Possible to live in Cinci w/o a car? (Cincinnati: neighborhoods, living in)

[idriveabucket]

Cincinatti is on my short list of places to move to ... I wanted to know if it's possible to live in the city-area w/o a vehicle. You know .. just using bikes, public transport, etc.

[austiNati]

Nope. You will become very frustrated here without a car, and public transit is truely lacking. Even if you live in a walable area with amenities close by, you still wont' have access to many parts of the city. This is my biggest pet peeve with Cincy.

[Wilson513]

Cincinnati has a good system of public transportation between downtown and those areas which were the main suburbs in 1960. Clifton, Hyde Park, Madisonville, St. Bernard, etc. The bus lines serving those areas work great. If you live on Madison Road in Hyde Park, you can walk or bike to anything you would need and hop one of the buses that go by every ten minutes to downtown or UC.

Outside of those 1960's areas, forget it.

But, why would anyone want to live anywhere else?

[Ohiogirl81]

Anything's possible, but it might not be easy or practical. Living in near a neighborhood business district with a variety of shops -- not just the hip coffee shops and restaurants, but a dry cleaners, grocery store, etc. -- helps. If you work downtown or somewhere on a bus line, and you're on multiple bus lines, including a crosstown bus, you might be OK. Bonus points if you can haul stuff on your bike, and/or bike longer distances.

[goyguy]

If you like a challenging bike ride, Cincinnati's a great place. One of its numerous nicknames isn't "The City of Seven Hills" for nothing! Nor is it an accident that so many of its neighborhoods and suburbs have "Mount," "Ridge," "Heights," etc as part of their names.
The perpetual nemesis of bicyclists - drivers - is better behaved in general than is the case in Boston, where I live now. (Then again, this holds true 'most anywhere. LOL) Most of the thoroughfares within the city limits are more than adequately wide, and in many cases the expressways have siphoned off a great deal of their traffic. You can breeze along some streets such as Paddock Rd and have few motorists sharing the right-of-way. Older, close-in neighborhoods like Clifton are more congested, however, so you'd still run some risk of being cut off or "doored."
OTOH I don't have too much good to say about Queen City Metro, the regional bus service. (Northern Kentucky has similarly below-average public transportation, run by TANK - The Transit Authority of guess where.) As was alluded to already, the communities closest to downtown have decent coverage, which - logically enough - diminishes the farther out you go. Over-the-Rhine, Walnut Hills, and Clifton fare the best, so to speak. The few express routes run to and from comparatively distant suburbs or malls, and all originate downtown. Crosstown service isn't much to speak of. You pay to ride by zone, which by and large means a base price within the city limits with distance-based increases beyond. As of last summer, the fare upon boarding was $1.50. Eventually there may be light-rail service, to partially make up for the subway system which was mothballed in the '30s without ever having opened. But the political bickering has been endless, and it'll be years before so much as a "test route" looping between downtown and Over-the-Rhine can start up.
A great many communities throughout Greater Cincinnati have safe and walkable commercial districts, even in outlying sections. Neighborhood grocers haven't done well in the face of big-box stores' competition, but you can still find an IGA in some parts of town. Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine is renowned for its variety of meat, cheese, produce, etc purveyors; they had locally-grown, sustainable foods in abundance since long before locally-grown and sustainable were cool. Downtown, the Cianciolo fruit store and Avril's butcher shop are mainstays, and yes - you CAN live downtown.
For transit info online, visit go Metro - Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority .
What are the other cities on your short list, btw?

[Cincy-Rise]

Biking: Forget about it, unless you can take on ridiculous hills.
Public Transit: a joke.

I hate to say it, but if this is a major requirement, you'll have to check back with us in a few years.

Btw, what other cities are you considering?

[Beanyhead]

The city is in the process of building a streetcar system that will link downtown to UC, Findlay Market, and area attractions.

[yayoi]

Originally Posted by idriveabucket

Cincinatti is on my short list of places to move to ... I wanted to know if it's possible to live in the city-area w/o a vehicle. You know .. just using bikes, public transport, etc.

You can get by as long as you're ok with not having access to many communities. I rode public transportation for four years here so it's definitely doable.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by yayoi

You can get by as long as you're ok with not having access to many communities. I rode public transportation for four years here so it's definitely doable.

It all depends on where you live and where you work.

My aunt survived carless for years in Fairview Heights and I have a couple of friends in Mt. Washington without cars.

Your shopping options will be more limited but there is a cost associated with not woning a car.

[Cincy-Rise]

^ My concern is whether or not he holds this as a high priority. If he's basing his move on this, then he should move on to another city for right now.