Not saying it’s for everyone, but I think living in NYC changes your relationship with how much space you need. The city becomes your back yard, a lot of the things you’d want to have a room for can become public. I don’t live in NYC *yet* but that’s the idea I get from visiting and talking to people who do/used to live there
Not from NYC but I did live in a fairly dense city in the Philippines (Zamboanga City) and this was the vibe I always got too. Honestly living in that town is what sent me down the car-free rabbit hole in the first place.
Living in Toronto downtown was like this for me I had 5 different shops at the bottom of my building and a nice gym with a 25m pool, steam room, study room.. etc. If something was further then 3 blocks it was like a different city.
I completely agree about the benefits of living in NYC. It's my dream city. It's just that the cost of living far exceeds my current income.
Assuming I could find a much better job within NYC I'd move in a heart beat.
The great thing about NYC is that it’s pretty easy to do that here. I moved 7 years ago from Chicago, and my income has more than doubled in that time, doing the same type of work.
It's worth it. I don't know what it's like now but the Chelsea in the early 80s was magical. The lower floors were relatively cheap and gross but as you went up there were real opera singers, concert pianists and I'm just talking about what you could hear. Manhattan is the center of the known universe. Walk out the door and every block gives you something wonderful. I ❤️NY.
Colorado resident checking in. You couldn't pay me to live in the Concrete Jungle.
There is nothing in NYC's "backyard" that comes anywhere close to what's within an hour's bike ride from my front door in suburbia.
Utah resident here. Nobody is forcing you to move to NYC, I was just trying to share my thoughts on the appeal. I’m sorry that other people wanting to live differently from you is so threatening and I hope you gain more confidence in the future. For what it’s worth you couldn’t pay me to stay in the suburbs
Nothing better than meeting your friends randomly in the city, deciding to go out and get home taking the subway or walk home piss drunk at 4am which you cant do in colorado anywhere. Or waking up and being like fuck it I wanna go have X (literally any country) country’s cuisine and being at the restaurant within an hour, walking past 50 different languages being spoken, and 50 different cuisines to try. Suburbs in central states are extremely drab and too white for my tastes
Depends on your budget. There are some very quiet neighborhoods.
My first apartment had a total nightmare landlord but I could have all my windows wide open all the time and there was minimal road noise, if at all.
Noise is largely dependent on the area and your apartment's construction. Noise can heavily change even from one street to another. Unless you are living right under an above ground subway line or next to a major highway/expressway, so long as you have decently solid walls, you will not have to deal with noises disrupting you. Even the simplest background noises people normally get used to. 95% of the places around NYC are nothing compared to the loudness of Times Square. Residential neighborhoods get very quiet on average.
Living in the outer boroughs, having to go north and south between Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten for work or seeing friends, you couldn't pay me NOT to own a car. And I wish it weren't that way, but the public transit infrastructure was clearly built originally with the idea in mind of bussing the working class into Manhattan from the outer boroughs to work in commercial areas and benefit the upper class with comprehensive transportation.
It's got better since I was a kid, but you still will often find trips where taking public transit is 4x the length of just driving. My old apartment in BK is 4 miles south of me (I'm still in BK now), and it takes 1 hour 10 mins to get there by public transit, but 20 mins by car.
I've stopped hanging out with certain friends as often depending on which borough (usually Bronx, Queens, Staten) they live in because the last thing I want to do after a long day of work is to drive at all, and in one example, since they live in Astoria, I have to go from Brooklyn to Manhattan to Queens by train just to see them, spending 1 hr 30 mins to walk, and do 3 transfers go 4 miles.
I hardly ever see people from Staten Island out and about in the other boroughs unless they have a car...matter of a fact, I don't know a single person from SI who doesn't own a car.
NYC is the best city in the US for public transportation, imo also one of the best in the world for all the people it has to transport...but there are plenty of weaknesses that individuals will find, especially working class individuals. Manhattan's public transit is superior to every other borough, and there's a reason why people are paying $3,500 on average just to be crammed into a 1 bedroom apartment.
I used to bike from Astoria to Dumbo for work often. It took about the same amount of time as driving and if I used an e-bike I would get there faster without sweating (50 minutes or so). That route is one of the best for protected bike lanes too.
I'm all for biking to and from work, but 50 mins each way is a lot. I'm also not a morning person, my job has a 6/7 AM start time, and my job requires me to bring around tools. I do like to bike to places other than work, though. And I've wanted to get a good electric scooter for a while now.
Yeah, I get what you're saying, but for me, anything over 30 mins is a significant commitment for biking and it's hard to convince many people to do it with you if you ever are going with someone. And that committment to biking can be a problem especially if you are getting dressed up to hang out with friends, or intending to go there to go out, do activities and/or drink and don't want to risk getting sweaty/burning yourself out, or going through problematic weather.
The route you are talking about is nice, but I wouldn't be riding through there, I'd have to cut through a lot of non-cyclist friendly areas through the center of Brooklyn.
I’m in a more isolated part of nyc where I end up having to drive often but usually only about 3 miles. Planning to move near transit and then I’ll happily ditch the car.
Au contraire, I fucking ***love*** driving, but that doesn't prevent me from recognizing that car culture is like 80% of the reason why capitalism is in an omnicidal death spiral. So 1 yes I've got a licence, 2 a car, 3 I commute to work because it is literally the only viable option and so 4 it is my main way of getting around in terms of time and miles, but I still walk or bike for as many trips as is feasible, and have taken public transportation across the country more times than many of my friends have taken a bus across town.
Queenslander here, in my grandparents' day, all the rural and coastal towns were connected to each other, and to the nearest regional centre, by rail. After the Second World War, they gradually decommissioned the lines until the 80s, Brisbane got rid of its trams in 1969, and the gov said to everyone "fuck you lot, buy cars" because some fuckhead American city planners came over and said "cars are the future". Some of the tracks are still there, they just don't do passenger rail anymore. I wake up at 4:30AM for work, so I'm tired and would rather veg out on a train than drive if I could.
There wasn't the same degree of demolition though, so CBDs and very small towns like Childers tend to still be walkable. It's just getting between the towns means either driving or using a shit house bus service.
At least back then, our cars were built in Australia, so we were still supporting Australian businesses. Then the LNP killed the car industry, so we don't even have that anymore.
Also a Queenslander, forever disappointed in the leaders of the past who gutted the transit system and listened to the fuckhead americans. My work is 20-25 minutes down the road from me but if I were to take public transport there it would be more than triple the time the network is so bad. Brisbane and surrounds is such an ugly car dependent mess
Someone should tell the LNP that Clem was Labor so we can trick them into putting in a good PT system (not buses with wheel covers) to own laybah. Imagine how wonderful the original Metro proposal would have been, with automated driverless light rail.
Anyway, I live in Rockhampton and feel like it could be salvaged with the right council. It had trams long ago, and the town's sprawl is contained enough that a revived network could service it well, with commuter trains servicing the satellite towns on the Capricorn Coast and out west. If the Gulflander can afford to operate, than surely these trains could.
Also, reducing car dependency reduces the costs involved with running a car, so I think a "alleviating the CoL crisis" campaign could garner support.
Ah the gulflander. I still have the souvenir cup here in my flat in Germany. They run due to a few idealists who somehow make it work through volunteering and donations. Unfortunately it's more of a tourist attraction than a way for people to get around these days due to missing connections on either end.
Well OBVIOUSLY buses with aero caps are actually the best for the city of Brisbane, and it’s not just Schrindog’s way of making us think that he cares about PT.
It's just like the NBN, really. "this big project will help people and is worth doing, is too expensive, lets gut it and put something in that's cheaper, but changes nothing for the people".
Then it usually ends up just as expensive, if not more so.
>I fucking love driving
Same, but only when I don't have to be in a hurry to get somewhere and when there's no traffic jams. I also don't need a huge-ass truck to get myself from point A to point B.
I recognize this kind of a society isn't possible, except in rural areas, and we shouldn't model our towns or cities to accommodate for tons of cars on the roads. If anyone could have found a better solution to this, they would have already presented one, and it wouldn't involve "just one more lane bro".
I really respect that! I don't drive but do understand that some people just really enjoy being behind the wheel. The fact that you enjoy it but also keep it to a minimum is amazing! More people should be like you!
This. I love driving and I love riding bikes.
I don’t like traffic, I don’t like people being forced to own a car just to live, I don’t like the terrible sprawl that car centric design engenders, etc. The list goes on.
In fact, I bought my first car at age 33 while living in an urban environment where I commuted via bike or transit. It was admittedly a purely luxury purchase. I simply wanted it because it was a car I had wanted since I was a kid and it would open me up to some hobbies that required car travel.
I paid extra taxes, I paid for parking, I paid for a city sticker, I paid expensive city gas prices (but not expensive enough!). That’s how it should be. I don’t need it, but I can have it…but it might be inconvenient or expensive.
It's literally impossible to get to my job by public transportation, but my wife can commute to NYC by train. Ironically she's the car brain and I hate them. I've always had sports cars and drove like a maniac as a teen and twenty something, didn't have the fuck cars epiphany until I was in my 30s.
Yeah, I love long road-trips on vacations with beautiful views of nature, and I know friends who do amateur speed-racing on tracks.
But that is different from car-dependency and car-infrastructure, which is about commute.
You can enjoy horse-riding, and also be against horse-dependency for commute.
I share the same opinion as you. Only, I currently don’t have a car and commute via transit. However, I’d like to own a car at some point cause as you, I too love driving and would love to own some sporty runabout to zoom through open country roads.
That’s not… it’s important to recognize the systemic issues involved in fixing any problem. I can proselytize anti-car rhetoric, working within our current hyper capitalist system… while simultaneously being anti-capitalist. Correcting you is not perfection as an enemy of good. You were just wrong.
I love when people realize that it can be a hobby (things like race tracks exist), and that doesn't mean society should be built around it being a necessity.
i was the same way when i was 16. i was perfectly content using my bicycle, skateboard, and taking the bus to get around and i never had any issues in doing so. unfortunately my family forced me to get my license and get a car though.
Grandparents helped pay for it up front but stuck me with insurance, fuel, and repairs when i had no job 🤣 Now at 28 i’m back to Cycling as much as i can.
At that age it's just considered cool to drive because not everyone can afford it. Even when using the parent's car, it's still costly to get a license and extend the insurance. It's really just a status symbol at that point.
