Car Free

Being dedicated to living car free since 2005, I had to research to find a good fit based on a combination of factors; a Cost of Living at/below 90%, consistently good air quality, and decent climate or weather. So based in that research a decade ago, I decided on Iowa. That and a greater acceptance of Micro Mobile devices.

Backstory: I owned/drove cars from 74 to 2005. As a testifying eyewitness to the gore of a high speed impact that killed 2 teen girls (in a stalled 70's compact) and an older women and her dog (in the speeding newer Escalade), I had PTSD years after. Even before that 2004 eyewitness tragedy, I was aware of the damage the Car Cult was doing to Earth and all life dependent on it. So I took up full time cycling & Light Rail (Denver) & Amtrak; I don't fly.

Fast forward to CV19 (where I'm in a downtown Des Moines loft), I decided I'd try this new contraption called an e-scooter, so I got a G30P in the Spring of 2021: I was hooked! I put about 1500 miles on it before it broke (got a full refund), then I went through an Emove Cruiser, logging an impressive 8500 miles on it.

Then I got my first Joyor S10-S and put 2800 miles on it. Then with the first Tariff threats, I impulse bought another (an S10-Sz), and as of December it has 1350 miles on it. Both still run. So that's 15K miles in 5 years ridden on e-scooters alone from 4/21 thru 12/25. I still ride my pedal bike as well, and walk a lot; use it or lose it!

When it comes to the Wild Wild Web of things, most Big Tech entities make the bulk of their fortunes from ad dollars; they're paid directly by clicking on ads, indeed, but most of their monies are made indirectly, by Web traffic numbers as well as the number of account holders. That's why many now allow multiple accounts.

So for example, if you have a Twit account or you visit or you send users there, you're a supporter of Musky X and his cronies; same with anything from Meta's FaceBorg. Eventually every gullible person will be assimilated by Big Tech! You can deny being a supporter, and they will not mind you claiming it, so long as you keep coming back. (X in uproar as new location feature exposes troll farm networks).

When a major Media Corporation decided to show fealty and bend a knee to the White House and their P25 puppet string pullers, and take a late night comedian off the air for speaking poorly against Dear Leader, literally millions of people canceled their accounts associated with that Media Corp; I too canceled and closed my Hulu account. They quickly decided not to violate these Rights, and that late night comedian is back on. Cash talks, BS walks! Even political BS!

Now, I have a page dedicated to Tech, but I brief it here to add this to the ways, not to support any of them; here it's by not financing and validating them or their money sources; they all thrive on the blind consumerism of the cultural Kool-Aid guzzling gullible masses.

Please, don't be gullible! It hurts you and everyone else. The less money you need to live on, the less you'll need to earn, and the less taxes you'll give them to weaponize our Government against us. We The People has always been a smokescreen!

But Government's are not going anywhere soon; they cannot be put out of business, like businesses can. Any business that does not respect basic human rights should no longer be a business. Unlike taxes, they're dependent on the masses to voluntary hand them money.

Your greatest power in capitalism is your money, not voting, because the political system has been rigged by the wealth-class since the beginning; Capitalism & Democracy are antithetical. In capitalism, your money is your true power, because there's no such thing as human value. Therefore, how we as the masses spend our money, will decide the proverbial direction of the big ship in the long haul.

The Car Cult is the single biggest business on Earth; they're comprised of Big Oil, Big Car, Big Road, and Big Insurance, because the profits from death and/or destruction are massive. From these come all the ancillary businesses that depend upon the existence of the Car Cult. Not owning a car is huge in its consequences.

I drove cars (in the US) from 1974 to 2005; I made the conscious decision never to drive again (long story). From that epoch forward, I was a committed non–driver. Therefore, I had to make all future decisions based on this new reality. Read The Copter Conundrum.

So, I researched how/where I'd live: That involved safe/usable Public Transportation, plus bike–safe lanes, but more so, dedicated cycling trails, and so on; any way to move about, minus a personal car or Rideshare cars. I simply do not want to stand before my Maker as one who enabled or accepted the Car Cult as normal; it is not! It is proof of gullibility; swallowing advertisers Kool-Aid!

