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Point to point transport may be necessary for living in general, but a personal car certainly isn't. A more realistic comparison would be selling your car, canc

Point to point transport may be necessary for living in general, but a personal car certainly isn't. A more realistic comparison would be selling your car, cancelling your insurance, repurposing your garage, and comparing it with pooled ridesharing. I'm not sure why you think car pooling has to take a lot of time. Services like uberPOOL guarantee you will only be matched with someone going a very similar route -- otherwise, you get a solo ride (for the pool price). It typically doesn't add more than 2-3 minutes. Your time cost calculation is also invalid. When you're riding instead of driving, you can use your time for other things. It may be checking up on your email, working on your latest project, or reading hacker news. You can't do that if you drive. Ridesharing actually gives you more hours while saving you money. There is no question that it's more economical to have one driver for 3 riders, than having everyone driving. Traditional carpooling suck because of the low level of technology, network effect and optimization - but ridesharing achieves all of these and can be superior to driving. I do not have a car. I never intend on getting a car. I don't even have a driver's license, and I know many people in a similar boat. How do I get around? I Uber + public transport everywhere. My standard of living is far better. I get to do things I want to do (or chat to strangers if I'm bored). I save money. I reduce road congestion and emissions. And I'm not the only one.

ghaff 11y ago
I have to confess that while I absolutely understand not owning a car as an adult under some circumstances--and in some cities especially--the concept of never learning to drive and get a driver's license somewhat astounds me. There are so many places I go both locally and when I travel that would be effectively inaccessible without a car. And even leaving my regular commute aside, there are plenty of times when I need a rental car while on business trips to get to a customer site or other location and a taxi doesn't really fit the bill. Certainly, you can work around some of this for a time by carpooling with friends or making other types of arrangements but I'd think it would be very hard (and just personally limiting) over the longterm.
- akgerber 11y ago
  It's not that difficult— if such a person travels travel, they go to major cities or resorts or places where driving isn't necessary, and if they want to go hiking, etc., they take public transit or go with friends. Downtown-oriented companies (e.g. startups or banks) often do business with other urban companies, too. Versus oft-suburban companies (e.g hardware companies.) often do business with other oft-suburban companies. The license-free urbanite will generally get a job at the first type of company. Beyond that, in much Europe, driver's licenses are often appropriately difficult to get (a 6-month course at age 18 and a test that's usually failed, rather than a quick lap around a parking lot as in Florida), and rural transit is often at least adequate. Not having a car or driver's license is very limiting in suburban sprawl, which are designed exclusively around cars— but urban places (or even villages), where walking is the default mode of transport, it isn't. So it just depends where one spends one's time.
  - ghaff 11y ago
    Sure. Someone just out of school working for some urban startup with a circle of friends (at least some of whom own cars) who also live in a relatively dense city with decent public transportation can often get away without driving for a while. They're probably not going on a lot of sales calls, they can carpool with their urban friends to go hiking or to help them move, and they can just choose not to vacation in areas that require a car (the vast bulk of the US) unless they're going with someone who can drive. However, some of those friends will probably move out to the suburbs or exurbs, there may be interesting job offers that aren't conveniently reached by public transit, or it may just get tiresome to always be depending on others to go skiing or to the beach. It's obviously a lifestyle choice people can make--and it's more practical in a handful of very dense cities--but it is something that they're likely to find very limiting over time.
    - ido 11y ago
      This is simply not the case in a lot of places. My wife & I are 31 and 32 years old respectively and neither of us has a driver's license. My mother in law (68 years old) has a driver's license and haven't driven even once since taking the exam. Of all my friends in Berlin & Vienna I can think of only a couple that own a car & I'm pretty sure most don't have a driver's license either. This is not unusual for a large % of the population of western europe and the east asia (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, etc).
jasonlotito 11y ago
Just curious as to which suburb you live in that supports uber? As I live in a suburb of Philly, and uber doesn't exist around here.
- skinnymuch 11y ago
  Really? Interesting. Which direction from Philly is your suburb? I've been to a decent number of cities and their suburbs and usually found Uber or Lyft to be available in the past year. Locally, living in either Jersey or Connecticut, Uber/Lyft have been available for a while now wherever Ive been in those states. I do remember when taking an Uber or Lyft from a suburb 40 minutes outside of NYC in NJ, the driver complained that he had two tickets from Philly airport. Are Philly and perhaps the surrounding areas in PA just more strict still with laws? I know Uber made a big push a year or two ago to be available in all of Jersey. And since Philly or say, Hershey Park, can be pretty close to a portion of NJ, I assumed it was available there in mass too.

