Milwaukee More Bike-Friendly than Residents Realize

Milwaukee, a small, cold city without gold-standard public transportation, is probably not considered by many to be an obvious place to go car-free. However, this Sunday's Journal Sentinel highlights the ease with which one resident, who lives on the dense and walkable East Side, has managed to give up her car.

"I bike and walk almost everywhere. I've lost 14 pounds, causing one friend to declare this 'the car-free diet.'

I've got a new street-level perspective. I've noticed housing styles (the bungalows in Bay View, Polish flats near Brady St. and the brightly painted Victorians on Oakland between Brady and North) and the way some homes' landscaping reflects the seasons...

As my only transportation cost now is the occasional bus ticket to leave the east side or putting gas into the borrowed car, I've saved a lot of money by not having a car.

According to AAA's national office, it costs an average of $672 per month to maintain and pay for a car. You can save more than $8,000 a year by taking mass transit, says an American Public Transportation report released in July."

Thanks to Franny Ritchie