Could you live without an automobile?

[Naer]

I live in NYC. I do this everyday

 

[halik]

I certainly could survive, but it would be a huge waste of my time,

 

[jlee]

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.

This.

 

[sportage]

One of my most memorable and fun times was saying in San Fran with no car, relying only on public transportation. Hopping on a cable car, using the Bart. You really felt a part of the city. And so many interesting people to meet off the cuff. I remember jumping on a cable car and standing next to a lady way overdosed in goth. Black hair, clothes, piercings, lips and nails. She looked pretty scary. She started talking and turned out to be one of the sweetest friendliest young ladies I've ever met. A real sweetheart. No car? The closest feeling of true freedom, other then being naked.

 

[cuafpr]

No and i'd go crazy with out one.. i love my cars. Driving them two and from work are generally the best parts of my day.

 

[Rakehellion]

If I was at home in New Jersey I'd be forced to own a car.

Move a few inches east to New York and you won't need one.

 

[Rakehellion]

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.

Or you can take a Megabus for like $10.

 

[lxskllr]

I need some kind of transportation due to where I live, and what I do. I'm not especially attached to cars. I could work with a horse or camel. but I'd need something.

 

[slag]

Couldn't do it. How could I tow my boat to the various lakes in the area? How would I get to home depot and buy 14 10 foot boards plus assorted trim pieces for the front porch railing and stuff them in a cab? These are just a couple things I've done in the past couple weeks.

 

[Oyeve]

Im 48, live in NYC, never had a license, I dont drive. I never wanted to drive. I always date women with cars. My current GF/fiance drives me if I need it. I have too much road rage and chose not to drive around 30 years ago.

 

[rh71]

I'd hop into a taxi for $2-3.

In suburbia, you can't just hail down a taxi. Calling ahead requires 15+ minutes easily.

I love having a car and toying with it and all the freedom that comes along with it. When I had an office to go into, I would look forward to driving home after a full day and just rock along to a 9-minute song (And Justice For All) which was the duration of the drive.

 

[Kaido]

Nope. It's illegal to walk or ride your bicycle on the highway & most of my routes are interstate-based. I could pretty much go nowhere without a car. I do think a lot more people should be driving stuff like the Elio though:

http://www.eliomotors.com/

Get the junkers & huge cars that only carry one person every day off the road, and put in fuel-efficient mini-cars like that one on all of the major business routes. That'd be interesting!

 

[Hacp]

In NYC yes, Everywhere else, no.

 

[TwiceOver]

No, well not really. I'd have to get one of those kid carriers for my bike. Then I'd have to allot an extra hour or so of commuting every day.

Winter, impossible.

 

[Dirigible]

I've almost always chosen to live places where I don't need a car for my daily normal activities. I don't like cars and don't like driving.

One issue is when I do want to go somewhere that requires a car I have often forgotten where I parked the damn thing.

 

[Mixolydian]

Nope. Virtually no public transit out here in the suburbs. Very few things within walking/biking distance either.

 

[Gooberlx2]

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.

Pretty much exactly the same for me. Maybe when lightrail is finally finished, transit will be faster (though almost certainly not cheaper). But until then, it's driving for me.

 

[PricklyPete]

Yes. My wife and I share a car. It sits in the garage all week and really only gets used on the weekends or the occasional errand during the week.

 

[K1052]

I already do. I technically own half of a car but it is in SF and the only person that uses it is my husband for his commute down the peninsula. Never drive anymore in SF or Chicago between public trans, walking, and uber.

I really don't miss it at all....I know some people think cars represent freedom but the opposite is true for me. No more worrying about taking care of it, costs to fuel/park/maintain, getting damaged/broken into, etc. I just go where I need to when I need to. This lifestyle isn't practical for a lot of people (suburbanites, families, etc) though.

 

[nageov3t]

I could, but not very comfortably (assuming both my boyfriend and I had to give up our cars)... I can get to work without a car, but the only grocery stores in walking distances of my house are super overpriced bodegas. I'd have to take a cab or long bus ride to the big box supermarket to get fresh produce and good cuts of meat (and I'd never be able to take drives out into farm country to go to farmer's markets during the summer/fall).

likewise, getting out to visit family/friends would also be a pain in the ass since none of them are particularly accessible via mass transit (instead of a 10 minute drive to my parents house, it would be a 10 minute walk up to the main drag in my town, standing around waiting for a bus for awhile, taking a 20-30 minute bus ride with stops along every street corner to my parents town, and then another 10 minute walk from the main drag in my parents town down to their house on a side street)

 

[JulesMaximus]

Unfortunately, no.

 

[zCypher]

Been living with no car in Montreal for the past couple of years. While I love cars and I love driving, being free of the hassle, time and expense has been amazing. I don't need a car, I don't need a bus/metro or train pass and the vast majority of the time I don't even need to take public transportation, since literally everything is within walking distance. The times that I do have to take a bus, train, metro or cab are infrequent enough that the cost is negligible.

I spent years justifying the cost of vehicles as a "necessary" expense. I finally admitted that it was nothing but a personal choice when it actually came down to it, and I haven't looked back. I realized that many people seemed not to actually calculate what it really costs to purchase, own, license, insure, operate and maintain a vehicle over the long term.

When I saw a crazy cheap deal on a decent place to live in an amazing location in the city, I jumped on it. Still had my car at the time, but when it broke down, I got rid of it instead of fixing it. I've thought about getting another car so many times since then, and ended up buying a cheap motorcycle instead. When I added up the total expenditure over a year's time, it ended up costing me a fraction of the price of owning a car (in my case for a variety of reasons; obviously not always the case for motorcycles). In the end, I can afford to have a toy purely for pleasure, since I don't need a car, and still save much more money at the same time.

Since then I've vowed to continue the trend of putting myself in a position to not depend on a car. Adding up 25-30 years of vehicle expenses means I can ultimately consider housing in locations that I might otherwise overlook if the cost of a vehicle was obligatory.

When I can justify the expense of a car purely for pleasure, then I will buy one again. If I already had kids and what not, my story would probably be very different though, haha.

If you can go carless, highly recommend. Unless the money is no object of concern whatsoever, in which case there's little benefit to giving it up.

 

[Imp]

Yep.. doing it now.

Unfortunately, a car is really convenient and gives you a ton of freedom to just wander the streets. Everything I do now revolves around public transit. If I buy something, I have to ask myself if I can hump it a dozen miles home.

Want to get a car, but when you don't have one, the sudden influx of expenses is humungulous and hard to get over.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

only if i had a personal driver who would do all my driving for me

 

[tesher]

I drive to client offices every day, so as much as i would love to be able to take public transit around, it's not very effective for me. I also think the larger the city, the more viable public transportation tends to be.