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Comment by kabdib | Hacker News Reader

When I worked at Apple, I lived about half a mile from campus. I'd often go a week without even getting into my car; I could walk to everything important, including grocery stores. There were three very good bookstores within a 20 minute walk [now all out of business, btw].

I miss that.

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I can't imagine life not being that way. I live in NYC and can walk to everything important, or take a short subway ride to anything else. I've gone months without getting in a car- if I ever move I think I'd miss that a lot.

Same here in Victoria, BC. (population: ~300,000) I think downtown living in most cities is similar.

Wow, someone from Victoria! That's a rarity. I went to UVic and lived in Vic for about three years. Getting around in Vic without a car is definitely a little more difficult, mostly because the bus service is so cruddy.

Still, I miss Victoria. I try to get back every year for the Beerfest.

Small world :) There are at least a few of us here on HN (that I know of).

Everything I need is downtown so I rarely bus anywhere. Living out by uvic would be annoying without a vehicle though.

I'm from Victoria as well. I didn't think anyone else on hn was from here.

It is the same way in Chicago as well. I went 2 years without driving a car at all, but obviously taxis were a necessity.

I was actually penalized when I renewed auto insurance for not carrying it for 2 years, despite not owning a car nor driving at all.

Robust public transportation should be a huge initiative for all major cities, and even more so ones that are growing quickly. The efficiencies, environmental impact, and convenience for citizens are too much to ignore.

Same here, in Raleigh, NC. Haven't had a car in years. Its been the best decision I've ever made for my own peace of mind.

If you're willing to walk a bit and take some buses, you don't need a car. And you find really cool places while walking that else you'd never know existed.

It's a huge reason why I constantly miss NYC. Right now I live in suburbia and don't get to walk very often.

You don't know what you've got till it's gone... etc.

I do this now in Cambridge, MA.

I really can't imagine myself living in a place where I'm required by circumstance to drive everywhere. Walking, public transport, taxis and Zipcar cover all the bases.

http://www.walkscore.com/score/Central-Sq.-Cambridge-MA

I worked down the street from Apple in the late '80s, early '90s, at a place on DeAnza a little south of McClellan, and lived in the apartments that border Stelling and the 280, so biked through that area a lot.

What were the three bookstores? I only remember "A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books" being reasonably close to that area.

We probably lived in the same apartment complex then (late 80s, early 90s).

There were "A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books", "Computer Literacy" and Staceys.

For a while in '91-92, Computer Literacy was actually _in_ Infinite Loop building #1, and then they started to fail and went online or something.

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