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Regular Contributor
Posts: 227
Registered: ‎06-15-2016

Re: People choosing to not own a car.

I had a co-worker originally from Boston who was used to taking public trans everywhere. She decided when she moved to LA that she didn't want the hassle and expense of a car. She took the crappy, always semi-dangerous public trans, and walked - and was constantly (daily, weekly) trying to invite herself along to go places she couldn't get to and needed to be driven to. And you had to pick her up and drop her off, even if the destination was in the opposite direction. After time #3 I just ignored the hints and pleas. Never offered to pay for gas, never offered to buy a meal, just pushy ride-bumming.  She was always late to work too

 

Not offering lunch or gas money every once in awhile and I stress once in awhile is one thing. Treating someone like they are garbage under your feet is another. The reaction you desribe is not that of a nice person its shameful.

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,927
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: People choosing to not own a car.

As someone who spent four hours today on NY public transportation today (train traffic delay on the 2 train; and a late connection on a transfer - thank you LIRR) I'm not feeling the love.   Of course, there is a valid argument that beats rush hour on the BQE. (I am so not looking forward to going into the City between July 10 - Sept. 1).  Anyhow, I'm venting.  You totally don't need a car in NYC and I'm not a fan of driving in Manhattan.  However, a car in the suburbs makes life easier.  Totally different.
Do the math.
Regular Contributor
Posts: 227
Registered: ‎06-15-2016

Re: People choosing to not own a car.

[ Edited ]

@SeaMaiden wrote:

I will always own a car.  I do not like riding on public transportation...siting next to/ touching and smelling the person/ Stranger next to me..... YUK!  Nuts ride the bus...and hang out at the bus stops....And, I do not want to carry bags  of groceries ....and walk  a half a mile from bus stop to my home in the rain or heat. 

 

Yes nuts also drive the roads ...but I will take my chances.

 

I will always have a car until I am too old to drive.  Then I will take a taxi if necessary. Or I will hopefully have a car that drives itself!


Not having a vehicle is a perfectly acceptable way of life. It is what one likes or is used to. If you have never had the experience it seems strange. The whole germ thing is overrated.

 

Using public transit helps keep people active rather than going from the grage door to the car to the store. This helps prevent the stuff your face get in the the car lifestyle with little activity involved.

 

Taking public transit as a way of life requires free thinking and isn't for a lazy person.

 

The "nut" stories are overrated. I couldn't disagree with you more on the germs. If anything being around a lot of other people helps build immunity. I never get sick. The weather turns cold and my car owning friends are sniveling and the flu instantly hits them its because their bodies are weak.   

Regular Contributor
Posts: 227
Registered: ‎06-15-2016

Re: People choosing to not own a car.


@Blingqueen023 wrote:

@truffle wrote:

I love the freedom of a car.  I never have to worry about bad weather or people or getting sunburn or windburn. So many advantages to owning a car that i never will be without one. When you live in a city where many own one and you walk, you are breathing in noxious car fumes which is like 2nd hand smoke. No thank you. Yes insurance is expensive as are repairs. It's all figured in to our household budget and we'll never be without our cars.  

 

 


I wouldn't be without a car either.  I"d be scared to death to take public transportation in these large cities.  No way.  Don't feel like getting robbed, raped, mogged or even killed by a gun or stabbed to death thank you very much.  Give me a car any day. 

 

Fearmongering. Don't believe all those law and & orders you watch on tv. I have taken public transportation independently now for 20 years and nothing has happened to me.


 

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,889
Registered: ‎03-13-2010

Re: People choosing to not own a car.


@Winter Holiday wrote:

@SeaMaiden wrote:

I will always own a car.  I do not like riding on public transportation...siting next to/ touching and smelling the person/ Stranger next to me..... YUK!  Nuts ride the bus...and hang out at the bus stops....And, I do not want to carry bags  of groceries ....and walk  a half a mile from bus stop to my home in the rain or heat. 

 

Yes nuts also drive the roads ...but I will take my chances.

 

I will always have a car until I am too old to drive.  Then I will take a taxi if necessary. Or I will hopefully have a car that drives itself!


Not having a vehicle is a perfectly acceptable way of life. It is what one likes or is used to. If you have never had the experience it seems strange. The whole germ thing is overrated.

 

Using public transit helps keep people active rather than going from the grage door to the car to the store. This helps prevent the stuff your face go the car lifestyle with little activity involved.