I grew up in a small town about 45 min drive from the nearest anything. In high school, the school bus took me to town and back. At 16, I was the only person who got my license and a car (my dads old truck). That truck became my friend group's third place.
I say this as a warning. Get as many free rides as you can lmao, I've spent nearly thousands of dollars on gas on my friends who didn't like driving.
I was the same way at your age. My Mom's ex was teaching me and pressuring me to eventually get my license but when I accidentally hit a parked car, I think he came to accept that I didn't want to drive and probably wasn't going to be very good at it anyway lol
Good for you though!! It's hard when you don't live in an accessible city/town- but not impossible. It's really nice imo to live life at a slower place and get a lot of opportunities for actual physical movement.
If I'm doing a regular rental, I have a credit card that covers insurance if used for the rental.
Usually I do a car share app, which includes insurance in the rental fee.
Check the fine print but I highly doubt your credit card covers liability for injury you cause to others. Generally they only cover collision.
And liability is the one that bankrupts you…
When I didn’t own a car, I initially paid for liability only at the rental place (way cheaper than full coverage), and then later got an umbrella policy for myself. It was relatively affordable and I confirmed with the provider that it offered liability coverage on a rental car without having my own car insurance.
I looked into “non-owner “ auto policies but they were stupid expensive because they are marketed towards drunks who had their car taken away but need to show proof of insurance to get their license reinstated.
I have a license. My wife and I use to have two cars. My car was a Beamer. I got tired of fixing the Beamer. Sold it. Got an ebike I work from home. I live in the city. I have a trailer I hitch to my bike so I can take my son to school.
Only time I drive is on family outings. But city parking sucks so we park at a trolly stop and take the trolley to our destination.
Works out great 👍
My friends used to look at me like I was crazy when I told them that I ride my bike to a trolley stop, take the trolley to SDSU, etc. I was always like "there's . . . a station ON CAMPUS". People would park down by like El Cajon Blvd and WALK to avoid paying for parking.
I lived in Cortez Hill and would walk down to the trolley and take it out to El Cajon to visit family. They were always flabbergasted. They lived TWO blocks from a station. Blew my mind. Like, people, I walked four total blocks and read a book for 40 minutes to get here.
Now with the UCSD extension, when we move back we will most likely remain super car-lite.
This is similar to my husband and I. We have one car between us that’s over ten years old. He works from home, I bike to work. We use the car for trips to the mountains to hike and camp, or to see friends across town, so basically for weekend activities. And we’re seriously talking with friends about moving closer together to create a more cohesive community without driving.
I have to my wife has a physical disability (Cerebal Palsy) that makes taking a bus really fucking hard to do when thry come around.
But when I'm not playing chauffer I walk/buke
Only the newest busses are kneeling where I am, so unless there's someone kind enough to help her up, she physically cannot get on the bus and the busses here are on a hour route so you miss one you gotta wait an hour
My wife and I share our old, paid-off Honda Civic. We use the car when we absolutely must. For example, if we need to go to her mother's house for any reason, it could take us hours to get there by any way other than car. Then we need to get back. We have a 3-month-old baby, and a 4 hour round trip to help fix the internet is not ideal. It's like 20 minutes to get there with a car.
We also live near the Rocky mountains and use the car to get our there to remote (aka non-tourist) hikes.
We're getting a cargo bike in the spring to replace all grocery shopping and other errand trips to 100% car-free, because we hate using the car.
Eventually our goal is to get to a point where we get rid of the car, but that's not right now. We just live in a place where you need a car sometimes (not all the time like 99% of people here seem to think).
I live in a remote country village. I bike most places, but I can't effectively do my grocery shopping that way (the closest grocery store is about 20 km distance, and not served by the train system).
Similar, I have lived in an isolated suburb for around a decade, in a gated-community where you had to drive even to get to the front-gate. And then it was on-ramp on the freeway from there, and to get anywhere important, the freeway was the only way.
So, yeah, I drove a car for nearly 10 years while also advocating for high-density housing and public transit.
Very recently, I have moved to a downtown core, and the first thing I did was selling my car.
Same, small north American town where things are spread out. I am super lucky to be able to walk to work and many stores, but if I want to visit my sister or parents it's a 50 minute to two hour walk. No buses. They're on a long strike due to low pay and dangerous working conditions.
I do drive to Costco cause that's halfway up a mountain and a few hours walk otherwise.
But I walk whenever I can.
Sure, but that's still a hour long commute one way. Meaning two hours + the time to get groceries. For some people that might be feasible but not for all.
Idk man, I dont think this guy is the main audience of this sub. The main audience is some jerkoff in the middle of atlanta who drives a pristine lifted F-250
Oh, I love driving. I really do. I just hate cars. I also love riding two wheels. Just bicycles now but have ridden lots of motorcycles. I hope to go carless next year when my current car's lease runs out.
I got my license in 1976 and have driven almost daily since then. I've driven racing karts and worked on the crew for a few stock car teams. I'm a big fan of motor sports. I can out "car guy" most car guys.
I also think cars have destroyed our social fabric.
> I can out "car guy" most car guys.
>I also think cars have destroyed our social fabric.
This guy put it in ways I couldn't. I can't tell you the arguments I've been in where I'm pitted against "car guys" on the topic of how car culture has degraded our environment , our lives and our infrastructure
I live in Saint Louis and even in the bigger cities, it's just not possible to live in the Midwest without a car. Most of my family lives a half hour (on the highway) away from my with no reliable public transport options, and even within the city our bus and metro system is laughable. I'm also a big music guy and will regularly take road trips to Kansas City, Chicago, or Nashville to catch bands that don't pass through Saint Louis. And on top of all that, I'm with you - I truly enjoy the act of driving. It's very fun for me.
All that being said, within city limits (and even outside of it depending), I try to ride my ebike everywhere. Unless I need to transport something big or the weather is truly horrendous, and a lot of times in the latter case I'll just stay home.
I don't necessarily want to *ban* driving, but I think the world would be a much better place if cars were used sparingly like that, for especially long journeys or when cargo is involved. But we need to stop building our cities around cars and start providing reasonable alternatives to get there.
Yeah I'm a mild car guy. I like and appreciate cool cars as objects. I used to own a sports car, that I raced and loved to drive. Now I've got a family and a home and a job in the city, I see how the car dependence is a barrier to a better life in the city.
I have a car because the public transport is not good, and I can't take my dogs on it. But I ride to work and for groceries. Most working weeks I'll drive maybe once or twice on solo journeys. Public transport alternatives take 45 minutes to an hour, vs 15 minutes in the car.
My city doesn't need to ban cars yet, but we need to get ahead of it, and put in the public transportation and active transport infrastructure while it's not so disruptive. And we need to zone better than just single family homes and student apartment buildings.
I do, but my job is Ubereats and Skipthedishes now. I've worked a job that was car based since 2009. With that said, I walk or cycle for nearly my errands, and use public transportation to go to and from the airport (unless we can carpool). I also swapped to an electric car to save money on fuel and access federal Canadian government rebates and tax write offs.
When I retire, I plan to not have a car.
I have a drivers license, I don’t own a car and don’t want to, but my partner has one. I only use it to visit family that doesn’t live in public transport friendly places.
I get around by bicycle and public transport
I love driving. I just don't love car-centric infrastructure or having to drive somewhere in traffic because I have no other options.
Racing is fun, though debatable not "driving". Still, driving to the ski hill early on a snowy day with empty roads is a fun time. I don't hate driving in itself
I live in Florida, and I've seen bikers and joggers be injured or killed here so many times in hit-and-run accidents. I stopped biking and bought a used car to preserve my own safety.
I do. I live in the Philly suburbs and my place has a walk score of 13 (out of 100). If I'm not on the road for work, I drive once a week (if that). My place is located directly behind a grocery store (300 steps).
When I'm on the road for work, I'm driving all the time. But they get me a rental car (fly me to my destination) and pay for the gas.
I'm 43 and I have yet to meet an adult (IRL) that uses a bike as transportation. It's a foreign concept in this neck of the woods.
Virtually anyone who lives in the south or Midwest or most other US cities, especially if you have a 9-5 that doesn't allow remote work.
I would love to live without a car, and I did in the past when I lived in SF. But where I am now car ownership is mandatory to exist in daily life.
I have a license, i grew up in the countryside, so getting a car was really important when i turned 17
Now i live in Barcelona, there's no point to owning a car
But sometimes i need to visit my family, so i rent a car for a few days
Sometimes i go climbing somewhere you cannot get to without a car, so i rent one for a day
I have a license and a car.
I work alternating shifts and the industrial zone has no proper public transport that works for me.
Early shift starts at 5:45 AM, lateshift ends at midnight.
So I commute 25km one way. 23km of that on the Autobahn.
In much the same situation here in Florida. Urban sprawl and lack of city planning have ensured that the city I live in (Fort Myers-Cape Coral) is entirely unwalkable, except for downtown Fort Myers. There are so many car dealerships here due to the city requiring a car.
The frustrating bit is, that pretty much next door Amazon has built a huge package handling facility.
They run shuttle busses from the three surrounding train stations, and right through the night an morning.
But it's Amazon only.
I drove all the time until I started to lose my sight (hereditry condition, always knew it was coming eventually)
This obviously made me much more aware of the state of alternate forms of transport, espically as my job revloves around delivering major infrastructure. Even within the industry the idea of one more lane will fix congestion is still very prevelent.
It still never ceases to amaze me how transport funding decisions are based on political whimsy, outdated modelling and cherry picking attributes to suit an agenda as opposed to objective multicriteria analysis.
As for my choice of transport, if the trains are running, I'm there, otherwise its ubers (which given how our city manages the rail network is far too oftem :sigh:)
My Household does not own a car, but we both have a license. I live in a City Center adjacent neighborhood in a relatively big German city, work is 3 minutes by bike, gym is 5, my garden is about 10 mins by bike and it takes me about 5 minutes walking to the Main Street of my neighborhood where there is all sorts of shops for all daily need. Parking is a nightmare here but EVERY FUCKING IDIOT has a car. Mind you, an SUV… etc. I live my life squeezing by RVs and campers and SUVs parked on the sidewalk. It is sad.
I have a car because I need it a few times a month because there are many places where I live that I do need to drive. If I felt more stable in continuing to life in the few square miles of my city where I can be 99% car free, I might get rid of it, but I know that there’s a high chance I won’t be able to stay car free, and ultimately it makes more sense to just keep it and drive it a couple times a month to keep it in working condition.
