Interview With A Car-Free Couple
Howard and Sarah Abts are a Toledo couple who, after a lifetime of recreational biking and several years of talking about it, have finally gone car-free. Howard is a Lutheran pastor and Sarah teaches part time at the University of Toledo and Owens College. Their home is in an older middle income neighborhood in the south end about five miles from UT, seven miles from Owens College and from one to six miles from the various churches Howard has served in that area. Their three sons, also avid bikers, have grown and moved out of the house, simplifying the problems of car-free living for the two of them.

At what point did you first start thinking about going car-free, and how long did it take to actually eliminate your car?
Howard:   I began thinking about it in 2003 or so, looking out my office window at the car repair place across the parking lot where the tow trucks just kept hauling the broken cars in. I'd learned that a six mile commute in the dead of winter was doable by bike, and I'd been driving less and less as I used my bike more and more. I thought - why not go the whole way?
Sarah:   My first reaction when Howard suggested going car-free was panic! But we'd been using our car less and then we talked about it for a few years before we committed to it, so when the time came I was ready. I had just packed the car for a long trip and it broke down before I even got to Bowling Green. That was the turning point. Boy, did I hate that car just then!
Did you go car-free in stages?
Howard:   Yes. We tried an experiment a year or so after our first discussion and left the car in the garage for about five months. Later, we stayed in our cabin in a national forest for three weeks. It's 50 miles round trip by bike to the nearest grocery store and four miles to ice cream, but we turned the car off when we arrived and didn't start it again until it was time to leave. We'd bike about 30 miles to picnic and swim in Lake Superior, ride to church, ride to the library - that was 25 miles in the other direction. It was wonderful! Then, after the car died on Sarah, it was either a new head gasket or a new vehicle. We let it stay dead and went car-free.
What were the greatest reservations you had about going car-free?
Howard:   I'd already learned that the traditional perceptions of bikes weren't true: Bikes aren't safe in traffic; You can't go meaningful distances on a bike; You can't carry much on a bike; Bikes only make sense in sunny, pleasant weather. So I was ready. About my only reservation was that I'd pressure Sarah into something which wouldn't work for her.
Sarah:   The most difficult thing for me was the whole mental adjustment of finding other ways to do things rather than just jumping in the car. If you don't have a car you have to be worried about weather, about distances, about time, have to know the bus schedules - the buses are limited on the weekends, so you have to plan for that. You have to be prepared to walk good distances and have good walking shoes.
What is the toughest problem you still face?
Howard:   Getting somewhere where I have to be presentable on a hot day with heavy rain and headwinds.
And How Do You Deal With This?
Howard:   The times it's been important, I've taken towel and clean clothes along, allowed plenty of time, and done a spit-bath and change when I arrived. It doesn't happen often. If it's a meeting, rather than a funeral where I'm presiding, I just get there sweaty, and people are so amazed that I've gone more than seven hundred yards with no motor, they appear not to notice.
What arrangements at work have you made for bicycle commuting, like storage and security of your bike, cleaning up, storage of clothes?
Sarah:   Not very much. There are bike racks close to all of my classes. I usually wear my work clothes to ride and I don't need much cleaning up - the classroom environment is pretty casual these days. If it's raining I may take an extra set of clothes.
What other means of transportation other than biking do you use in daily life, and when?
Sarah:   We walk, take the bus, occasionally take a taxi, borrow my Mom's car when we need it. When we go out of town we take the plane, train or Greyhound bus. We have folding bikes we can take with us on the train or bus to use when we get to the terminal if we need them - we can ride out the station door to our final destination. You learn to think in terms of multi-modal transportation.
What kind of bike “fleet” do you have?
Howard:   The main criteria for my bikes are practical, fun and cheap. All the bikes I use with any regularity have fenders, rack and/or basket, and lighting. The ones I use most are "fixies" - fixed or single gear: an early 70's Raleigh for use when there's no salt on the roads and bikes found in the trash and made rideable for winter. The reclaimed bikes usually last two or three winters before they rust out. The current winter bike, "Trashbike V," started out as a Huffy 3-speed. I also ride an old Miyata fixie for long distance touring and a couple of folders - one with 20" wheels for bus trips and one with 16" wheels which folds up small enough to be acceptable to Amtrack. I still have my first 10-speed, which I haven't ridden in years and a pre-WWII Raleigh Sport, my daily commuter in the 70's and 80's. I have some others, interrupted on their way to the landfill or given to me by people who don't want them any more, which get cannibalized for parts or occasionally fixed up and given away.
Do you do all bike maintenance yourself? What has that entailed?
Howard:   I do nearly all maintenance myself. Jobs that are beyond my ability or which I don't have the tools for, such as installing a sealed cartridge bottom bracket, I take to The Bike Route, arguably the best bike shop in the western hemisphere. I can do this because I have a lot of room in my basement and confidence that I can fix just about anything that can go wrong. It's a good feeling to have.
What has been your employer’s reaction to your car-free status?
Sarah:   As a part time teacher I don't really have a lot of contact with my bosses, so I don't get much reaction. They tend to be sympathetic, for example, if I can't always make it to off-campus or oddly scheduled events. Once I fell with my bike crossing the Cherry Street bridge and my keys fell through the slots in the bridge into the water. The official at UT took pity on me and I didn't have to pay the usual fine for losing a key.
Howard:   Since they'd be paying me 51.5 cents per mile if I were using a car, they don't mind a lot. They cover the cost of any parts I buy and any work I have done at the bike shop. In 2008, I used about 13% of what was in the budget for my travel expenses and I didn't hear any complaints.
What adaptations to your daily life has going car-free caused you to make?
Sarah:   We plan more. We don't go out of town so much or go out so often in the evenings. We're always attuned to the weather. We look for alternate transportation modes. Our life is much simpler, since we combine errands when we do go out and only go one place rather than three or four at a time.
Do you think it has been more difficult for you to adjust than it has for Howard?
Sarah:   Yes. Howard is dedicated to riding all the time, no matter what the weather - he's used to it and it just doesn't seem to bother him. I don't like to ride in really bad weather, so I'm always trying to juggle alternate modes of transportation when that occurs.
How have you handled social events without a car - doing things with other people or couples?
Sarah:   We meet our friends at events or we'll invite them to our house. If we go out in the evenings we'll sometimes stay overnight at our friends' house and come home in the morning. People are generally pretty accommodating, although they really don't understand the problems we have to deal with unless they're bikers, too.
What one piece of advice would you give someone thinking about going car-free?
Howard:   Learn to ride safely! Google vehicular cycling or Bicycling Street Smarts. Take a course like the YMCA offers. Many of the ideas people have about riding safely may actually be more dangerous. Bicycling is cheap and clean and minimally harmful to the environment and healthful and good for the city; but if you do it in ways which are dangerous, it isn't worth it.
Sarah:   Don't worry too much about the practical problems - everything will fall into place. Many, many people in our society don't have cars and they all manage to get by. There will be lots of challenges which pop up, but others before you have handled all of them and you will, too. Necessity is the mother of invention.


© 2010 - 2012 Bob Beach