Do I need a car in RBS?

hugsfromhashem

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 10:11 am

We are planning on making Aliyah this summer. We will have 3 girls still living at home (2 teenagers). DH and I both work remotely so we wouldn’t need to commute.

How hard will it be to live without a car?

amother

DarkYellow

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 11:05 am

If you move to a street near shopping you can do it.
Don't move to ramat shilo or mishkafayim. Both of those neighborhoods are not near a makolet or anything else.
There's something called CityCar which is essentially a rental car by the hour. A lot of people use that once a week for a big shopping , instead of being at the mercy of a taxi driver.
You can also get groceries delivered.
It's do-able if you'll have spare time to get places by bus and don't have babies, and if you're very organized about meal planning and buying enough that you're not running to a supermarket several times a week.
Your kids should be able to get to school and anywhere else on their own at their ages.
Plenty of people do not have cars in RBS.

Reality

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 11:13 am

amother DarkYellow wrote:

I agree 100%. I would add that any of the newer areas like daled and neve shamir have much fewer bus lines, so depending on buses is a little more time consuming.

hugsfromhashem

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 11:34 am

amother DarkYellow wrote:

If you move to a street near shopping you can do it.
Don't move to ramat shilo or mishkafayim. Both of those neighborhoods are not near a makolet or anything else. .

Thank you so much!!! We are specifically looking at ramat shilo.

amother

Snow

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 11:52 am

We moved to RBSA a few months ago so far from an expert. With small kid-teen kids and we use our car a lot. Our kids are not the independent type and we are taking them to different Chugim/ programs. Don’t love the idea of them
bussing at night but that’s our chutznik mentality.
Lots of people don’t have cars. Most everyone on our block does. The summer is awfully hot.

LovesHashem

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 11:55 am

Lots of people buy huge carts to do shopping by bus and does bigger stock up with city car of by taxi. That's what we do.

Even those in these places with a car most people only have one, and isn't available to be a chauffer for the family at all hours so kids and sometimes the spouse take busses too.

amother

DarkYellow

Thu, Jan 04 2024, 12:26 pm

LovesHashem wrote:

Even those in these places with a car most people only have one, and isn't available to be a chauffer for the family at all hours so kids and sometimes the spouse take busses too.

Also true.
I have kids in the army as well as one in elementary school. When the army kids need a ride they take precedence and DH takes them and I use the bus to take my younger one to and from school.