| > I live in a city with a great public transport network but I still need a car Your experience doesn't match mine. I also live in a city with a good public transport network, but I've never had a car, or felt much need to have one, or even to learn how to drive. For your examples (except the parcel one, which hasn't happened to me and I have no idea how it would happen): > I need to visit friends or family outside the city The friends or family I have which live outside the city actually live in other nearby cities. To visit them, I'd take a bus to their city, and then a bus or taxi within that city. > I have to make bulk grocery shopping sometimes and bags are not enough Every store large enough that I'd do "bulk grocery shopping" in it has a taxi stop next to it, sometimes even within the store's underground parking floor. So whenever I do bulk shopping on one of these stores, I simply take a taxi. > I sometimes buy big housing furniture Every store which sells big housing furniture has the option to send the furniture to your home using their own truck. You might have to wait for the next day (since they batch the deliveries - it's a big truck), but for big furniture, you usually aren't in a hurry. > Heck, even to go to work, sometimes I'm late, or I missed my bus, or public transports are on strike If I missed my bus, I wait less than 10 minutes for the next one. If I'm late, public transport is still faster than a car (or a taxi). And if there's a strike, it's true that having your own car might help, but when that happens (and it's not common enough to make it worth it to have a car just for that), the traffic slows to a crawl. |