Going Car Free case studies

In January, we teamed up with local residents from cities across the UK to research how possible it was for them to live car free. We wanted to find out the experience of real people who transitioned to a car free lifestyle for 21 days - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Reducing car use is crucial to improving our environment, our health, and our communities, but just how easy is it to go car free?

Read what our participants had to say.

Funmi’s Story

Funmi is in her 20s, lives in Stamford Hill, and is a single mum of one. She has a 2 mile school run with her 7 year old daughter Grace and a 5 mile commute to her part time job at a Tesco superstore. 

Funmi learned to drive when she was 18 and had always felt that it was her duty as a parent to be a driver. She felt that her daughter was safe and protected in the car, and that it was the safest way to travel, especially after dark. 

Yet, when a fellow mum from Grace’s class shared the recruitment advert on the parents’ WhatsApp group, Funmi was intrigued by the idea of going car free. Driving had become more inconvenient since the introduction of numerous low traffic neighbourhoods in her area, and finding parking near her home was a hassle as there was no controlled parking for residents. Could she manage her regular trips without the use of her car? Funmi wanted to find out if another way was possible.

Carry Me Bikes loaned an electric Tern GSD family bike to Funmi so she could carry Grace on the back. Her previous cycling experience was limited to using hired Santander bikes in parks for leisure. So she had a few cycle skills training sessions with local instructor Earlyna Edwards, which really built her confidence - “I learned so much about positioning on the roads, observation, interacting with other road users”. Having practised the route to school in her training, Funmi was confident to cycle the school run and found that it was quicker than driving as well as more enjoyable. The LTNs and School Streets meant that the ride felt safe. 

Because afterschool activities meant travelling in the dark in the winter months of the trial, Funmi and Grace initially replaced their car journeys to gymnastics and swimming lessons with bus journeys, because this seemed the less daunting option. They found  that the time spent waiting around for buses was annoying! After another lesson with Earlyna to practise routes, discovering the pleasure of cycling along the River Lea and past the Marshes, Funmi used the Tern GSD for subsequent afterschool activities. She was surprised how safe the journey home in the dark felt, due to the segregated cycling infrastructure. 

Funmi had to adapt to carrying the heavy bike up the steps to her flat as there was no other storage option. She got used to locking and unlocking the bike. The prep needed for cycling such as gloves, bike locks, became easier once it became her routine. She practised the route to work in one of her cycling lessons, but wasn’t able to commute to work by bike due to lack of secure storage at work - despite the Tesco superstore having thousands of car park spaces. The train provided a pleasant alternative but the cost was prohibitive in the long term. Funmi commented “I didn't need to think about going for a walk or going to the gym for exercise, because I was getting exercise during my commute, either by walking to the station or by cycling.” 7 year old Grace also enjoyed riding to school on the Tern and turning the heads of her peers by arriving on a stylish family bike!

The Tern GSD has gone back to Carry Me Bikes now, and Funmi is saving up to get bikes for herself and Grace in future. But once she is in a position to buy, storage of two bikes is going to be a challenge, unless Hackney Council urgently increases the number of cycle hangars in her area.

Julia’s Story

A working mum of three (kids between the ages of 10-15), Julia enjoyed the freedom of being able to go anywhere whenever she wanted or needed to. The car wasn’t just for her; knowing that her kids didn’t have to wait at a bus stop, that they were safe in one piece and close by was important to her (understandably).

Climate change does worry Julia, and as a family they try and make environmentally friendly choices - put their money where their mouth is. But when it comes to travel, the main barrier is the worry that they won’t be able to get to where they need to be without their car. As a  family of five, there are a lot of appointments, after school clubs, sports, shopping, etc. and making that parental jump letting the kids travel alone sometimes is hard.

Julia was keen to look at options they might not have considered before and to really ask herself - do I actually need my car? She is also excited to help shape change in the city.

Whilst taking part in the challenge, Julia really threw herself into trying different sustainable travel options and didn’t use her private car at all! And whilst the buses were a real struggle for her (quite anxiety-inducing for a number of different reasons), cycling, the e-bike, and the car club were really exciting!

Julia found the e-bike to be a fantastic tool, stating that it was so much more accessible and much easier to use on all the hills. But the cycle paths in the city are wild, disjointed, and confusing. Although her kids learnt a lot about road safety and awareness, and became more confident cycling in the city, more needs to be done in terms of infrastructure and also other road users.

Julia was really taken with the car club - a big fan! It was really useful to be able to use a car on the one day a week where lots of family appointments fall. Having said this, it was quite a contrast to suddenly be stuck in traffic after three weeks of whizzing past on a bike. Julia really noticed how much car use affected her mood, compared to other more active forms of travel.

