Title. I asked the same question on the car enthusiast community. Please share thoughts here for comparison.
Title. I asked the same question on the car enthusiast community. Please share thoughts here for comparison.
If you live in a car dependent country (like the US), you will have to use a car sadly (if you aren't living in a city).
I lived in a walkable city for a decade and now live in a more rural area where cars are a necessity.
Now that I need a car, I need to:
As someone with ADD the extra responsibilites are stressful and often slip by me, not to mention the costs add up. It's also omnipresent in my mind that on any given day that I drive, especially on the highway, statistically that is the most likely way I will die considering my current age and health. I don't miss carting my groceries around in the snow or rain, and it's nice to be able to move large, heavy items relatively easily, but man I miss the freedom of just leaving my door and walking somewhere.
Growing up with cars as the norm, you don't realize how much it sucks till you list it out like that.
I keep wondering whether I raised my kids right or deprived them. My older is 18 and has no interest in driving - he’s also anxious about his adhd. But I’ve had to really push to get him to do any time behind the wheel. My younger is really jumping on the opportunity to drive but expects to live in a walkable city with transit like we do now - he’s used to being able to go anywhere without a car
That’s all well and good, and we should all aspire to that, but what are the chances they can live without cars here in the US? They probably should be able to, even if they think “most places you do t need a car”
It's certainly possible to live in a walkable place but it'll be very expensive. Most actually walkable areas in the US are in well established cities in the east where the "bones" of their layout were built before the GM conspiracy played out. I could barely afford to live there at the time and probably couldn't afford to live there now. There are still some towns out there that haven't lost their downtown main streets though. Unfortunately I think the path forward for the moment looks like settling for car dependency and pushing your local area to make positive changes for pedestrians and alternative transport.
I currently live in a very walkable area.
Rent is indeed significantly more expensive, but not when factoring rent/transportation together. (At least in my experience).
For an equivalent apartment in the suburbs & a car, it comes out as roughly the same cost as my current apartment without a car.
I save a huge amount of money compared to somebody with a car. HUGE.
All I need to pay for is a bus, tram, or train ticket, and I can easily get anywhere in the city with minimal walking time.
And heck, that's cheap. All the buses are capped at £2.00 regardless of the journey length, for example! Two quid!
There are a lot of other benefits too. For example, I don't have to worry that someone will nick my car, and I don't have to make sure I live somewhere with parking available.
Owning a car just seems like such a ball and chain, especially considering how fragile that relationship can be. One day everything's great, the next day boom, you need to fork out 2 grand for repairs, or maybe the car's just.... gone.
2 quid buses is amazing. Shitey First Bus doesn't even get me out of the first zone for 2 quid.
Move to Vienna, 365 euros for all year day and night (weekends and public holidays) public transport. Half of it if your company pays the other half. And if you use Wien Energie you'll get some free days electricity on top.
I agree with all of this and will add that personally it helps keep me even fitter as I cycle to work everyday and will cycle or skate depending on the distance to anywhere feasible.
The only downside is the adhorrent prices on the trains over here. The amount they charge is quite frankly disgusting!
Sounds like you're lucky where you live. Where I lived in the UK there was no way you'd be able to get around with just public transport.
Only issue I have is folks should have a driver's licence, to be able to safely operate a car in an emergency or unexpected situation. Just to give you the option.
I understand it would be rare to need to step in as driver if you committed to this lifestyle, but it would be better to be safer than sorry
Do you mean safely operate a car, or legally operate a car? Learning the basics to safely operate a car is fairly straightforward and good fun, at least to a level that's on par with a typical licensed driver. However going through the whole process to get a formal drivers license is a different matter and is often quite expensive.
In many states you can train with a family member, and the application is 30-50 bucks. Not free, but you shouldn't operate a car without a license.
Colorado for example,
Complete a written test, complete several hours supervised driving, eye test, driving test, pay.
Could probably be done in a week then you're legal
I wasn't specifically talking about the US. The US has unusually low requirements, because when it's basically required to drive to participate in society, you have to set the bar low enough that the dumbest, poorest, most disabled, reckless idiots that definitely shouldn't be driving still do.
And yeah, obviously you shouldn't operate a car without a license except in emergencies, it's illegal. Is enforcement really that bad in the US that this needed to be said?
Less stressful. I never have to worry about accidentally killing anyone, except for that time I bought worcestershire sauce because I didn't know it had anchovies
I really like Worcestershire, I was heartbroken to learn it wasn't vegan. Now I have to put Nando's hot sauce in my spaghetti sauce and who knows what they put in that?
I've got wrid of my car 3 years ago. The benefits I've encountered.
On the occasions we need a car I rent one or use a car sharing service.
Money - a lot of people are not aware of the money a car costs over a period of time.
Dependency - you are only able to drive a car in a special time of your life. If you are too young or too old you are not allowed - or it is very dangerous - to be the driver of a car. There are places you are just able to go by car. This is a problem: they are just made for car people. For instance: malls outside a city. Nobody is shopping in the inner citys, while everybody have to take the car to the mall. This system needs a lot of good working roads, parking spaces and other infrastructure.
Health - in regards of physical activity or is a lot healthier to live in an area where you are able to take public transport. Due to the last mile, which you are probably going by bike or by feet, you get your daily "workout". Also you are emitting much less emissions into the air. It seems that particulate matter of the reason for a lot of illnesses of our time.
Public Space - you are consuming much less public space than people who are owning a car. Parking lots are in habitats of humans all around. They cost a lot of money, are sealing good soil and the precious space in city is wasted to it. There are such nice projects all around the world, where former parking spaces or streets where changed to spaces for everyone.
