On Living in Los Angeles Without a Car: A Debate

busla

Photo by Sarah Sulaiman LAStreetsblog.org.

Walkin’ in L.A., nobody walks in L.A.
Walkin’ in L.A.
Walkin’ in L.A., only a nobody walks in L.A.

– Missing Persons

Erik: It’s been nearly two months since a texting video producer totaled the car that Kelly and I shared: a 1993 teal Acura Integra hatchback. Except for a few car rentals, we haven’t been doing much driving. In short, we get to claim the olive wreath of eco-smugness: living car-free in the epicenter of car culture, Los Angeles. Not even the electric car driving Ed Begley Jr. can aspire to our level of self-righteousness. I’d like to continue the experiment.

Kelly:  Hmmm….do I get to be the bad guy in this debate? The car partisan? To me, it’s not so much a question of car or no car. I don’t like cars. I’d love to live without a car. The question for me is more like LA or no LA, because this city is built around the car. I want to live car-free, but I don’t want to do it here. I know it’s possible–we’ve been doing it. But it’s not pleasant.

Have you ever heard the term “pole shade”? It’s the thin sliver of shadow thrown down by the pole of a street light. People waiting for buses in LA huddle in the pole shadows, trying to shelter from the insanely intense LA sun. There are very few bus shelters here. Bus stops are ill-marked afterthoughts in an already unlovely urban landscape.  I stand in the pole shade, wondering if the bus will ever come, and I seethe about the way this city treats its pedestrians.

Erik: It’s a stereotype that LA is car-centric. If I had a dollar for every time some out of town journalist drops in here for a weekend and files a report repeating the “nobody uses public transit in LA” mantra I’d be a millionaire. LA has a very extensive public transit system. I will admit that I prefer to ride LA’s expanding rail system (sorry Bus Rider’s Union, trains are more comfortable and you’re not stuck in traffic with everyone else). Part of Kelly’s problem is what transportation wonks call “the last mile problem.” It refers to the inconvenient distance one needs to cover to get to the nearest train stop. We’re actually 1.8 miles from the nearest subway stop–a bit too far to walk, at least if you’re in a hurry. This is where the bike/train cocktail comes in. They go together like a good gin and tonic.

Kelly: Yep, and there’s the sticking point. The bike. I agree with Erik. The trains here are pretty nice, but it’s hard to get to them without a bike. It’s possible by bus, but amazingly tedious and backward and time wasting. Basically, public transportation here doesn’t support your life, it becomes your life.

Example: we went to visit Erik’s mom last week for a lunch date. She lives about 15 miles away. We left our house at 10 and came back at 5. We had a good long visit with her and about four hours of transit time total. Good thing we’re self-employed.

So yes, the only way to get around with any speed or dignity is to use a bike in conjunction with the trains or buses. My problem is that I’m frightened of riding in LA. I live with a bike activist. I’m not coming from a place of ignorance here. I know driving is dangerous in itself and you can ride defensively, etc. etc., but I’ve also seen what happens when a car hits an unprotected human body.  That sort of damage is not abstract. It’s not a call to the insurance company and a tow to the body shop. It’s a complete re-writing of your life script–if you’re lucky.

And since the rise of the smart phone and ubiquitous texting, I also see that nobody is paying any attention when they drive. It’s worse out there than it has ever been. Spend some time standing at the bus stop watching drivers and you’ll see what I mean.

As a matter of fact, right before we lost our car, Erik had been saying that he no longer felt comfortable out there on his bike (I’m outing you,honey!) and after years of pestering me to ride, had admitted that it was probably better for me not to. Not in LA. But now that story has changed, so he’s returned to his bike and is doing well with this car free lifestyle

For me though, I’ve found myself becoming more of a shut-in than ever since we lost our car. I’m happy to walk anywhere in a two mile radius. 3 miles for special occasions, if it’s not hot. I can walk to the library, the post office, the drug store, a few friends’ houses, some restaurants and coffee places and my exercise studio. I’m lucky in this way. But if I want to go anywhere outside my “village”, the prospect is daunting. So I don’t go. My world has closed in around me.

Whenever I complain about living in LA, Erik reminds me that it is a world class city with many amazing cultural attractions and opportunities that’s we’d miss if we gave it up. Well, I’ve given in up. As of now I’m living in a really, really expensive small town with terrible air quality.