Going car–free, I changed careers; then I only needed to get myself to a stationary place of employment. Then I became a Writer so I work from anywhere. Then I retired! But I've got a small and large trailer if I need one. And there's Uber and Lyft in the area if needed.

Since I knew I would not need nearly as much money monthly as I did before, this opened up my options, it did not restrict them. But understand; I'm not a blind consumerist; I buy what's needed and that is all; the horrific malady of Conspicuous Consumption never infected me.

I've already proven over and over, and have wagered rather large sums, centered on the fact that no one "needs" a car; cars are about the metastasis of egocentrism, and its terminal tumor, pride. Now of course, since that fact was openly proclaimed, no one ever showed up with their ante (30K+ in $ b/c cash talks & BS walks): No one ever challenged the data outside of angry words.

This is because it's all excuses; people who think they NEED a car are really just attached to them for illogical reasons. The more likely reason is that most people are bullshitters, so very few humans on Earth would ever wager a large sum of money, putting their money where their mouth is: That was a recognizable fact centuries before the Wild Wild Web even existed.

Anonymity is a perfect shield from personal accountability or responsibility; to be, who one is not in reality. Using logic, math, geometry and geography, any reasonably intelligent person knows it can be done; it has already been done by all humanity from 190,000 BC thru 1900 AD. To this day only 10% to 18% of humanity owns a car.

But if one moves into the middle of BFE, why whine about the isolation? Isn't that the point? Now, if one's humanity is still intact they may seek community; it's best to move to a city. But if a person is a human–hater, well, they're screwed already, no matter where they live! And no one is trapped in their current location unless they're in (say) North Korea. But some are so mentally isolated they cannot imagine life outside of their little shoebox sized world.

As a nature lover I live in a city; this is my sacrifice to protect the natural world. Today's it haunted by nature hating machine loving planet killers. For the sane, the city to select should be one that caters to cyclists. Back in 2005 it was quite a task; there was no Google Maps with Street View and Bike Trails options to study. Still, it did not take long, by just going to a few cyclist sites.

The Wild Wild Web degraded into a bastion for bullshitters to thrive within: Wherever the (proverbial) rubber meets the road, they're always absent! Turds keep coming out of their mouth but no money ever comes out of their pocket: That's the sum definition of a Bullshitter! Cash talks but bullshit walks! Put your money where your mouth is! They cannot because it's always full of crap.

Nonetheless, once they think hard about it, and figure out on their own, what would be proposed, and then demonstrated, in their home or neighborhood, they quietly vanish. The actual reason is they are lazy, or ignorant, or more likely, they are conquered by their ego and its stupefying pride. Everything is excuses and self-justifications. They will not part with $30,000, by putting their money where their mouth is; they want people to believe their BS: They're very rarely (if ever) challenged with put up or shut up!

Admittedly there are rare places on the North American continent where it's not a good place to live, especially if you're grocery store dependent. Now, once a person understands that grocery stores have only been around for a small fraction of our species existence, they will have to figure out on their own how the first 99.999%+ of humanity lived without them. And that may be difficult, because after all, I can easily teach Middle School kids how to live their entire lives without a car.

This (in part) explains why people think it's a good idea to live in the middle of nowhere, even as they do not know how to feed themselves, apart from a grocer. I would have recognized this as ignorant, in just seconds as a 10 year old in 1968, so I know the level of intellect I'm dealing with here. To decide to live anywhere, where a car is ones lifeline to survival, is itself ignorant.

I'm being sincere here; I never say anything to insult anyone pointlessly. Verbally slapping someone back to reality however, is every bit as compassionate as it is to break someone's sternum while administering CPR. They'll easily recover from the verbal slap; leaving them in ignorance is just cruel, and can even be dangerous.

Once I made the commitment to live car free, I started to do research on how I'd do that. It's a lifestyle choice, and one must treat it just like that! I volitionally gave up my last vehicle in 2005. By 2015 doing so became about as easy as it could get. All things can be delivered.

Now, I built homes for a living and we hauled nothing to build them, except power and hand tools. Lumber yards delivered everything else to the job site; if we needed more I'd tell the truck driver (or call sales) and they had it out the next day.