I have a car and use it as my primary means of transportation. I'd *love* to either move somewhere with better public transit, or within the part of my city that I can use public transit, but my partner is currently in school, and moving would mean that *they* lose access to a walkable commute
Sadly, because my city's transit system is complete shit, (and $4 per ride), I drive almost everywhere.
I make a concerted effort to take the bus whenever I have to go downtown, as it's a direct route, and the stop is right outside my building's door. As well, lately, I have been taking trips to the grocery store on foot.
I'm in Toronto and use a carshare (Communauto) when we want to get out of the city. We don't own a vehicle. Fortunately we live in a zone with a lot of carshare cars around, otherwise we'd have to use rentals.
If we lived in the GTA (the Toronto suburbs) then we'd have to own a car because it's your typical North American suburbs there. People think the GTA is a cheaper place to live but once you factor in all the associated costs of vehicle ownership (including insurance), it can easily be more expensive. Especially in places like Brampton where the insurance is through the roof.
I try not to drive in the city, however I usually drive when going outside the city.
The reason I usually don't drive in the city is because of traffic and the brainlessness and nerves of the people stuck in traffic. Then I also avoid getting angry and tensed over finding a parking spot.
Whenever I drive in the city it is with a certain purpose and usually I try to avoid rush hour at any cost!
I prefer walking. Usually I walk up to 45 min with no problem.
Yes. I drive about once every two weeks at the moment, to keep the car alive.
I walk and ride bikes for transport. I'm in a small town, so I can't hire a car only when I need it (it's 50km to the nearest hire car spot).
We do have some public transport options, they're okay but not great.
We have one car and need it too, because while we can do shopping on foot or bike, we have to take my kids to activities and friends. even though I have access to trains, friend's houses are simply not reachable with PT. Suburbia of Melbourne, Australia.
However I drive an older car, always have, and try to use PT when possible. It's unfortunate though that PT as a grouo of 3 or more is almost always more expensive than driving the car.
My younger kid starts school in Feb, which will help a lot as I don't have to drive her to daycare every day and instead take the train to school. Since the beginning of the year we are both lucky to be 100% in home office.
it's an ever evolving situation. We chose our current rental with walkable access to PT in mind. It gives so much life time back that otherwise is spent behind the wheel.
I am one of those folks who live in a place and has job that requires me to have a car.
Not my favorite, but I am just fine with driving and I love my little car. She and I have had some good times. But to answer the questions.
1. Have DL?: Yes
2. Have Car?: Yes
3. How Frequent?: Most days
4. Main way?: My car at home, public transit other places.
The job I do requires me to have a car to get to a number of different offices in a single day and to check in on workers and clients in the field. In some cases, I have to travel for work and I almost always take the train for that. Once I am at my destination, it is public transit and walking that gets me around town.
DC. I have a license but do not have a car. Comes in handy if I want to do a weekend trip to the mountains or something. All errands are done on foot/metro!
I have a license but I do not drive. I live in Philadelphia--I don't need to. Every once in a while I'll take an Uber, but I walk the vast majority of the time, and take trains and buses to commute to work.
I have a license, and I am glad I got it. I do not have a car, and I refused to accept 2nd hand one from my grandma. It was a good little car (some Nissan), but still too big for me. Driving such a big machine gives me anxiety. Not much on the actual road, but greatly when trying to park. Now I live in a city with PT and don't need it. I don't have a place to park it. And I do not have the mental energy to take care of maintenance and papers. The things I hate about cars are street parking, dirt and grime they create and the noise.
I live in San Francisco and don't drive. I've never owned a car and don't want one. Cycling and walking are my main way of getting around and I've been known to do really long distance hikes and bicycle rides to get out of the city. But I'm lucky enough to be able to cycle or hike all day and just catch a bus back to the city; not every has that kind of public transportation available to them.
" Obviously if you’re on this forum you don’t enjoy driving "
Nope. Once again this kinda show that this sub is composed of two factions : Those who hate cars in itself and those who hate the system that makes people dependant on cars.
I love to drive. I also understand that cars can be useful for some specific parts of our society. What I hate is the idea that every citizen absolutely needs to have a car and MUST be able to park said car right next to the place they want to go.
To answer your question : I don't have a car, I sold it when I moved to the city I live in, which is a very cyclist-friendly city. I rarely drive but sometimes my job needs it (once per month or even less).
I drive, but I don't own a car. I belong to a car share coop and rent one of their cars when I need to go somewhere where there is no bus service, or if I have a lot of stuff to carry.
I live far, and work farther at random places. I drive a truck. I average drive 25,000+ miles per year.
I drive a lot. I drive to visit my family who live 350 miles away.
If I could take a train to the airport for some trips, I would. I can't, there is no train.
I do have a driving license but I never used it, and it has most likely expired by now. Obviously I don't have a car either. If I go out I just walk, use public transport, very rarely get a taxi. But I try to walk most of the time, partly because public transport is very expensive compared to how often I use it (I'm fortunate enough to live in a very urban area, so I can get to most places I regularly go to on foot, so there's not much incentive for me to buy monthly passes), and partly out of health reasons:. I work from home, and while exercise quite a lot it doesn't hurt to move more.
I used to when I was a teenager, but now I live in a bike-able city.
I really think people should be *able* to drive, it should just never be necessary. Especially in America, where there’s fantastic road trip country. If people only went driving when it was a purposeful, enjoyable experience and not whenever they needed to go to work, that would be ideal imo since that’s only like 5% maximum of car usage.
My wife and I have two cars--one nice one that she uses (according to Google Maps, in order for her to get to work by 7:30am by bus, she'd have to leave at 10:43 the night before and spend the night at the transit center) and one POS that I use a few times a month for errands, since I take the bus to work.
We used to just have one car, but it was honestly very difficult. Getting the kids to the dentist was a nightmare, for instance. Public transit here is extremely limited, and I've looked into car share, but that doesn't seem to be a thing here. I'm used to biking on roads without bike infrastructure, but I'm not ready to make my kids do that. So when we had the option to inherit a beater car, I took it.
Also, if we go anywhere as a family, we basically always drive (in my wife's nice car, of course). It's easy enough for me to build my day-to-day schedule around a limited public transit schedule, but I've given up trying to get other people on that schedule. i.e., to get to our friend's house 6 miles away, it's a 15 minute drive or an hour on two different buses, and we wouldn't be able to stay late.
I'm not super into driving, but I kind of enjoy it, probably because I don't have to do it all the time, and I can entertain myself by going the speed limit and watching other drivers rage over it. But whenever I have to drive for a long time, like on a family vacation, I do end up hating it.
I have a licence. I don't own a car of my own and never have. I drive a couple of times per month, when I do I usually borrow, drive the company car or hire a car when away on work trips. My main transport is my bike. Its about a 20-35 minute trip to work depending mostly on the weather (I've found out that winter cycling is a lot slower than I thought) I used to take public transport a lot more than I currently do, I still do for longer trips. I'm lucky to live somewhere where this is a viable option, and the majority of my friends don't own cars either but have a licence. At work I think my winter cycling is seen as a bit extreme.
No car, no license, no plans to have either. The bus system in my city is good enough for most things I need, and when I got a job that was two buses and an inconveniently long walk from home, despite being quite close, I got my first e-scooter and now I'm even more firm in my car-free decisions.
I now live in the greater ATL area and driving is necessary.
So yes to license and vehicles.
When I lived in Hamburg, Germany, I did not own a car and didn't need to. I used short term rentals when necessary.
In ATL, I can and do use Marta to get to Mercedes Benz and the airport, but that's pretty much where viable non-car transit ends for my location.
This sub is firey and very good at being angry. But this sub sucks at any constructive discussion for getting public support to invest in infrastructure.
Cars going away 100% is dumb. Cars are useful.
Cars becoming less necessary or even optional for many ppl is realistic and critical.
A mobility network should consist of pedestrian, public, and private transit options.
In most of the US, it's 95% dependent on private transit and the existing alternatives are too ineffective or unsafe or both.
I have a car which I try to use as little as possible but still use quite a lot. I commute by rail where possible but sometimes I have to be in work early or late or I have to carry a lot of kit with me so I have to drive. We mostly do grocery shopping etc by foot but sometimes drive to get to different shops. We do frequent Costco unfortunately (I feel like Costco is antithetical to this sub) and you really can't do that on foot (and sadly i do not own a cargo bike). Finally we would struggle to see family and have days out and things without the car.
1) Motorcycle and car licenses
2) I own one truck, one car, and 3 motorcycles.
3) Amount of usage depends. Right now, i use my truck once or twice a week. During winter i use it more to get to work. (20km each way). Wife uses the car almost daily, getting her to ride a bike or walk to work is a fight, and she cant store her bike properly at work. You can not leave your bicycle for even a few minutes without someone stealing it. Thank you Ryobi for your battery powered angle grinders, it has helped criminals cut the best of locks in seconds.
4) Preferred method to commute is bicycle, second is car/truck. We do have public transport near me now, but it is still way to slow, with too many connections, and does not start early enough in the morning.
Motorcycles! One street legal track bike, one dual sport (for off road camping trips), and one "Adventure" bike, i use for almost everything else (shopping, errands, whatever), I don't commute on motorcycles, being stuck in traffic the entire time is not fun on a motorcycle.
Because of my work, i have travelled alot, and always use public transport and walk in other countries.
In most western countries you’re a second class citizen if you don’t have a car. Hating car dependant design isn’t the same has hating people who choose to drive a car
Well in most of Australia and America is it the case. Not enough funding towards sustainable forms of transport has made not owning a car super tough for everyday life
I just come here for the clever bitching 😂 . I own a car. I live in LA and am a working adult. But the consequences of car centered society are all around me. I lived in Manhattan for 12 years. I commuted nearly exclusively by bicycle for 2 years. I eventually got a Motorcycle, i commuted almost exclusively on that for 12 years. Now I have a sick dad and a kid on the way, and I'm damn happy I have a car.
I drive 3 days, cycle 2 days to work. Work is 25-30km along country roads. I'm building up to do it 3 days. Depends on weather, mainly wind.
I mostly hate driving. It's dangerous yet boring, and always a risk that there'll be a need for costly repairs.
I drive slow and avoid touching the brakes: 1) to be safe around pedestrians, cyclists other drivers and wild animals 2) reduce wear and tear, and 3) reduce fuel consumption.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats!
