Why not having a car stinks

Car-sharing is great. I use rent-by-the-hour Zipcar and live in a small big city where I can get around on two feet or two wheels for most things.

Most Americans probably can't imagine getting by without a car in unsustainable subdivision land.

But not having a car even sucks in pedestrian-friendly 7x7-square-miles San Francisco. For nearly two years, I've bitterly missed my 1981 Mercedes 300D (so much, perhaps, that I fetishized such cars in this story).

Why?

1. Without a car, you look like you're in the fourth grade no matter where you go. That's because you have to lug a backpack around town if you're bringing simple things like lunch, a jacket for the evening, a change of shoes for work, a laptop or books for the café, an umbrella. A car is like having a closet, a desk, and a dresser on wheels--perhaps even a kitchen cabinet too. You can't really chow on chocolate in a shared Zipcar because it may fall and melt into the seat, which the next user won't appreciate.

2. Riding a bicycle in a city means taking your life into your hands, let's face it. Ditto for motorcycles and mopeds. But at least you'll probably die quickly if someone hits you, if you're not paralyzed instead. A Segway could get you killed simply because the sight of your smug, upright posture gliding uphill in a business suit can inspire murderous rage in passersby.

3. Taxis burn a hole in your pocket. They're never there when you need one. And again, there's the risk of taking your life into your hands.

4. You have to schedule a Zipcar usually days in advance, especially on weekends. You can't zip across town at night on a whim to meet friends. You get used to canceling plans and staying in your neighborhood. You miss chances to go anywhere interesting in any nearby cities, which can really screw up your job if there's a conference 30 miles away. And even if you do get a car, you have to leave it at the drop-off spot far from your house, then walk home from there on a poorly lighted street, again taking your life into your hands, when the evening's over. Every Zipcar reservation must be a round trip. Thanks for the "convenience."

5. Forget about petite shoes or pedicures. And while your seat may not spread out because you hoof it or bike so much, your lower legs start looking meaty. (This is pathetic; please pretend you didn't read such shallowness here. Scroll down to see #2 on the next list of why it's good not to have a car.)

6. Your life slows down. You wait for buses. You wait for trains. You wait at stoplights. You wait for an opening between the shoulders ahead of you on the sidewalk so you can pass dawdling walkers. If you want to call people you love in other time zones, you can usually only talk to them while you're panting on the way home because by the time you reach your couch, it's midnight on the east coast. In a car you could gab for hours, shielded from the rain.

7. In mountainous places, the bike can be painful or impossible to ride. In cities with snow, bikes are no-go half the year.

8. To jaunt off on a road trip, you'll probably have to rent a car from the airport to get a good rate. That means going to the airport. And it costs more than $60 per day to rent a car with a car sharing service. I might as well buy a couple of 1978 Volvos each month at that rate.

9. You feel like a mooch when asking a friend for a ride home--again--even if it's only 10 blocks out of their way. At the same time, you fine tune a bad attitude about drivers and start to preach to friends and family about how evil driving is, usually while they're scowling behind the wheel in rush hour during your chat. Mooching and self-righteousness are unattractive qualities, but you will learn to nurture them without a car.

10. Groceries are heavy. When will I get around to buying that backup case of Clif bars in case the Big One rocks the West Coast? And forget about picking up 50s furniture on a whim from a garage sale, once a beloved pastime. I've biked uphill from Alemany Flea Market with a folding table on my back. Won't repeat that. 

11. You don't get to listen to NPR on the way to work. Scratch that, I forgot about iPods and podcasts. But I refuse to dangle those white strings from my ears, tuning out the real world around me. It's bad enough that I'm always on the phone while walking to and from work.

Am I a total wimp? Siel of Green LA Girl/Emerald City seems to love de-caring in Los Angeles. Many other people relish their petroleum-free lifestyle. But I still want to throw things in a trunk and wear cute shoes.

On the other hand, not having a car is great because:

1. Your life slows down a bit. You smell the flowers. Your sense of smell becomes acute, especially when exhaust fumes from muscle cars leave you in the dust.

