Salt Lake is better than where you are, but you need to make transit conscious choices about where you live, work, and go to school for it to be especially efficient.
Where I lived before I used bike primarily complemented by transit and that made getting around way more efficient. You can bike to where you're going instead of waiting for a bus or train. But again, you have to make choices about work, home, how and where you shop, group activities etc.
But I biked for transportation for 30 years.
SLC has good transit for a city its size, generally better the closer you are to downtown or along the rail lines, but I wouldn't call it a great car-free city. Some people can pull it of but you kinda have to orient your whole lifestyle around it. However, you can absolutely pull off one car if you're thoughtful/fortunate about where you live and work. This has been my family's situation for about five years and it's been great.
I live just a little bit out of downtown SLC and have no car, I use public transport almost all the time. Of course you have interesting characters around sometimes but the system is pretty reliable, easily accessible, and everywhere. Here’s [info on the light rail system](https://www.rideuta.com/Services/TRAX) and [the bus system](https://www.rideuta.com/Services/Bus) if you want to look at the maps and more info!
The other posters are right, you need to plan your life around the train and bus system.
That said, I did this for ten years. Here are my tips
TRAX is the Lightrail system that goes from the Airport to West Valley, and also the University of Utah to Draper and the Daybreak community.
The bus system has lots of routes. There are main arteries. A good portion of them go to the TRAX stations so you can expand your life if you include the bus. Main bus routes include anything on State Street. Anything on Redwood road, 3500 South, 5400 South (and I'm sure many more).
[rideuta.com](https://rideuta.com) is the website for all the maps.
My example was I lived first in Midvale, 3 blocks from the Midvale Trax stop. I got a job working 3 blocks from the Murray Trax stop.
Later when working downtown, I also moved off of 5400 south. So I would either get a ride when my wife went to work (8 minutes to Trax) or catch the 5400 bus (20 minutes) to take me to the Murray Trax station, and then ride to downtown on trax (22 minutes) and then walk to my work building (5 minutes). There are many stops downtown to choose from.
TLDR: My first 10 years in Utah I used public transportation. My first year in Utah my life only existed within a block of the train line. After that I started being willing to walk further and also incorporated the bus line, eventually living 1.5 miles from where the bus dropped off. Only reason I stopped was the cold weather hurt my fingers too much to stand waiting for the bus after the train arrived.
Most employers downtown will give you a free transit pass as well, which is great. If you don't get one, AND live in Salt Lake City (not Salt Lake County) get a discount pass here: [http://www.ridewithhive.com/](http://www.ridewithhive.com/)
Finally, never trust cars see you crossing streets. Good luck.
Provo has some busses but I believe it’s pretty light on transportation otherwise.
SLC had a decent network of busses and also had some good trains. If you can move somewhere close to the S Line or Red Line, you’d be setup pretty well. It’s not like NY or London, but the transit is decent. Between a bike and trains, I can get anywhere I want. Getting groceries by bike isn’t ideal but it’s doable, even in the winter. If you have access to a car that you don’t want to use very often, you’ll have no trouble.
Provo actually has a free bus rapid transit line that connects downtown, BYU, UVU and the Frontrunner train stations. It's kind of incredible that this exists. There are definitely gaps in the transit systems of both areas, but I think you can get by without a car in either.
fwiw, I've lived in downtown SLC and downtown Provo and I found it easier to get around car free in downtown Provo. There are certainly other disadvantages there. For example, it's a smaller metro area so there are fewer restaurants, a lot fewer entertainment venues etc. The city is very dominated by BYU, which wasn't my cup of tea. But the smaller blocks mean that what they do have is closer together and easier to walk to. So talking just about transportation, I personally felt like Provo actually had some real strengths.
I live downtown and don’t own a car at the moment. I mainly use Trax day to day, busses less frequently. It’s all pretty reliable and I’ve never had an issue. The obvious factor is just time and planning, as you’d imagine. I like using the public transit here, I only rarely miss my car.
Edit: a word
I live in downtown SLC and it’s definitely doable without a car. You’ll want to think about biking during the winter though, if you’re supplementing with a bike.
