I can go weeks without driving. The only place I need to take a car is for big shopping (like for a week’s worth of groceries, furniture) but as we live in a fourth floor walk up I make damn sure my husband goes with me. No way am I going to let him get out of lugging heavy shit up the stairs. Un uh.
Back to the OP, I grew up mostly in Germany and we had a great public transportation in the city I grew up in (Frankfurt). I could go anywhere I wanted by myself by the time I was 12. I was shock and disappointed when I moved to the States and realized that one couldn’t just hop on a bus and go. At least not in Memphis you couldn’t. There were no schedules or route maps posted on the stops, you had to call a number or go downtown to the main station to find all that out. Very confusing. They ran infrequently and didn’t service a heck of a lot of areas.
When we do move back to the States, I would love to live someplace where you don’t have to go 4 miles to get a carton of milk. If I never had to drive again, I would be one happy puppy.
Where I live, public transportation is practically non-existent. I MUST have a car (actually I have a truck) because I live 15 miles from work and at least 4 or 5 miles from the nearest grocery store.
It’s obvious that most of you do not live in Southern California. Here in the beautiful San Fernando Valley, a car is a nessecity. We now have a subway. But it only goes downtown. We have buses, but many lines were stopped to help pay for the subway. Most do not run 24/7 ( i work graveyard) and monthy passes are, I hear, no longer sold.
If you don’t have a car, you better have a GREAT pair of shoes and a lot time on your hands.
I live in Honolulu, I’m 22, and I rely on the bus to get where I gotta go. When I go out, I’m fortunate that of the people I go out with, one lives pretty close to me, or someone’s willing to drive me. If people give me rides often, I try to treat them to lunch or buy their movie tickets.
Monthly passes are $25 (yipes) Also, I try to walk as much as I can. I don’t mind at all.
Die-hard pedestrian here. I walk as much as possible and when I have to use the public transit, it’s fairly reliable. I get a big kick out of my coworkers who moan about traffic, yet who give me strange looks when I tell them I don’t have a car and have no intention of ever owning one. Whatever money I save goes towards globe-trotting. Simple.
moved to DC…traded both cars in, got one car, parked it for weeked getaways…
walked, metro, taxi’s to work, dinner, shopping etc…the most pleasant commute was walking through Georgetown early i the mornings…even at work it was easier to take a cab to go see clients.
moved back to charlotte, we each need a car. Public transpotation is limited. I try to bus and cab it as much as possible, but it just doesn’t work.
I miss the urban lifestyle every morning as I sit in traffic.
Uke, Leigh-Anne and I lived 3 years in Cleveland without a car, part of it in the Ohio City area and part in Lakewood. And, as God is my witness, we will never live without a car again.
Three years of taking the 45 bus down Detroit Avenue into town. Three years of having to leave 3 hours ahead of time and make two transfers to get to the mall. Three years of hauling groceries on the rapid trains and the bus to go shopping, or sometimes just walking them home, even in two feet of snow.
I will never, ever be without a car again. I will work rough trade to pay for a car if need be. The cost of insurance and gas is easily worth it to avoid the inconvenience caused by the use of public transportation. Don’t get me wrong–I ride the Metro to work. But for shopping, or weekend excursions, or travel? No thanks.
I’m 28.5, and have always lived somewhere small enough to walk everywhere, or large enough to have good intra- and inter-urban public transport. No car. No license. Occasionally regret it when vacationing. Otherwise, not at all. Walking, believe it or not, is GOOD for you.
Jimmy, I am not questioning your intelligence or research, but I would like to know a couple of things. What was the price of the car you were comparing to your fares, and did you take into account the value of the car when they went to sell it?
For me, a car is must. It’s almost akin to breathing and eating. I love to drive. I’m damn good at it and sometimes I drive just for the hell of it - gas prices be damned. I am also a bit of a car fanatic - always looking for that next car to replace my current one.
Having said that, I wish more people felt like you and gave up on the idea of driving. Far too many cars on the roads these days. Driving should be fun but lately, the SUV driving, cell phone dialing, left lane hogging, rubber necking, nervous, over-reacting ninnies on the roads almost make me want to walk as well. What am I saying?! Nah… just downshift and pass, conveniently pissing the bejeezus out of them… See ya!