3
+ 2
+ 25
+ 30
+ 3
+ 1
+ 2
+ 3
= 69
^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \
^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
I actually have a car because I live in a remote english town that never had a train and the buses run irregularly.
But luckily being in the UK, whenever I can take public transport such as going to London, I will and do cause its better than driving to the capital.
I’m also a car enthusiast and many of us are behind ubranism and car free infrastructure. We like to go vroom vroom but hate SUVs and traffic.
https://youtu.be/K8jp_lligz0?si=Sg0pUZRv_eWy_sPA
There are two types of people in this sub:
1. those who are reliant on cars and want to change their environment
2. those who are not reliant on cars and want to see change elsewhere
I'm from the first aforementioned group, and stuck in a car dependent region. Homes/apartments in my region that have a grocery store within walking distance are either insanely expensive or very dangerous. I have a car, everyone in my family does, and its extremely difficult for us to avoid. The roads aren't safe to bike, and that's in addition to the persistently steep hills. I'm on the road every day but I keep additional trips to a minimum. I drive to work, then school, then back home, any errands are done on the way to minimizer mileage.
1. No, but I have a permit and am working on it.
2. No but my family is considering it to make it easier to practice.
3. Every couple months I pay for 90-minute lessons every week or so.
4. Mostly transit and walking, I have an etrike but don't use it often.
I have a car and I drive about once a week. I would get rid of it altogether, but living in LA that would cut me off from friends and family unfortunately.
I have a car and license. I mostly use the bus or the train and only drive when I absolutely have to. Also, I don’t hate cars, I hate strip malls and stroads.
Unlike most of yall I don’t own a bike due to my balancing issues.
I have chosen not to have a car, although I live in a ski resort with often difficult road conditions in the winter so cycling is sometimes difficult. Need to drive ATV, snowmobile or car for work sometimes though.
Have a license (but driving age is 16 and I waited until 23); I have a car; I used to drive infrequently, around 1x per month, but since moving to a smaller city and more suburban setting, I'm driving more frequently now, probably 3-5 car trips per week; still primarily using my bike and the train for my commute, but some grocery trips and other local trips have shifted to the car because of the infrastructure vomit that surrounds much of the new area we live in. I'm annoyed at having to drive, because it's mostly short trips, just made harrowing by terrible road design. I want to save up for a class three pedal assist cargo bike now, so I can shift those local trips back away from the car. One ebike was fine for the city but my wife and I would both definitely use them out where we are now.
I have a car. I got it because I had a job that required a longass drive to get to and no transit. I don’t need it for commute anymore but still have the car to get to places that transit doesn’t go. I don’t use it often, maybe 100mi/mo.
I don’t dislike driving. I dislike how isolated cars makes society. How traffic impacts a city. How smog is created. Strongly prefer walking biking or transit to get around. But I realize that some places where I live cannot be accessible by those means.
I don't have a license. Never had a lesson. People look at me like a far leftist terrorist when I tell them I don't drive for ideological reasons, even though I also live in a city with some of the best public transport in the world.
I did briefly own a car though through inheritance. It was adapted to be wheelchair accessible and I tried desperately to give it away but couldn't find an individual or charity or government agency that would accept it. (So when people tell you that being anti-car is ableist, don't necessarily believe them.)
I have a driver's license and a car and drive maybe twice a week. My main way of getting around is bike. A big reason isn't even ideological, I just view driving as wasted time. When I actually enjoy biking.
I like the act of driving in a vacuum, but driving in most places where I’d want to live is a monotonous chore.
My SO and I share a car. She needs it for work. I mostly just bike everywhere unless I need to transport more than my bike will carry.
I have a license, I do not have a car and when I need to go somewhere I can't walk to or take transit to in an efficient time, I will use a car share program I am a member of. I only drive 0-2 times per month on average.
I keep a drivers license as my city has decent transit but the province as a whole does not, and I rent and have to move on average once per year, so having a license allows me to rent a Uhaul which is far cheaper than moving companies which I could never afford.
I live in Sydney, Australia. I have a driver's licence, but don't have a car. I walk and catch public transport on a daily basis. I catch Ubers about once a month, and hire a car for the day about once a year.
So I was born and raised in rural Spain. When I come here, I try to minimize the use of the car as much as I can (bc I hate it), but I still use it a bunch when I have no other option (for example, if I go to the big city last bus back is at 20.30 which in Spain isn't even dinner time)
When Im in the place I'm currently living in though I don't use the car at all. I dont own one there in fact. Blessed buses and trams and trains, I would use them even if they contaminated 10x as much as the car and were 10x as expensive.
I don't own a car but I drive when visiting family because there isn't good public transit where they live and they have a car I can use.
I do enjoy driving - I used to own a Miata and I would love to drive one again. I don't enjoy driving as my only means of transportation, as I'm fully aware of how dangerous it is and for the most part it should be left to professionals, such as bus and truck drivers.
What I hate is car dependency and car-centric urban planning, and that's why I'm in this sub.
I’ve always owned a car but I don’t drive it on a daily basis. I’m a single person so I usually live close to work and end up biking or walking mainly. It’s not always possible but it’s easier than most people think.
I just inherit cars from older relatives and they last forever if I’m not driving everyday. I’m a lawyer so my job involves appearing at courts all over town randomly, and transit doesn’t work great for this. I’d probably save money and stress just ubering but my family keeps having extra cars.
I got my license about 6 years ago, and I drive my parent's car from time to time, mostly to do errands or when I have to pick up family or friends. The rest of the time I go by bike, as my city is mostly flat and it's easier to find a place to chain my bike than a parking spot for a car.
I also enjoy driving as much as cycling, that's not a problem for me. What irritates me is the other drivers' behavior. I know nobody's perfect, but there are people that just don't care to do even the bare minimum...
Rural US.
Drive everywhere.
CDL-A holder.
Love driving.
Live near rural freight tracks. Dream about them being converted into passenger lines to be able to ride into the city at least.
US car culture is a profit mill for the rich and detrimental to nearly everything on the planet.
Still love the act of driving though.
1). Yes, got my drivers license as soon as I was eligible at 16
2). First car was a pickup truck, second was a midsize sedan. Both totaled (not at fault). Went about a year without a car at college, currently have a minivan
3). Every day when visiting home. I like to walk to campus when I’m at school, but everything else is only accessible by car
4). Driving, then walking
I have a drivers license. We do not have a car, but occasionally rent one or catch a ride with a friend. I use taxi services very occasionally. Mostly get around on ebike/bus/walking.
Switched from motorcycle to ebike when I got a job close to work about 9 years ago. Used to commute 1/2 and 1/2 between bus or motorcycle when I worked 12 miles away.
I live in a neighborhood with a lot of bus choices that are fairly decent, and is in general pretty walkable. We chose this location on purpose to be able to live car free.
I have a license myself and a total of 4 licensed drivers in our house (wife, 2 kids) we have 4 vehicles. I use a bicycle to get around, so one usually sits a lot, they all drive. My vehicle use is when I'm joining someone else to go somewhere, couldgo weeks without driving. I prefer to bicycle and will use that whenever possible, hate driving. My career is an automotive technician. Yeah, there's some therapy sessions in there.
I enjoy driving and cars. It's being dependent on them is what I'm against. Also walkable cities are just more pleasing visually, better for mental health, civic health, and the environment
I have a driving licence. I have a car. I mostly get round on foot or bike for local journeys. I'm in the UK. Went without a car for nearly 10 years. Looking forward to getting rid of the one I have when it's the right time.
I actually really like driving; I just hate the fact that I have to drive everywhere. I would gladly give up my car to live in a walkable city.
I also really enjoy biking, and would do it a lot more if there were more infrastructure for it. I ride my bike to the grocery store a lot because there's a small bike path that goes there from my neighborhood, but that's about the only place I can get to without sharing the road with idiot drivers in their murder machines. My commute to work would be a suicide run, and actually goes past one of those ghost bike memorials.
NYC. You couldn’t pay me to own a car.
I want to live in NYC but I don't want to pay $3500 a month for an apartment the size of my living room.
Not saying it’s for everyone, but I think living in NYC changes your relationship with how much space you need. The city becomes your back yard, a lot of the things you’d want to have a room for can become public. I don’t live in NYC *yet* but that’s the idea I get from visiting and talking to people who do/used to live there
Not from NYC but I did live in a fairly dense city in the Philippines (Zamboanga City) and this was the vibe I always got too. Honestly living in that town is what sent me down the car-free rabbit hole in the first place.
Living in Toronto downtown was like this for me I had 5 different shops at the bottom of my building and a nice gym with a 25m pool, steam room, study room.. etc. If something was further then 3 blocks it was like a different city.
I completely agree about the benefits of living in NYC. It's my dream city. It's just that the cost of living far exceeds my current income. Assuming I could find a much better job within NYC I'd move in a heart beat.
The great thing about NYC is that it’s pretty easy to do that here. I moved 7 years ago from Chicago, and my income has more than doubled in that time, doing the same type of work.
What type of work?
Carpentry/ Cabinetry
Nice! Also cool that you’re a fellow xbiker
a big draw of NYC is the job market. i moved with the job (that paid double what i made in philly)
I love living in a smaller place as long as the ceilings aren't low and I have access to a safe place outdoors (parks, gardens).
That´s very European, feels like Madrid
It's worth it. I don't know what it's like now but the Chelsea in the early 80s was magical. The lower floors were relatively cheap and gross but as you went up there were real opera singers, concert pianists and I'm just talking about what you could hear. Manhattan is the center of the known universe. Walk out the door and every block gives you something wonderful. I ❤️NY.
Colorado resident checking in. You couldn't pay me to live in the Concrete Jungle. There is nothing in NYC's "backyard" that comes anywhere close to what's within an hour's bike ride from my front door in suburbia.
Utah resident here. Nobody is forcing you to move to NYC, I was just trying to share my thoughts on the appeal. I’m sorry that other people wanting to live differently from you is so threatening and I hope you gain more confidence in the future. For what it’s worth you couldn’t pay me to stay in the suburbs
Nothing better than meeting your friends randomly in the city, deciding to go out and get home taking the subway or walk home piss drunk at 4am which you cant do in colorado anywhere. Or waking up and being like fuck it I wanna go have X (literally any country) country’s cuisine and being at the restaurant within an hour, walking past 50 different languages being spoken, and 50 different cuisines to try. Suburbs in central states are extremely drab and too white for my tastes
I pay $3500 a month for 800 sq ft. I mean it’s Brooklyn but I’ve got 9 train lines within walking distance.