Should I man-up and get on the bike? Erik, do you want to see me on the bike?

Erik: I want to see a more bike friendly Los Angeles for everyone including Kelly. Believe it or not, things are actually better than they used to be. After the Mayor’s bike accident in 2006 and a new head of the LA Department of Transportation, the city has been putting in more bike lanes (though, admittedly, they often don’t pay attention to details).

Bikes for me are a simple public health issue. We are looking at a present and future obesity and diabetes crisis of apocalyptic proportions if we don’t get our kids moving. But it’s going to take time. There is over a hundred years of car advertising deeply engrained into our subconscious minds–cars are much more than transportation–they are symbols of freedom, virility and safety. As one public health official put it, it took eighty years to reduce smoking, and it’s going to take just as long to get people walking and biking again.

We will know that bike infrastructure works when we see more women and school age kids riding bikes. And, the good news is that I see a lot of high school kids on bikes. I even had a pack of them pull me over one time so they could look at my road bike. I never thought that would ever happen in Los Angeles.

I understand Kelly’s objections to riding a bike. Paradoxically the answer might be along the lines of, “if you can’t beat them join them.” That is, how about we get that laptop our yours hooked up wirelessly to the interwebs so you can get some work done while you ride on the bus?

Kelly: Ugh. Why don’t I get a smart phone while I’m at it so I can spend all my transit time hunched over it, poking the screen and enjoying my virtual life. The virtual life is the important one, right? That’s what makes it okay for cities like this one to suck so much.

But I see that Erik and I are both doing something fairly useless, which is opining on how things should be. How this city could be improved. It doesn’t help in any immediate way with the issue at hand, which is whether or not we buy a new car.

Erik: Making cities safe for walking and biking is exactly the kind of issue where individuals, working with city officials, can make a difference. In short, we need more moms to show up with their kids at meetings and demand safer streets.

Kelly: Great. I’ll just live my Grey Gardens existence until the moms of LA mobilize and make this city into the Amsterdam of the West. Credit to Erik: he worked with the Bicycle Coalition in LA for a long time to make this place better. Many of his friends are still actively working the cause. They’ve made progress in the face of daunting resistance and apathy, but there is still such a long way to go.

Note: I feel like I should add an aside here. I know someone reading this is going to be asking, “What about Zip cars/car shares?”  The closest Zip car zone is about 3 miles away. We can get there by bus plus a little walking. It would probably take about 40 minutes to pick up a car, what with walking to the bus and waiting for the bus. It’s not impossible. It’s not that enticing, either.

Erik: There are also more informal car share arrangements. I know someone, who lives downtown, who is part of such a program. Maybe we should look into creating a car share program in our neighborhood.

Kelly: Well, yes, that is a possibility, but is it a likelihood? Are we going to actually get down to the legalities of setting up that system, finding partners, finding a car, committing to the time it would take to maintain such a project and really making it happen, or are we just going to talk about it?

This is getting pressing. I can get by for basic things without a car, but not having access to one has clipped my wings, especially when it comes to outdoor activities, which are important to me. I’ve already rented a car for a weekend outdoor skills course but I’ve also missed some interesting half day classes and lectures since the death of the car, since I couldn’t justify a rental for those occasions. I have no access to the mountains, and that makes me sad.

Also, I’m worried about the animals. We have a cat in heart failure. How will we get her to her specialty vets, both of which are in other cities?  What about emergencies? What about all the farm and gardening supplies we have to haul around?

It seems to me that deciding to live without a car in a city like this is a little like deciding to take religious orders. It involves a reworking of all your habits and considerable sacrifice. It would be much easier if we didn’t have pets and backyard livestock and a big garden. It would be easier if we lived closer to a train line.

I want to live a conscious life. I want to live lightly. I know one of the biggest failures of the environmental movement is that everyone is talking but no one is walking. Literally!! No one is walking. I’m as bad as everyone else.

Erik: Like so many other debates these days, we tend to fall into a dualistic trap–car vs. bike, boxers vs. briefs etc. Perhaps there’s a middle ground here. I still think there is great potential for a neighborhood car share, particularly with the large number of “creatives” here who work at home. We really only need a car periodically. And I have to say I really enjoy not having all the expenses and hassles relating to owning a car. It’s worth the extra wait for the bus. My last word? I don’t want us to end up like this:

Kelly:  Creative solutions are fine–if they happen.