So I knew since 1974 that I could get big stuff delivered; cheaply or sometimes free. Sears sold all major appliances then (even hot water heaters); they all were delivered to homes. We drove in a car to get groceries, and go to Kmart. But from 2021 forward, Walmart+ delivers everything in a local mega store; supplies and food come to my door.

As kids we always took a school bus; or walked; I was never once driven to/from any school in a car. My brother and I rode our bikes to The Mall; back then it had a video game arcade, a food court, and girls! Lots of girls! That's what "drove" us there. We lived in the 64057.

To this day, it still depends on what a person wants to do, or more lovingly now, what a person is willing to compromise, economically or environmentally in order to do anything away from home. Back then there was not all that much to do. It's like that today, and the only thing I see kids doing more of these days (what I'd do if I were young now) are skater parks: I'm 7 blocks from this one.

Looking forward, I needed to live where it was safe for an aging person; where the cost of living would remain low and stable; where there was decent public transportation and plenty of bike trails. At some point every person must plan for being old!

Living volitionally without a car for 2 decades, one learns how/why transit in general, works or doesn't. Well traveled, it seems that whatever mode of transport was there first, development builds up around it, then it thins out the farther out one goes. We see this in the US where development gets sparse, the farther one goes from the Interstates and into more rural areas; all development is in the immediate areas of the Interstate exchange.

For rail travel, the destinations are fixed and limited. Peaceless humans must go to new places and try new things (food; shopping; etc.). The fixed rail takes us to the same places always. Even bus routes are limited destinations. So, like any new restaurant that gets lots of business at first, it slows, and if they cannot gimmick themselves along (or are not supplemented by a chain), they close more than not.

But I believe it's mostly about the last–mile issue; you get off at a designated stop (train or bus), and then one must walk it from there; if it's too far, most do not want to do it, even in fair weather. In car–centric places, snow is plowed for the car at the expense of all other forms of mobility.

If the train/tram/light–rail/bus system, was built first, all the businesses are naturally within a walkable distance, say 3 to 4 blocks out, from the rail–line. If car roads were built first they're all over the place; to get to all those spread out businesses by fixed routes is too problematic and limited.

However, if Transit entities understood this, they'd consider last–mile transport primary in their designs and operations; a mini parking space for e–bikes and e–scooters, inside rail/bus vehicles with easy on/off. Currently in the US, buses might have an external rack for only 2 conventional bikes, and that's it; many have none! Most buses and some rail services forbid last–mile devices, some allow them but with very limited space.

In most car–centric places with public transportation as an afterthought, the majority of transit users simply cannot afford a car. Or, only because they're traveling for work into a congested city where it's just easier to use transit than traffic snarls and parking fees. A transit system will flourish, and long–term, once it can nearly or completely replace the need for a car.

I understand that the vast majority of humans are pride–conquered and ego–dominated, and as such, they cannot handle any outsider telling them how to do their job. Well, that's their take on it anyway. Thus, they will converse it by pretending to be receptive, even holding public meetings for outside input, but that's where said input dies.

