Family Life In Finland Without A Car — It’s Not Easy But Possible
It is possible to live without many commodities, owning a car being one of those. Sadly, as the essay by Freund and Martin cites “the automobile is the dominant means of transport for people living in mature capitalist countries — and in some, the only viable means of mobility,” thus meaning that car ownership has for long dictated our lives. It has told us how we move, what we do and when we do it — and even the status we have in front of friends and family.
Thankfully, as the rise of ride sharing options and renting possibilities permeate our lives, the status behind car ownership has deteriorated with time and lost share as the de-facto option for mobility — especially amongst younger generations.
Sadly, you still don’t get access to the new and exciting options if you don’t even have a driver’s license — that’s the story of my husband and me.
For us it just happened by chance.
In our 30s, it’s easy to look back and understand why we never took on the responsibility that came with car ownership: taxes, repairs, depreciation of the vehicle (it loses value by day), parking fees, and loan costs. In Finland, even the cost of getting your driver’s license is a whopping expense nearing the thousand euro mark.
Initially, when I came to Finland eight years ago, I had a boyfriend who had a car — we drove everywhere. Indeed, that was exciting as a newcomer. We drove everywhere because back then, we lived 10km away from town without access to frequent public transportation.
In those cases, you’re bound to make it work for you. As much as I try to convince myself that I should buy a car because of how easier it could be and all the places I could go— my past but also the future that I want to be part of keeps me from it.
When I was pregnant with my daughter in the middle of a turbulent relationship with my ex, I had to take a cab to the hospital when I was about to give birth — just by myself (this is not even half of this story). I guess these are the kind of “traumatic” experiences that make everything else in life seem minuscule when you want something out of social pressure.
When I met my current husband, we were similar on so many different levels — such as not even having a driver’s license. We did have the car talk at some point as our relationship started to solidify. However, we ended up agreeing that the first thing we would ever consider buying is a house.
I think meeting my husband helped me get used to the idea of never owning a car — he was already a master at walking kilometers to go to art school. I admired that of him. Furthermore, he also had children and had managed to make it work thus far. He helped me change my perspective that if you live in the city, you don’t need a car. With time my mind went from “I wish we had a car” to “We don’t need to have one, and that’s okay.”
People buy cars to ease up aspects of life, such as saving time, commuting, and peace of mind that if there is ever an emergency, at least you have your car. I’ve experienced all the above and always managed without a car.
The lack of something keeps you creative and efficient.
So, you’re maybe curious — how’s life with three children and no car? I guess no different than yours. We manage to get to work, and we manage to plan trips with the family from time to time. It’s not a roller coaster of fun if you’re expecting weekly trips with the family, but it’s doable.
When we bought our first home, our options were limited “wishes” wise. We were bound to the downtown area of our city — which as a result made the whole process extremely focused. We were determined to find a place that would make our life easier by allowing us to commute to the health care center, kindergarten & school, library, and grocery stores within walking distance. I still think we managed to get all that and don’t even live in the capital city.
Our life has turned into a big adventure of figuring out things and prioritizing a simple life.
It’s also amazing what one can achieve just by owning a bike. When we bought our first home and had to make small renovations at home, the only option was to ride our bikes to the local supply shop and buy all kinds of renovation materials. Similarly, with big grocery shopping — we manage to make the trips even during minus degrees with heavy shopping bags attached to the sides and back of our bikes. Call this what you want, it is doable.
I feel we are doing a favor to the planet.
As a new era of environmentally conscious companies, news and friends have permeated our life; we are proud we got in the wave early enough. It is said it takes a person around 66 days to form a habit — if we get a car right now, that’s not an easy change to reverse because then we would be hooked.
According to the European Parliament, 30% of EU’s CO2 emissions are at transportation’ fault, and road transportation accounts for 72% of those emissions. Since 1990 the amount of transport emissions has risen to almost 150% — the numbers are alarming and thus one can assumer these represent a massive chunk of a person’s CO2 emissions.
Spark Sustainability claims that the average emissions for the Nordic consumer are between 7000–9000kg of CO2. While my emissions are lower than the average consumer thanks to a combination of other efforts (second-hand shopping, biking, public transport, flexitarian diet, etc.), not owning a car, together with other lifestyle changes, can have a significant impact in your emissions.
I used Spark Sustainability’s CO2 calculator to compare my emissions with and without a car with all the same parameters:
Without a car: 5600kg of CO2
With a car (used the 10000km yearly default and two people in the car): 6400kg of CO2
With an electric car (used the 10000km yearly default and two people in the car): 5900kg of CO2
Do what works for you and your future — do remember we are in it together
It will always depend on how you look at the lack of something, environment wise, yes, we’re better off without passenger cars being used by a person at a time. If you live in a remote location and your local grocery shop is 20–30km ride away, you do you, you’ll need your car.
If it works for our family, it might work for you too.
As for this piece of writing, I felt like sharing my story behind non-car-ownership, just to show that sometimes constraints can be blessings for the greater good.
-Kim