My notion is to buy functional old beater with hauling capability. It won’t cost much to buy or insure. It already exists in the world, so we’re just doing the service of squeezing every last useful mile out of it. Having practiced living car free, we can continue to use the car only when necessary, as if it were a rental. For instance, we can be smart about combining shopping trips, and make rules about walking to destinations within, say, one mile.

Erik, you have three weeks to present me with a workable car-share scheme. June 11th is your deadline. After that, I’m hitting Craigslist.

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41 Comments

  1. A reasoned public debate framed within mutual respect… I totally have a huge crush on you two now!

  2. I have lived in LA and I hate that city. Say No to LA!

    What about converting a beater to biodiesel and writing about it?

    • A problem with biodiesel is that a lot of the most responsible sources of it in urban areas are already being put to use.

      Converting a beater to electric might be more like it, seeing as they tend to take short trips, are willing to plan extensively, and it’s a project that doesn’t need to start with a car that has a working engine.

      This could even be a long-range plan: components for the project, especially the batteries, can be acquired gradually and opportunistically while the beater’s IC engine still functions, and then once all the useful lifespan has been wrung from the engine, the body can remain useful.

  3. That was a very good back and forth. I’m from San Diego originally and have seen many of the same large-city Southern California issues you discuss. I think a huge part of the problem is LA itself. There are so many more more bike friendly than SoCal.

  4. I love the way you tackled this issue — I agree with points raised on both sides. Yes, you can live without a car in LA, but you need to plan your life around it. Here a a few things I swore by that made it doable:

    -Amazon Prime (free shipping on any order)
    -RelayRides (similar to Zipcar but there’s probably a car closer to you)
    -Cargo and/or electric bike (Yuba makes some great ones)
    -Burley’s Travoy bike trailer (bike trailer that detaches into a rolling NY style shopping cart)
    http://www.burley.com/home/bur/page_416/travoy.html

    Kudos to you both for your bravery and honesty! It’s refreshing you also acknowledge you may be happier by leaving LA. That’s what it came down to for me. Good luck!

    • Thank you for the tips! I had not heard of Relay Rides. Unfortunately for my lazy ass, there are no cars at this time in my immediate neighborhood, but the closest would be a quick bike ride. For Erik. It’s closer than the Zip zone. And I’m kinda excited because its a Volvo station wagon.

      Erik has a cargo bike. We wouldn’t have survived this long without it. Highly recommended to anyone and everyone. You wouldn’t believe how much stuff you can carry on a bike.

  5. Living without a car anywhere is really hard – I’ve been doing it for 25 years with 2 kids in various cities and towns, so I know what I’m talking about. In my experience, the only way to make it work is to let it change your life. Yes, you will get less done in a day, but I’ve come to appreciate that as a positive transformation. You will spend more time walking in places that are ugly and noisy, and sitting with strangers. That’s the reality of urban living – it’s what we’ve made our world. I bring a massive backpack to work on grocery days, I carry simple knitting, snacks, and slender paperbacks in my bag at all times, and frankly I am very, very happy to be the car-free oddity in my office and my suburban middle-class neighbourhood.

  6. I used to live in Los Angeles- yes, it is difficult to live there without a car. But, I got out. First to Tucson, where I really did mostly bike, and had a car for weekend excursions. Now, I live in a small town in Maryland, and I couldn’t get by without a car. At all. The nearest employment is 15 miles away, and public transport to that area is not viable- 2 buses a day. Likewise, I am within walking distance to the train. However, the train line will basically take me to DC and back. So, unless I want to spend 2-3 hours on the train, every day, plus another half hour to hour walking/biking/busing, it doesn’t do me any good. So, the work/life balance works out to this- I drive 30 miles a day, 5 days a week. However, that’s it. The rest of the time, I don’t use the car. That might not be acceptable to others, but, of the options available to me, it’s the best fit.

  7. I love this post. Obviously, there are NO simple answers to the personal transportation problem living in an urban area that was designed and built with cheap gas and everyone owning a car.

    I laughed out loud with the comment about the ‘pole shade.’ Too familiar to someone living in Las Vegas. (To be fair, our bus system has been installing bus shelters with shade structures to help, but on the busier routes, they are still insufficient.) I have to carry my own shade in the form of a compact umbrella.

