Last week, we told you that Raleigh ranked 3rd in a list of the worst large cities for living car-free by City Lab, which covers “all things urban” and is part of The Atlantic. The top 10 worst “large metro” cities to live car-free are Birmingham-Hoover (no. 1), Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin (no. 2), Raleigh (no. 3), Oklahoma City (no. 4) + Kansas City, MO (no. 5). And, the top large cities for living without a car include San Francisco, Boston, New York, Seattle + Portland.
The “metro car-free index,” which was created based on:
- share of households that don’t have access to their own vehicle
- share of commuters who take transit to work
- share of commuters who bike to work
- share of commuters who walk to work
- Data came from American Community Survey (part of the U.S. Census), which covers 382 U.S. metropolitan areas.
We asked you what you thought on Instagram: “How easy do you think it would be to live car-free in the City of Oaks? Think walkability, bikeability + access to public transit.” 🚴
Here’s what you said:
- “I sold my second car in favor of a bike as my primary transportation. It’s been a good experience, even with living in East Raleigh, but it wouldn’t be possible to go completely car free at this time! Definitely more that could be done to improve!” – @jonhorton
- “I think downtown specifically, it can be possible. It certainly has that potential. But anywhere outside of the tall buildings, it’s just not possible.” – @danarochelle
- “As the city continues to grow, we absolutely must work very hard on promoting sustainable growth -- a large part of which is walkability, safe routes for bikes, accessible and efficient public transit, etc.” – @godlevskaya.di
- “If you live right downtown, increasingly easy. Raleigh’s land-use differentiates A LOT as you get away from core though & to retrofit that will be heavier lift. We’re a 1-car family & find bus, bike combo works well for the majority of trips. Car is mostly parked (& that’s w/ 2 kids).” – @raleighbikelady
- “Bring back the birds!!!” – @jkeagle27
- “I don’t think it was be easy, I haven’t heard the bus system is very convenient either. I would love to use public transportation instead, it’s just easily accessible.” – @maddyebbert
- “Even ITB it would be hard because so many of the major cross-town roads aren’t bike friendly at all. Right in the middle of downtown is probably aight but still not great.” – @rediscoveringnc
The city is working hard to grow transportation options. Last month, the City Council voted in favor of a rezoning request, that will make it possible for the city to build a bus transfer facility at the Raleigh Union Station, which will become a “multimodal hub,” increasing transportation access. The larger plan includes a 37-mile commuter rail project, which is outlined in the Wake Transit Plan. 👏
We’ll keep updating you + having conversations about Raleigh’s transportation access. Let us know – How do you get to work? Take the poll below. ⬇️
