\u201cYour neighborhood is a game changer on how you feel and how well this works for you,\u201d Dos Santos said. She joined Transit Alliance, which advocates for reliable transit, out of frustration with using the transit system.<\/p>\n
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In her car-free lifestyle, she prefers taking the bus because it covers so much of the county. But it does come with its problems. Dos Santos\u2019 bus came early on the day she took the Miami Herald through her commute, which set her entire route behind. The journey usually takes 45 minutes, but that day her journey took over an hour and a half.<\/p>\n
She has a few alternative routes, too. \u201cIt all depends on how sweaty I\u2019m willing to get that day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Kenneth Garc\u00eda and his family have been without a car for more than a decade. He and his wife bought their house in South Miami and were intentional about living near their places of work, children\u2019s schools and other necessities, like a grocery store.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I found a cheat code where I avoid traffic altogether,\u201d Kenneth Garc\u00eda said. \u201cIt was really a quality-of-life decision more than anything. It\u2019s a great way to get your exercise in without really thinking about it, and environmentally it\u2019s just a bonus like icing on the cake.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Every morning, he loads his 5-year-old daughter, decked out in a hot pink helmet, into a seat on the back of his bike and drops her off at school before biking another 15 minutes to Dover, Kohl & Partners,<\/a> where he works as a principal city planner designing more sustainable communities.<\/p>\n The appetite to go carless in Miami is real.<\/p>\n A recent survey of 600 Miami voters conducted by Partnership for Miami<\/a> found that 49% of respondents would strongly consider using transit instead of driving a car if options were increased and improved. Everyone the Herald spoke to about using public transportation said saving money was one of the considerations for going car-free.<\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of CO2 emissions, transit makes a big difference. But also it\u2019s not affordable to pay rent and then have a car with parking and insurance,\u201d said Maria Claudia Schubert, a climate justice policy manager who works with Spicer at Catalyst.<\/p>\n Roughly 20% of what households spend in a year goes to getting around, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Gas alone is about 4% of annual household spending in Miami \u2014 one of the highest shares among major U.S. metro areas, according to the Census Bureau.<\/p>\n Garc\u00eda and his wife took the money they would\u2019ve spent on a car payment, insurance and gas and instead invested it in an apartment in Coral Gables they rent out.<\/p>\n But as commuters do the mental math on going carless, public transit\u2019s shortcomings can make the investment in a car seem worthwhile.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/883eae24ec51f912792d45a34f4a2b50.jpeg\"\/)
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