So, does she actually need her car? Well, after the trial, Julia found that they don’t need their car as much as they thought they did. And where previously she ferried her kids around everywhere, having them take the bus to school whilst she cycled to work freed her up a bit more - all she had to worry about was getting herself home and then enjoying a bit of extra free time to herself.

Has she gone car free? Julia has sold her car, and her partner has swapped theirs for an electric one. Although feeling a bit anxious about selling her car at first, it now feels like a weight off her shoulders; not having to worry about petrol, tax, or repairs. Plus this frees up some money for their family to get solar panels!

Michelle’s Story

Michelle lives in Croydon with her partner/husband Mark and works as a trauma therapist in the Catford/Croydon area. Michelle’s car use largely came from her volunteer work at her church’s local food bank doing weekly deliveries, and making  regular trips to Maidstone for work. Additionally, she has three young grandchildren and is involved in the care and school pick-ups for two of them. 

Before the Going Car Free trial, Michelle hadn’t cycled for nearly 30 years. She had come to depend on her car for all of her journeys, even trips to the local shop, and she valued the comfort and convenience of driving, especially since there is an abundance of unrestricted, free parking in her borough. 

As a self-described “petrolhead”, how would Michelle fare without her car for three weeks?

At the start of the trial Michelle said she felt “terrified” of leaving behind her car - a Mercedes with nice warm heated seats in winter. But she threw herself into the challenge and tried a range of alternatives: Electric bike, cargo-tricycle for the school run, trains, trams, buses and walking.

Peddle My Wheels loaned Michelle a cargo-tricycle for the school run and trips to after school activities. The children loved observing the changing seasons and became more aware of their environment compared to going to school by car. Michelle noticed that the journeys allowed them to interact and enjoy the adventure as they sat facing each other in the box. They were disappointed whenever Michelle came to pick them up without the cargo-trike. 

Wheels for Wellbeing loaned Michelle an e-bike which she used for commuting to work. She did several journeys by public transport and reported positive experiences, particularly enjoying the switch to train journeys for her regular trips to Maidstone, as she found it relaxing and enjoyed being able to work or chat with her colleague on the journeys -”this is definitely the way to travel!”. Having previously driven to her friend’s house for a weekly social walk together, Michelle started walking some of her journeys and found it a great way to reflect and unwind after heavy sessions with clients, but she found she was constantly dodging dog mess on the pavements.

Michelle found going car free so liberating that she sold her beloved Mercedes and bought an e-bike instead. She now walks the kids to school, cycles to work, uses public transport more and says “We are so happy!”

Taking part made her think about her carbon footprint and impact of her travel choices on the climate. 

Although the cargobike had to be returned, they now walk to school rather than using the car - since they don’t need to spend time looking for parking, it doesn’t take any longer than driving used to. “It was all about breaking the habit of driving everywhere”. 

Discovering that you don't need special clothes to cycle; the benefits of a car free school run for the kids; feeling fitter all changed her perception on car ownership. After breaking the habit of driving, Michelle sold her car as a result of the trial and bought an e-bike instead. Now she shares her daughter’s car when she needs one. 

Michelle spent the most on public transport and the most on taxis out of our participants. Also, the value of the cargo bike and e-bike loans contributed to the massive extra cost of Michelle’s travel during the trial.

Emma’s Story

A previously frequent Active Traveller found herself driving more and more on a daily basis when her family decided to get a camper van, which was initially only intended for day/weekend-trips out of the city. The convenience of using the van, coupled with feeling like you get to places faster, led to her becoming more and more reliant on it, even though Emma was aware of the environmental/climatic impacts of driving. Not to mention the road rage and sense of entitlement that driving brought her - completely juxtaposed with her true nature outside of the van!

She was interested to see how easy/hard she would find going car free now that she had become so dependent on driving in such a short space of time. Emma was also intrigued to learn what alternatives were available to her and actually accessible with  a new four-month old baby.

Through the process of Going Car Free, Emma found herself enjoying the challenge of doing something different, learning about new bus routes, discovering the joy of e-bikes, and being able to travel and explore the city with her baby.

Where previously she would have been held up in congestion, getting frustrated and resentful, she now zooms through bike lanes, knowing that she’ll reach her destination quicker and happier! 

Emma noted that when she was driving everywhere, her life was hectic. She rarely said “no” to events/meet-ups and would often drive to meet the other person. By using the van less, her life is less hectic, and when she does say “yes” to events/meet-ups, they meet halfway. The “convenience” of the van is nothing compared to the ease, and lower stress levels of going car free.

Shaheen’s Story

Shaheen is an NHS clinician, a single mum of two boys who is also doing a part time masters degree. Shaheen has an extremely busy schedule with up to 8 trips per day, including afterschool activities. Her neurodiversity means that Shaheen finds public transport stressful at times, whereas cycling helps her to manage her symptoms and reduces her need for medication. 