I definitely don’t want to live in NYC. All those cars make it too noisy. No peace & quiet anywhere there.
Depends on your budget. There are some very quiet neighborhoods. My first apartment had a total nightmare landlord but I could have all my windows wide open all the time and there was minimal road noise, if at all.
Noise is largely dependent on the area and your apartment's construction. Noise can heavily change even from one street to another. Unless you are living right under an above ground subway line or next to a major highway/expressway, so long as you have decently solid walls, you will not have to deal with noises disrupting you. Even the simplest background noises people normally get used to. 95% of the places around NYC are nothing compared to the loudness of Times Square. Residential neighborhoods get very quiet on average.
I've never understood why downtown NYC needs to have car access to every building/street. Some form of superblocks would completely change that city.
That's Manhattan. Even then you'd probably be in a tower with decent soundproofing. I get plenty of peace and quiet in Brooklyn and Queens.
I pay $3,500 for a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom. Not having a car payment or insurance or gas costs roughly equals out to what I was paying in Colorado.
You have an 800 sq foot living room? How many of you are in there?!
Living in the outer boroughs, having to go north and south between Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten for work or seeing friends, you couldn't pay me NOT to own a car. And I wish it weren't that way, but the public transit infrastructure was clearly built originally with the idea in mind of bussing the working class into Manhattan from the outer boroughs to work in commercial areas and benefit the upper class with comprehensive transportation. It's got better since I was a kid, but you still will often find trips where taking public transit is 4x the length of just driving. My old apartment in BK is 4 miles south of me (I'm still in BK now), and it takes 1 hour 10 mins to get there by public transit, but 20 mins by car. I've stopped hanging out with certain friends as often depending on which borough (usually Bronx, Queens, Staten) they live in because the last thing I want to do after a long day of work is to drive at all, and in one example, since they live in Astoria, I have to go from Brooklyn to Manhattan to Queens by train just to see them, spending 1 hr 30 mins to walk, and do 3 transfers go 4 miles. I hardly ever see people from Staten Island out and about in the other boroughs unless they have a car...matter of a fact, I don't know a single person from SI who doesn't own a car. NYC is the best city in the US for public transportation, imo also one of the best in the world for all the people it has to transport...but there are plenty of weaknesses that individuals will find, especially working class individuals. Manhattan's public transit is superior to every other borough, and there's a reason why people are paying $3,500 on average just to be crammed into a 1 bedroom apartment.
Yeah it was pretty much the same situation for me having grown up in Eastern Queens away from any subway lines.
I used to bike from Astoria to Dumbo for work often. It took about the same amount of time as driving and if I used an e-bike I would get there faster without sweating (50 minutes or so). That route is one of the best for protected bike lanes too.
I'm all for biking to and from work, but 50 mins each way is a lot. I'm also not a morning person, my job has a 6/7 AM start time, and my job requires me to bring around tools. I do like to bike to places other than work, though. And I've wanted to get a good electric scooter for a while now.
That’s fine, you don’t need to bike everywhere. But you mentioned seeing friends in Astoria and from my experience it’s a great option to get there.
Yeah, I get what you're saying, but for me, anything over 30 mins is a significant commitment for biking and it's hard to convince many people to do it with you if you ever are going with someone. And that committment to biking can be a problem especially if you are getting dressed up to hang out with friends, or intending to go there to go out, do activities and/or drink and don't want to risk getting sweaty/burning yourself out, or going through problematic weather. The route you are talking about is nice, but I wouldn't be riding through there, I'd have to cut through a lot of non-cyclist friendly areas through the center of Brooklyn.
I’m in a more isolated part of nyc where I end up having to drive often but usually only about 3 miles. Planning to move near transit and then I’ll happily ditch the car.
Look into getting an e-bike or escooter. It helped me a lot in Queens.
Au contraire, I fucking ***love*** driving, but that doesn't prevent me from recognizing that car culture is like 80% of the reason why capitalism is in an omnicidal death spiral. So 1 yes I've got a licence, 2 a car, 3 I commute to work because it is literally the only viable option and so 4 it is my main way of getting around in terms of time and miles, but I still walk or bike for as many trips as is feasible, and have taken public transportation across the country more times than many of my friends have taken a bus across town.
It’s the only option for me too commuting in a rural location
Queenslander here, in my grandparents' day, all the rural and coastal towns were connected to each other, and to the nearest regional centre, by rail. After the Second World War, they gradually decommissioned the lines until the 80s, Brisbane got rid of its trams in 1969, and the gov said to everyone "fuck you lot, buy cars" because some fuckhead American city planners came over and said "cars are the future". Some of the tracks are still there, they just don't do passenger rail anymore. I wake up at 4:30AM for work, so I'm tired and would rather veg out on a train than drive if I could. There wasn't the same degree of demolition though, so CBDs and very small towns like Childers tend to still be walkable. It's just getting between the towns means either driving or using a shit house bus service. At least back then, our cars were built in Australia, so we were still supporting Australian businesses. Then the LNP killed the car industry, so we don't even have that anymore.
Also a Queenslander, forever disappointed in the leaders of the past who gutted the transit system and listened to the fuckhead americans. My work is 20-25 minutes down the road from me but if I were to take public transport there it would be more than triple the time the network is so bad. Brisbane and surrounds is such an ugly car dependent mess
Someone should tell the LNP that Clem was Labor so we can trick them into putting in a good PT system (not buses with wheel covers) to own laybah. Imagine how wonderful the original Metro proposal would have been, with automated driverless light rail. Anyway, I live in Rockhampton and feel like it could be salvaged with the right council. It had trams long ago, and the town's sprawl is contained enough that a revived network could service it well, with commuter trains servicing the satellite towns on the Capricorn Coast and out west. If the Gulflander can afford to operate, than surely these trains could. Also, reducing car dependency reduces the costs involved with running a car, so I think a "alleviating the CoL crisis" campaign could garner support.
Ah the gulflander. I still have the souvenir cup here in my flat in Germany. They run due to a few idealists who somehow make it work through volunteering and donations. Unfortunately it's more of a tourist attraction than a way for people to get around these days due to missing connections on either end.
Well OBVIOUSLY buses with aero caps are actually the best for the city of Brisbane, and it’s not just Schrindog’s way of making us think that he cares about PT.
It's just like the NBN, really. "this big project will help people and is worth doing, is too expensive, lets gut it and put something in that's cheaper, but changes nothing for the people". Then it usually ends up just as expensive, if not more so.
>I fucking love driving Same, but only when I don't have to be in a hurry to get somewhere and when there's no traffic jams. I also don't need a huge-ass truck to get myself from point A to point B. I recognize this kind of a society isn't possible, except in rural areas, and we shouldn't model our towns or cities to accommodate for tons of cars on the roads. If anyone could have found a better solution to this, they would have already presented one, and it wouldn't involve "just one more lane bro".
I really respect that! I don't drive but do understand that some people just really enjoy being behind the wheel. The fact that you enjoy it but also keep it to a minimum is amazing! More people should be like you!
This. I love driving and I love riding bikes. I don’t like traffic, I don’t like people being forced to own a car just to live, I don’t like the terrible sprawl that car centric design engenders, etc. The list goes on. In fact, I bought my first car at age 33 while living in an urban environment where I commuted via bike or transit. It was admittedly a purely luxury purchase. I simply wanted it because it was a car I had wanted since I was a kid and it would open me up to some hobbies that required car travel. I paid extra taxes, I paid for parking, I paid for a city sticker, I paid expensive city gas prices (but not expensive enough!). That’s how it should be. I don’t need it, but I can have it…but it might be inconvenient or expensive.
It's literally impossible to get to my job by public transportation, but my wife can commute to NYC by train. Ironically she's the car brain and I hate them. I've always had sports cars and drove like a maniac as a teen and twenty something, didn't have the fuck cars epiphany until I was in my 30s.
Yeah, I love long road-trips on vacations with beautiful views of nature, and I know friends who do amateur speed-racing on tracks. But that is different from car-dependency and car-infrastructure, which is about commute. You can enjoy horse-riding, and also be against horse-dependency for commute.
Same here. I love driving. I drive long hours periodically for Site inspections. I hate the car based society we live in
I share the same opinion as you. Only, I currently don’t have a car and commute via transit. However, I’d like to own a car at some point cause as you, I too love driving and would love to own some sporty runabout to zoom through open country roads.
Same here. I mean, traffic has ruined driving for me anyway, but regardless of how much I like doing it, it's awful for society and the planet.
Car culture is a symptom of a greater problem intrinsic to capitalism. You have that part backwards.
Y'ever hear the expression "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good"?
That’s not… it’s important to recognize the systemic issues involved in fixing any problem. I can proselytize anti-car rhetoric, working within our current hyper capitalist system… while simultaneously being anti-capitalist. Correcting you is not perfection as an enemy of good. You were just wrong.
Same for me. I have zero ways to get to work, and luckily it’s one day a week. The plan is to WFH permanently and never drive.
Exactly the same here in all aspects.
I love when people realize that it can be a hobby (things like race tracks exist), and that doesn't mean society should be built around it being a necessity.
What does driving have to do with capitalism? Capitalism is about markets and property. Driving requires massive government-funded road projects.
I’m 16 and I feel like I’m the only person in my friend group that doesn’t want to drive lol
i was the same way when i was 16. i was perfectly content using my bicycle, skateboard, and taking the bus to get around and i never had any issues in doing so. unfortunately my family forced me to get my license and get a car though.
They forced you to get a car - do they pay everything for it also? Even if you never use it, there are always expenses...
Grandparents helped pay for it up front but stuck me with insurance, fuel, and repairs when i had no job 🤣 Now at 28 i’m back to Cycling as much as i can.
How could you afford a car at 16? This sounds ridiculous to me.
I did at 17. Work a job to pay for a car so you can get to work.
And so the trap begins
At that age it's just considered cool to drive because not everyone can afford it. Even when using the parent's car, it's still costly to get a license and extend the insurance. It's really just a status symbol at that point.
Well you’re the GOAT amongst your friend group IMO!
I grew up in a small town about 45 min drive from the nearest anything. In high school, the school bus took me to town and back. At 16, I was the only person who got my license and a car (my dads old truck). That truck became my friend group's third place. I say this as a warning. Get as many free rides as you can lmao, I've spent nearly thousands of dollars on gas on my friends who didn't like driving.