    I have some friends who got together with 3 other like-minded families and have a ‘community car.’ One vehicle for the group. It is sometimes difficult with the scheduling, but they make it work. They all share the group expenses like insurance and maintenance, and they pay for the miles they drive. Works out quite inexpensively for them.

    Bicycling in Las Vegas is not any safer than it is in Los Angeles. By the time I graduated high school, I had gone through 3 different bikes, all victims of ignorant or malicious drivers. And the bus system here doesn’t even come within two miles of my home, but they will transport my bike for free.

    It’s difficult, but do-able. I’m not anti-car, it’s just not my personal preference for travel in the city. One of the key factors I would look at if the topic of relocation came up would be the urban transport options and the reality of commuter services, bicycle access and walking distances. To me that makes more sense than just the cost of the property.

  8. Just wanted to give thanks to all of the commenters who have chimed in so far with their stories and encouragement.

  9. I am an L.A. area native and grew up without a car and taking public transit. I know exactly what you two are talking about. But life is neither good or bad. Sure you could hold out and say you want things to change. OR you could get a car and make it a point not to use it much. A car is necessary for emergencies. Do you have aging parents? What if one of them fell? How would you get to them? What if one of you (or one of your animals) needed emergency care? Are you going to call 911 and pay the outrageous amount to transport? With the money you spend you could buy an inexpensive car. Just don’t get caught up in the car=status L.A. idea.
    L.A. sprawls. You need cars, unfortunately. If you want to live in an old city with walk ups and great transportation and the grocery on the corner then there will be other pay off.
    I’ll get off my soap box now and try to remember that I am not talking my own children. Good luck. Just remember that NO PLACE is perfect. Having lived all over I could not wait to get back to L.A. It gets in the blood! (it’s probably the smog! lol)

  10. Great debate! Thanks for sharing this. As I was reading this I was reminded how Los Angeles has always been a city of compromise for me. There is so much that I love about this city yet it can be a very hard place to live at the same time.

    I hope you guys can find a solution that works for both of you and keeps the peace in your relationship. =) My two cents is to get the used car if for no other reason that to make it more likely that you guys will be able to continue living here in LA. It would be a great loss to Los Angeles to lose Urban Homesteaders such as yourselves. If having a beat up, infrequently used, car in front of your urban homestead makes life in the big city a bit more possible then perhaps that is the compromise the city demands.

    I look forward to see where you go from here.

  11. I have asked before, and so have other commenters.

    Why L.A.? I mean fair enough, if you love it, but L.A. is not going to collapse into something smaller and picturesque. I don’t see a reasonable Transition for L.A.

    So, why haven’t you guys moved? Please share…

    • Why LA? Well, I never thought I’d end up living in LA, or that I would end up staying here longer than I’ve remained in any city in my entire life. Life is strange that way.

      It’s all Erik’s fault. Erik is native to LA. His family has lived in LA since the 1920’s. He’s lived in LA all his life except for a grad school interlude in San Diego. So (in my opinion) Southern California and all its craziness is normal for him. Sure, he sees the problems — but still, its sorta like asking fish to reject his water. I’ve lived many places, including San Francisco (and I have family there), so I think I get more offended, more easily, about this city, and I’ve never embraced the city as my own. I’m a perpetual visitor.

      On a more immediate level, we moved here after we married to be closer to Erik’s parents. He is an only child. Now his mother is 88, so we want to stay close to her. (Though with worsening traffic and transport as bad as it is, we’re 45 minutes – 1 hr from her in practical terms, which isn’t really “close” — but we make it work.)

      The other thing that has happened in all our time here is that we’ve rooted in our community and made friends. We even know lots of our neighbors–how about that? Basically, we rarely go out anywhere without running into people we know–and that’s a nice feeling. It would be very hard to leave these networks behind and start all over somewhere.

      Not immediately, but in a few years, my own family may need me closer, and at that point we’ll have to make a choice.

  12. We have one car to our two person household. I work too late to feel comfortable on the bus, so my partner tends to be the one on the metro. He likes it better than the car. As for bikes, I’m in the slightly scared party, but I admire everyone who can make it work. These Bike Trains just started up and I think it’s a brilliant idea.

    http://labiketrains.com/

  13. Those are all excellent reasons, and a very clear reminder of the reality of our contracting world. There are a lot of better options, but not all of them are our options…

  14. As someone who has lived car free in los angeles for a few years, I have to say, just rent one when you need it! If you cant find a viable transit solution to get to your mom’s or a specialty vet, it is way way way way cheaper to rent a car for a weekend a month than to own one. The vast majority of trips do not require a car. I’ve visited you by transit from Santa Monica!

