I too pretty much gave up my car a year ago (still own it, it was sitting in my driveway for a year and is now on permanent loan to a friend)and really haven’t missed it. Luckily I work downtown, live in inner NE within walking distance of lots of shops (including a New Seasons) and am 1 block from a very frequent (and easy) bus line to MAX, Rose Quarter Transit Center and downtown. However, I am also a household of one who can usual work from home as desired, and I don’t need to buy much nor take kids to and from school, activities, etc. I borrow my car now about 1x a week for errands or just rent a car for longer trips (car rentals are CHEAP right now between $18 and $22 a day), other times I just bike, walk or bus it. Late at night I cab it on occasion, but usually after a drink or three so I don’t really want to drive then anyway. I was going to buy a new (or newish) car this year, but now, nah. I’m going to stay carless for a while longer for sure.

I was also really disappointed in FlexCar. It seems to make absolutely no financial sense to me to join given their fees and hourly rates. Am I the only one here who feels this way?

Anyway, rambling off topic…but Portland is so much better prepared than so many other American cities right now who have experienced abandonment of their downtowns and inner ring older “street car suburbs” and have instead focused on suburban auto-oriented sprawl for both housing and job centers (mmmm Atlanta anyone?). And sure, I’ll be the first to criticize TriMet (broken ticket machines, lame service routes North to South from NE to SE), but I couldn’t have gone carless as long as I have without them, and overall I’m pretty satisfied with the arrangement.