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Or no car at all. I live close to the center of a city in the Netherlands with a family. For the rare case I need a car I can grab any of the umpteen pay by the

Or no car at all. I live close to the center of a city in the Netherlands with a family. For the rare case I need a car I can grab any of the umpteen pay by the hour rental options, they are available within a 30 meter walk from my front door. I like the freedom of not owning a car. (I realize this is not really an option for a lot of Americans.)

moralestapia 7y ago
(You beat me to it for a few minutes.) I second this, my work is 10 minutes away cycling, city centre is also about 10 walking. I know that not everyone has this privilege but it really puzzles me how most of my neighbors own (and use) cars to perform pretty much the same commute. Taking money out of context for a bit, when I used to own cars they also took a significant amount of time and attention from me. I know it may not be for everybody but switching to bike+bus+walk has been a liberating experience for me as well.
- babayega2 7y ago
  As an African, I am used to drive on crappy roads in my country. But lately I got a job in the capital of a European country. I have chosen to live near my workplace (20 mins of walking distance) just to avoid to use cars, even metro. I ended up paying 50% the average price of a rent in the city but it's worth it. Also use German stores/supermarkets for shopping because that's very cheap in Europe
jppope 7y ago
This is totally an option for most Americans... they don't give themselves the option. Walking/ Biking is the best.
- afarrell 7y ago
  > most Americans In which cities and on which incomes?
- marcinzm 7y ago
  >This is totally an option for most Americans You mean if they walk half an to the bus which comes once an hour and take another hour to get to their destination where they have to walk another half an hour? Public transit in most of the US is really really bad.
  - ogre_codes 7y ago
    The person you replied to say Walk/ Bike, not bus. I'm in a small office in a medium sized city in Oregon and a quarter of the people at my work walk or ride in to work regularly. If you live less than 3 miles from where you work, biking is cheap and as fast as a car in a lot of cases. Even if you are 5 miles from work, it's less than a half an hour commute (and you are almost completely immune to congestion). eBikes make it even faster. Bus/ public transit are highly variable depending on where you live. For me it saves a trivial amount of time versus riding my bike so I don't bother, but our bus system is pretty good and if I couldn't pedal 7 miles, it's only 20 minutes on the bus versus 12 driving and I wouldn't have to deal with parking.
retrac 7y ago
I've rolled the numbers a few times, and at least in here in Canada, a place that's reasonably walkable with good transit ends up costing more in rent, about as much as a car costs to own.
ogre_codes 7y ago
I tried to convince my daughter to rent near public transit for exactly this reason. If you are young and broke, relying on a car you can barely afford to maintain is a recipe for disaster.

moralestapia 7y ago

(You beat me to it for a few minutes.) I second this, my work is 10 minutes away cycling, city centre is also about 10 walking. I know that not everyone has this privilege but it really puzzles me how most of my neighbors own (and use) cars to perform pretty much the same commute. Taking money out of context for a bit, when I used to own cars they also took a significant amount of time and attention from me. I know it may not be for everybody but switching to bike+bus+walk has been a liberating experience for me as well.

babayega2 7y ago
As an African, I am used to drive on crappy roads in my country. But lately I got a job in the capital of a European country. I have chosen to live near my workplace (20 mins of walking distance) just to avoid to use cars, even metro. I ended up paying 50% the average price of a rent in the city but it's worth it. Also use German stores/supermarkets for shopping because that's very cheap in Europe

jppope 7y ago

This is totally an option for most Americans... they don't give themselves the option. Walking/ Biking is the best.

afarrell 7y ago
> most Americans In which cities and on which incomes?
marcinzm 7y ago
>This is totally an option for most Americans You mean if they walk half an to the bus which comes once an hour and take another hour to get to their destination where they have to walk another half an hour? Public transit in most of the US is really really bad.
- ogre_codes 7y ago
  The person you replied to say Walk/ Bike, not bus. I'm in a small office in a medium sized city in Oregon and a quarter of the people at my work walk or ride in to work regularly. If you live less than 3 miles from where you work, biking is cheap and as fast as a car in a lot of cases. Even if you are 5 miles from work, it's less than a half an hour commute (and you are almost completely immune to congestion). eBikes make it even faster. Bus/ public transit are highly variable depending on where you live. For me it saves a trivial amount of time versus riding my bike so I don't bother, but our bus system is pretty good and if I couldn't pedal 7 miles, it's only 20 minutes on the bus versus 12 driving and I wouldn't have to deal with parking.

retrac 7y ago

I've rolled the numbers a few times, and at least in here in Canada, a place that's reasonably walkable with good transit ends up costing more in rent, about as much as a car costs to own.

ogre_codes 7y ago

I tried to convince my daughter to rent near public transit for exactly this reason. If you are young and broke, relying on a car you can barely afford to maintain is a recipe for disaster.