5 ms·

I have never owned a car, and plan to keep it that way. Of course it helps that I live in Copenhagen, with excellent bike infrastructure and good public transpo

I have never owned a car, and plan to keep it that way. Of course it helps that I live in Copenhagen, with excellent bike infrastructure and good public transport, and that I live alone with no kids. I once calculated that with the Danish taxes on cars, it would almost be cheaper to take a taxi to work and back every day. I never did that, but I don't feel bad about taking a taxi when I need one, nor about paying for delivery of bigger items.

mettamage 3y ago
> Of course it helps that I live in Copenhagen, with excellent bike infrastructure and good public transport, and that I live alone with no kids. It helps massively. I've only been in the US for 4 months of my life, doing everything by car is horrible.
- teekert 3y ago
  I tried to get food at night in Texas without car, a colleague was questioned for walking along the road and the Wendy's personnel slammed all he hatches of the drive through screaming: "There's a camera on you!!!", granted, it's a drive through, but there was no walk through. On a conference in Galveston TA, someone told me they went to a drive through funeral... I saw drive through pharmacies and drive through ATMs. It's a special place.
  - toyg 3y ago
    > a colleague was questioned for walking along the road That scene in the first Rambo, when he gets "picked up" by the police while just walking along a road, is fairly realistic. You're not supposed to be walking along roads, if you do there must be something wrong with you.
    - sudobash1 3y ago
      This is also the plot of Ray Bradbury's short story "The Pedestrian." Another example of an (unfortunately) relatable Ray Bradbury story.
  - chasd00 3y ago
    [flagged]
  - nervousvarun 3y ago
    My favorite is the drive through daiquiri places you'll see just next door to Tx in Louisiana: Yes...you read that right. A drive-through business selling you alcoholic beverages. https://www.thekitchn.com/the-drive-thru-daiquiri-a-weird-yet-wonderful-new-orleans-tradition-241670 https://www.thekitchn.com/the-drive-thru-daiquiri-a-weird-ye...
  - FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
    During COVID, some fast food places closed their dining rooms, keeping only their drive-"thrus" open. I once tried to walk through one of these, and was denied service at the window. I didn't make a fuss about it, but I was thinking -- I'm right here talking to you; I am offering you money in exchange for goods and services; there is literally nothing that is stopping me from handing you payment right now or from you giving me my food; but you won't do it because... why?
    - devilbunny 3y ago
      A person in a car can't jump through the service window faster than the employee can close it. A person on foot might. Cameras also work better against cars - even if they have no license plates, you can get a make, model, and approximate year. A pedestrian might go any which way after robbing the store; a car has to stick to paved surfaces.
      - tacheiordache 3y ago
        Telling you to step back a few feet could solve the problem. I had this issue where I had to get a covid test in Orlando and we walked there but they were expecting to come in a car. I ordered an Uber for that, just to sit in the car in a drive through. The whole experience was ridiculous.... The hotel we were staying at was just 5 minutes and we initially said let's just walk.
        devilbunny 3y ago
        It doesn't solve the problem of how you pay them (which would be feasibly fixed with contactless methods) or get your food without exposing the employees - very few (if any) drive-through restaurants have a sliding drawer that they can use to exchange payment methods or the ordered food, the way that banks and pharmacies do.
        FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
        This makes no sense, because what do the car drivers do? You're about three feet away from a person either way. They're handing you cash or a credit card either way. The only difference is that one is sitting in a vehicle with the window open, and the other is on their own two feet. Any difference in "exposure" is completely psychological, maybe due to some perception that the person in the car is "in another room". But there's no less physical contact. Sure, I'll give a pass for some degree of paranoia at the time -- lots of us were uselessly Clorox(TM)-wiping our groceries -- though, we were well past the peak when this happened -- but at this point we all know that worrying about surfaces is almost completely pointless. So all this "contactless" stuff is just a bunch of technology providers and payment networks trying to ride in opportunistically on peoples' fears. Which, mercifully, have subsided along with most of the threat.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
Freak_NL 3y ago
I have owned a car, but that was twenty years ago. I do have a four year old kid, but it's not an issue having him in a seat on the back of my bicycle (or my wife's bicycle), and he's getting near the point where I'm comfortable training him to cycle on the road next to us on his own bicycle (he's been riding it since 3½ on the sidewalk). Hurray for Dutch bicycle infrastructure. Financially owning a car makes no sense for us living in a medium sized city in the Netherlands. The author of the opinion piece lives in London, where it makes even less sense to own a car.
- drukenemo 3y ago
  Just a bit inconvenient when needing to go grocery shopping for more than two days supply, and when it rains, which happens very often in the NL.
  - zzbn00 3y ago
    I've got a 3-seater bakfiets and it will take a weeks worth of groceries for a large family.
  - piva00 3y ago
    I do grocery shopping for a week's supply on a bike and a large cargo backpack [1], you just need a large backpack to enable most of these "too much to do on a bike" situations. I have carried even some small furniture like coffee/side tables with it. Ceiling and standing lamps as well. If you don't want the weight on your back, paniers are your friend. [1] https://chromeindustries.com/products/barrage-pro-backpack https://chromeindustries.com/products/barrage-pro-backpack
    - mcv 3y ago
      We have our week's groceries delivered these days. Although personally I have no problem walking to the supermarket every day if I have to. Or I take the cargo bike, of course. There's also a rental electric cargo bike in my street for those who don't have one of their own. A great idea.
  - 3y ago
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
lucideer 3y ago
> and that I live alone with no kids I live in Dublin, which is at least in Europe so better than many US cities, but certainly not very good on bike infra. I've never owned a car, and planned to keep it that way until... I got a (large) dog. Kids seem a reason many cite, but at least they're allowed on public transport, and the available child-carrying bike accessories are varied & plentiful. Large pets seem to be the seldom-talked about unsolved problem of a carless world - I was a bit shocked at myself at how many transport challenges I hadn't anticipated when we decided to get a dog.
- hef19898 3y ago
  Kids are one reason for a car. Hobbies are another, winter and water sports come to mind. Commuting to work yet another one, not every workplace is easily reachable by public transportation. And no, car sharing ot renting is no real replacement.
  - 28304283409234 3y ago
    I don't own a car. I have two kids. Car sharing and renting, in combination with public transport and bicycles are most certainly a real replacement. It requires good public transport, and bicycles, of course. But merely 'kids' is in no way a 'reson for a car'.
    - hef19898 3y ago
      Again, depends on a circunstances. A lot of outdoor sports? A car makes it easier. Commute, kids or not, a car can even be a necessity.
      - lucideer 3y ago
        > Commute, kids or not, a car can even be a necessity. For most people this is only true in cases of infrastructural deficiency. I know someone who works in film who absolutely needs a car due to the remote nature of film sets, but niche roles like that aren't the "typical" commuter route. If you're commuting to an office, you shouldn't need a car unless there's been an abject failure to service that office with proper transport infrastructure. > A lot of outdoor sports? Which outdoor sports? If it's jetskiing, sure: you'll likely need some kind of truck/trailer to transport the jetski. But again, that's niche. I'm not aware of any popular outdoor sports with a strong vehicle need.
pera 3y ago
Me neither: I have lived in 3 continents and about a dozen cities and never owned a car. The only time the idea of owning a car ever came to my mind was when I lived in a small town in the US with almost no public transport and where the nearest grocery store was 40 minutes cycling distance, but I got used to it pretty quickly.
bryanlarsen 3y ago
I had a friend who rented limos for first and important dates. He claimed it was cheaper than owning a car.

