Must be hard to live to work (or work to live) in Chicago without a car? (insurance, buying)

[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.
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[supernerdgirl]

are you serious? I'm paying $75 a month to get me everywhere I need to go. This is compared to when I was filling up my car at $40 a week (in a place with much cheaper gas about a year ago) JUST to get to work, let alone anything else. This doesn't include the money necessary to pay the car payment and insurance.

and it's called "figure out how long it takes you to get to work before you even start your job and the CTA is generally reliable." I think i've only been really late to work (say 15 minutes) twice.

no, i'm not rich. if i WAS rich, i'd own a car that would just sit there so i could look at it and remind myself that i AM rich.

plus if the "ghetto" transportation system bothers you so much, you can always ride a bike.

[movingsomewhere]

yeah a bike. i hate having something (bike seat) on my ass first thing in the morning...you?

[neonwattagelimit]

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.
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Yeah, no offense or anything but I don't really get this one. The reason I don't have a car is that I am not rich. If I were rich, I would have one. I actually have a good friend who lives in DC sans car, and I'm originally from NY where many people go without cars (I had one, but I lived on the outskirts of the city). The CTA is slow at times, but you can plan for that and it runs frequently. If you live on the North Side, you probably won't have to go through the ghetto to get to work, either. I live within walking distance of of a Wallgreen's, a supermarket, a convenience store and several take-out food places. A car is handy at times, which is why I signed up for a car-sharing service (Zipcar), which is more economical and less of a hassle than actually owning one.

To be honest, I have not ruled out the possibility of buying a car at some point, but it's looking less likely every day. Though I can understand the appeal of it, it's really not necessary in much of Chicago.

[neonwattagelimit]

Also, people who drive to work in the Loop are batsh*t crazy. I could understand it in other parts of the city, but not the Loop.

[supernerdgirl]

Originally Posted by neonwattagelimit

Also, people who drive to work in the Loop are batsh*t crazy. I could understand it in other parts of the city, but not the Loop.

but i thought everyone liked paying $30+ to park their cars?

[desibear]

I'm not rich by any definition yet I have two cars. One is for family, grocery hauling purposes. The other one is probably why i'm not rich by any definition I take bus to work 70% of the time and remaining is cab. I take cab back 70% of the time and remaining is bus. I'd do buses more often both ways if my working hours were more like 9 to 5, and accordingly, buses were more frequent during my commute back as they seem to be in the morning. So the buses are reliable but sometimes, depending on your hours, could be infrequent.

[aragx6]

Cars are def. not the driving force of the economy in Chicago. Maybe in California there are but not here. It's pretty pointless to own a car if you both live and work in the city.

And no, most of us aren't rich. Actually I'd go so faras to say that very few of us are. I'd much rather sit on the el than fight through traffic in my gas guzzler anyway.

If you don't like that, and have problems with public transportation, Chicago would be a difficult adjustment for you.

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

Have you ever even been to Chicago, pally-o? Did you put a similar post in the NYC forum? Owning a car there is REALLY dumb.

You're clearly just trying to stir the pot, but I can honestly say that I, for one, certainly am not rich now and DEFINITELY wasn't rich growing up, so take your assumptions, stick 'em in your tailpipe, and see what kind of mileage you get.

[Avengerfire]

I have been doing fine without a car since 2000.