Before the trial Shaheen had already discovered the mental health benefits of cycling and enjoyed riding her Brompton bike  several miles to college. But she felt dependent on her car for commuting to school, nursery and work and was frustrated by the time lost on driving around looking for a parking spot and the high costs of petrol. Keen to try alternatives to the car, Shaheen borrowed a Tern GSD family e-bike from Carry Me Bikes to see if it could work as a replacement for the car. Her boys loved the fun of being on the bike although Shaheen worried about them catching cold on the frosty days - warm gloves and hats were a must. The e-assist was great for zooming up the steep hills around her area and it was great to be free from parking stresses. But living on the 9th floor of a block of flats with no secure cycle storage meant that disassembling the child seat and panniers and wrangling the bike into the lift every day was tiresome on the days that they had several trips to make. Taking down the bike and setting it up also added 15 minutes onto the time needed to get to school. Secure cycle storage would have made a huge difference to Shaheen’s experience, which highlights the need for proper cycle storage on housing estates.

Since the trial ended and the Tern went back to Carry Me Bikes, Shaheen and her sons have been walking and cycling more, having realised that many locations were closer than they’d realised. And with the imminent introduction of a School Street at her son’s school (where through traffic is not allowed at school pick up and drop off times, they have even more incentive to cycle to school and find it less stressful than driving. The Brompton is now fitted with a child seat for the youngest son and the eldest son rides his bike (which has been adapted by disability charity Reach to suit his congenital hand difference) Shaheen then continues on to work at the hospital on her bike. 

The trial helped her to experiment with different transport modes and she’s become more confident taking her Brompton on the train for some journeys, overcoming some of her anxiety about public transport. A family e-bike is still on her wishlist having experienced the benefits - along with some thermals for her boys for those cold winter journeys!

The need for secure cycle storage on estates/ social housing; Women’s trip-chaining; city planning for local journeys not just radial ones; designing cities for children; family e-bikes an an alternative to owning a car

Shaheen’s shift to cycling meant she spent no money during the trial. Shaheen was a Zero Car Use Hero over the trial, not using the car or any car-based mode at all.

Nathanael’s Story

Nathanael is 35 and lives in the Troopers Hill/Crews Hole area of Bristol. This is quite a hilly area that is further than average from bus routes. Nathanael is a lodger, and has an 11-year-old child. He is a DJ with a radio show and loves walks in nature. He works as an Emergency Care Assistant in the ambulance service and so often works long shifts (sometimes 70-74 hours a week). He owns a campervan that he generally uses to get to the ambulance station, a journey which isn’t feasible by bus for the hours he works. If his shift runs long, he can then stay on site and go straight into the next shift. He also works outside of Bristol (e.g. Falmouth, Torquay, Exeter) regularly to cover different ambulance stations. 

Before the challenge, he already walked and used e-scooters for leisure activities. Nathanael was a Zero Car Use Hero, not using his car or indeed any car-based mode (Car Club, taxi, lifts) during the whole three weeks, and instead using a borrowed bike, Voi e-scooters and buses.

Nathanael thoroughly enjoyed cycling to work - he felt less stressed, enjoyed the exercise, and relished the opportunity to clear his head after work.  

Nathanael is not ready to give up his beloved campervan for trips to see his family in Devon, but he’s loved the experience so much that he now wants to buy his own bike for his commute into work. 

Hannah’s Story

Hannah is 25 and lives in Brislington in south-east Bristol. She works long hours as a recruitment consultant in Clifton from 8am to 6pm, and sometimes longer. She uses her car for most journeys but considers it a bad habit. Hannah is really aware of the environmental crisis, she knows private cars contribute to the problem, and she also recognises that driving is a stressor that causes road rage, so she took on the challenge to try to drive less.  

During the challenge, Hannah predominantly walked and used the bus. 

Overall she was surprised to find it fairly easy to get to work with convenient bus routes there and back. She noticed feeling more relaxed and enjoyed the extra time she could use to prep for work. However, she found that using public transport required a lot more pre-planning, and could occasionally be unreliable. 

She also rediscovered her local shops were just a 10 minute walk away. She realised that she did not need to drive these short journeys as she had gotten into the habit of doing. But she also expressed concern about walking longer distances alone in the cold, dark nights of January. 

On the first week of the challenge, Hannah witnessed a bus collision with a cyclist and she didn’t use a bike, e-bike or e-scooter during the challenge largely due to lack of experience and concerns about road safety. Hannah felt that more protected cycle lanes in Bristol would make her want to try cycling or e-scooting.  

