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It's not about which is better, because that's basically a meaningless question. It's all about the city, and the area of the city in which you live. Past a certain point of congestion, a car becomes more of a hassle than a blessing. Honestly, though, those places are few. Even in cities in which you can easily get by without a car, there are larges areas of town where having one isn't a problem, and comes in handy.
For me, having a car isn't automatically "freedom". If parking is ridiculously expensive or hard to come by, or takes forever, it's so nice to have the option to hop a bus or train instead. In other cities, the congestion isn't at a point where it makes sense to take public transit. There's no one-size-fits-all model.
I always laugh at just how many people do the "eww....a bus?" when they're not use to riding one.
That's not my reaction to buses. I will only take a bus if it's a short distance along a very, very busy route. But once you start talking about a ride that's longer than 10-15 minutes and transfers, I'm not having any part of it.
It obviously all depends on where you live, work and play. I would say around 2/3 of my friends don't own cars. They're almost all professionals making $50-$125K a year, but just have no need for a car (like myself).
I had one when I lived outside the city, got it the day I turned 16 and assumed only a nuclear war would every separate me from a car. Had it for about a year when I moved to Chicago - during which time something TOTALLY unanticipated happened. I started HATING the thing. I hardly ever used it, had to move it across the street sometimes, got a few tickets, it needed work, gas, insurance, etc. It went from a beautiful asset to an annoying liability within about 6 months. Finally it broke down and I decided to ditch it and save a few bucks by seeing how long I could go in the meantime before getting another one. One month turned into two, turned into a few years and now it's been a decade.
My key is I work downtown, I've always planned my apartments and now my condo to be within a few minutes walk of the train, and I can walk almost anywhere to bars, restaurants, grocery store, friends house, etc or just take a quick bus ride. I have friends with cars, but they normally only use them for work and then maybe once a week or so to run errands if need be. My BF has a car right there at his house, but of all the places we go, we drive to maybe 10% of them. Costco is the only thing I can think of. Train and bus are just easier cause you don't have to mess with traffic and parking. Usually we just walk everywhere.
I always laugh at just how many people do the "eww....a bus?" when they're not use to riding one. I mean they're full of the same random people just going to work downtown or running errands. I've certainly never felt unsafe on a bus or a train. People don't bother me. Everyone is just playing on their Iphones or reading, sleeping, gazing out the window.
I would certainly buy a car if I moved away though, but for now I LOVE having the extra thousands of dollars a year by just using my $86 (taken out before income taxes as well) unlimited ride for the month.
Far cheaper than owning a car, for sure, but that's way overpriced. That's 1000 dollars/yr. just for public transportation. That's ridiculous.
Far cheaper than owning a car, for sure, but that's way overpriced. That's 1000 dollars/yr. just for public transportation. That's ridiculous.
For a system that can legitimately allow you to live carless in a city in which it is expensive and troublesome, in many areas, to own a car, it's a bargain.
Train and bus are just easier cause you don't have to mess with traffic and parking. Usually we just walk everywhere.
You're better than me. If I'm going to Park Slope, I'm driving. I honestly don't think transit is that convenient in Brooklyn (not compared to driving anyway) so I'm always somewhat amazed when people in other cities say they walk or take transit virtually everywhere.
Exactly, most of the car culture-types are too delicate and/or pretentious to be caught dead in one of those "underground thingies" or on a bus (god forbid).
Somebody has changed this, accidentally or deliberately. I don't know what the intent is here, but it's now how I address issues.
For a system that can legitimately allow you to live carless in a city in which it is expensive and troublesome, in many areas, to own a car, it's a bargain.
Obviously if one has no other options, but it still sucks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlite
Originally Posted by Carlite
Exactly, most of the car culture-types are too delicate and/or pretentious to be caught dead in one of those "underground thingies" or on a bus (god forbid).
Somebody has doctored this, I didn't say that, and I wouldn't say that. Does City Data have any way to respond to people who are obviously trying to distort?
I think the mistake here is that some posters seem to think of us in either/or, "black and white" terms. If transit isn't always wonderful, it's always awful. If transit isn't ideal for every trip, it's not useful for any trip. I doubt that you all eat the same food at every meal, or wear the same clothes all the time, but somehow mode of travel has to be uniform. I know that not everybody on this thread is saying that, but a number of people are.
I can't imagine that very many frequent transit users would say they use transit for every trip, because even if you're car-free and using transit a lot, you're almost always walking a lot (not to mention the occasional taxi ride).
Costs--$1,000 per year for a transit pass is a small fraction of the cost of maintaining and operating a car (let alone financing it) which typically runs into many thousands. Folks may feel that the car is worth it, but it's not the cheap option.
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