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When I lived in st. louis, I drove all second hand cars. I really actually loved the 1986 toyota truck I had. 22R carb engine. I knew how to fix everything on that truck. It was at 230k miles and the engine ran great until I accidentally killed it (fingered tightened the oil plug while draining some out, forgot to really tighten it down, it vibrated out on the highway, screeching noise, kaput). That's kind of an aside; I just like old cars and working on them when I don't have to work on them. Anyhow, the real part I was going to say is that I moved to Atlanta with my wife. She has to drive all over creation because she teaches ballet. We have a new hyundai accent which runs great, but my number one priority was to be close to work so I wouldn't need a car. I live about 1.5 miles from work. I walk to work a lot of days (not so much in the summer). This city sucks for having no car, but if you really plan around, you can. The biggest thing was being willing to live closer to work. Obviously it's not that easy for people in tons of circumstances that aren't mine, but I wanted to throw my anecdote into the mix fwiw. I used to commute exclusively by bike in oklahoma. I rode about five or six miles to work and five or six miles back. Had to structure where I looked to live around that as well. Again, not saying this is viable for everyone, but if you approach it as a lifestyle, it can make a bit more tractable, depending on your context (I have no kids, which makes it a lot easier to) I didn't do it for the outright savings so much as I hate commuting. I can't stand staring at the road, and eventually I run out of podcasts. |