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Could you live without an automobile?

Mai72

Mai72

Lifer
I've been in South Korea for 2 years, and I'm currently in Thailand. I sold my car before I made the journey to SK and I couldn't be happier. The money that I was putting into my car went into my bank account instead. The same with car insurance. If I needed to go anywhere I'd hop into a taxi for $2-3. Most of what I needed was only walking distance. The gym, store, bank were all within a 5 minute walk.

I'm currently in Bangkok, Thailand and its the same. I went to the mall yesterday. 45 baht for a 10-15 minute ride. That's a little over one dollar. If I need to go further I can just hop on the SKY Train. I've taken a taxi long distance (45 min.) and the most I paid was 250 baht. That's like $8.

If I was at home in New Jersey I'd be forced to own a car. I took a taxi when I was visiting my dad, and a 8 minute ride to my destination and back home cost me $23 plus tip. Everything is too far so walking is out of the question.

It's nice to not have to pay the car payments/insurance. I still miss having a car. 🙂
 
Nope. Taking transit to work every day would be almost two hours one way with having to switch buses twice. Car takes 20min. And driving STILL works out to be cheaper since my car is paid for.
 
When I was attending college I would drive 1.5 hours one way. When i was taking care of my uncle it took me 2 hours one way to get to his house in Drexel Hill, PA. I miss those long drives just listening to music or my audio books.
 
Can I survive? Sure. Would it be fun? Nope.

America has the largest road network in the world. What a shame it would be to let that go to waste.
 
Not here. We only have buses as public transportation and you do NOT want to use them unless you have no other choice.

Plus my vehicle is a few years old, it is paid for and I only have to pay for insurance, gas, and maintenance.

It is a pain to have car in developing countries in Asia because the roads are very crowded and no place to park/or expensive to park. You think NY City is bad? Ha, you ain't see nothing yet.
 
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I could manage but it would be very hard. I'd have to get up earlier and walk to work, which would suck when it's 40 below or in summer when it's 25+ and get to work all sweaty. Doing stuff like groceries would be harder, but I would find a way. Maybe a wagon or something to put the groceries or other purchases in. Or just bring the shopping cart home with the groceries in it LOL.

For other places that are farther and that I don't go to often, I could take the bus. TBH, I think I would be more in shape too if I did not have a car. i would not be willing to go without it, but if I was stuck, I'd just have to make it work.

My company is undergoing some reorg and I could potentially lose my job, so I may have to make that sacrifice. I never sat down and figured it out as I don't gas up at a set interval but if I had to guess that's about $100/mo, and insurance is about $100/mo, so by simply parking the car I could save $200/mo. Not really that much though, so almost not worth doing unless it was the make or break amount to whether I have enough money to pay the bills.
 
Svnla said:
Not here. We only have buses as public transportation and you do NOT want to use them unless you have no other choice.

Plus my vehicle is a few years old, it is paid for and I only have to pay for insurance, gas, and maintenance.

It is a pain to have car in developing countries in Asia because the roads are very crowded and no place to park/or expensive to park. You think NY City is bad? Ha, you ain't see nothing yet.
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It depend in Asia. Not all of Asia is congested with traffic. Bangkok, Seoul and Tokyo have a lot of traffic. The same could be said for NY city, LA and Miami. There are quiet areas just like in America. I was in an area last week in Thailand that was very quiet. About 3 hours away from Bangkok. No public transportation. Most people drove motorbikes, cars or walked.
 
Red Squirrel said:
I could manage but it would be very hard. I'd have to get up earlier and walk to work, which would suck when it's 40 below or in summer when it's 25+ and get to work all sweaty. Doing stuff like groceries would be harder, but I would find a way. Maybe a wagon or something to put the groceries or other purchases in. Or just bring the shopping cart home with the groceries in it LOL.

For other places that are farther and that I don't go to often, I could take the bus. TBH, I think I would be more in shape too if I did not have a car. i would not be willing to go without it, but if I was stuck, I'd just have to make it work.

My company is undergoing some reorg and I could potentially lose my job, so I may have to make that sacrifice. I never sat down and figured it out as I don't gas up at a set interval but if I had to guess that's about $100/mo, and insurance is about $100/mo, so by simply parking the car I could save $200/mo. Not really that much though, so almost not worth doing unless it was the make or break amount to whether I have enough money to pay the bills.
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I took a 3 hour cab ride last week. Cost me 1,000 baht which is about $30 USD. Try getting a taxi in America to drive you 3 hours for $30 dollars.
 
Mai72 said:
I took a 3 hour cab ride last week. Cost me 1,000 baht which is about $30 USD. Try getting a taxi in America to drive you 3 hours for $30 dollars.
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Yeah don't know about the US but here a cab ride is expensive. A typical 15 minute ride will cost around 10-15 bucks. So in a situation where you're saving money by not having a car, definitely don't want to rely on a cab regularly. D:
 
All depends on where I am. In Minsk, Belarus I use public transport. I can't count on how many times I was close to buying a car as riding public transport in the summer is miserable. In USA, I definitely need a car as I drive 500 miles a week, sometimes more.
 
Not in Austin. This town is not designed for walking and we don't have good enough public transport.

If I worked in downtown and I was willing to pay ridiculous amounts of money to live downtown, I could get by without owning a car, but I'd need something ZipCar for the occasional car trip.
 
Mai72 said:
It depend in Asia. Not all of Asia is congested with traffic. Bangkok, Seoul and Tokyo have a lot of traffic. The same could be said for NY city, LA and Miami. There are quiet areas just like in America. I was in an area last week in Thailand that was very quiet. About 3 hours away from Bangkok. No public transportation. Most people drove motorbikes, cars or walked.
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Do you really want to drive a car in rural areas of developing countries in Asia? The roads are barely passable/drivable with potholes and almost no shoulder. Plus you have to share those bad roads with buses and trucks. After my trips to Asia, I feel bless about our roads in the USA.
 
Svnla said:
Do you really want to drive a car in rural areas of developing countries in Asia? The roads are barely passable/drivable with potholes and almost no shoulder. Plus you have to share those bad roads with buses and trucks. After my trips to Asia, I feel bless about our roads in the USA.
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I was in Uthaitani last week. It's an area that is very small and doesn't see a lot of traffic. The roads were perfectly fine. I didn't drive on dirt roads. They were paved and clean. Like most Thai cities, Uthaitani has an issue with stray dogs. They are literally everywhere, so you need to be mindful when you're driving.

I did see a lot of big trucks on the highway. They were everywhere. Also, Thailand has the 3rd highest on road fatality rate in the world. Driving in Thailand is always an adventure.

I get what you're saying. Is driving in Mississippi, Kansas, and Arkansas any different? We are having issues with infrastructure and our roads are in desperate need of repair.

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