https://search.brave.com/ask?q=big+oil+big+car+big+road+big+insurance+collaborate+to+maintain+car+dependency
Brave Search Result (3/5/2026):
Introduction: The 'Big Car' Ecosystem:
The term "Big Car" refers to a powerful, interconnected network of industries — including automotive manufacturers, oil companies, road construction firms, insurance providers, advertisers, and political lobbyists — that have collectively shaped car dependency in the United States and beyond. This alliance has not only influenced urban planning and transportation policy but also embedded automobile use into the fabric of daily life, often at the expense of public health, environmental sustainability, and economic equity.
Historical Collaboration Between Big Oil and Big Auto:
For over a century, Big Oil and Big Auto operated in tandem, aligning their interests to promote fossil fuel–powered vehicles and resist regulatory changes. They jointly opposed climate policies, funded climate denial efforts through groups like the Global Climate Coalition, and lobbied against fuel efficiency standards. The partnership was mutually beneficial: automakers relied on oil companies to supply fuel, while oil firms depended on gasoline-powered cars to maintain demand.
However, this alliance is now showing signs of strain. With the rise of electric vehicles (EVs), automakers like Tesla and Volkswagen are seeking to control the energy value chain themselves, offering electricity, charging, and even grid services, reducing reliance on oil companies.
A Strategic Misstep Recognized:
A telling moment came when a major automaker's CTO admitted the industry's "biggest mistake" was failing to control the fuel value chain. This acknowledgment has driven a strategic shift: automakers are now entering the energy business, offering integrated EV services that include power supply, insurance, and maintenance; services previously fragmented across different corporate domains. How electric vehicles are disrupting oil companies
The Role of Road Builders and Infrastructure Lobbying:
The expansion of car dependency has been materially supported by road construction and transport engineering lobbies. Groups like the American Road & Transport Builders Association spend millions annually to influence infrastructure policy, advocating for highway expansions and car-centric urban design.
Traffic engineers, described as the "high priests of the grid," have long adhered to a "more, wider, and faster" mantra, despite evidence that such approaches fail to reduce congestion and often increase sprawl and emissions. These decisions are not neutral; they reflect the priorities of a system designed to serve vehicle throughput, not human mobility.
Insurance Industry's Incentives to Sustain Car Culture:
The insurance industry profits from widespread car ownership. More vehicles on the road mean more premiums, and insurers have developed usage-based monitoring programs (like Progressive's Snapshot) that collect driving data to price risk.
While marketed as tools for fairness, these systems also reinforce car dependency by incentivizing driving behavior within the existing system rather than challenging its foundations. Moreover, critics warn that such surveillance raises privacy concerns and may penalize essential workers who drive at night.
Emerging Challenges to the Model:
As EVs and autonomous vehicles evolve, traditional auto insurance models face disruption. Maintenance costs are lower, and accident rates may decline, threatening a key revenue stream. In response, some automakers, like Volvo, are launching their own insurance services, integrating coverage with vehicle ownership to retain customer relationships and revenue. Volvo car insurance services
Modern Shifts: EVs and the Fracturing Alliance:
The electric vehicle revolution is breaking the century-old interdependence between Big Auto and Big Oil. Automakers no longer need oil companies to power their vehicles; instead, they can tap into existing power grids and partner with renewable energy providers.
European oil giants like Shell and Total are adapting by investing in EV charging networks, renewables, and electricity retail. But their efforts put them in direct competition with automakers, who are also building charging infrastructure and offering energy plans.
This shift opens new business models — such as full-service mobility packages — that bundle financing, maintenance, insurance, and electricity, potentially bypassing traditional oil and insurance intermediaries. Big Oil investing in electric vehicle charging
Conclusion: Toward a Post-Car-Dependent Future:
While Big Car — the coalition of auto, oil, road, and insurance interests — has successfully maintained car dependency through lobbying, infrastructure, and cultural influence, that dominance is now being challenged. The rise of EVs, urban mobility alternatives, and growing awareness of climate and equity impacts are shifting the landscape.
Cities from Copenhagen to Chicago are reimagining mobility with fewer cars, less pollution, and more human-centered design. The breakdown of the Big Oil – Big Auto alliance may finally create space for more sustainable, equitable transportation systems — if policymakers and the public seize the opportunity.

Currently, all development ideas work outward from the paradigm of what–is–already–here! By lacking the capacity for critical thinking, which is more about original thoughts than it is about just being critical, most people simply pile upon what was here, when they got here. They seek to modify the existing world; its models of design are fairly fixed for them.

And even though there are multiple ways to do all things on Earth, most people live/die without any original thoughts or critical thinking skills or common sense. Leaving bad designs for future generations to heal, is not only pure open evil, it will cost thousands–fold more than doing it yesterday or today!

But there is really only one major problem in the current paradigm; Heavy Infrastructure! And it spawns a host of secondary and tertiary issues. If we, as a species, are going to continue to use massively large, heavy and resource intense devices, to move humans from point A–to–B, then all other things must bend to that paradigm. If not, then everything changes forward of that!

Imagine for a moment that it's illegal to have any personal vehicle with a gross weight of over 500 pounds (226 kg): Every human transportation device is some variation of a Velomobile world, and others would surely come up with even better inventions. With a buy local attitude, the need for billions of humans needing to personally visit every square mile of Earth, should be phased out of the current mind–bending system of advertisements that currently guide the followship drones.