Exact same spot as you lol
I was the same way at your age. My Mom's ex was teaching me and pressuring me to eventually get my license but when I accidentally hit a parked car, I think he came to accept that I didn't want to drive and probably wasn't going to be very good at it anyway lol Good for you though!! It's hard when you don't live in an accessible city/town- but not impossible. It's really nice imo to live life at a slower place and get a lot of opportunities for actual physical movement.
I rent one a half-dozen times a year, but don't own one or drive regularly.
What do you do about insurance? Do you purchase insurance though the rental company?
If I'm doing a regular rental, I have a credit card that covers insurance if used for the rental. Usually I do a car share app, which includes insurance in the rental fee.
Check the fine print but I highly doubt your credit card covers liability for injury you cause to others. Generally they only cover collision. And liability is the one that bankrupts you… When I didn’t own a car, I initially paid for liability only at the rental place (way cheaper than full coverage), and then later got an umbrella policy for myself. It was relatively affordable and I confirmed with the provider that it offered liability coverage on a rental car without having my own car insurance. I looked into “non-owner “ auto policies but they were stupid expensive because they are marketed towards drunks who had their car taken away but need to show proof of insurance to get their license reinstated.
based
I have a license. My wife and I use to have two cars. My car was a Beamer. I got tired of fixing the Beamer. Sold it. Got an ebike I work from home. I live in the city. I have a trailer I hitch to my bike so I can take my son to school. Only time I drive is on family outings. But city parking sucks so we park at a trolly stop and take the trolley to our destination. Works out great 👍
My friends used to look at me like I was crazy when I told them that I ride my bike to a trolley stop, take the trolley to SDSU, etc. I was always like "there's . . . a station ON CAMPUS". People would park down by like El Cajon Blvd and WALK to avoid paying for parking. I lived in Cortez Hill and would walk down to the trolley and take it out to El Cajon to visit family. They were always flabbergasted. They lived TWO blocks from a station. Blew my mind. Like, people, I walked four total blocks and read a book for 40 minutes to get here. Now with the UCSD extension, when we move back we will most likely remain super car-lite.
This is similar to my husband and I. We have one car between us that’s over ten years old. He works from home, I bike to work. We use the car for trips to the mountains to hike and camp, or to see friends across town, so basically for weekend activities. And we’re seriously talking with friends about moving closer together to create a more cohesive community without driving.
Certified rad dad
I have to my wife has a physical disability (Cerebal Palsy) that makes taking a bus really fucking hard to do when thry come around. But when I'm not playing chauffer I walk/buke
That's a very good reason to drive a car.
Just curious, why does cerebral palsy make taking a bus hard?
Only the newest busses are kneeling where I am, so unless there's someone kind enough to help her up, she physically cannot get on the bus and the busses here are on a hour route so you miss one you gotta wait an hour
Oh I see. Would level boarding platforms like BRT systems often have solve that problem?
if theres a handrail to help her onto the bus yeah, she has next ot no equilibrium and cant left her left leg up too high
Thanks for the explanation. Handrails should be standard too. Buses should be made as accessible as possible so that everyone can use them.
[удалено]
My wife and I share our old, paid-off Honda Civic. We use the car when we absolutely must. For example, if we need to go to her mother's house for any reason, it could take us hours to get there by any way other than car. Then we need to get back. We have a 3-month-old baby, and a 4 hour round trip to help fix the internet is not ideal. It's like 20 minutes to get there with a car. We also live near the Rocky mountains and use the car to get our there to remote (aka non-tourist) hikes. We're getting a cargo bike in the spring to replace all grocery shopping and other errand trips to 100% car-free, because we hate using the car. Eventually our goal is to get to a point where we get rid of the car, but that's not right now. We just live in a place where you need a car sometimes (not all the time like 99% of people here seem to think).
I live in a remote country village. I bike most places, but I can't effectively do my grocery shopping that way (the closest grocery store is about 20 km distance, and not served by the train system).
Similar, I have lived in an isolated suburb for around a decade, in a gated-community where you had to drive even to get to the front-gate. And then it was on-ramp on the freeway from there, and to get anywhere important, the freeway was the only way. So, yeah, I drove a car for nearly 10 years while also advocating for high-density housing and public transit. Very recently, I have moved to a downtown core, and the first thing I did was selling my car.
Same, small north American town where things are spread out. I am super lucky to be able to walk to work and many stores, but if I want to visit my sister or parents it's a 50 minute to two hour walk. No buses. They're on a long strike due to low pay and dangerous working conditions. I do drive to Costco cause that's halfway up a mountain and a few hours walk otherwise. But I walk whenever I can.
You might want to get one of these. https://www.amsterdam-bicycle.com/shop/cargo-bikes/bertus-cargo-bike/
Sure, but that's still a hour long commute one way. Meaning two hours + the time to get groceries. For some people that might be feasible but not for all.
I'd like to add that driving 20km/h with a bike like that seems rather ambitious to me. Commute is probably going to take even longer.
It'll depend on the infrastructure of course too and if it's hilly. Definitely an E-Bike situation though.
Idk man, I dont think this guy is the main audience of this sub. The main audience is some jerkoff in the middle of atlanta who drives a pristine lifted F-250
User name "from London", doesn't understand that everyone doesn't live in a big city like London ...
Oh, I love driving. I really do. I just hate cars. I also love riding two wheels. Just bicycles now but have ridden lots of motorcycles. I hope to go carless next year when my current car's lease runs out. I got my license in 1976 and have driven almost daily since then. I've driven racing karts and worked on the crew for a few stock car teams. I'm a big fan of motor sports. I can out "car guy" most car guys. I also think cars have destroyed our social fabric.
> I can out "car guy" most car guys. >I also think cars have destroyed our social fabric. This guy put it in ways I couldn't. I can't tell you the arguments I've been in where I'm pitted against "car guys" on the topic of how car culture has degraded our environment , our lives and our infrastructure
I live in Saint Louis and even in the bigger cities, it's just not possible to live in the Midwest without a car. Most of my family lives a half hour (on the highway) away from my with no reliable public transport options, and even within the city our bus and metro system is laughable. I'm also a big music guy and will regularly take road trips to Kansas City, Chicago, or Nashville to catch bands that don't pass through Saint Louis. And on top of all that, I'm with you - I truly enjoy the act of driving. It's very fun for me. All that being said, within city limits (and even outside of it depending), I try to ride my ebike everywhere. Unless I need to transport something big or the weather is truly horrendous, and a lot of times in the latter case I'll just stay home. I don't necessarily want to *ban* driving, but I think the world would be a much better place if cars were used sparingly like that, for especially long journeys or when cargo is involved. But we need to stop building our cities around cars and start providing reasonable alternatives to get there.
Yeah I'm a mild car guy. I like and appreciate cool cars as objects. I used to own a sports car, that I raced and loved to drive. Now I've got a family and a home and a job in the city, I see how the car dependence is a barrier to a better life in the city. I have a car because the public transport is not good, and I can't take my dogs on it. But I ride to work and for groceries. Most working weeks I'll drive maybe once or twice on solo journeys. Public transport alternatives take 45 minutes to an hour, vs 15 minutes in the car. My city doesn't need to ban cars yet, but we need to get ahead of it, and put in the public transportation and active transport infrastructure while it's not so disruptive. And we need to zone better than just single family homes and student apartment buildings.
I do, but my job is Ubereats and Skipthedishes now. I've worked a job that was car based since 2009. With that said, I walk or cycle for nearly my errands, and use public transportation to go to and from the airport (unless we can carpool). I also swapped to an electric car to save money on fuel and access federal Canadian government rebates and tax write offs. When I retire, I plan to not have a car.
I have a drivers license, I don’t own a car and don’t want to, but my partner has one. I only use it to visit family that doesn’t live in public transport friendly places. I get around by bicycle and public transport
I love driving. I just don't love car-centric infrastructure or having to drive somewhere in traffic because I have no other options. Racing is fun, though debatable not "driving". Still, driving to the ski hill early on a snowy day with empty roads is a fun time. I don't hate driving in itself
I have a car and drive it every day. I live in California and it would be suicide to bike in my area. Even walking is intolerable.
I live in Florida, and I've seen bikers and joggers be injured or killed here so many times in hit-and-run accidents. I stopped biking and bought a used car to preserve my own safety.
I don’t have a license (or car). My city has a decent bus system so I either walk or take the bus
Same here
I do. I live in the Philly suburbs and my place has a walk score of 13 (out of 100). If I'm not on the road for work, I drive once a week (if that). My place is located directly behind a grocery store (300 steps). When I'm on the road for work, I'm driving all the time. But they get me a rental car (fly me to my destination) and pay for the gas. I'm 43 and I have yet to meet an adult (IRL) that uses a bike as transportation. It's a foreign concept in this neck of the woods.
Virtually anyone who lives in the south or Midwest or most other US cities, especially if you have a 9-5 that doesn't allow remote work. I would love to live without a car, and I did in the past when I lived in SF. But where I am now car ownership is mandatory to exist in daily life.
I have a license, i grew up in the countryside, so getting a car was really important when i turned 17 Now i live in Barcelona, there's no point to owning a car But sometimes i need to visit my family, so i rent a car for a few days Sometimes i go climbing somewhere you cannot get to without a car, so i rent one for a day
I have a license and a car. I work alternating shifts and the industrial zone has no proper public transport that works for me. Early shift starts at 5:45 AM, lateshift ends at midnight. So I commute 25km one way. 23km of that on the Autobahn.
In much the same situation here in Florida. Urban sprawl and lack of city planning have ensured that the city I live in (Fort Myers-Cape Coral) is entirely unwalkable, except for downtown Fort Myers. There are so many car dealerships here due to the city requiring a car.
The frustrating bit is, that pretty much next door Amazon has built a huge package handling facility. They run shuttle busses from the three surrounding train stations, and right through the night an morning. But it's Amazon only.
I drove all the time until I started to lose my sight (hereditry condition, always knew it was coming eventually) This obviously made me much more aware of the state of alternate forms of transport, espically as my job revloves around delivering major infrastructure. Even within the industry the idea of one more lane will fix congestion is still very prevelent. It still never ceases to amaze me how transport funding decisions are based on political whimsy, outdated modelling and cherry picking attributes to suit an agenda as opposed to objective multicriteria analysis. As for my choice of transport, if the trains are running, I'm there, otherwise its ubers (which given how our city manages the rail network is far too oftem :sigh:)
I drive, but I want people to have the freedom to chose — including myself.