Sure thing! But there is not the need for every person to own a 1to steel case to go anywhere. Cars need a lot more infrastructure than an integral system, where you are able to use and change between bus/train/bike/walk/e-scooters - and so on - to reach your target.
I need very little infrastructure to get around on my bike. I can ride on dirt tracks or grass, I can carry it up and down steps, I can weave through alleys or traffic jams. It needs no fuel and I mostly maintain it myself. Car centric cities often have no meaningful bike infrastructure and yet cycling is still viable. It is the cheapest, most free, most egalitarian mode of transport.
Is is pleasant without infrastructure? Is it safe? No, dedicated cycle lanes are very important.
No need to concentrate when traveling. Public transport is nearly "brain off" time while I get whisked away to another place. Sure, it could be better and faster, but at least I don't have to pay a higher subscription to let my vehicle stand outside for 99% of its life.
You are forced to take your bicycle far more often. No excuses. You cannot just take the car whenever you feel lazy, tired or if the weather is mediocre. Your health will benefit from this a lot.
For me, the biggest benefit is the mental load I no longer have. I used to have to think about maintenance, MOT schedule, road tax scheduling, insurance scheduling, renewing my parking certificate, how much I drink, where I'm going to park, did I run out of time on the parking meter, is there traffic on my route, where are the road works...
The mental energy I'd waste just to deal with a car was massive. There's still mental energy with public transit, like what is the schedule and which bus do I need to be on to make it in time, and what do I do if a stop isn't near my destination, but it's a lot less mental load than having a car.
I use the transit app for planning my rides on public transport when abroad. It makes planning a breeze. In my own country our national transport companies have decent planners in their apps.
I use the transit app for planning my rides on public transport when abroad. It makes planning a breeze. In my own country our national transport companies have decent planners in their apps.
Where I live?
None.
You're trapped.
Fuck cars, but some (many) places force your dependency either through bad city & infrastructure design, or just because it's rural and hundreds of miles from the nearest city. In places that don't, I'd still own an old beater, but riding my bike around would be my primary.
Merely not owning a car really only saves you money and gives you exercise, yeah.
The much, much bigger difference is in urban design: living somewhere where you don't need a car vs living somewhere where you do.
I've lived in a few places where you don't need a car, with populations ranging from 2.5k to 4 million. I currently live on a small hobby farm just outside the edge of suburbia, and grew up in suburbia.
Living somewhere where you don't need a car is great. Being able to walk to a dozen restaurants in 5 min or to the grocery store in 5 min is amazing. Owning a car in a city is a pain - needing to find parking, having to move for street cleaning, etc. There's little advantage unless you need if for your commute.
Living somewhere car centric honestly kinda sucks. It takes longer to drive to anything in suburbia than it does to walk to it in a small walkable town. That 5 minute walk to the store? How about a 10 minute drive instead? Walking 5 minute to a restaurant? Why not drive 15 instead? Walking to a bar? No, get a designated driver or Uber instead. It also leads to really ugly scenery - giant parking craters are literally no one's idea of beauty. There's a reason people will willingly walk a few miles down a small town's mainstream, but will literally drive to the other side of a strip mall rather than walk it. And driving in bumper to bumper traffic is soul sucking. Suburbanites will literally drive to a gym to get on a treadmill. I think that says something.
I have several high quality local restaurants plus a mall thing with several more decent chains, all 5 minutes away with ample parking. A Wegmans as well when I can far more easily bring back an entire cart of food. There are plenty of suburban areas that are densely populated enough to have lots of close by things.
I'm guessing this is assuming you live somewhere that is built with the infrastructure to support people without cars?
It would be way more expensive for my family not to own a car, unfortunately.
More than everything else, peace of mind. No worries about the condition and repairs and maintenance of a $40K hunk of metal and glass, or about accidents, injuries, insurance, parking, the idiot in the other lane, the price of gas, or anything else.
My bus comes at 7:45, la-di-da. :)
Eeek. Hadn't noticed the toxicity, but with 6,000 readers I suppose some have to be idiots. Have another :).
No garage or parking space needed. No maintenance or renew license (car and driving) One thing less to purchase the accessories for. No gas and associated costs (toll, parking, etc)
If you are in not pedestrian friendly, bike friendly or good public transport, those benefits outweight the time necessary to go from one place to another.
Edit: add gas and car associated costs.
Having a few more drinks than you planned to when out because you took transit to get there.
In general it's just a lot more possible to just go with the flow. You don't have to coordinate getting to/from places, and when you get to where you're going you can just leave whenever you want, no need to coordinate pick ups/drop offs. Figure out who can drive, who can't drive etc. Just kinda go wherever the mood takes you.
Well, first and foremost, I guess the main benefit is saving a lot of money. If you use your car everyday to go to work and go shopping it can cost thousands of dollars where I live. Between the fuel, insurance, parking fees, mandatory yearly checkup (with possible repairs which are even more costly), the bill climbs pretty fast!
And it can be such a pain to drive a car in the city. Traffic jams, Red lights every 2 minutes (we all get that unlucky day), finding a free parking spot, waiting at gas station when there's a penury (they are bound to happen!).
Using a bike or simply walking is comparatively hugely cheaper obviously, but also quite less frustrating in urban areas at least.
Being able to look at your children in the eyes and knowing that you aren't contributing to the pollution they are breathing, to the traffic noise they hear while they are trying to rest, or to the traffic that puts them in danger every time they go out.
Future generations will judge us for the shitty legacy we have left them.
"Future generations will judge us for the shitty legacy we have left them."
personally I'm a generation or two too young to really be to blame. I inherited this shit sandwich and want to fix things, not make it worse