Thus, the need for any of the current road systems would be moot. We can start over with that aspect of the human point A–to–B system. Roads would be a thing of the past; it would all be trails at that point. Snow removal? Nope! Snowmobiles, but not like those that currently exist! We would design to conform to the natural world, not keep fighting against it with fossil fuels. Cars should not exist as they are today.

In an anti-natural human-centric world, trees are too expensive; their roots creep in/under human-made structures and damage them; their leaves/branches are a menace to maintenance crews tasked with keeping areas machine centric. Big trees can fall in wind/storms, making them a liability to vehicles and poorly designed infrastructure (overhead power lines for one). Rather than respecting the natural world and building around it and for it, cars change the entire dynamic of urban design and use.

As for plumbing, electrical, communications, power, and so on; that aspect of Infrastructure would have distance limits as well. Every residence would be self–contained for the most part; water and sewer would be completely different than they are now. Centralizing these things began with this premise: how do I profit from them? If profit is all there is for the human species, then yes, we're doomed for sure: We'll monetize the entire planet to exhaustion.

However, if we spend our resources on building a sustainable future for progeny, then the economic system itself would have to change to that! The reason why anything is expensive is because too many want to make a million dollars a month. They need psychological (and budget) counseling, to get at the root of why they think they need so very very much more than others; what is at the source of their ambition–driven discontent. Get those people the help they need, and the rest of us can begin to build a humane centered society.

Sprawl, among many other problematic societal issues, are just the outcome of this hunger–lust for more and evermore. Building a sustainable culture on Earth is rather simple; it comes down to simplicity itself. What will never happen, is a sustainable human society, wherein, way too many humans are allowed the "freedom" to be destructive, just to appease their dying egos and immature emotions. Laws will have to be passed to reflect all of this!

Recently I contacted Iowa DOT (screenshot) but I had to USPS them, so I have not heard back as of this timeline; I likely will not. Most such government entities are derelict and those there would not survive without constant tax dollars; living in a world requiring wits and labor they would not make it past their teens. Over the last few years I've attempted to communicate locally, but that too was a dead end.

This is a compilation of a few letters and emails sent to The City of DSM, and to its Transit Authority DART. I got no replies from any of them, but then, I did not expect it. I know, this is Iowa! Here's what I communicated (this will not be too relevant if you're not local):