    But if you need to use one once in awhile, just rent. So many people forget about that option

  15. Also, neighbors. There is probably someone you know who wants to go to the half day class and carpool with you. I’ve done that with my neighbor.

  16. I don’t own a car and live in L.A., and it is a bit restrictive when så¥, there’s a chicken meet-up in Norco, or something going on in Malibu, or Orange County, or even events downtown in L.A. Biking for me I can handle about an hour on my bike, I’m just not in shape for 2 hours excursions downtown. For that I take the buses. I really hate waiting for the bus. And then the lethargic feeling of sitting on a bus forever when it really is faster or takes the same amount of time on your bike… But I digress. Car culture here in L.A. needs to change if things are to be more bicycle friendly. I am terrified when I go out on my bicycle. I don’t bike near parked cars because I have heard more than enough horror stories of people dying when they get doored into an oncoming bus. Then I have impatient L.A. drivers scaring the crap out of me by blaring their car horns for ‘hogging’ up their precious lane, when the lane next to them is empty for them to move over to. Just yesterday I was waiting at a red light in front of a rusty bucket muscle car. I don’t wait at the curb because this keeps cars from turning right, plus there were children and parents all over the sidewalk so I did what I usually do. When the light turns green, I immediately pedal to the right so cars can pass me. As I waited, this meat head starts violently gunning his engine at me, startling me. I turned around to give him a dirty look and he stared back emotionlessly. I very cheekily wanted more than anything to just take my sweet time, but my sense of self-preservation steered me out of his way once the light turned and he went roaring off. There was just something about his icy stare that really rattled me. There are far too many cases of road rage here in L.A. against bicyclists. I try to develop a bit of a thick skin to childish drivers, but it’s hard to when my life is seriously in jeopardy every time I’m on my bike in a sea of self-entitled motorists.

  17. As long as you sin as little as possible – that is, limit your driving where practical and possible – there isn’t really much ethical difference between owning a cheap car and renting one, carpooling, using a zipcar and paying your neighbors to haul you around.

    It’s been mentioned several times that you grow your own vegetables and keep bees and chickens, but you also buy things like chocolate, coffee and wine. Owning your own car is no different than that, if you use it wisely. Fanaticism in the service of any cause is over-compensatory at best and self-indulgent at worst.

  18. Were it not for the accident I suppose you would still be car owners who drove sparingly but without too much angst?

    Then I would say get a cheap car because it sounds as if the quality of Kelly’s life has been substantially affected for the worse by the loss of the car. Especially if its to a degree which either of you would consider unacceptable for your partner to endure in other circumstances.

    And how did you get the straw bales home without a vehicle?

  19. I think the difference between owning a car and renting one is cost. the insurance alone is more than I spend on transportation in a year now and that could include car rentals.

    There’s also the cost of storing it. Are you storing on a public street or in a garage? While Kelly and Erik have a house already, it is far cheaper for us to rent an apartment without an underground parking space.

    Then there is the upkeep. All the time that goes into preserving the vehicle, and the opportunity cost of missing out on the time I spend reading on the bus or staring out the window.

    Obviously the Homegrowns will do what is best for them, but personally, deciding to live without a car in los angeles has been the greatest life improvement I’ve made in the last 5 years.

  20. Kelly seems unhappy at this point because her life is contracting. If you do not have a car and decide on any other option, will you be able to get the cat to the doctor in an emergency or to your mother’s home if she needs you quickly? Sharing a car seems like a good thing, but will you be able to get your turn when an emergency arises? You really cannot schedule emergencies.

    Does anyone use a parasol in LA? We still use them here in the South.

  21. We are down to one car, as we have been fixing up our old pos for our 15 yr old.We have made the choice to taper down to one vehicle, for now. Im a stay at home mom, and we dont need a car for me. I really feel for kelly, as i know how hard it is to watch your world get smaller and smaller every day. Im slowly learning how to use the bus system, and really trying to take advantage of the huge change in availability in our small town. This is a well thought out, need vs want problem. I look forward to your solution.

