that I could get around a lot better if I had a bike, so I picked up my bike that had been stored at my parents’ house for nearly 15 years, fixed it up and started venturing further out.

After a while I realized that I didn’t really need my car very much, so I loaned it to my business partner. She lived in Royal Oak, she did not have a car, and we were trying to start a new business in Detroit, so she needed it more than I did. Every once in a while I would take it back for a weekend, but more and more I got used to not having to rely on a car to get around.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my car. It was a ’98 Ford Taurus, with a tan leather interior and matching exterior. It was bought for my Mom back in late 1997, fully loaded with premium sound system, power locks and windows, and a combination sunroof/moonroof that was functional throughout every single one of the 200,000 miles we put on it. My sister then drove it while she was in college, and after that my dad drove it back and forth to work for a couple of years. Then the car was handed down to me. Everyone in my family drove it at some point. It was one of the best cars we’ve ever owned.

Around the time I moved to Detroit, the transmission in my Taurus started to die, and it finally gave up on me about a month ago. I do not have the money to buy another car, nor do I even want to have to deal with it. I settled on the reality that I would have to learn how to get around without it for the time being.

Around this time, a good friend of mine gave me a bike that had been sitting out on his balcony for a long time and he had never used. He was moving in a couple of weeks, so taking the bike meant he wouldn’t have to deal with it during the move, so it worked out quite well for me. Unlike my mountain bike, which I’ve had since I was a kid, this was a newer touring bike, which was somehow obtained through a police surplus auction, or something like that, with all the new features and the latest technology. All I had to do was put about $30 into it and it was road-ready, and it soon became my daily driver.

Get on the bus

I also bought a monthly, all-access bus pass that allows me to ride any DDOT or SMART bus in the region. These buses will take me within about 40-50 miles outside of the city to some of the popular locations and major intersections of the area. The great thing is that the buses all have bike racks on the front of them, which further extends the effective area that I can travel in. There are many drawbacks to using Metro Detroit’s public transportation system, but it’s not crippling to my mobility.

Furthermore, the Greyhound bus terminal is about three blocks from where I live, right here in Corktown. I have found that this is a great way to get outside of the city to places like Ann Arbor, Flint and Grand Rapids. It costs less than it would if I had to pay for the gas to drive there by myself, so I really can’t complain. I have some horror stories about some cross-country Greyhound trips I have taken in the past, but I find it to be a quick and comfortable ride to some of the local destinations that I frequent.

Being the transportation geek that I am, it actually excites me every time I have to work out a new route for a destination that I would have normally driven to in the past. I can bring my bike along and have the buses drop me off within three miles of where my parents live in Lake Orion, and about the same distance to Brian and Lincoln’s current house in Warren. Taking trips up to Ferndale and Royal Oak is very easy, and depending on where I’m going I don’t always have to take my bike with me up there to get around. Last weekend I took the Greyhound to Ann Arbor, where they have a much superior public transportation system to ours, and I found that getting around to see all my friends there was quite easy.

Corktown is a great place to live when you don’t have a car. There are more bike lanes here than anywhere else in the city. In fact, 95% of the one and a half mile path I take to Brian and Lincoln’s new house in Woodbridge has bike lanes. I also find that people are much more tolerant of bikers here in the city than they are in the suburbs. I get honked at and pestered a lot more in the suburbs by ignorant people who don’t realize that it’s illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk. Here I find drivers to be more courteous, and more willing to work together to make sure we both are using the roads efficiently.

Biking to the club

I had a DJ gig a couple of weeks ago at MotorCity Casino Hotel. The club I played at already had most of the equipment I needed, so I packed up my laptop, headphones, needles and some records in my backpack and rode to the gig on my bike. The sound guy cracked up when he saw me walk in carrying my bike helmet. He swore I had to be the first performer in the casino’s history to arrive on a bicycle. He made me put the helmet on while I was spinning so he could take a picture.

Biking here has also helped me re-kindle my love for physical activity, which has helped me get into better shape without boring me to death. I hate gyms. I hate any workout that requires me to stay in one place. I remember back in my high school days I used to run 10 miles a day through Bald Mountain State Park and it always seemed like it was over too soon. Now my daily workout routine consists of a fifteen and a half mile bike ride down the riverfront, around Belle Isle and back. There are two large bridges, one at 6th street, and one at Belle Isle, and the climb up both ways really gets my legs working. It is both challenging and fun, and when I feel like it’s getting too easy, I just increase my speed. If I time it right, I can watch the sunset over the river the entire ride home.

My roommate has a car that he lets me borrow every once in a while, but I find myself depending on it less and less. We are currently working on bike trailers that we can use to carry our kayaks and paddle boards to Belle Isle. I don’t really miss my car—in fact, sometimes people offer to give me a lift somewhere and I find that I only agree to it because I don’t want to be rude. The trips are sometimes longer when I take the bus, but I like the time that I have to myself to read my Kindle. There is nothing about automobile commuting that I enjoy, and the money I’m saving on gas alone is enough to justify renting a car for the occasions which I want to take a road trip somewhere, the only form of driving that I actually do enjoy.