The first 3 primary routes (the Big 3) for any Metro Transit System, in any Metro, begins from a passenger Intermodal. Living in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, the closest actual Transit System to here is in Ames, IA., then Iowa City, but there's hundreds more nationally, in cities half the size and population of Greater DSM.
All Transit Systems have an Intermodal; in fact it is how any system can be designated a Transit System to begin with; this because it's the centerpiece of all Transit Systems. From that center point, frequent city bus service to/from the (main) Airport, an Amtrak Station (if there is one), and most importantly, an Interstate Bus Terminal at the Intermodal. These 3 are primary and are necessary to even consider (or call) it a Metro Transit System. There is no Metro Transit System in Polk County, IA., yet!
Obviously, car drivers do not use any of these; they drive in and then out of cities in their cars. Those who already own a car also have a valid drivers license, so optionally, they rent cars from airports. But the vast majority on people who use ground transportation do not have or need these. That is why it's vital to have regular Metro Transit System routes to/from the airport to an Intermodal.
How anyone can understand this, is to simply act like they do not have a drivers license, and thus, they're fully dependent on ground transportation. Then, use Google Maps to go from any point A to any point B, and observe those places that have a Metro Transit System, versus those that do not.
All secondary bus routes are what's called Shopper Buses; these you'll find in cities less than half the size of DSM Metro. They take people to malls, grocers, and medical districts. Some even serve to take folk to/from employment, but that's only possible if they have the needed frequency, and employment location prominence. DART is not a dependable to/from employment transport option, though I'm sure some must risk using it for that purpose because they have no other choice. They lose the route they lose the job.
So, I am for the discontinuation of DART, as it is, and to be replaced by an outside Transit Organization that understands how a Metro Transit System operates (again, the Big 3). Another example of the competency of an Intermodal, is the ease of bringing aboard secondary (or last mile) transportation devices, such as bikes, and now e–bikes and e–scooters.
Most Shopper Buses only have a 2–bike external rack; that's it. Many people use these powered devices in place of a motorized wheelchair, which they do not really need. Let's use my friend as one example among possible dozens of people:
I was born in the Summer of 58 (I'm old) and so was my friend. I can walk just fine, but my friend can only do a mile or so, when a heart condition begins to cause issues. There's many other similar mobility issues that any compassionate individual assumes will exist. Riding a pedal bike for too long creates the same problems. For me, pedal bikes hurt my back and butt after some time on it.
I bought my peddle bike at the DSM Bike Collective; I don't ride it as much anymore, but, you will see me buzzing around on my e–scooter. With my e–scooter I can travel with ease. I do not own or want a car; too dangerous, and too destructive, and in too many ways to elaborate on; again, it's all about Love and compassion, or even just simple empathy, which some in our society do not even believe exists.
Contacting the City of DSM will not likely produce any ripe fruit; I've tried before and they've proven me correct. They're as shortsighted as DART employees, who will not allow me to bring my e–scooter on board. This is the result of simple mindedness, and carbrain. Since they are car centric, they cannot fathom what it's like to be dependent upon the very devices they are employed to employ! Bizarre!
Assuredly, they've got excuses, but no logical reason for this: It's all about power and control; it's all about pride and ego. They require e–scooters to be folded and carried on. Obviously this is too much; I for one cannot carry mine at all, and never do, nor do I ever fold it. It's analogous to asking someone in a wheelchair get out of it then carry it on the bus!
My e–scooter is my wheelchair! So, I cannot utilize DART; this elderly disabled man must ride my an e–scooter year–round (burr) because of this. I only rarely use DART; and just to the places they go. If I need to travel outside of the DART network, I must use a Rideshare service. Any reasonably intelligent person in Transit would find this embarrassing.
DART had a booth set–up at one of the Summer Downtown Events, and with my e–scooter, I showed their Reps how I needed to roll my e–scooter onto the bus; they had a bus parked there as a cooling center, with its ramp deployed. I did so just like a wheelchair currently does, so everything is already in place. I parked it in the space for wheelchairs, then folded it down!
But that step would take–up too much time, as some units are not easy to fold, and drivers should not be allowed to leave the protected driver seat area for non–emergencies (by transit.dot.gov rules, yet to be created/enforced; I'm working on it).
The DART Reps nodded and agreed to the logic, but that changed nothing. Again, they do not have anyone in power, with the needed intellectual capacity,nor the Love, to design–build or operate a competent functioning Metro Transit System; this explains why there's still no such entity in Polk County, IA. But I'm all for a Metro Transit System to come into the DSM Metro; that would be exciting! And usable! And noteworthy!
Whenever a non–car traveler (and non–flyer) like myself, needs to go to another city, I go to/from the Amtrak Depot or the Intermodal (DSM has neither), and quickly and easily transfer onto a Metro Transit System Bus (or Tram or Light–rail), with my standing wheelchair (e–scooter), and then out into that city. The last few miles is where I'd use my e–scooter (they're even called last–mile devices), as well as most of the time I'm in that city, with or without the use of their Metro Transit System.
Currently I'm limited to the well–designed larger Metro's (e.g. CO, WA, OR, CA, DC, NY, KC, MN, and the like). I like the DSM area, but the people here do not demonstrate the wisdom I'm accustomed to; I'm spoiled by living in well designed Urban Metro's, where I never had to explain logic to any of them: In Iowa it's becoming problematic. Anyone reading this can share this freely with anyone, though I doubt it would do any good. Visit this commercial–free site for much more relevant data and links: Micro-Mobile.org

So I understand that almost all bureaucrats are followers, because after all, the bulk of humanity are the followers of those in front of them and those who came before them. Owning a car is itself the proof of sheeple level followship. It would be horrifying, not to see how destructive and dangerous the Car Cult is; they're a public announcement of a desperation for the approval of others, or worse, a confession of psychopathy.

Critically, individual independent thought and/or critical thinking, seems to escape the bulk of our species, even among those with formal educations, and who use those terms. I get all kinds of responses, much of which confirms the reader is simply unable to comprehend the data. They've been conditioned to process inside a very small cultural box; thinking outside that box is literally incomprehensible.