Car Ownership Necessity

You don't need a car, you want a car. Plenty of people live without cars. Even outside cities.

You must be from USA. In Europe we had all the large cities before cars. And curtailing car usage doesn't lock out individual travel. You still have public transport, bicicles and such.My urge to live in a city comes from the fact that I could get everything I need to live, by going out of my apatment for 30 minutes and walking to few nearby shops. No car needed. And I can get to various interesting entertainment venues by hopping on a bus for a 15 minutes.

It is not a matter of liking, in major congested cities in Europe or Asia it is impossible to use a car, where are you going to park? The whole city is organised differently. Having experience living in both type of cities I can understand why in a suburban US city you will get so attached to your car, it is basically connected to your freedom to get to places because there is no other way. But when I am in a more congested city with a good public transportation and bike culture, the car just be

If you live in any modern city (not sure about the US though since the car culture is prevalent there in most places) you usually don't need a car for daily activities or going to work. But once you want to have 1) kids 2) a bigger place 3) some land instead of just an apartment, you will end up living farther from the city and having to own a car at some point, unless you have a very large income that can accommodate such standards of livings right inside the city.

Outside of a handful of large cities (like NYC, SF and maybe a few others), not owning a car is generally viewed as something only poor people do. It's not viewed as a personal choice in most parts of the US. And most parts of the US have pretty bad public transit. (In a former life, I wanted to be an urban planner or some such. American urban planners, who talk a lot about transit oriented design and pedestrian friendly design, often have long commutes and I've seen them ridicule carless-by

I was born in Europe and lived there for 14 years before moving to US. I went there recently.I also recently visited LA.....Most people I know from smaller cities in Poland own cars or would love to own a car but simply cannot afford it as gas is really expensive, so are cars compared to incomes. When I visited I rented a car which allowed me to see so many things all over the country. I would not able to visit so many locations without a car.Same goes for LA, renting a car allowed me t

Your story is atypical given that you live in an area that's a)difficult to drive in (lots of traffic, little parking), b)incredibly well-connected by about half a dozen public transport options. You shouldn't be making generalisations that no one needs a car anymore just because you don't.

There are quite a few massive cities in wealthy countries where a significant number of people choose not to drive even though they can afford it.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_most_...

The author is missing some crucial facts that a) not everyone lives in a big city with public transport, so they've no alternative; b) even if you live in a big city, it's often much faster or more convenient to take a car; c) without a car you can't get to 99% places outside the city, so say goodbye to weekend road-trips. No, that's not absurd at all - that's the invaluable freedom of movement.

In the US, people need cars because of how cities are designed. In almost any European city you can live with just a bike just fine. Maybe get a rental or carsharing once a year for a trip to IKEA. Even in more rural places it can be an option if your workplace is close enough.