4 ms·

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 hik

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).

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).