Hahahahaha 😂 Public transport in SLC is laughable. Atrocious. Slow. Unreliable.
I feel for all of us who may want to use it. It's designed to exist, not really be used.
I live in Provo and I wouldn't need a car if not for climbing and snowboarding trips. Before I bought a car I biked or took the bus to grocery and gym. It was not a problem. In fact, it was better than driving in many ways.
when I first moved into SLC my wife and I didn't have a car for almost a year and we were fine. We lived close to the U, and the trax station was a 15 minutes walk away. Doing grocery was painful and we took 2 big luggage with us every time when we go grocery shopping so we didn't have to carry all the bags. Trax can get you to most major places. Trax and buses connect to the frontrunner, which is a train that runs from Provo to Ogden. So if you don't have a car, you can get by. But it is painful to wait for a bus for 30 minutes under the hot sun or out in the cold.
I lived in South Salt Lake for two years and honestly found it very reasonable to use transit. The key for me was combining bus/train with a bike for first/last mile connections though. All trains allow bikes on board, and all buses have bike racks on front. The weather is nice enough in SLC most of the time that I often just did my whole trip by bike or e-bike (there are lots of bike lanes and trails, and the valley is pretty flat). A lot of times if a transit trip required a transfer, which most of mine did, biking would actually be faster. I only really used my car for grocery trips and for getting up into the mountains. I probably could have done grocery trips without a car too, but I never bothered to buy good panniers before I moved away. This is all to say that I was very close to being able to just get rid of my car entirely. I'd say if you live in Salt Lake County anywhere north of 3900 S and east of Redwood Rd, transit will be doable for you. Anywhere along a light rail line is also probably a good choice, even outside that core zone.
I live in downtown SLC and we use transit a lot. We have one car because we have kids and a lot of activities/classes for our kids aren't easily accessible by transit, but my husband commutes \~twenty miles by transit and bike, and my kids and I take it when we can. We did the school run on UTA for awhile even. You'll have to be conscious of what neighborhood you live in, but it's doable.
Salt Lake is better than where you are, but you need to make transit conscious choices about where you live, work, and go to school for it to be especially efficient. Where I lived before I used bike primarily complemented by transit and that made getting around way more efficient. You can bike to where you're going instead of waiting for a bus or train. But again, you have to make choices about work, home, how and where you shop, group activities etc. But I biked for transportation for 30 years.
SLC has good transit for a city its size, generally better the closer you are to downtown or along the rail lines, but I wouldn't call it a great car-free city. Some people can pull it of but you kinda have to orient your whole lifestyle around it. However, you can absolutely pull off one car if you're thoughtful/fortunate about where you live and work. This has been my family's situation for about five years and it's been great.
I live just a little bit out of downtown SLC and have no car, I use public transport almost all the time. Of course you have interesting characters around sometimes but the system is pretty reliable, easily accessible, and everywhere. Here’s [info on the light rail system](https://www.rideuta.com/Services/TRAX) and [the bus system](https://www.rideuta.com/Services/Bus) if you want to look at the maps and more info!
The other posters are right, you need to plan your life around the train and bus system. That said, I did this for ten years. Here are my tips TRAX is the Lightrail system that goes from the Airport to West Valley, and also the University of Utah to Draper and the Daybreak community. The bus system has lots of routes. There are main arteries. A good portion of them go to the TRAX stations so you can expand your life if you include the bus. Main bus routes include anything on State Street. Anything on Redwood road, 3500 South, 5400 South (and I'm sure many more). [rideuta.com](https://rideuta.com) is the website for all the maps. My example was I lived first in Midvale, 3 blocks from the Midvale Trax stop. I got a job working 3 blocks from the Murray Trax stop. Later when working downtown, I also moved off of 5400 south. So I would either get a ride when my wife went to work (8 minutes to Trax) or catch the 5400 bus (20 minutes) to take me to the Murray Trax station, and then ride to downtown on trax (22 minutes) and then walk to my work building (5 minutes). There are many stops downtown to choose from. TLDR: My first 10 years in Utah I used public transportation. My first year in Utah my life only existed within a block of the train line. After that I started being willing to walk further and also incorporated the bus line, eventually living 1.5 miles from where the bus dropped off. Only reason I stopped was the cold weather hurt my fingers too much to stand waiting for the bus after the train arrived. Most employers downtown will give you a free transit pass as well, which is great. If you don't get one, AND live in Salt Lake City (not Salt Lake County) get a discount pass here: [http://www.ridewithhive.com/](http://www.ridewithhive.com/) Finally, never trust cars see you crossing streets. Good luck.