2. Exercise is built into your form of transportation. That's hot, right--defying gravity and age without going to a germy gym--even though you fantasize about foot massage? Again, shallowness: blame me for having been a scholarship kid at a private grammar school.

3. Your carbon footprint shrinks. Of course, you're not supporting the evils of Big Oil (or the Big Agra ethanol lobby, for that matter).

4. You probably save money. I'll add this up and figure it out eventually. Car sharing does include gas and insurance, but I spent nearly $400 on it last August.

5. You never have to deal with parking and parking tickets.

6. Without a car, you no longer power a weapon of mass destruction. If you're in an accident on your bike, at least you won't kill anybody (However, you'll be dead and won't know how good it feels to be the killee rather than the killer.).

7. Taxi drivers become some of your closest companions, at least for 15 minutes at a pop. Hey, they might hook you up with cousins to stay with when you travel across the globe.

8. When it comes to greener transportation, you walk the talk, or cycle the…something.

9. Without that broom closet on wheels, you have no car to wash.

10. Maybe I'll add more to this list. Trying to live a greener lifestyle is great, but mostly I'm finding that it's a pain in the rear. Call me coddled, an ugly, lazy American imperialist. I get it.

But people's approaches to alleviating the inconveniences of daily living, without considering the ecological impacts, have led to this inconvenient truth of global warming. It needs to be easier to be eco-friendlier so we as masses can make sweeping changes in our daily habits. Otherwise, major calamities--whether economical or ecological or both--eventually will force the issue.

A better transporation situation, for me at least, would be sharing a car with a cluster of friends who live nearby.  That way, you could run household errands together, share maintenance costs, and yet never have to walk home far from where you park. If you really get along, you can go on the same road trips, or use a car sharing service in a pinch.

Alas, the era of communes is long gone, and they were a wreck anyway. People don't want to share anymore. Since nobody wants to share, would someone like to donate instead? Somebody, pretty please, gimme a car. I'd prefer leather seats and a sunroof. I'll give everybody a ride home like I used to. Thanks in advance.

By the way, I apologize for not having updated this blog in so many months. I'll blame that on not having a car as well.

Comments

[cristina]

I think not having a car sucks but having a gas guzzling truck sucks even bigger. Lets think about mother earth and lend a hand by desisting from cars for some part of your life.

[electric bicycle]

That is really true. Anyone without a car now days looks like a third class citizen because car is so important that no basic things can be done without it. Even to have a girlfriend noe, the main required qualification is not to have an education, but to have a car.

[Noclegi Ustka]

Considering how expensive gas is today and the trend towards even higher prices, it's critical that Americans shift their thinking from SUVs and other gas guzzlers to alternative methods of transportation. Cheap mopeds, gas scooters and electric scooters must become a part of our lives considering you can get up to 90 mpg, they're easy to park and navigate.

[Pankaj]

Cheap mopeds are easy to find today. Considering how expensive gas is today (over $4/gallon as of today) and the trend towards even higher prices, it's critical that Americans shift their thinking from SUVs and other gas guzzlers to alternative methods of transportation. Cheap mopeds, gas scooters and electric scooters must become a part of our lives considering you can get up to 90 mpg, they're easy to park and navigate.

[Mollyh]

I hear ya on Zipcar. While I've never had an issue reserving one more or less on the spur of the moment, there have been many, many times when I've wanted to be able to drop it off at a different location from where I picked it up.

[Rev. Verde]

I get it, it takes a change of an entire society and way of life.

[matt]

Great points, all. Some cities are more conducive to the life-without-car, but in my experience San Francisco is not one of them. OK, I've never lived in any big cities other than San Francisco and San Jose.

But SF, for being a small city, is really made up of a bunch of different neighborhoods. And the problem is that they're not easy to hop between. This is supposedly the same issue with Sydney.

Maybe it's the California lack of public transpo issue. It's just not very easy unfortunately.

