The factor that most directly influences your ability to live a car-free lifestyle is where you live. If you work outside of your home, proximity to your office is one factor to consider as you probably make that trip 5 days in a typical week. When choosing a neighborhood that supports car-free living, you must also take into consideration your home’s proximity to grocery stores, banks, recreation, restaurants, etc.
A few months ago, I came across www.WalkScore.com. You simply type in an address and it assigns a score of 0 to 100, based on how many banks, restaurants, markets, etc. are within easy walking distance. Neighborhoods that have scores above 80 are considered by the site to be “very walkable” and above 90 are classified a “walker’s paradise.” Based on my knowledge of Pittsburgh’s in-town neighborhoods, I would guess that one could easily live car free in any neighborhood with a walk score above 80. Here are some examples:
East Liberty = 86, Shadyside = 85, Southside Flats = 97, Lawrenceville = 91, Strip District (my home) = 89.
August 18, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Some South Hills neighborhoods with pretty good walk scores…
Dormont = 89, Castle Shannon = 68… those are probably the 2 best, certain parts of Mt. Lebanon would probably produce a high score
August 19, 2008 at 9:52 am
My walk score is just 20 so as you see my present neighborhood
is not very walkable. This service can be especially useful
for those who are going to buy a house cause it can help to
estimate a particular location. But how often do we walk nowadays?
I ve found one more service called drive score at
http://drivescore.fizber.com/ With it one can see how close
establishments are by car. Homes are often located in an
area where restaurants, libraries, grocery stores,
hospitals and other businesses are easier to get to by car than on foot.
September 29, 2008 at 4:35 am
It’s difficult to me to understand how computer counts my walk, drive and others scores. By what criterion it judges? I don’t agree with my mark and I feel upset! I don’t need most things (Gas Station, Railway Station) that computer proposing to me. But I found a service http://drivescore.fizber.com/ that offers me to choose things by myself. So my score become much higher then it was last time.