  22. I live in Denver(Not quite the car trap of LA, but a big city nonetheless), and while I use my bike as my main form of transportation I cannot get away from owning a car. Even when it sits for weeks in the driveway I can’t seem to kick it entirely. The risk there, is that with the temptation always around it’s much easier to decide to drive. I have a friend who is car-less, and I am shamed by her hard core bike commitment. But when we decide to go camping, that car is invaluable. I would love to see more carshare systems that cater to the outdoorsy types, station wagons on call that can be taken out for a few days at a time.

  23. Just a little comment – here in New Orleans I often see people walking with an umbrella when the sun is beating down, maybe more than when it’s raining. It’s not really odd here, and I had my grandmother’s shade umbrella but it finally rotted away; it was over eighty years old. Maybe you can start a trend there?

    • Oh, folks definitely carry umbrellas here for shade. It must be a southern technology. 🙂

  24. My boyfriend is moving to L.A. from Mexico City soon, and I’m considering joining him. Here in Mexico City, I can very easily walk to the grocery store, the tailor, the park, the dry cleaner’s, shoe repair — you name it — not to mention tons of restaurants. Public transportation is great, but I don’t even have to use it that often. Oh, and there’s an easy and cheap bike-share program that covers a huge area.

    Which part of L.A. would be most like where I live now?? I’m very worried about giving up my easy urban lifestyle!!! 🙁

    • Well, LA will not be as accommodating as Mexico City, but there are a few good neighborhoods. I like my own neighborhood: Echo Park/Silver Lake very much. It is very walkable, very pleasant. The one downside is that there’s no train which goes through it, so to access the subway system you have to travel a bit by bus or bike. If I were moving to LA and didn’t plan to have a car I’d try to get a place within walking distance of a subway line. Downtown LA has had a renaissance lately–that would be a good place to start looking.

  25. You could get a smartphone and use Uber or Lyft, car sharing networks that are already set up and scaled in order to help people just like you! I know new technology seems awful to you, but once technology gets old, you might like it. For example, bicycles are a technology, as are trains and buses. So smartphones may not be as bad as you think. Reading, by the way is also virtual, it is not the “real world” either. And by the way, living in a suburban home with a big garden and complaining about lack of public transport is a bit… odd. Expecting public transportation in very spread out areas may be unrealistic because of the expense for society. A better choice would be to live somewhere dense and urban where public transport becomes much more cost effective for society as a whole.

  26. You could get a smartphone and use Uber or Lyft, car sharing networks that are already set up and scaled in order to help people just like you! I know new technology seems awful to you, but once technology gets old, you might like it. For example, bicycles are a technology, as are trains and buses. So smartphones may not be as bad as you think. Reading, by the way is also virtual, it is not the “real world” either. And by the way, living in a suburban home with a big garden and complaining about lack of public transport is a bit… odd. Expecting public transportation in very spread out areas may be unrealistic because of the expense for society. A better choice would be to live somewhere dense and urban where public transport becomes much more cost effective for society as a whole. Santa Monica anyone? Venice? Suburbia is not a good place to be demanding public transport since its whole purpose is to spread people out and connect them more closely to nature, spread out places are by definition very difficult to provide public transportation! Imagine requesting public transport for farmers! Public transport require density to be cost-effective. Now transport corridors in the suburbs is a distinct possibilty… or self-driving cars…or Brooklyn!!!

  27. Oh, and it is inappropriate to complain about the “virtual” world on a “virtual” platform like a website ,especially one which solicits comments. There is nothing more “virtual” than a website! We who regularly inhabit virtual spaces like books and websites might find your distaste for our lifestyles offensive! Think about it!

  28. lyft, uber, sidecar and flywheel are all good examples of car sharing services that smartphones make possible.

    Another idea is to push to change the illiberal zoning codes that limit the size of our homes and the density of homes in a neighborhood. Individual and minority rights over majority rules! Onward Tiny House Movement! Down with overregulation!

  29. Organic Transit – bikes built to function as small cars(but too expensive)!
    Elio motors – low cost enclosed motorcycle-like 3 wheeled fuel efficient cars! Production in 2014!
    Lit motors – also have two wheel cars!
    Vespa or a cheap scooter! That’s what they do in Taiwan and Vietnam, I don’t really understand why it’s not more popular in SoCal.
    Electric Bikes!

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