Could you live here without driving? A small-town trial

To judge whether you could live in a small town without driving, start at the address you would occupy and work through the journeys you would actually make. Check the return as carefully as the outward trip. If you share a home, keep a separate record for each person before comparing notes.

That gives you something more useful than a town's reputation for being walkable: a record of which parts of your week work, which depend on somebody else and which remain uncertain. You can use it when considering a move at home or abroad, or when reviewing the place where you already live.

The seven-day exercise below is our suggested planning method, not a validated assessment of a person or a town. It does not tell anyone whether they should stop driving. Keep your usual assistance and mobility aids, and do not attempt an uncomfortable or unsafe journey to complete the sheet. An unanswered question is a useful result too.

Before the week: choose one address

Use the actual entrance of a possible home, not the town square or a holiday apartment nearer the shops. If you have not chosen a property, pick one plausible address and label the exercise provisional. Repeat the important journeys if you later consider a different street.

Begin remotely if necessary. Save the transport operator's current timetable, note its date and ask about anything you cannot interpret. Mark a route researched online as planned, not tried. A map cannot confirm how the whole journey will feel to you.

For an on-site week, keep your existing transport available as a fallback. Arrange enquiries and outings around your needs; the daily order below can change. You do not need seven strenuous days or an unnecessary appointment to investigate a route.

Day one: write down two versions of the week

List your ordinary destinations before looking for convenient alternatives: food shopping, appointments, work or volunteering, visiting someone, an evening activity, or simply somewhere you like to spend time. Include trips that happen monthly rather than weekly. Put any fixed arrival time beside the destination.

Then describe the week you would want in the new place. Which activities would you willingly change, and which would you resent losing? Being able to buy groceries does not answer whether you could keep the social commitments you value.

If you are moving with someone, do this separately. One person's willingness to walk farther, book by phone or wait for a bus should not become the household's assumed answer. Compare the lists afterwards and identify journeys each person wants to make independently.

Days two and three: follow an ordinary journey all the way home

Choose one necessary errand and one trip you would make for pleasure. Work from your front door to the destination entrance and back, including any change of vehicle. Record the time you leave home and return, rather than just the minutes on a bus.

The WHO's age-friendly cities checklist treats pavements, crossings, seating, toilets and usable transport information as parts of an age-friendly environment. Those categories help broaden what you notice beyond distance. The checklist describes desirable features; it does not establish that a particular place has them.

Note the specific part of a route that affects your choice. “The stop is close” is less informative than “I could reach the stop comfortably, but have not checked boarding with my walking frame.” Record a difficulty without turning it into a judgement about the whole town.

At the destination, check the entrance you would use. For an appointment elsewhere in the area, research the journey without booking care merely to test transport. Make clear whether you reached the building or only identified it on a map.

Treat the return as its own journey. Check the departure point and allow for the errand taking longer than expected. If you needed your fallback, record that honestly, including why the original plan did not work.

Day four: check the hours you did not see

Look at an evening, weekend or other relevant day rather than assuming your weekday experience repeats. WHO's transport checklist explicitly includes nights, weekends and holidays when considering service reliability and frequency. It is a prompt to ask about these periods, not evidence of a local timetable.

Ask the operator which schedule applies to your intended travel date and whether seasonal or school-day restrictions affect the journey. Keep the reply with the timetable. If you cannot confirm a return after an activity ends, leave that journey unresolved rather than planning around a possible lift.

You do not need to go out after dark or in poor weather just to gather evidence. Identify what remains unknown and ask a provider or someone who can assess the route with you. A sunny week's observations cannot settle the conditions for every season.

Day five: try the booking and shopping arrangements

Investigate how you would arrange a trip, not just whether a vehicle is advertised. Could you book through a method you can use comfortably? What notice is required? Ask about the precise pickup address, return booking, cancellation arrangements and any assistance or equipment you need. Do not reserve a journey you have no intention of taking.

For shopping, choose an ordinary purchase rather than testing the heaviest load you can manage. Record whether the journey works with what you normally carry. If your plan depends on deliveries, ask the retailer whether it serves that address, how orders are placed and where it leaves them. Leave prices blank until you have a current quote or actual payment.

Community transport needs a local answer too. For example, Age UK describes door-to-door provision in some areas and directs people to their local organisation. That is a UK enquiry route, not a service guarantee or evidence of provision in another country. Wherever you are looking, ask the actual provider about eligibility, availability and the journeys it accepts.

Day six: remove the usual driver from the plan, on paper

Take one important trip and assume your partner, friend or relative is unavailable. Do not withdraw real support to stage this scenario. Work through whom you would contact and what you could arrange yourself.

Distinguish a neighbour's occasional offer from an arrangement that person has explicitly agreed to. Neither kindness nor a provider's listing confirms availability on the day. Record the remaining question: perhaps the return cannot be booked, the service does not cover that destination, or the person has not agreed to regular lifts.

Ask each household member what this arrangement would feel like. Some people welcome shared outings; others want the freedom to leave and return separately. You are comparing preferences and practical arrangements, not awarding points for doing everything alone.

A journey record to copy

Use a notebook page or a separate note for each journey. Keep your own version even when you travel together. Short entries are enough; distinguish what you observed from what someone told you.

• Person, address and date:
• Destination and reason for going:
• How often I would make this trip:
• Required arrival time, if any:
• Evidence so far: planned, provider-confirmed or tried:
• Outward route, booking method and notice required:
• Return route, departure point and last usable departure:
• Actual door-to-door time, including waits:
• Steps, slopes, crossings or other parts I need to check:
• Rest stops, shelter and toilets relevant to this journey:
• How shopping or equipment would travel with me:
• Fare actually paid or quoted, by whom and on what date:
• What happens if the errand overruns or the usual helper is away:
• What I could arrange independently and what assistance I would want:
• Unanswered question, contact and next step:

Do not publish this record or share unnecessary personal or appointment details. It is for your own comparison. A transport enquiry can describe the assistance you require without circulating your whole diary.

Day seven: decide what the address still needs to prove

Read the records before discussing whether you liked the town. Sort the journeys into those you could repeat, those that need a confirmed arrangement and those for which you still have no workable plan. This is a way to organise decisions, not a score that certifies a place as suitable.

For anything essential, write the next concrete action beside it. That might be asking a provider a narrower question, trying another route with support, or considering a home closer to the destination. Include the trips you enjoy: a routine that works only after removing every chosen outing deserves another look.

A week is enough to uncover questions, not to predict every future need. Keep the dated records so a later visit can address the gaps rather than repeat the same pleasant afternoon. Before committing to the address, decide which unanswered journeys you need to resolve and which compromises you would genuinely choose.