by "davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
Published 05/25/2017 at 17:11
by "davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
Published 05/25/2017 at 17:11
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STARS: 1
“Nearly a quarter of American adults sold or traded in a vehicle in the last 12 months, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll published on Thursday, with most getting another car. But 9 percent of that group turned to ride services like Lyft Inc and Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] as their main way to get around.
About the same percentages said they planned to dispose of cars and turn to ride services in the upcoming 12 months.”
My commute is long enough and my family travels enough that this really isn’t a feasible option for me, even if I liked the idea. How many of you could actually do this where you live/work/play?
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"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
05/25/2017 at 17:13, STARS: 2
Is owning your own car the next “landline”, something only for the olds?
Full disclosure: I still have a landline... My parents got rid of theirs years ago.
"DipodomysDeserti" (dipodomysdeserti)
05/25/2017 at 17:20, STARS: 3
You can lease a car for as low as $5/day. If your spending less than $10/day to Uber around, seems like you could just use a bicycle to commute.
"Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell." (oppisitelock)
05/25/2017 at 17:20, STARS: 1
Wouldnt work for me at all, but if you lived in the city itd make a lot of sense.
"Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever" (superchan7)
05/25/2017 at 17:22, STARS: 1
I am an early millennial, and as many have written before, I think this is a money problem.
Pay is stagnant. Cars are expensive. My generation finds it harder to afford cars than did my parents’.
I think the average person of any age group would rather own a hassle-free Toyota than ride Uber every day. Unless you live in SF, NYC or certain Asian metros, there is nothing uncool about owning your means to transportation.
"WilliamsSW" (williamssw)
05/25/2017 at 17:25, STARS: 2
My opinion: No.
If you’re a city dweller, it’s a great option, and probably cheaper than owning a car. If you live in the suburbs (like I do) or in a more rural area, forget it. My guess is that a very high proportion of the people turning in cars for ridesharing are in the city.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
05/25/2017 at 17:56, STARS: 2
I think the biggest reason to ditch a car is if you don’t need it for commuting. Because if you can commute without a car and there are other resources available to you without a car, then a car becomes a large expense for only incidental trips.
My brother lives in DC and hasn’t had a car in a long time. He uses a combination of a bike, the subway, uber, and Car2Go .
But for more spread out suburban places, especially where the majority of jobs are only commutable by car, private car ownership isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
"Manwich - now Keto-Friendly" (manwich)
05/25/2017 at 19:23, STARS: 0
My mom still has a landline as do I.
I have the land line mainly for my kids... as they don’t have cell phones.
I tell my kids they can have any cell phone they want... that they pay for themselves... including paying for the service.
My kids are part of a very small minority who do not have cell phones.
"Manwich - now Keto-Friendly" (manwich)
05/25/2017 at 20:15, STARS: 0
“How many of you could actually do this where you live/work/play? “
My car costs me around CAD$17/day when including all costs (registration, insurance, fuel, maintenance, repairs, etc)
I’ve looked at getting rid of the car and surviving using my bicycle, public transit and the odd car rental.
I could theoretically survive without a car... but it would either be be inconvenient or more expensive.
I have a job in the suburbs and live in the city. It’s about a 1 hour bike ride each way... but riding in the winter is miserable. But commuting by bicycle is actually the best way to save money.
And commuting with public transit actually takes twice as long as riding my bike and costs more (around $12/day).
Using Uber would more than double my monthly transportation costs.
Using a cheap rental just for commuting 5 days every week I think would be slightly cheaper than Uber... but still way more than what I spend on my current car.
I could also move to a basement apartment within walking distance from my work... Where I could cut my home costs in half and eliminate needing a car. Of course that would mean I would be a Gimp living in a dungeon with no social life and I wouldn’t be able to have my kids live with me... so that’s a non-starter... LOL
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
05/26/2017 at 08:42, STARS: 0
Haha - seems like you’ve looked at this from all angles!
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
05/26/2017 at 08:44, STARS: 1
The kids are a reason we’re holding onto ours, too. They’re just getting to the age that we can leave them alone for a while by themselves, and I’m with you about not giving them their own phone until they: A - actually need one, or B - can afford it themselves.
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
05/26/2017 at 08:47, STARS: 0
Yup - going to be interesting to see the dichotomy of these two groups in the not-to-distant future. Those who own cars, especially ones that burn hydrocarbons, will probably be judged ever more harshly as more and more find ways to make do without their own vehicle.
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
05/26/2017 at 08:49, STARS: 1
Yup. It’s the only way it really works. Public or shared transportation always relies on some high level of population density.
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
05/26/2017 at 08:52, STARS: 0
That is a part of it, but I’m sure some who can afford cars are making this choice as well (either because it makes financial sense for them, it’s more convenient to their lifestyle, or they have an environment-first mindset).
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
05/26/2017 at 08:53, STARS: 1
That would take effort.
"WilliamsSW" (williamssw)
05/26/2017 at 10:00, STARS: 0
Yeah, it’s pretty obvious, but it seems to me that a lot of the people touting this have just extrapolated the conversion rate out for the next 10 years. It won’t work that way - and I’m pretty convinced that ridesharing is making traffic worse, not better, around me. Mainly because I work right by O’Hare, and it seems like half of the cars on the road have Lyft or Uber signs in the window...
"Manwich - now Keto-Friendly" (manwich)
05/26/2017 at 10:48, STARS: 0
I definitely did! Post divorce, I had to look for ways to cut costs and add income.
My car-related spending is one area that came under scrutiny.
Even the cheapest car used regularly will cost at least CAD$500/month.
$6000/year.
And I’ve thought about what else could I do with at least $6000/year.
The car stayed, but the cable/Internet/home phone combo package from Rogers was ditched with a cheaper home phone/internet package from a different provider.
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
05/26/2017 at 10:58, STARS: 0
I definitely couldn’t live without a car, but I won’t say I haven’t considered dropping cable...
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
05/26/2017 at 11:02, STARS: 0
Yeah, when half the cars are just for-hire drivers circling, it’s not helping the problem.
I could see that maybe 10-25% of the population in some metro areas might be able to sell their car and make do with public transport, Uber/Lyft, bicycling, walking and renting a car when needed, but the majority of us will still need our own cars for a long time to come.
"Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever" (superchan7)
05/26/2017 at 13:29, STARS: 1
Yeah, and in that exact order—money, then convenience, then ideology.
"Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever" (superchan7)
05/26/2017 at 13:38, STARS: 0
As density rises, the cost of car ownership (mainly storage) rises.
In Hong Kong, parking stalls cost as much as a cheap apartment to buy or rent. Car ownership hangs at around 10-15%, with car commuting rate < 10%.
NY Subway carries 4.3 million passengers per day on 850 miles of dirty, under-maintained rail owned by the city.
MTR in Hong Kong carries 4.5 million passengers per day on 125 miles of clean, up-to-date, privately owned railway. It’s an extreme, but it is a distant reality for an overpopulated world.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
05/26/2017 at 14:19, STARS: 0
Very generally speaking, density makes it easier to commute without a car and more expensive to own a car. Both of which lead to lower levels of car ownership.