mettamage 3y ago

> Of course it helps that I live in Copenhagen, with excellent bike infrastructure and good public transport, and that I live alone with no kids. It helps massively. I've only been in the US for 4 months of my life, doing everything by car is horrible.

teekert 3y ago
I tried to get food at night in Texas without car, a colleague was questioned for walking along the road and the Wendy's personnel slammed all he hatches of the drive through screaming: "There's a camera on you!!!", granted, it's a drive through, but there was no walk through. On a conference in Galveston TA, someone told me they went to a drive through funeral... I saw drive through pharmacies and drive through ATMs. It's a special place.
- toyg 3y ago
  > a colleague was questioned for walking along the road That scene in the first Rambo, when he gets "picked up" by the police while just walking along a road, is fairly realistic. You're not supposed to be walking along roads, if you do there must be something wrong with you.
  - sudobash1 3y ago
    This is also the plot of Ray Bradbury's short story "The Pedestrian." Another example of an (unfortunately) relatable Ray Bradbury story.
- chasd00 3y ago
  [flagged]
- nervousvarun 3y ago
  My favorite is the drive through daiquiri places you'll see just next door to Tx in Louisiana: Yes...you read that right. A drive-through business selling you alcoholic beverages. https://www.thekitchn.com/the-drive-thru-daiquiri-a-weird-yet-wonderful-new-orleans-tradition-241670 https://www.thekitchn.com/the-drive-thru-daiquiri-a-weird-ye...
- FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
  During COVID, some fast food places closed their dining rooms, keeping only their drive-"thrus" open. I once tried to walk through one of these, and was denied service at the window. I didn't make a fuss about it, but I was thinking -- I'm right here talking to you; I am offering you money in exchange for goods and services; there is literally nothing that is stopping me from handing you payment right now or from you giving me my food; but you won't do it because... why?
  - devilbunny 3y ago
    A person in a car can't jump through the service window faster than the employee can close it. A person on foot might. Cameras also work better against cars - even if they have no license plates, you can get a make, model, and approximate year. A pedestrian might go any which way after robbing the store; a car has to stick to paved surfaces.
    - tacheiordache 3y ago
      Telling you to step back a few feet could solve the problem. I had this issue where I had to get a covid test in Orlando and we walked there but they were expecting to come in a car. I ordered an Uber for that, just to sit in the car in a drive through. The whole experience was ridiculous.... The hotel we were staying at was just 5 minutes and we initially said let's just walk.
      - devilbunny 3y ago
        It doesn't solve the problem of how you pay them (which would be feasibly fixed with contactless methods) or get your food without exposing the employees - very few (if any) drive-through restaurants have a sliding drawer that they can use to exchange payment methods or the ordered food, the way that banks and pharmacies do.
        FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
        This makes no sense, because what do the car drivers do? You're about three feet away from a person either way. They're handing you cash or a credit card either way. The only difference is that one is sitting in a vehicle with the window open, and the other is on their own two feet. Any difference in "exposure" is completely psychological, maybe due to some perception that the person in the car is "in another room". But there's no less physical contact. Sure, I'll give a pass for some degree of paranoia at the time -- lots of us were uselessly Clorox(TM)-wiping our groceries -- though, we were well past the peak when this happened -- but at this point we all know that worrying about surfaces is almost completely pointless. So all this "contactless" stuff is just a bunch of technology providers and payment networks trying to ride in opportunistically on peoples' fears. Which, mercifully, have subsided along with most of the threat.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