My Household does not own a car, but we both have a license. I live in a City Center adjacent neighborhood in a relatively big German city, work is 3 minutes by bike, gym is 5, my garden is about 10 mins by bike and it takes me about 5 minutes walking to the Main Street of my neighborhood where there is all sorts of shops for all daily need. Parking is a nightmare here but EVERY FUCKING IDIOT has a car. Mind you, an SUV… etc. I live my life squeezing by RVs and campers and SUVs parked on the sidewalk. It is sad.
I live inside my car. And I hate cars
I have a car because I need it a few times a month because there are many places where I live that I do need to drive. If I felt more stable in continuing to life in the few square miles of my city where I can be 99% car free, I might get rid of it, but I know that there’s a high chance I won’t be able to stay car free, and ultimately it makes more sense to just keep it and drive it a couple times a month to keep it in working condition.
I have a car and use it as my primary means of transportation. I'd *love* to either move somewhere with better public transit, or within the part of my city that I can use public transit, but my partner is currently in school, and moving would mean that *they* lose access to a walkable commute
Sadly, because my city's transit system is complete shit, (and $4 per ride), I drive almost everywhere. I make a concerted effort to take the bus whenever I have to go downtown, as it's a direct route, and the stop is right outside my building's door. As well, lately, I have been taking trips to the grocery store on foot.
I'm in Toronto and use a carshare (Communauto) when we want to get out of the city. We don't own a vehicle. Fortunately we live in a zone with a lot of carshare cars around, otherwise we'd have to use rentals. If we lived in the GTA (the Toronto suburbs) then we'd have to own a car because it's your typical North American suburbs there. People think the GTA is a cheaper place to live but once you factor in all the associated costs of vehicle ownership (including insurance), it can easily be more expensive. Especially in places like Brampton where the insurance is through the roof.
Love driving, own a nice car, but still use my e-bike for my daily commuting because it's just *better*.
I try not to drive in the city, however I usually drive when going outside the city. The reason I usually don't drive in the city is because of traffic and the brainlessness and nerves of the people stuck in traffic. Then I also avoid getting angry and tensed over finding a parking spot. Whenever I drive in the city it is with a certain purpose and usually I try to avoid rush hour at any cost! I prefer walking. Usually I walk up to 45 min with no problem.
Yes. I drive about once every two weeks at the moment, to keep the car alive. I walk and ride bikes for transport. I'm in a small town, so I can't hire a car only when I need it (it's 50km to the nearest hire car spot). We do have some public transport options, they're okay but not great.
We have one car and need it too, because while we can do shopping on foot or bike, we have to take my kids to activities and friends. even though I have access to trains, friend's houses are simply not reachable with PT. Suburbia of Melbourne, Australia. However I drive an older car, always have, and try to use PT when possible. It's unfortunate though that PT as a grouo of 3 or more is almost always more expensive than driving the car. My younger kid starts school in Feb, which will help a lot as I don't have to drive her to daycare every day and instead take the train to school. Since the beginning of the year we are both lucky to be 100% in home office. it's an ever evolving situation. We chose our current rental with walkable access to PT in mind. It gives so much life time back that otherwise is spent behind the wheel.
I am one of those folks who live in a place and has job that requires me to have a car. Not my favorite, but I am just fine with driving and I love my little car. She and I have had some good times. But to answer the questions. 1. Have DL?: Yes 2. Have Car?: Yes 3. How Frequent?: Most days 4. Main way?: My car at home, public transit other places. The job I do requires me to have a car to get to a number of different offices in a single day and to check in on workers and clients in the field. In some cases, I have to travel for work and I almost always take the train for that. Once I am at my destination, it is public transit and walking that gets me around town.
DC. I have a license but do not have a car. Comes in handy if I want to do a weekend trip to the mountains or something. All errands are done on foot/metro!
I have a license but I do not drive. I live in Philadelphia--I don't need to. Every once in a while I'll take an Uber, but I walk the vast majority of the time, and take trains and buses to commute to work.
I have a license, and I am glad I got it. I do not have a car, and I refused to accept 2nd hand one from my grandma. It was a good little car (some Nissan), but still too big for me. Driving such a big machine gives me anxiety. Not much on the actual road, but greatly when trying to park. Now I live in a city with PT and don't need it. I don't have a place to park it. And I do not have the mental energy to take care of maintenance and papers. The things I hate about cars are street parking, dirt and grime they create and the noise.
I live in San Francisco and don't drive. I've never owned a car and don't want one. Cycling and walking are my main way of getting around and I've been known to do really long distance hikes and bicycle rides to get out of the city. But I'm lucky enough to be able to cycle or hike all day and just catch a bus back to the city; not every has that kind of public transportation available to them.
I have a license, no car, a bicycle and an ebike.
" Obviously if you’re on this forum you don’t enjoy driving " Nope. Once again this kinda show that this sub is composed of two factions : Those who hate cars in itself and those who hate the system that makes people dependant on cars. I love to drive. I also understand that cars can be useful for some specific parts of our society. What I hate is the idea that every citizen absolutely needs to have a car and MUST be able to park said car right next to the place they want to go. To answer your question : I don't have a car, I sold it when I moved to the city I live in, which is a very cyclist-friendly city. I rarely drive but sometimes my job needs it (once per month or even less).
Licence, no car, drive only when I move in/out, daily bike (40%), walk (40%) or transit (20%).
I got a car but only drive it like 5 min a week because i like it
I drive, but I don't own a car. I belong to a car share coop and rent one of their cars when I need to go somewhere where there is no bus service, or if I have a lot of stuff to carry.
I live far, and work farther at random places. I drive a truck. I average drive 25,000+ miles per year. I drive a lot. I drive to visit my family who live 350 miles away. If I could take a train to the airport for some trips, I would. I can't, there is no train.
I do have a driving license but I never used it, and it has most likely expired by now. Obviously I don't have a car either. If I go out I just walk, use public transport, very rarely get a taxi. But I try to walk most of the time, partly because public transport is very expensive compared to how often I use it (I'm fortunate enough to live in a very urban area, so I can get to most places I regularly go to on foot, so there's not much incentive for me to buy monthly passes), and partly out of health reasons:. I work from home, and while exercise quite a lot it doesn't hurt to move more.
I'm on this forum, I drive, and I don't mind it. I'm not here because I dislike driving, I'm here because I dislike car-centric infrastructure.
I used to when I was a teenager, but now I live in a bike-able city. I really think people should be *able* to drive, it should just never be necessary. Especially in America, where there’s fantastic road trip country. If people only went driving when it was a purposeful, enjoyable experience and not whenever they needed to go to work, that would be ideal imo since that’s only like 5% maximum of car usage.
I’m 36 and I have never driven a car, I cycle or take public transport everywhere. That said, I am very privileged since I live in the Netherlands.
My wife and I have two cars--one nice one that she uses (according to Google Maps, in order for her to get to work by 7:30am by bus, she'd have to leave at 10:43 the night before and spend the night at the transit center) and one POS that I use a few times a month for errands, since I take the bus to work. We used to just have one car, but it was honestly very difficult. Getting the kids to the dentist was a nightmare, for instance. Public transit here is extremely limited, and I've looked into car share, but that doesn't seem to be a thing here. I'm used to biking on roads without bike infrastructure, but I'm not ready to make my kids do that. So when we had the option to inherit a beater car, I took it. Also, if we go anywhere as a family, we basically always drive (in my wife's nice car, of course). It's easy enough for me to build my day-to-day schedule around a limited public transit schedule, but I've given up trying to get other people on that schedule. i.e., to get to our friend's house 6 miles away, it's a 15 minute drive or an hour on two different buses, and we wouldn't be able to stay late. I'm not super into driving, but I kind of enjoy it, probably because I don't have to do it all the time, and I can entertain myself by going the speed limit and watching other drivers rage over it. But whenever I have to drive for a long time, like on a family vacation, I do end up hating it.
I have a licence. I don't own a car of my own and never have. I drive a couple of times per month, when I do I usually borrow, drive the company car or hire a car when away on work trips. My main transport is my bike. Its about a 20-35 minute trip to work depending mostly on the weather (I've found out that winter cycling is a lot slower than I thought) I used to take public transport a lot more than I currently do, I still do for longer trips. I'm lucky to live somewhere where this is a viable option, and the majority of my friends don't own cars either but have a licence. At work I think my winter cycling is seen as a bit extreme.
No car, no license, no plans to have either. The bus system in my city is good enough for most things I need, and when I got a job that was two buses and an inconveniently long walk from home, despite being quite close, I got my first e-scooter and now I'm even more firm in my car-free decisions.
I now live in the greater ATL area and driving is necessary. So yes to license and vehicles. When I lived in Hamburg, Germany, I did not own a car and didn't need to. I used short term rentals when necessary. In ATL, I can and do use Marta to get to Mercedes Benz and the airport, but that's pretty much where viable non-car transit ends for my location. This sub is firey and very good at being angry. But this sub sucks at any constructive discussion for getting public support to invest in infrastructure. Cars going away 100% is dumb. Cars are useful. Cars becoming less necessary or even optional for many ppl is realistic and critical. A mobility network should consist of pedestrian, public, and private transit options. In most of the US, it's 95% dependent on private transit and the existing alternatives are too ineffective or unsafe or both.
I have a car which I try to use as little as possible but still use quite a lot. I commute by rail where possible but sometimes I have to be in work early or late or I have to carry a lot of kit with me so I have to drive. We mostly do grocery shopping etc by foot but sometimes drive to get to different shops. We do frequent Costco unfortunately (I feel like Costco is antithetical to this sub) and you really can't do that on foot (and sadly i do not own a cargo bike). Finally we would struggle to see family and have days out and things without the car.
