SA with no car? (San Antonio, Austin: sales, apartment, insurance) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

js63 · 03-18-2007, 01:28 AM

Can you get by in SA without a car, just using buses and taxis? I would probably stick to the central part of town. Before you answer I should say I've lived in Austin 14 years without one--11 of them in Central Austin, 3 in NW.

smuboy86 · 03-18-2007, 01:31 AM

Plenty of people in San Antonio don't have cars remember according to some on here we're dirt poor hicks. But yeah VIA the bus system has been constantly rated #1 in north america. They kick capital metro's butt. Rapid service is expanding, and starlight (late night) service is available .

js63 · 03-18-2007, 01:39 AM

Good to hear. Capital Metro buses in Austin are in some ways just rolling, air conditioned homeless shelters, which is a shame. And they can't break out of the mindset where most every bus route has to go on north-south axes downtown to the Capitol, which is not what 2007 Austin is about anymore.

As long as I can get to and from work, do my shopping, and get my entertainment, I really don't need a car to bebop everywhere.

There was a time when I didn't live close to a grocery store when I'd hire a cab the Saturday after payday and go to the nearest HEB and buy two weeks worth of food. And I'd take the bus to work. So I'd need the taxi for only two short round trips a month.

And it saves me having to make car payments, insurance payments, gas payments, maintenance payments.... My friends don't see how I can live this way, but I'm glad to skip the expense. Plus I tend to be an inattentive, scatter-brained driver, so I figure it's safer to just stay off the road.

js63 · 03-18-2007, 01:42 AM

I've gone through this site and noticed a lot of that "dirt poor hick" thing, chiefly where someone was claiming that most people in SA only make $7-$10 per hour. I don't entirely believe that, but I'd have moved to SA years ago had I been able to find work there in my field. Are there decent jobs available? I'm not looking for $60K or anything like that, but the upper 20s would be nice.

smuboy86 · 03-18-2007, 01:54 AM

As a Journalist would you be working for the Express-News? I would imagine they make a rather good salary. I don't believe that most people in San Antonio make 7-10 per hour, at least I can't imagine that is true. I made 7-10 per hour as a part time working in HS in San Antonio.

js63 · 03-18-2007, 02:03 AM

Well, the Express-News doesn't seem to be hiring writers or editors right now. I've been asking at the SA Current, and am waiting to see if anything comes of that. I don't know of any other SA print outlets.

fierce_flawless · 03-19-2007, 09:28 AM

Median wage in SA is about $11 an hour. I am one of those who said $7-10, so I was under a little. Of course most of those with a degree will be making more, but there are a lot of people here with no degree, and only a high school diploma, and I HAVE seen job ads with employers wanting a 2 year degree and only paying $9-10 an hour.

SA w/o a car is fine if you stick to one pocket of town, but if/when you have to go somewhere farther than a couple of miles, it can take a while by bus.

My GF's son has to go 6 miles to school. It takes him an hour and 2 buses. When we move it will likely take him 3 buses and we're only moving a couple miles south of here.

I'm not sure what qualifies VIA as top rated, but when you have to ride the bus and have no choice, it can be a huge pain. Just my $.02, because I've BTDT. I used to take 4 hours each day, 8 buses total, to take my younger child to school when I had no car. It was a six mile total trip (round trip).

My ex used to leave the house at six am to get to work by 8am, 7 miles away. VIA. It depends on where you are trying to go, really.

I think if you are close to downtown, don't have a kid, and have the money to take a taxi when you NEED to get somewhere fast, it's okay.. but otherwise, nah.

js63 · 03-19-2007, 09:49 AM

Hmm. I live in NW Austin and used to have to take a bus to get to a PT job in downtown Austin. It took an hour. Since my bus stop was near the end of the route drivers often drove past it early so they could get to their final stop and take a longer break. So it seemed no matter how early I made it to my stop it was still too late.

I finally started taking a cab so I wouldn't be late to work. When my weekly cab bill started equaling my take-home pay I quit the job.

It does annoy the heck out of me that the powers that be assume that the time of bus riders isn't valuable. I think what's more annoying than a long ride is an even longer wait between buses. That just makes me feel foolish.

Being on a bus route is always important to me in picking an apartment.

I have a 4-year degree and my last job only paid $9 an hour.

fierce_flawless · 03-19-2007, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by js63

Hmm. I live in NW Austin and used to have to take a bus to get to a PT job in downtown Austin. It took an hour. Since my bus stop was near the end of the route drivers often drove past it early so they could get to their final stop and take a longer break. So it seemed no matter how early I made it to my stop it was still too late.

I finally started taking a cab so I wouldn't be late to work. When my weekly cab bill started equaling my take-home pay I quit the job.

It does annoy the heck out of me that the powers that be assume that the time of bus riders isn't valuable. I think what's more annoying than a long ride is an even longer wait between buses. That just makes me feel foolish.

Being on a bus route is always important to me in picking an apartment.

I have a 4-year degree and my last job only paid $9 an hour.

You are right about that... and what's even more infuriating is when your first bus is late, and so you miss the connecting, and here with some routes that only run every 30 minutes, you are screwed no matter what you do. Also, the bus drivers, if they are early, are supposed to sit at the stop and wait until the scheduled time, but I have seen them drive off 3 to 5 minutes BEFORE the departure time, and that's just awful.

In general if you want to get downtown it's fairly easy/fast. If you start from downtown and go elsewhere, it's not bad. It's when you need to get from NW to NE, or SW to Alamo Heights, or whatever, that it gets tricky and takes forever. I don't know if you know the area but when my ex had to go all that time on the bus, we lived on Blanco road just north of Churchill high school and he worked at West Telemarketing, just north of USAA. With two major employers right there you'd think getting there would be easy..... haha! Not so.

My commentaries on wages have really mostly been regarding single parents. If you don't have a degree, and you aren't in sales (and good at it), it's tough living here if you have a child or children and you're on your own. Then again, I guess that applies to most cities. I've lived that reality for quite a while.. I'm in this "inbetween" demographic. Educated, but not enough and not formally (mostly self-educated). A couple of semesters of college but then I got pregnant and put it all on hold. I have some clerical skills, thankfully, so it bumps me up just above the fast food pay... I don't think this makes it hick-ville, but there are quite a few "poor" areas and that's why (IMHO). SA used to have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation, if I remember right.

js63 · 03-20-2007, 12:45 AM

Well Fierce, I have the 4-year degree, but not a Master's or anything like that. I know the basic computer skills but nothing specialized. (I am not mechanically/electronically minded.) I am lousy at sales--just very uncomfortable forcing people to buy stuff they don't want.

I have had jobs since 1980 (high school), but only one that lasted for 13 months that really involved my skills and interests and that paid more than survival wages. And I lost that when the dot-com boom went bust. I've been looking for decent work in Austin for the last 5 years and just can't find it. I'd have moved to SA long ago but the want ads just aren't promising.

I've had all sorts of misadventures on the bus. I had an old man driver once who tore around a corner so fast I was thrown from my seat, smashed my knee against the metal edge of the seat opposite, and wound up with my face buried in a man's lap. I was more embarrassed than injured.

Then I was standing at a stop that was just a pole on a grassy side of the road (no bench or awning). I was wearing a green shirt. The bus came from a long way off, yet shot right past me when the time came.Finally the riders got him to slow down and when I boarded the driver claimed he didn't see me because my "shirt blended in so well with the grass"!