I would definitely like to see more improvements made to Detroit’s public transportation system, and more efforts to make Metro Detroit more bike-friendly. We need a rapid-transit solution for getting out to some of the further reaches of the Metro Detroit area. We need more buses that run past midnight as well, especially on the weekends. I’d also like to see more initiatives to help support people like me who, whether by choice or necessity, are living a car-less lifestyle in the city.

I plan to go as long as I possibly can without having to buy a car, and I hope that as my transportation needs increase, the city will have more and more provisions to support people like me. Please feel free to engage me here if you have any questions about the car-less lifestyle in Detroit, and let’s start a dialogue so we can all make Detroit a better place to live.

14 thoughts on “Living in the Motor City with no car

  1. How often, if at all, do you find yourself having to skip out on things because you can't get there?

    There is really no excuse for all the driving I do. My commute to work is unavoidable, but I should be biking more. And by "more" I mean I should really go get my bike out of the basement of my OLD apartment building, where it has been for two years. Especially since my friends in that building have all moved out.

    The bus is trickier--I have no idea how to even ride a bus. Ridiculous, I know.

    Feel free to make fun of me until I learn to leave the car at home...
  2. Cheers to you, Norm. When I worked in the Ren Cen, I caught the bus 80% of the time. The bus route was only problematic due to my erratic work schedule. Sometimes the bus will have stopped running and I was at work.

    Unfortunately out where I am in life, public transit is not a stable reality. Time is of the essence as of late, I cannot risk a late bus or worse, not being able to turn around quickly.

    Hopefully, the reported interest in enhanced mass transit will happen sooner now that there's an "agreement" on the books.
  3. I was on the bus, out your way just this weekend. Took the Grand River DDOT to the Grand River SMART bus out to Novi. Went right through your hood.
  4. Norm, funny story how i got to your blog. I read Business Insider on a daily basis and somebody had reposted your blog as a fav. and it just stuck with me. For some strange reason placed the blog as my Google TV home page. So when I turn on the TV your the first thing I see. This goes for my wife to (I am secretly brain washing her on Detroit Living) No need to thank me for the padded viewing stats every time i watch TV. Any ways love the blog. We moved back to Walled Lake after living in New York for a few years, I have a day job but also use my time working near the house at City Life Youth Center on MLK and Rosa Parks. On the bike thing. If you do a mass ride/tour hit me up would love to introduce and bike around town.
  5. Enjoyed reading that. I like the idea of ditching my car, but I'm still not convinced it's practical for me. Between trips home to Pennsylvania and trips to the hardware store, I don't think I'm ready to do it yet.
  6. I am from downriver area, and now I live in Japan. I bike a lot here, I don't usually drive to work at all and I am very comfortable on my bike. I was thinking about moving back and I want to still ride my bike, because I love the feeling, but riding in the suburbs scares the hell out of me. I rode last time I went home and when I had to cross a main road people sped up to try to hit me it seemed.
    It is good to hear that the buses have bike racks, I was thinking about that. With all the highways and busier roads that are there I think it would be easier in some cases to take a bus with my bike in the rack.
    Good article, I would like to hear more about the daily and what you do to keep your bike from being stolen. Is that an issue there as I would assume?
  7. Cheers! I also moved here last may and have refused to own a car. It's saved me so much money it's ridiculous. I am also lucky enough, however, to live in Woodbridge (ie. a short bike ride from everything I need in midtown), a 15 minute bike ride from my place of work.

    One thing you don't address is riding in winter, which is a major issue with some debate regarding how to do so most safely and comfortably. It might be nice to see a follow up post about this.

    When I told people I wasn't going to buy a car for winter they often reacted with shock. I decided that I was not going to make car payments if it killed me (which it almost did when I was hit by a car while biking in October and, in what must have been a 100,000 to one chance, walked away with no debilitating or immediate injuries). Native detroiters told me not owning a car in the winter would be "impossible." Howevere, I found it fine as long as I layered up correctly (including having multiple layers of gloves and socks), had a second bike with studded snow tires (a $120 investment but a lot cheaper than owning a car), and had friends available to help me out when/if I got in a pickle and my bike broke down (though I am sure I could have called a taxi the one time this happened and thrown my bike in the trunk).

    Detroit is an incredible city for a cyclist--it's very flat and rideable and easy to navigate. Drivers aren't very used to you being on the road but you just gotta be safe and make sure you're as visible as possible at all times (I found one of the most helpful things in addition to the usual suite of lights is Tire Sparks, motion-activated lights that go on your tire's air valve cap and look incredibly distinctive when your wheels are spinning).