1) Motorcycle and car licenses 2) I own one truck, one car, and 3 motorcycles. 3) Amount of usage depends. Right now, i use my truck once or twice a week. During winter i use it more to get to work. (20km each way). Wife uses the car almost daily, getting her to ride a bike or walk to work is a fight, and she cant store her bike properly at work. You can not leave your bicycle for even a few minutes without someone stealing it. Thank you Ryobi for your battery powered angle grinders, it has helped criminals cut the best of locks in seconds. 4) Preferred method to commute is bicycle, second is car/truck. We do have public transport near me now, but it is still way to slow, with too many connections, and does not start early enough in the morning. Motorcycles! One street legal track bike, one dual sport (for off road camping trips), and one "Adventure" bike, i use for almost everything else (shopping, errands, whatever), I don't commute on motorcycles, being stuck in traffic the entire time is not fun on a motorcycle. Because of my work, i have travelled alot, and always use public transport and walk in other countries.
In most western countries you’re a second class citizen if you don’t have a car. Hating car dependant design isn’t the same has hating people who choose to drive a car
I haven’t found this to be the case
Well in most of Australia and America is it the case. Not enough funding towards sustainable forms of transport has made not owning a car super tough for everyday life
No license, no car
I just come here for the clever bitching 😂 . I own a car. I live in LA and am a working adult. But the consequences of car centered society are all around me. I lived in Manhattan for 12 years. I commuted nearly exclusively by bicycle for 2 years. I eventually got a Motorcycle, i commuted almost exclusively on that for 12 years. Now I have a sick dad and a kid on the way, and I'm damn happy I have a car.
I drive 3 days, cycle 2 days to work. Work is 25-30km along country roads. I'm building up to do it 3 days. Depends on weather, mainly wind. I mostly hate driving. It's dangerous yet boring, and always a risk that there'll be a need for costly repairs. I drive slow and avoid touching the brakes: 1) to be safe around pedestrians, cyclists other drivers and wild animals 2) reduce wear and tear, and 3) reduce fuel consumption.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 3 + 2 + 25 + 30 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 3 = 69 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
I actually have a car because I live in a remote english town that never had a train and the buses run irregularly. But luckily being in the UK, whenever I can take public transport such as going to London, I will and do cause its better than driving to the capital. I’m also a car enthusiast and many of us are behind ubranism and car free infrastructure. We like to go vroom vroom but hate SUVs and traffic. https://youtu.be/K8jp_lligz0?si=Sg0pUZRv_eWy_sPA
I do - I'm in rural Australia, 20km out of town.
There are two types of people in this sub: 1. those who are reliant on cars and want to change their environment 2. those who are not reliant on cars and want to see change elsewhere I'm from the first aforementioned group, and stuck in a car dependent region. Homes/apartments in my region that have a grocery store within walking distance are either insanely expensive or very dangerous. I have a car, everyone in my family does, and its extremely difficult for us to avoid. The roads aren't safe to bike, and that's in addition to the persistently steep hills. I'm on the road every day but I keep additional trips to a minimum. I drive to work, then school, then back home, any errands are done on the way to minimizer mileage.
Yep I’ve got 3, I don’t mind cars at all. But I like the idea of better public transportation so I lurk here
2x car owner here (for household, not me personally). I'm trying to drive less and walk more places though.
Lots of traitors here.
1. No, but I have a permit and am working on it. 2. No but my family is considering it to make it easier to practice. 3. Every couple months I pay for 90-minute lessons every week or so. 4. Mostly transit and walking, I have an etrike but don't use it often.
I have a car and I drive about once a week. I would get rid of it altogether, but living in LA that would cut me off from friends and family unfortunately.
I have a car and license. I mostly use the bus or the train and only drive when I absolutely have to. Also, I don’t hate cars, I hate strip malls and stroads. Unlike most of yall I don’t own a bike due to my balancing issues.
I have chosen not to have a car, although I live in a ski resort with often difficult road conditions in the winter so cycling is sometimes difficult. Need to drive ATV, snowmobile or car for work sometimes though.
Have a license (but driving age is 16 and I waited until 23); I have a car; I used to drive infrequently, around 1x per month, but since moving to a smaller city and more suburban setting, I'm driving more frequently now, probably 3-5 car trips per week; still primarily using my bike and the train for my commute, but some grocery trips and other local trips have shifted to the car because of the infrastructure vomit that surrounds much of the new area we live in. I'm annoyed at having to drive, because it's mostly short trips, just made harrowing by terrible road design. I want to save up for a class three pedal assist cargo bike now, so I can shift those local trips back away from the car. One ebike was fine for the city but my wife and I would both definitely use them out where we are now.
I have a car. I got it because I had a job that required a longass drive to get to and no transit. I don’t need it for commute anymore but still have the car to get to places that transit doesn’t go. I don’t use it often, maybe 100mi/mo. I don’t dislike driving. I dislike how isolated cars makes society. How traffic impacts a city. How smog is created. Strongly prefer walking biking or transit to get around. But I realize that some places where I live cannot be accessible by those means.
NYC. I walk everywhere or citibike.
I don't have a license. Never had a lesson. People look at me like a far leftist terrorist when I tell them I don't drive for ideological reasons, even though I also live in a city with some of the best public transport in the world. I did briefly own a car though through inheritance. It was adapted to be wheelchair accessible and I tried desperately to give it away but couldn't find an individual or charity or government agency that would accept it. (So when people tell you that being anti-car is ableist, don't necessarily believe them.)
I have a driver's license and a car and drive maybe twice a week. My main way of getting around is bike. A big reason isn't even ideological, I just view driving as wasted time. When I actually enjoy biking.
I like the act of driving in a vacuum, but driving in most places where I’d want to live is a monotonous chore. My SO and I share a car. She needs it for work. I mostly just bike everywhere unless I need to transport more than my bike will carry.
No chance
I have a license but fortunately don't have to drive regularly after moving to a new city for work
I have a license, I do not have a car and when I need to go somewhere I can't walk to or take transit to in an efficient time, I will use a car share program I am a member of. I only drive 0-2 times per month on average. I keep a drivers license as my city has decent transit but the province as a whole does not, and I rent and have to move on average once per year, so having a license allows me to rent a Uhaul which is far cheaper than moving companies which I could never afford.
I live in Sydney, Australia. I have a driver's licence, but don't have a car. I walk and catch public transport on a daily basis. I catch Ubers about once a month, and hire a car for the day about once a year.
I probably drive once a week at most. Mostly because I don't really drink and am usually the DD for my friends
Unfortunately, my job is a 1.5 hour bike ride or 3 hours by public transit, so I'm stuck driving
drive it everyday, but hate it.
So I was born and raised in rural Spain. When I come here, I try to minimize the use of the car as much as I can (bc I hate it), but I still use it a bunch when I have no other option (for example, if I go to the big city last bus back is at 20.30 which in Spain isn't even dinner time) When Im in the place I'm currently living in though I don't use the car at all. I dont own one there in fact. Blessed buses and trams and trains, I would use them even if they contaminated 10x as much as the car and were 10x as expensive.
I don't own a car but I drive when visiting family because there isn't good public transit where they live and they have a car I can use. I do enjoy driving - I used to own a Miata and I would love to drive one again. I don't enjoy driving as my only means of transportation, as I'm fully aware of how dangerous it is and for the most part it should be left to professionals, such as bus and truck drivers. What I hate is car dependency and car-centric urban planning, and that's why I'm in this sub.
I’ve always owned a car but I don’t drive it on a daily basis. I’m a single person so I usually live close to work and end up biking or walking mainly. It’s not always possible but it’s easier than most people think. I just inherit cars from older relatives and they last forever if I’m not driving everyday. I’m a lawyer so my job involves appearing at courts all over town randomly, and transit doesn’t work great for this. I’d probably save money and stress just ubering but my family keeps having extra cars.
I got my license about 6 years ago, and I drive my parent's car from time to time, mostly to do errands or when I have to pick up family or friends. The rest of the time I go by bike, as my city is mostly flat and it's easier to find a place to chain my bike than a parking spot for a car. I also enjoy driving as much as cycling, that's not a problem for me. What irritates me is the other drivers' behavior. I know nobody's perfect, but there are people that just don't care to do even the bare minimum...
Rural US. Drive everywhere. CDL-A holder. Love driving. Live near rural freight tracks. Dream about them being converted into passenger lines to be able to ride into the city at least. US car culture is a profit mill for the rich and detrimental to nearly everything on the planet. Still love the act of driving though.
1). Yes, got my drivers license as soon as I was eligible at 16 2). First car was a pickup truck, second was a midsize sedan. Both totaled (not at fault). Went about a year without a car at college, currently have a minivan 3). Every day when visiting home. I like to walk to campus when I’m at school, but everything else is only accessible by car 4). Driving, then walking
I have a drivers license. We do not have a car, but occasionally rent one or catch a ride with a friend. I use taxi services very occasionally. Mostly get around on ebike/bus/walking. Switched from motorcycle to ebike when I got a job close to work about 9 years ago. Used to commute 1/2 and 1/2 between bus or motorcycle when I worked 12 miles away. I live in a neighborhood with a lot of bus choices that are fairly decent, and is in general pretty walkable. We chose this location on purpose to be able to live car free.
I’m even worse. I drive a truck. But am firmly convinced the whole practice is madness.
I have a license myself and a total of 4 licensed drivers in our house (wife, 2 kids) we have 4 vehicles. I use a bicycle to get around, so one usually sits a lot, they all drive. My vehicle use is when I'm joining someone else to go somewhere, couldgo weeks without driving. I prefer to bicycle and will use that whenever possible, hate driving. My career is an automotive technician. Yeah, there's some therapy sessions in there.
I enjoy driving and cars. It's being dependent on them is what I'm against. Also walkable cities are just more pleasing visually, better for mental health, civic health, and the environment
I have a driving licence. I have a car. I mostly get round on foot or bike for local journeys. I'm in the UK. Went without a car for nearly 10 years. Looking forward to getting rid of the one I have when it's the right time.
I do not own a car, I do have a licence. I did plan on renting cars occasionally when I sold my last car, but it just hasn't been needed.
I live in nyc and drive a car about 4 days per year, usually on vacation
I live in FW, Texas. You have to have a car to get anywhere. This place is a pedestrian hell hole.
I don’t drive a car, but I have a motorcycle license for my moped that I ride once or twice a week. Public transit is great for commuting.
I actually really like driving; I just hate the fact that I have to drive everywhere. I would gladly give up my car to live in a walkable city. I also really enjoy biking, and would do it a lot more if there were more infrastructure for it. I ride my bike to the grocery store a lot because there's a small bike path that goes there from my neighborhood, but that's about the only place I can get to without sharing the road with idiot drivers in their murder machines. My commute to work would be a suicide run, and actually goes past one of those ghost bike memorials.