 

Taking public transit as a way of life requires free thinking and isn't for a lazy person.

 

The "nut" stories are overrated. I couldn't disagree with you more on the germs. If anything being around a lot of other people helps build immunity. I never get sick. The weather turns cold and my car owning friends are sniveling and the flu instantly hits them its because their bodies are weak.   


I agree.

 

I live in the city, and I have a car (because I also live in the suburbs). I love to drive, but I take public transportation often - buses, trains, all of it, and cabs also - and I've been doing so for a very long time.  I agree with you about the germs and about the nuts.  And walking is so much healthier than driving.  I've never felt I needed to smell the person next to me on public transportation, and I can't think of one time that public transportation caused me to get sick.

 

 "Nuts ride the bus and hang out at the bus stops" sounds like someone who has seen too many bad movies.  It is not my experience.  At all.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,929
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: People choosing to not own a car.


@momtochloe wrote:

@151949 wrote:

I think the posters from NYC really do not realize that there is a huge country here that is completely different from NYC - that life in NYC does not at all represent life in most of the rest of the country.


@151949 I am not sure I am understanding this post as your original post highlighted how folks in urban settings no longer owned cars because of their access to resources that more suburban or rural folks do not?  


NYC is not the only city in the USA.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,929
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: People choosing to not own a car.


@proudlyfromNJ wrote:

@151949 wrote:

I think the posters from NYC really do not realize that there is a huge country here that is completely different from NYC - that life in NYC does not at all represent life in most of the rest of the country.


@151949. You posted an article. Did you not want posters from NYC to answer? Try and have a conversation instead of always putting posters down.


In what way was I putting anyone down?

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,672
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: People choosing to not own a car.

I'm a native New Yorker and didn't learn to drive until I was twenty seven years old.  We lived in Queens and although we had a family car my sister and I didn't need to drive.  When I moved to Nassau County is when I finally needed a car because there were no trains other than the Long Island Railroad.  The majority of people living in Manhattan certainly didn't need a car and if they had one parking was a major problem.  I moved to California in 1965 and the first thing I did was buy a car,now that is one place where a car is a necessity. Woman LOL 

The moving finger writes; And having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line Nor all your Tears Wash out a Word of it. Omar Khayam
Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,929
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: People choosing to not own a car.


@NYC Susan wrote:

@JaneMarple wrote:

@151949 wrote:

Article on NBC news this evening -- the new thing for people living in the city is not owning a car. They can easily use public transportation or walk  for their daily needs and on those occasions when they need a car they just rent one for the day. And where do they rent them - well people who own cars advertise them for rent a few days a month which greatly helps them with the expense of owning a car.Financially good idea for both sides.

However, I have known friends who did not have a car and they are a bit of a pain in the neck to their friends and relatives who are always having to drive them places.


This is nothing new, both of my parents were born , raised and lived in NYC for most of their lives. A car wasn't needed 90% of the time, my father did not own a car until our family moved to suburban New Jersey in the mid 60's. 


Exactly.  I would love to know more about this news story because by no stretch of the imagination is this anything new.

 

 


It's not bnew in NYC but it is new in other cities.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,025
Registered: ‎05-23-2011

Re: People choosing to not own a car.


@151949 wrote:

@NYC Susan wrote:

@JaneMarple wrote:

@151949 wrote:

Article on NBC news this evening -- the new thing for people living in the city is not owning a car. They can easily use public transportation or walk  for their daily needs and on those occasions when they need a car they just rent one for the day. And where do they rent them - well people who own cars advertise them for rent a few days a month which greatly helps them with the expense of owning a car.Financially good idea for both sides.

However, I have known friends who did not have a car and they are a bit of a pain in the neck to their friends and relatives who are always having to drive them places.


This is nothing new, both of my parents were born , raised and lived in NYC for most of their lives. A car wasn't needed 90% of the time, my father did not own a car until our family moved to suburban New Jersey in the mid 60's. 


Exactly.  I would love to know more about this news story because by no stretch of the imagination is this anything new.

 

 


It's not bnew in NYC but it is new in other cities.


It's NOT new in:

 

Philadelphia

Boston

DC

Newark, NJ

Hartford, Ct.

New Orleans

Atlanta

Houston

Cincinnati

Chicago

Detroit

You Don't Own Me- Leslie Gore
(You don't Know) How Glad I Am- Nancy Wilson