Must be hard to live to work (or work to live) in Chicago without a car? (Lincoln: how much, transfer to)

[Lookout Kid]

I own a small fuel-efficient car, but it only gets used on the weekends 90% of the time. I admit that I do like having it in Chicago, but it is parked indoors. When I parked on the street, I liked car ownership a LOT less. And my wife and I share one car--we don't have one for each of us like 95% of non-urban Americans.

Chicago isn't quite like New York. You can drive around here if you want to, and the public transportation system isn't quite as extensive. But many people do just fine without a car. If I were single again and didn't drive out of state so often, I'd definitely ditch the car and sign up for one of those car-sharing services (like Zip Car or I-Go).

[miserylovesco.]

Originally Posted by movingsomewhere

[SIZE=2]Does everyone in Chicago without a college degree that are of college age work at a deskjob that they can just take a train to get to work? I notice many in these forums mentioned they don't own a car or they don't have to own a car. Are these people born rich that they don't have to be at work much that they can rely on an unreliable form of transportation (public) to get to work. I've always relied on my car to get me to places as I can't stand public transportation in the middle of the ghettos of MD and DC plus I don't do office work. I'm just not sure how people work or what people do in Chicago to get that money. Doesn't everyone need a car at some point? It's reliable compared to public transportation, unless u have a beat up car. Someone said long ago that cars are the driving force of the economy of this country. I'm a little confuse now. LOL. Do most young people in Chicago wait tables? Maybe I've just gotten used to having a car and when I lived in CA, a car in necessary. Those freeways are pretty huge and everything is spread out.
[/SIZE]

You apparently never made it far enough through college to learn how to write a paragraph properly. In Chicago, for the most part you don't need a car. It's a very welcome addition to getting around the city but, it's not needed. And unlike DC or wherever, our CTA runs on time usually.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by movingsomewhere

[SIZE=2]Does everyone in Chicago without a college degree that are of college age work at a deskjob that they can just take a train to get to work? I notice many in these forums mentioned they don't own a car or they don't have to own a car. Are these people born rich that they don't have to be at work much that they can rely on an unreliable form of transportation (public) to get to work. I've always relied on my car to get me to places as I can't stand public transportation in the middle of the ghettos of MD and DC plus I don't do office work. I'm just not sure how people work or what people do in Chicago to get that money. Doesn't everyone need a car at some point? It's reliable compared to public transportation, unless u have a beat up car. Someone said long ago that cars are the driving force of the economy of this country. I'm a little confuse now. LOL. Do most young people in Chicago wait tables? Maybe I've just gotten used to having a car and when I lived in CA, a car in necessary. Those freeways are pretty huge and everything is spread out.
[/SIZE]

Are you a troll?

Come spend a week in Chicago trying to drive to the Loop during rush hour. Then after you've crawled to work at an average pace of 2.4 miles an hour, lotta luck finding a place to park your car all day that costs less than $25. Then, hop in your car and crawl home again a 2.4 miles an hour. Then maybe you'll figure out why the region's 21 Loop-bound commuter rail lines are packed to the doors with people every morning and every evening.

Yeah, the 3 million or so of us who take public transportation every day are so rich that we can come and go at work at our own leisure, and yet at the same time we place so little value on our time that we're willing to wait around for trains that may or may not show up, ya never know.

[j33]

Oh boy, this again? I do okay financially and am in my mid-thirties and have not had a car for years, I take the money that I'd be spending on car payments and insurance and budget some of it for taxis and this has worked quite nicely for me for years. I work in the LOOP, live 3 miles from work and live within walking distance of most everything else I need, so quite frankly, I have never been able to financially justify buying a car to myself (and I've tried a couple of times).

So while the CTA can be frustrating and unreliable at times, so can local traffic (I know just as many people who get stuck in traffic jams and are late for work as who get stuck dealing with system meltdowns), and I have chosen the frustrations of the former over the later, it is cheaper and makes more sense for me.

[via chicago]

I dont take CTA, but I do take Metra. for $60 a month, it gets me from the near burbs to the loop in 20 minutes flat (and even faster if its not making a lot of stops). I've never once been late ofr work in the morning. Coming home a couple times I've been delayed because of accidents on the tracks..but thats it. I plan on moving to the city in a year or so, and at that point Im sure I'll take the CTA, or ride my bike in the warmer months.

See, heres the thing. People have become so reliant on their cars they've forgotten the liberation that comes from not owning one. Yes, public transit has its own issues as well. However, i feel more free knowing I dont have to worry about car payments/insurance/parking/tickets/traffic, etc ect. than any type of problem taking the train or bus may incur.


And to answer the original question, no Im not rich. I work at a publicly traded company. My boss, the VP of operations takes Metra to work. Several others do as well. Among my dozens of coworkers, I can count on two hands how many drive to work. The guy behind me? Metra. The guy to the left of me? The el (brownline). The guy across from me? Metra. The girl next to him? Takes the el from Hyde Park. Dude across the aisle from her? Metra. In the meantime, while we're reading the paper and sipping coffee, or getting an extra bit of shut eye during the commute, we get to glance out the window and chuckle at all the people sitting in gridlock and think driving is "so much better than ghetto public transit".

[Tex?Il?]

I've met many (young) people who live in Lakeview, etc. that live in the city and work just outside the city, near O'Hare or similar places.

For most people in "Chicagoland" and even many people in the city (remember how far the city proper extends, think both airports) driving is stilll a big part of life for people who don't both work in the Loop and live within neighborhoods on the north or near NW sides.

[DC's Finest]

misery,

Don't take a swipe at DC's Metro because of a troll. A higher percentage (38%) of DC's population uses public transportation, second to only NYC'S (50%).

[dragoro]

Just cause more people use it don't make it better. Its not like peopple in dc have a choice to use dc or chicago trans. They have to use what's available regardless of how good or bad it is.

[neonwattagelimit]

Originally Posted by dragoro

Just cause more people use it don't make it better. Its not like peopple in dc have a choice to use dc or chicago trans. They have to use what's available regardless of how good or bad it is.

I don't know, man...have you ever taken the DC Metro? It's pretty nice. It's definitely cleaner, and, more importantly, faster than the L, which can be maddeningly slow at times. But the stations are kinda far apart and the L has a more extensive coverage area (though there are some serious holes). It's kind of a toss-up as to which is better.

Also, regarding Tex's post, I don't deny that many people in Chicago drive. If I worked in the burbs, or the NW side or something, I'd probably have a car and drive to work. But much of the city is easily accessible via public transportation, and if you work downtown, it is definitely the way to go.

[jimbo13]

i have a car that i have put 19k miles on in the past five years. i only drive it to get groceries or go to target, or to drive to a chicks house. otherwise, it sits in my parking spot. if i were married and lived/worked downtown, i wouldn't think it would be worth the car payment... i went without one the first year i lived here, but am pretty sure the gold digging trixies here look down on a dude that doesn't own a car. it's sad, but true.