About

My name is Patrick Quinton and I live with my wife and three kids in Portland, Oregon. Carfree World is a project that grew out of my own personal efforts to visibly reduce the role of the car in my own life. I left my job in June, 2006 and, after enduring a reverse commute from the city to the suburbs for many years, I decided we needed to establish a new relationship with our cars. This endeavor has been many things - challenging, exhilarating, eye-opening – but most of all it has been fun. My family and I have been reacquainted with the outdoors and our local neighborhoods, and we spend less time shopping and running around and more time enjoying each other’s company. Since beginning this effort, I have tracked our weekly mileage, and, after a few months, added statistics on trips. These statistics are available to all here.

This website began as a blog titled Cars Are Evil, which was primarily a place for me to record my observations about trying to live a carfree life and rant about why the world, and the U.S. in particular, makes carfree living so difficult. I changed the name and added features like resources and profiles pages to make the site more constructive for people who wish to explore or discuss the many facets of a less car dependent life. I still have much to say on the role of the car in American society, as summarized in my own personal philosophy on the topic, and continue to record my thoughts in the blog found on the main page.

In the interest of full disclosure, I possess no formal training or experience as a planner or transportation specialist. I earned an undergraduate degree in government from Dartmouth College and a masters in public policy from the University of Chicago, and have spent my business career specializing in housing and commercial finance. Much of what I write about is based on my deep affection for cities and my own observations as an extensive user of bikes, public transit and, yes, cars. I have lived my entire life in transit–oriented cities, having grown up in Chicago, and lived in Boston and Washington, D.C. In addition, my thoughts reflect a strong bias toward the proactive transportation and regional planning practices of cities like Portland, where we have happily made our home since 2001.

Despite our carfree aspirations, most of us depend on cars for certain essential functions in our lives and that will never change. The goal of a carfree life is to return the car to its original role as a practical tool that allows us to do things we wouldn’t be able to do on foot or other non-mechanized form of transportation. We weren’t meant to spend a large percentage of our lives inside a nicely upholstered metal box. We need to step out of the box and start living.

I welcome your comments and contributions to this discussion.