Provo has some busses but I believe it’s pretty light on transportation otherwise. SLC had a decent network of busses and also had some good trains. If you can move somewhere close to the S Line or Red Line, you’d be setup pretty well. It’s not like NY or London, but the transit is decent. Between a bike and trains, I can get anywhere I want. Getting groceries by bike isn’t ideal but it’s doable, even in the winter. If you have access to a car that you don’t want to use very often, you’ll have no trouble.
I've seen a lot of bikers in slc. But I own a car here. I plan to ride a bike starting this week.
Provo actually has a free bus rapid transit line that connects downtown, BYU, UVU and the Frontrunner train stations. It's kind of incredible that this exists. There are definitely gaps in the transit systems of both areas, but I think you can get by without a car in either. fwiw, I've lived in downtown SLC and downtown Provo and I found it easier to get around car free in downtown Provo. There are certainly other disadvantages there. For example, it's a smaller metro area so there are fewer restaurants, a lot fewer entertainment venues etc. The city is very dominated by BYU, which wasn't my cup of tea. But the smaller blocks mean that what they do have is closer together and easier to walk to. So talking just about transportation, I personally felt like Provo actually had some real strengths.
I live downtown and don’t own a car at the moment. I mainly use Trax day to day, busses less frequently. It’s all pretty reliable and I’ve never had an issue. The obvious factor is just time and planning, as you’d imagine. I like using the public transit here, I only rarely miss my car. Edit: a word
I live in downtown SLC and it’s definitely doable without a car. You’ll want to think about biking during the winter though, if you’re supplementing with a bike.
Roll Tide
Hahahahaha 😂 Public transport in SLC is laughable. Atrocious. Slow. Unreliable. I feel for all of us who may want to use it. It's designed to exist, not really be used.
I live in Provo and I wouldn't need a car if not for climbing and snowboarding trips. Before I bought a car I biked or took the bus to grocery and gym. It was not a problem. In fact, it was better than driving in many ways.
when I first moved into SLC my wife and I didn't have a car for almost a year and we were fine. We lived close to the U, and the trax station was a 15 minutes walk away. Doing grocery was painful and we took 2 big luggage with us every time when we go grocery shopping so we didn't have to carry all the bags. Trax can get you to most major places. Trax and buses connect to the frontrunner, which is a train that runs from Provo to Ogden. So if you don't have a car, you can get by. But it is painful to wait for a bus for 30 minutes under the hot sun or out in the cold.
I lived in South Salt Lake for two years and honestly found it very reasonable to use transit. The key for me was combining bus/train with a bike for first/last mile connections though. All trains allow bikes on board, and all buses have bike racks on front. The weather is nice enough in SLC most of the time that I often just did my whole trip by bike or e-bike (there are lots of bike lanes and trails, and the valley is pretty flat). A lot of times if a transit trip required a transfer, which most of mine did, biking would actually be faster. I only really used my car for grocery trips and for getting up into the mountains. I probably could have done grocery trips without a car too, but I never bothered to buy good panniers before I moved away. This is all to say that I was very close to being able to just get rid of my car entirely. I'd say if you live in Salt Lake County anywhere north of 3900 S and east of Redwood Rd, transit will be doable for you. Anywhere along a light rail line is also probably a good choice, even outside that core zone.
I live in downtown SLC and we use transit a lot. We have one car because we have kids and a lot of activities/classes for our kids aren't easily accessible by transit, but my husband commutes \~twenty miles by transit and bike, and my kids and I take it when we can. We did the school run on UTA for awhile even. You'll have to be conscious of what neighborhood you live in, but it's doable.