As promised, my list of least favorite cities and towns for carless living. Again, this is completely subjective. But, also, completely honest. The list goes in decreasing order of pedestrian-hostility (I’d say South Bend is more pedestrian-hostile than Austin). But that order is very approximate. I didn’t live in Indianapolis but the little time I’ve spent there convinced me that the city wasn’t meant for compulsive pedestrians.
I should be able to post some blog entries about all of these cities.
- South Bend
- Moncton
- Brockton
- (Indianapolis)
- Laval [Edit: Friday, April 11, 2008 5:32:21 PM]
- Austin
May 13, 2008 @ 16:59:13
I have lived in South Bend and Indianapolis. In my South Bend years, I walked or rode a bike everywhere. I found that it was immeasurably easier to do that in South Bend because there were sidewalks in most places. I did live there 25-30 years ago, but at that time I could walk to a grocery, a pharmacy, a barber shop, a five and dime, and a library. I’m pretty sure only the barber shop and library remain today.
In Indy, that’s true only in the oldest parts of the city. The rest of the city is “old suburbs” full of cul-de-sac neighborhoods. You can walk in your neighborhood, albeit in the street, but walking (or riding) out of it is risky because all neighborhoods dump out onto busy, narrow, shoulderless roads.
May 13, 2008 @ 21:11:04
@Jim My SB time was in 2004-5. Friends over there have been telling me that many interesting places had close in the preceding years. Walking from IUSB campus to downtown or to Notre-Dame campus wasn’t very hard but I can’t say it was that fun either. Not a lot of sidewalks, actually. And the transit system (Transpo) wasn’t extremely helpful.
I never lived in Indy but my perception is that it’s not meant for pedestrians at all. Maybe the order between the two is off but I spent too little time in Indy to be completely sure. Still, the bus and train station is nicely located, there’s a few interesting things downtown, there are some outdoor events, and taxis/limos are affordable and easily available. More than I could say about Michiana, where I once waited for hours to get a cab which ended up being quite expensive, where the bus and train stations are quite a bit out of the way, where outdoor events are close to nonexistent, and where interesting places are scattered around.
I guess I should have a post about South Bend.
Speaking of Indiana, I would say Bloomington is pedestrian-friendly. But it’s a better place for cyclists or drivers than for compulsive pedestrians.
Carboundedness and Carfreedom « The Compulsive Pedestrian
Aug 26, 2009 @ 13:55:00