Which city is more liveable without a car between Atx and SA? (San Antonio: rent, neighborhoods)

[Osborn89419]

Just curious about which metro area is easier to survive without a car? If for example someone lived downtown in Austin or San Antonio, who would have an easier time?

[neddy]

If you are in the core of either city I would think you should be fine. Heb grocery is finally putting a grocery in the downtown area of SA cause they did not have one. Both downtown areas are very different from each other however.

[centralaustinite]

As long as you can afford the occasional taxi or have a DL and can use a car share program, you'll be fine in either downtown. It would help to also work in either downtown!!

Life is definitely more limited in either place without a car.

[Osborn89419]

Thank you for the input!

[joqua]

I would give SA the edge over ATx for someone lucky enough to be able to find affordable digs in the central core area. One advantage is the interconnection afforded by the river walk for those on foot. I've managed to get by bicycling in both downtown areas and SA is definitely "saner" traffic-wise.

[LiveUrban]

Definitely Austin. San Antonio is much more spread out whereas Central Austin is in general pretty walkable. Austin is much more bike-friendly as well and is constantly improving. In some neighborhoods over 13% of trips are made by bicycle and a growing number of people are choosing to bike whether it be to work, the grocery store, school, coffee shop, etc.

In addition the bus system is decent around Central Austin and we even have a commuter rail that goes out to the northern suburbs.

Austin also has ZipCar and Car2Go (car-sharing systems) for times you might need to cheaply rent one. We're also planned to get a bike-sharing system this December as well.

[IntentionallyBlank]

Originally Posted by LiveUrban

Definitely Austin. San Antonio is much more spread out whereas Central Austin is in general pretty walkable. Austin is much more bike-friendly as well and is constantly improving. In some neighborhoods over 13% of trips are made by bicycle and a growing number of people are choosing to bike whether it be to work, the grocery store, school, coffee shop, etc.

In addition the bus system is decent around Central Austin and we even have a commuter rail that goes out to the northern suburbs.

Austin also has ZipCar and Car2Go (car-sharing systems) for times you might need to cheaply rent one. We're also planned to get a bike-sharing system this December as well.

It's worth noting that SA has car share through Hertz 24/7 and a pretty extensive b-cycle system. I think it's fairly comparable in the central areas.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by IntentionallyBlank

It's worth noting that SA has car share through Hertz 24/7 and a pretty extensive b-cycle system. I think it's fairly comparable in the central areas.

I've used Car2Go in several cities, and I can affirm from experience that no other car share service can touch them in any way.

Checking availability on my phone app, Car2Go has over 200 cars available in Austin at the moment, located all over town. It's VERY easy to use Car2Go in Austin. Whenever I'm in town I use them instead of cabs.

San Antonio Hertz247 shows 5 cars available, basically along the central corridor.

[IntentionallyBlank]

Originally Posted by OpenD

I've used Car2Go in several cities, and I can affirm from experience that no other car share service can touch them in any way.

Checking availability on my phone app, Car2Go has over 200 cars available in Austin at the moment, located all over town. It's VERY easy to use Car2Go in Austin. Whenever I'm in town I use them instead of cabs.

San Antonio Hertz247 shows 5 cars available, basically along the central corridor.

Weird. My Hertz app shows about 40 available not counting cars checked out. We've used it a lot and not had problems. We do live centrally and in walking distance to a few car stations though. Anyway, Cars2Go sounds like a great program. What do they charge?

[TXEX06]

Originally Posted by LiveUrban

Definitely Austin. San Antonio is much more spread out whereas Central Austin is in general pretty walkable. Austin is much more bike-friendly as well and is constantly improving. In some neighborhoods over 13% of trips are made by bicycle and a growing number of people are choosing to bike whether it be to work, the grocery store, school, coffee shop, etc.

In addition the bus system is decent around Central Austin and we even have a commuter rail that goes out to the northern suburbs.

Austin also has ZipCar and Car2Go (car-sharing systems) for times you might need to cheaply rent one. We're also planned to get a bike-sharing system this December as well.

Ugh! With the new river extension (museum and mission reach) you can walk/bike for miles in and around downtown San Antonio without ever having to deal with vehicles or traffic. With the plans set to develop San Pedro Creek that goes through downtown into another riverwalk, it will be real hard to beat the pedestrian friendliness that downtown San Antonio has.

Austin has a VERY urban downtown (more then SA), but it's not as pedestrian/bike friendly as SA.