    Detroit cyclists represent!
  8. I am from downriver area, and now I live in Japan. I bike a lot here, I don't usually drive to work at all and I am very comfortable on my bike. I was thinking about moving back and I want to still ride my bike, because I love the feeling, but riding in the suburbs scares the hell out of me. I rode last time I went home and when I had to cross a main road people sped up to try to hit me it seemed.
    It is good to hear that the buses have bike racks, I was thinking about that. With all the highways and busier roads that are there I think it would be easier in some cases to take a bus with my bike in the rack.
    Good article, I would like to hear more about the daily and what you do to keep your bike from being stolen. Is that an issue there as I would assume?
    Biking in the city usually isn't an issue, although I did get run off the road by a DDOT bus the other day, but I'm working with the city to correct that issue. It was just one bad driver who doesn't understand the rules. In the suburbs, you can still ride your bike on the sidewalk and no one is going to give you a ticket. Some communities, like Ferndale, have bike lanes and are more bike friendly, but no one has ever tried to run me off the road out in the burbs. Just some confused people honking and screaming at me. I have to admit though, most of the problems I had were when I was driving past the Chrysler and GM plants on 9 mile between Van Dyke and Mound. A lot of people over there probably feel like they're watching their job roll by on two wheels, and it's going to take a while for some to adjust.
  9. Cheers! I also moved here last may and have refused to own a car. It's saved me so much money it's ridiculous. I am also lucky enough, however, to live in Woodbridge (ie. a short bike ride from everything I need in midtown), a 15 minute bike ride from my place of work.

    One thing you don't address is riding in winter, which is a major issue with some debate regarding how to do so most safely and comfortably. It might be nice to see a follow up post about this.

    When I told people I wasn't going to buy a car for winter they often reacted with shock. I decided that I was not going to make car payments if it killed me (which it almost did when I was hit by a car while biking in October and, in what must have been a 100,000 to one chance, walked away with no debilitating or immediate injuries). Native detroiters told me not owning a car in the winter would be "impossible." Howevere, I found it fine as long as I layered up correctly (including having multiple layers of gloves and socks), had a second bike with studded snow tires (a $120 investment but a lot cheaper than owning a car), and had friends available to help me out when/if I got in a pickle and my bike broke down (though I am sure I could have called a taxi the one time this happened and thrown my bike in the trunk).

    Detroit is an incredible city for a cyclist--it's very flat and rideable and easy to navigate. Drivers aren't very used to you being on the road but you just gotta be safe and make sure you're as visible as possible at all times (I found one of the most helpful things in addition to the usual suite of lights is Tire Sparks, motion-activated lights that go on your tire's air valve cap and look incredibly distinctive when your wheels are spinning).

    Detroit cyclists represent!
    I addressed riding in the winter, and how to dress properly in the cold. We just didn't have much snow this year. The heaviest snowfall that we got was during my trip to England, and when I came back it was already gone. I was fortunate not to have to bike in the snow, but I feel that I will be more prepared for it next year. This coming winter, I will be prepared for more treacherous weather. The funny thing is that I use a lot of my skiing gear when I bike in the winter. I use my skiing helmet because it keeps my head much warmer, and if it gets real cold I'll probably wear my snowboarding gloves and some snow pants. I'm working on using more base layers with a weatherproof shell instead of heavy winter clothing. I used to be a customer sales rep at Moosejaw, and they are a great resource for bikers, believe it or not.
  10. As for security, I use a Kryptonite lock and chain. When I can, I wrap the chain through my rear wheel, front wheel and frame, plus I have a small chain that links my seat to the frame, because I am worried about someone stealing that too. I have not had a problem yet, and everything tucks away very nicely on my bike. For storage, the chain wraps around the front of the fork, comes back down the sides of the frame, and then locks to the frame underneath the seat. Here is a photo of my security setup:

    image

    All of these items can be purchased at The Hub. In fact, they installed the chain on my seat for me.
  11. I love hearing about successful biking/living stories in Detroit! It is especially gratifying to hear from people who live a low-cost lifestyle in the city of Detroit by choice. I am from Detroit (Brightmoore Area) and I am moving to the New Center area very soon. I moved out of the city about ten years ago and have been in the suburbs ever since. I was once a brave teen walking the bus every day, twice a day, but I am afraid I have lost my nerve.

    So here is the question, is it safe for a young woman in her late twenties to bike from New Center to Wayne State? Please acknowledge that what is safe for a man and what is safe for a woman are two different things.

    Looking forward to your response.
    Happy biking!
  12. You will be fine, Midtown and the Wayne State Campus area are the safest parts of Detroit, and New Center is also a safe area, as long as you stay East of the Lodge.

    Just to let everyone know, I'm still riding my bike to work every day. I still have no car. I am thinking about getting a boat though.
  13. Yes, but be prepared for the cold in the winter. Midtown has a few buses as well, the woodward bus, Dexter and Crosstown. Uber is nice here too.

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