We switched to one family car around 7 years ago, as I quickly realized it would be a lot less hassle and expense for me to just use public transportation to ge

We switched to one family car around 7 years ago, as I quickly realized it would be a lot less hassle and expense for me to just use public transportation to get into the city. Fast-forward to now and I'm seriously contemplating buying another car (which I am utterly loath to do), solely because of how unreliable public transport is in my part of the world. Besides the above, I had a conversation with a cyclist in work earlier this week who is considering giving it up and going back to driving (also against his will) because he finds it hard to breathe with all the diesels on the road that have had the particulate filters ripped out (a law that is completely ignored here, so is commonplace). (As a side note, if you're wondering how he knows which cars have had this done, Google "coal-rolling" and you'll understand quickly.) This is far more nuanced (and ridiculous) than people understand. While it might be healthy in the US to walk and cycle rather than drive, in Europe it's borderline hazardous.