[elsa]

Good point, Siel. Still, I've since moved from the top of the hill to near the bottom and am mere blocks away from groceries and stuff. But after hunting more than 6 months, I felt that the housing crunch here has made it impossible to find a somewhat affordable place closer in.

I'm only 20 minutes from work by bike or bus/BART, but I still feel unsafe and get so cold after dark hiking up the slight hill those last 2 blocks home. Plus, the rant was therapeutic. :)

That said, I dare other people to try going without a car. They might actually like it. I do like the different kind of freedom it brings. I'd still prefer to share a car with a few nearby friends than to deal with my own.

[Siel]

I think one of the difficulties you have with the de-car-ing lifestyle is that you don't really live in the heart of the city. Unless you moved, from what I remember, you live kinda out there in a less dense area of the city.... That obviously doesn't make de-car-ing impossible, but it can make it more difficult --

It's the main reason I chose to live where I do. A lot of people go for the cheaper rent on paper -- then shell out a helluva lot more money for the car, which they don't factor in. I pay higher rent, but overall due to the car-free lifestyle --

[Vicky]

Youth action on Global Warming: Massachusetts Power Shift conference at Boston University

Hi,

I ran into your environmental blog via the Society of Environmental Journalists and was wondering if you would be interested in telling your readers about an upcoming youth action event called Massachusetts Power Shift (MAPS).
MAPS is a three-day global warming and climate change conference to be held at Boston University from April 11-14th. Saturday and Sunday will consist of discussion panels from a variety of topics ranging from alternative fuels to carbon caps. On that Monday, students will lobby their senators to pass the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act.
Passing the GWSA, inclusive of a 20% cut in emissions by 2020, will be a milestone for Massachusetts environmental policy.
Please consider spreading the word! Just let me know if you will post an entry about it so I can send you more information and web banners/fliers. Our website is http://www.masspowershift.org/
Thank you for you time.

Cheers,
Vicky
Media & Marketing Volunteer
Massachusetts Power Shift Planning Committee

[Mama T]

Commuting to work in a city that sees snow 4-5 months of the year doesn't mean you can't still ride. You just need to gear up. Your bike and yourself. Ride defensively, and, if an option, stay on the bike paths and you won't have to worry so much about cars.

[IwinAtLife]

I am a Real Estate agent and have to use a car to do my job but after doing some math here is a great reason not to own one: It's super expensive!

I have a reasonably priced car, nothing to crazy and I have a car payment of $350, then factor in $70/mo insurance, $400/mo gas, $200/mo maintenance (might increase as car ages), garage parking at my house $100/mo, parking at my office $120/mo, occasional ticket $100/mo, paying for body work from ppl not knowing how to park $75/mo, carwashes $40/mo, parking it when I go out to dinner or for some kind of special event, $30/mo. Well I'm sure I'm forgetting something but if you just add all that up that is about $1495/mo.

So even if you pay a little less for parking and get a few less tickets then me, and maybe drive less so you spend less on gas, you can still see that owning a car is SUPER expensive!

Not to mention all the lost years of my life screaming at my windshield with road rage.. ;)

[mig]

What a catch 22.. I am glad I am not a car owner but damn it I wish I had a car just to do simple things and get away to nearby places. I am thinking motorbike because it is friendlier on the environment... and you know, If I die riding a motorcycle then let it be.

[N. & J.]

At my last apartment there were three of us that all moved into the same complex and it was great. We traded off hosting dinner, driving to the store, renting a movie etc and yet we each had our own space. I realize it would be more eco-friendly to have all lived together but failing that living in close proximity and pooling resources was great. I miss having friends as neighbors now that I have moved.

I currently own a hybrid but just bought a bike now that is starting to get into the 50s in Colorado and hope to enjoy my own free workout. I have to say I'm lucky though that I only live a couple miles from work, from a grocery store, from some small restraunts and the library is probably less than 10 miles away and since I only go every couple weeks its a good workout.

You can check out what else my fiance and I are doing on our blog http://badhuman.wordpress.com