Car Free in Cleveland

My husband and I moved to Portland, Oregon in May 2006 on a whim and sold our car right before moving. We traveled around Portland during our time there (through September 2007) entirely by transit, which was very easy to do because Portland has such a great transit system.

Upon moving back to Ohio for family reasons, we thought we'd need to get a car right away, but haven't yet because we realized we had gotten so used to our public transit lifestyle, that we felt no need to buy a car. It's all a matter of re-prioritizing and time management. No, grocery shopping isn't one big trip on the weekends; it's a number of smaller trips throughout the week. Going to Cleveland's West Side Market isn't a quick five minute drive, but it's a 20 minute bus ride that takes us through a really cool neighborhood.

We do carpool from time to time with friends to get places, but for the most part, it's walking and public transit for us and we honestly wouldn't have it any other way.

Clara Sayre, Lakewood, OH