Freak_NL 3y ago

I have owned a car, but that was twenty years ago. I do have a four year old kid, but it's not an issue having him in a seat on the back of my bicycle (or my wife's bicycle), and he's getting near the point where I'm comfortable training him to cycle on the road next to us on his own bicycle (he's been riding it since 3½ on the sidewalk). Hurray for Dutch bicycle infrastructure. Financially owning a car makes no sense for us living in a medium sized city in the Netherlands. The author of the opinion piece lives in London, where it makes even less sense to own a car.

drukenemo 3y ago
Just a bit inconvenient when needing to go grocery shopping for more than two days supply, and when it rains, which happens very often in the NL.
- zzbn00 3y ago
  I've got a 3-seater bakfiets and it will take a weeks worth of groceries for a large family.
- piva00 3y ago
  I do grocery shopping for a week's supply on a bike and a large cargo backpack [1], you just need a large backpack to enable most of these "too much to do on a bike" situations. I have carried even some small furniture like coffee/side tables with it. Ceiling and standing lamps as well. If you don't want the weight on your back, paniers are your friend. [1] https://chromeindustries.com/products/barrage-pro-backpack https://chromeindustries.com/products/barrage-pro-backpack
  - mcv 3y ago
    We have our week's groceries delivered these days. Although personally I have no problem walking to the supermarket every day if I have to. Or I take the cargo bike, of course. There's also a rental electric cargo bike in my street for those who don't have one of their own. A great idea.
- 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

lucideer 3y ago

> and that I live alone with no kids I live in Dublin, which is at least in Europe so better than many US cities, but certainly not very good on bike infra. I've never owned a car, and planned to keep it that way until... I got a (large) dog. Kids seem a reason many cite, but at least they're allowed on public transport, and the available child-carrying bike accessories are varied & plentiful. Large pets seem to be the seldom-talked about unsolved problem of a carless world - I was a bit shocked at myself at how many transport challenges I hadn't anticipated when we decided to get a dog.

hef19898 3y ago
Kids are one reason for a car. Hobbies are another, winter and water sports come to mind. Commuting to work yet another one, not every workplace is easily reachable by public transportation. And no, car sharing ot renting is no real replacement.
- 28304283409234 3y ago
  I don't own a car. I have two kids. Car sharing and renting, in combination with public transport and bicycles are most certainly a real replacement. It requires good public transport, and bicycles, of course. But merely 'kids' is in no way a 'reson for a car'.
  - hef19898 3y ago
    Again, depends on a circunstances. A lot of outdoor sports? A car makes it easier. Commute, kids or not, a car can even be a necessity.
    - lucideer 3y ago
      > Commute, kids or not, a car can even be a necessity. For most people this is only true in cases of infrastructural deficiency. I know someone who works in film who absolutely needs a car due to the remote nature of film sets, but niche roles like that aren't the "typical" commuter route. If you're commuting to an office, you shouldn't need a car unless there's been an abject failure to service that office with proper transport infrastructure. > A lot of outdoor sports? Which outdoor sports? If it's jetskiing, sure: you'll likely need some kind of truck/trailer to transport the jetski. But again, that's niche. I'm not aware of any popular outdoor sports with a strong vehicle need.

pera 3y ago

Me neither: I have lived in 3 continents and about a dozen cities and never owned a car. The only time the idea of owning a car ever came to my mind was when I lived in a small town in the US with almost no public transport and where the nearest grocery store was 40 minutes cycling distance, but I got used to it pretty quickly.

bryanlarsen 3y ago

I had a friend who rented limos for first and important dates. He claimed it was cheaper than owning a car.