I'm tired of being told to cut back on my car!
My life is very good. I'm happy in more ways then I ever thought I would be. Very few flies get in my ointment these days. That's why I have energy to write rants like this one.
I'm really tired of reading stuff in the news about "how life is better carless" and the like. People who write this crap ought to be forced to live at a lower common denominator without a car for some indeterminate amount of time so they get the true experience of being dependent on public transit. Let's see. . .without having the money for taxis they should have a sick child to get to a doctor's appointment AFTER having had to pick that child up from school when the school called to tell you that said child needed to be removed. That might change a few minds. Another good one might be the double-transfer commute where the bus is ALWAYS full and you never get to sit for the 30 minute+ ride each way it takes because while you only live 6 minutes away from your work by car there is no quicker bus route to take. How about having to rely on local stores where you know the prices are at least 15% more than what you'd pay in the suburbs but that's what you can reach in a timely fashion unless you spend a big part of a day grocery shopping? How about being limited to what you can carry on the bus grocery-wise? You're not taking any pets to the vet on public transit in most parts of this country, either. Oh, oh, here's one. . .very timely. . .how about you lose your job and the next/only one you find is not convenient to a bus route at all? Yeah, carless is great. . .NOT. Spontenaity? Not anymore. Better plan well; if you run out of something after transit shuts down for the night you're out of luck unless you like walking.
There's a powerful argument made about how people spend larger amounts of money on vehicles than they do on public transit but I call bull on that one. I don't think that's a fair argument to make unless you put a price on the convenience of ready personal transit. We have that in the form of taxis. I don't know about the general audience but taxis compared to my insurance/cost of vehicle/cost of maintaining and running a vehicle cost more. I know how much I'm going to spend per month on car expenses so I can plan for it. For that amount I can reasonably assume 24/7 access 27-30 days per month, if not greater. For the same amount of money I can take vastly fewer cab rides and fewer yet if I don't want to have to get a NEW cab everytime I don't want to pay a wait fee. That also assumes that my transportation budget includes my bus pass because there's no way I can afford a taxi ride to and from work everyday. Cab drivers don't like cheap fares and if you think all you're expected to pay is the meter cost think again.
Cars are in use all through this country for another reason; they represent wealth and are creators of wealth opportunities. Many people who don't have cars want them and finances are what stand between them and car ownership. Reliable transportation is often the singlemost difficult issue to overcome in holding a job and being a transit user is only as reliable as the transit you have access to. With a car you can get jobs that aren't available without one. I know of no job opportunities that specific "non-ownership of a car required" but many that do require one. I'm not talking pizza-delivery jobs, either. With a car you can also broaden your job opportunities geographically. Having a long commute isn't optimal but it's sure better when you are always guaranteed a seat and some climate control.
Another argument made about losing cars is "for the environment". This argument is based on the amounts of CO that cars pump into the atmosphere from being used. I can't counter this; it's totally legitimate.
However, I'm selfish. I care more about being able to have transportation on demand that meets my needs and my schedule then I do about the environment. Sorry, there it is. I'm not willing to sacrifice the majority of my free time and higher quality of life to taking transit for an ideal that my individual actions won't accomplish anyways. I don't want to have to pay more for less space in order to live close to convenient transit. I don't want to have my choices of shopping, dining and entertainment dictated by bus routes stopping service to many areas after rush hour is over. I'm not at all good with having my ability to find work curtailed by transit. Shift work in a more suburban area? No transit for you at least on one part of your commute! Work across county lines? Transit is difficult to use and much more time-consuming.
I'd have a lot more respect for the position of getting people out of cars if I thought they lived in the same reality that I do. Everytime I hear one of them spout I want to ask how they feel about delivery vehicles. . .and if they're that against cars stop ordering pizza. Grr. As always, your mileage may vary.
I'm really tired of reading stuff in the news about "how life is better carless" and the like. People who write this crap ought to be forced to live at a lower common denominator without a car for some indeterminate amount of time so they get the true experience of being dependent on public transit. Let's see. . .without having the money for taxis they should have a sick child to get to a doctor's appointment AFTER having had to pick that child up from school when the school called to tell you that said child needed to be removed. That might change a few minds. Another good one might be the double-transfer commute where the bus is ALWAYS full and you never get to sit for the 30 minute+ ride each way it takes because while you only live 6 minutes away from your work by car there is no quicker bus route to take. How about having to rely on local stores where you know the prices are at least 15% more than what you'd pay in the suburbs but that's what you can reach in a timely fashion unless you spend a big part of a day grocery shopping? How about being limited to what you can carry on the bus grocery-wise? You're not taking any pets to the vet on public transit in most parts of this country, either. Oh, oh, here's one. . .very timely. . .how about you lose your job and the next/only one you find is not convenient to a bus route at all? Yeah, carless is great. . .NOT. Spontenaity? Not anymore. Better plan well; if you run out of something after transit shuts down for the night you're out of luck unless you like walking.
There's a powerful argument made about how people spend larger amounts of money on vehicles than they do on public transit but I call bull on that one. I don't think that's a fair argument to make unless you put a price on the convenience of ready personal transit. We have that in the form of taxis. I don't know about the general audience but taxis compared to my insurance/cost of vehicle/cost of maintaining and running a vehicle cost more. I know how much I'm going to spend per month on car expenses so I can plan for it. For that amount I can reasonably assume 24/7 access 27-30 days per month, if not greater. For the same amount of money I can take vastly fewer cab rides and fewer yet if I don't want to have to get a NEW cab everytime I don't want to pay a wait fee. That also assumes that my transportation budget includes my bus pass because there's no way I can afford a taxi ride to and from work everyday. Cab drivers don't like cheap fares and if you think all you're expected to pay is the meter cost think again.
Cars are in use all through this country for another reason; they represent wealth and are creators of wealth opportunities. Many people who don't have cars want them and finances are what stand between them and car ownership. Reliable transportation is often the singlemost difficult issue to overcome in holding a job and being a transit user is only as reliable as the transit you have access to. With a car you can get jobs that aren't available without one. I know of no job opportunities that specific "non-ownership of a car required" but many that do require one. I'm not talking pizza-delivery jobs, either. With a car you can also broaden your job opportunities geographically. Having a long commute isn't optimal but it's sure better when you are always guaranteed a seat and some climate control.
Another argument made about losing cars is "for the environment". This argument is based on the amounts of CO that cars pump into the atmosphere from being used. I can't counter this; it's totally legitimate.
However, I'm selfish. I care more about being able to have transportation on demand that meets my needs and my schedule then I do about the environment. Sorry, there it is. I'm not willing to sacrifice the majority of my free time and higher quality of life to taking transit for an ideal that my individual actions won't accomplish anyways. I don't want to have to pay more for less space in order to live close to convenient transit. I don't want to have my choices of shopping, dining and entertainment dictated by bus routes stopping service to many areas after rush hour is over. I'm not at all good with having my ability to find work curtailed by transit. Shift work in a more suburban area? No transit for you at least on one part of your commute! Work across county lines? Transit is difficult to use and much more time-consuming.
I'd have a lot more respect for the position of getting people out of cars if I thought they lived in the same reality that I do. Everytime I hear one of them spout I want to ask how they feel about delivery vehicles. . .and if they're that against cars stop ordering pizza. Grr. As always, your mileage may vary.