Hannah sees her car as a safety net, and whilst she isn’t ready to give it up just yet, she says the trial made her realise she doesn’t need it for all journeys: “I don't actually need to use my car all the time, and it is probably a lot easier and quicker to walk quite a lot of the time… for smaller journeys, going into the town centre… I could get the bus for things like that.”

Kate’s Story

Kate is 39, and lives in St George in Bristol with her husband and her 4-year-old daughter. She works part-time from home on most days for the Environment Agency. Kate was sceptical about using buses ahead of the challenge because of previously uncomfortable experiences due to her disability. Sadly, there were some more negative experiences, with bus drivers pulling away before Kate and her daughter could sit down, leaving Kate with a minor injury. This trial confirmed to Kate that buses in Bristol need to be vastly improved with better training for drivers, better routes, better service, and they need to be more cost efficient. However, Kate enjoyed the flexibility of using the Voi e-scooters to run errands. 

One of Kate’s biggest frustrations was planning, particularly for weekend trips out with her family, with some frustration about the limitations but she enjoyed using a car club car to facilitate this. 

Since the challenge, Kate thinks she will use the Voi e-scooters more as the perfect solution for longer distances that are harder to walk: “They’re actually more quick and convenient than the car for some journeys.” She is also more likely to use a car club now that she knows how they work. Kate has gone on to actively campaign for a school street around her daughter’s school.

Joe’s Story

Joe is 40 and lives with his wife and two boys aged 7 and 4 in a house in Bournville in South Birmingham. He works shifts as a firefighter near the city centre. He has owned a car all his adult life and at the start of the experiment they were a two-car household.

Before the trial, they had considered getting rid of one car, and were participating to explore how possible this was. Joe often walked or cycled to work before the trial, and walked the children to school.

Joe found that the car free weeks required more planning, especially thinking about what might need to be carried, and that it was harder to take spontaneous trips. He did find that Voi e-scooters enabled a lot more spontaneity as they could make one way trips, and that they were still fine to use in the cold. He also used them in preference to cycling, especially as they were available for free during the trial. However, it wasn’t possible to use an e-scooter at night, so he would use a public hire (Beryl) bike instead. 

Being near to the cycle lane network helped with using the scooters and bikes. He also found that walking home after a late shift was pleasant but meant spending less time with family as he’d get home later. He also didn’t use public transport much during the trial because of reliability issues, finding e-scooters and cycling more convenient, and the Car Club appropriate when having to carry things. They found that their car use tended to be around moving the children. One of Joe’s trips involved wanting to use a Car Club car, and this was abandoned when one wasn’t available.

They have decided to replace their second car with an electric one, and then sell their first car to go down to being a one car household, despite having the largest cost increase per week of all the participants.

Faith’s Story

Faith is 42 and works full time at the University of Birmingham. She lives with her partner and 3 of her 4 children in Bournville and commutes to work in her 1996 camper van. She only learnt to drive around 4 years ago, then started using the car for almost all of her trips, though having been a two car household, her disabled partner has given up driving due to disability. 

She found that already doing most of their grocery shopping online helped with being able to participate in the trial . Their normal travel patterns included using the camper van for the school run,  commuting, and going to the shops on the way home.  They often made evening leisure trips in the car as well, often to the park or cinema, as well as collecting second hand items.

During the trial, one of the main problems was the logistics of travel to medical appointments for her partner, and that the bus wasn’t very convenient for travel to school. However, she mentioned that walking her son to school and taking an e-scooter back during the trial made things easier. On the other hand, bus reliability during rush hours was a major problem and she decided to walk sometimes carrying shopping when a bus wasn’t turning up. The e-scooters turned out to not be practical for shopping trips.

The biggest issue during the trial was planning a day trip for the family but finding the trains were cancelled, so ending up having to drive while also having paid for the tickets. This was a big contributor to them having spent more overall.

Since the end of the trial, she has continued to walk her son to school, and now finds herself questioning whether she should use the car for many trips. She now frequently uses the e-scooters to commute to work, finding that they can be faster than driving. Before the trial, they were considering a return to being a two car household, but that this may not happen now. She would also like to continue walking more.

Faith would like to see pavement parking restricted and less clutter from bins on the street, and would use the bus more if children travelled free. She thinks more positive encouragement for people to use their cars less would work better than restrictions.

Going Car Free 2022

Using the learnings from this first trial, we then challenged drivers across the UK to reduce their car use for the month of July. 966 drivers took part, and at the end of the month, 98% of them told us they were keeping it up, and reducing their car use for good!

By supporting people to switch to more low carbon journeys, together we’ve helped to cut carbon emissions, reduce air pollution, and keep streets safe - a huge thank you to everyone who got involved.

Click the button below to find out more about the challenge and what we achieved together.