If any of you have a problem with your mass transit system, for heaven’s sake, don’t move to Alabama - you’ll get the harsh transition from bad to nonexistent. I walk anywhere that’s less than a kilometer or two away, but any more than that, during the day, I’d be sick from the heat. During the night, anything is fair game. However, despite my love for walking, I too need a car, because the truth is, you can’t get anywhere in this city. And during the school year, when time is at least as precious as blood, I’ll either have a car or never leave campus. Although I love driving, I hope that someday I’ll be able to rely on public transit. Even so, though, if I never intended to drive, I think I’d still get a license.
I see your numbers but they just don’t make sense to me.
Average car payment = $350.
I don’t know, lot’s of people out there who own their cars outright. Plenty of cars on the road that are not even worth $350 period. I’d like to see a cite for this National Average(?) figure.
Insurance = $1000 per year *
I’m tempted to agree with that amount.
Gasoline = $100 per month *
My wife and I have two cars. We drive them every day. They are not econoboxes but european sedans so they don’t exactly sip the fuel. We would be hard pressed to spend that much on gas per month. It’s more like $80 per month for both cars.
Oil, tires, maint = $150 per month *
Well maybe but that’s after the warranty is out. Most people are done making car payments by the end of 3-5 years.
If they bought a used car then they did not pay as much and would not make $350 monthly payments.
My oil/maint was free on both cars for first 2 years. Then $30 every 3,000 miles. Now I’m fussy about my cars so I do it twice as often as recommended by manufacturer. Most people are far more negligent and only do it at recommended intervals, thus costing less.
Tires, depending on mileage and driving habits, should last two year minimum. I buy pretty expensive tires for my car and they cost me $600 a set four. Over two years, that’s $25 per month. Most people buy much cheaper tires.
Hard to comment on car maintenance costs after warranty. It all depends so much on the driver and the original quality/condition of the car. But like I said, if you are starting to pay for broken down parts, your warranty is done and very likely so are your monthly payments.
Jimmy, I too have problems with your numbers. Let’s take a critical look at this.
Here’s what I spent when I was making car payments last year.
Car Payment - $250/mo X 12mo = $3000/year
Gasoline - 12000mi/35mpg = 343 total gallons of gas X a liberal $1.50/gal = $514.50, however only about 6250, or 52% of these miles are work related. I’m going to apply the 52% to the maintenance and insurance fees, too, since you claimed, “It is cheaper to take a stretch limo to work 5 days a week, than to drive your own car.” So work related fuel costs are about $268
Insurance - $700/year X .52 = $364
Maintenance - less than $300 last year but lets call it $500 X .52 = $260
Summing = $3000* + $268 + $364 + $260 = $3892
And I could knock off nearly another $1500 if I apply only my work miles to the car payment.
Now, a limo in this area goes for between $75 and $100 per hour. I’m gonna need it for an hour a day minimum. That’s $75/day X 260 days = $19,500 dollars. Christ, for that kind of money I could be driving a Dodge Viper. Or taking a helicopter.
Boston, without a doubt. We have a fabulous public transportation system. Very extensive, convenient and CHEAP. I’ve lived here 6 years and never owned a car. The only time I’ve needed a motorized vehicle was when I move, and a car wouldn’t have been sufficient for that task. Needed a rental van.
I think it depends on where you live and where you have to go. I didn’t get my license until I was 24. I didn’t particularly suffer without one.
Currently, between where I go to school and where I live is a 20 minute drive. That’s ok. On the bus? 3 hours each way, not including the extra time required to drop the kids off at the sitters. Hey, I don’t make up the bus schedule, I just complain about it.
And taking the bus to take two kids to soccer games along with my two little ones would be an extreme pain, not to mention incredibly time consuming.
If you can get around without a car, all the power to you.
As far as the discussion regarding costs go, I paid for my vehicle outright, so no car payments. Low car insurance rates. Good mileage. It would still be cheaper to take the bus everywhere if I didn’t cab, but I’m quite certain that I’m paying less than I would for a stretch limo.
I’m 36. I live in NYC (grew up in Queens, currently live in Manhattan). I’ve never had a license. Everyone in my family can drive except me, although my mom didn’t get her license until she was in her 40s.
This is only a problem when I am on vacation. My husband has to drive everywhere and I feel pretty guilty about it, since it’s clearly tiring. Plus, once he got very sick when we were in Hawaii and I had to rely on the kindness of strangers to get him to a hospital.
Unless/until we move out to the 'burbs, there’s really no point in me even taking lessons for the 2 or so vacations a year we take–without driving on a regular basis, I’d be pretty lousy.