ghaff 11y ago

I have to confess that while I absolutely understand not owning a car as an adult under some circumstances--and in some cities especially--the concept of never learning to drive and get a driver's license somewhat astounds me. There are so many places I go both locally and when I travel that would be effectively inaccessible without a car. And even leaving my regular commute aside, there are plenty of times when I need a rental car while on business trips to get to a customer site or other location and a taxi doesn't really fit the bill. Certainly, you can work around some of this for a time by carpooling with friends or making other types of arrangements but I'd think it would be very hard (and just personally limiting) over the longterm.

akgerber 11y ago
It's not that difficult— if such a person travels travel, they go to major cities or resorts or places where driving isn't necessary, and if they want to go hiking, etc., they take public transit or go with friends. Downtown-oriented companies (e.g. startups or banks) often do business with other urban companies, too. Versus oft-suburban companies (e.g hardware companies.) often do business with other oft-suburban companies. The license-free urbanite will generally get a job at the first type of company. Beyond that, in much Europe, driver's licenses are often appropriately difficult to get (a 6-month course at age 18 and a test that's usually failed, rather than a quick lap around a parking lot as in Florida), and rural transit is often at least adequate. Not having a car or driver's license is very limiting in suburban sprawl, which are designed exclusively around cars— but urban places (or even villages), where walking is the default mode of transport, it isn't. So it just depends where one spends one's time.
- ghaff 11y ago
  Sure. Someone just out of school working for some urban startup with a circle of friends (at least some of whom own cars) who also live in a relatively dense city with decent public transportation can often get away without driving for a while. They're probably not going on a lot of sales calls, they can carpool with their urban friends to go hiking or to help them move, and they can just choose not to vacation in areas that require a car (the vast bulk of the US) unless they're going with someone who can drive. However, some of those friends will probably move out to the suburbs or exurbs, there may be interesting job offers that aren't conveniently reached by public transit, or it may just get tiresome to always be depending on others to go skiing or to the beach. It's obviously a lifestyle choice people can make--and it's more practical in a handful of very dense cities--but it is something that they're likely to find very limiting over time.
  - ido 11y ago
    This is simply not the case in a lot of places. My wife & I are 31 and 32 years old respectively and neither of us has a driver's license. My mother in law (68 years old) has a driver's license and haven't driven even once since taking the exam. Of all my friends in Berlin & Vienna I can think of only a couple that own a car & I'm pretty sure most don't have a driver's license either. This is not unusual for a large % of the population of western europe and the east asia (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, etc).

jasonlotito 11y ago

Just curious as to which suburb you live in that supports uber? As I live in a suburb of Philly, and uber doesn't exist around here.

skinnymuch 11y ago
Really? Interesting. Which direction from Philly is your suburb? I've been to a decent number of cities and their suburbs and usually found Uber or Lyft to be available in the past year. Locally, living in either Jersey or Connecticut, Uber/Lyft have been available for a while now wherever Ive been in those states. I do remember when taking an Uber or Lyft from a suburb 40 minutes outside of NYC in NJ, the driver complained that he had two tickets from Philly airport. Are Philly and perhaps the surrounding areas in PA just more strict still with laws? I know Uber made a big push a year or two ago to be available in all of Jersey. And since Philly or say, Hershey Park, can be pretty close to a portion of NJ, I assumed it was available there in mass too.