"Auto insurance costs are up [more than 50%]… over the past four years. New vehicles jumped 20% in that time. Driving is getting costlier too, with gas prices averaging [above $3.50] … and maintenance costs up because of labor shortages and the shift to more computerized vehicles.
Altogether, owning a new car costs about $12,000 a year … It’s enough for some Americans to call it quits on driving altogether."
Personally, I don’t see bicycles as a viable solution for most Americans. But is there any solution to this problem? Will most Americans be walking or taking the bus in the future b/c they can no longer afford to own & drive a car?
Most? No way, plenty of people buying new (15.9 million a year, pretty constant) and used cars. Is it too expensive for some? I’m sure it is, but ‘most’ can still afford it.
Uber, Lyft, and the coming autonomous taxi services being trialed all across the US.
There are already areas like NYC or Boston or Chicago and others where it is possible to live without a car. They were developed before there were cars so they have mass transit already in place. If they’d stop screwing up governance of those cities, maybe businesses would return instead of relocating out of the city.
My hometown used to have every type business from manufacturing (soap, auto parts, electric motors, and cars) to retail to financial services located within the city until they were driven out to the suburbs for a number of reasons.
There are work-at-home jobs that have no commute. Groceries that deliver and bars and restaurants within walking distance.
Quite a large number of developments in my state… The “55 and over” Villages, Ave Maria, Babcock Ranch and more that are almost self contained with many of the services you’d drive to are INside the development. Accessed with golf cars, bikes or walking. Some are retirement (55+) places, many are not.
This is not practical for many areas but it is becoming more common.
I concur that gasoline price is probably not the major issue at this point. Do you have a light vehicle sales chart for a longer period of time? One which ID’s new vs used unit sales & adjusted for US population growth? What does “SAAR” mean?
The only thing gas prices are doing is ticking people off (as the EV and Hybrid drivers giggle at us ICE drivers), it sure isn’t stopping them from driving, everywhere I try to go anymore is nothing but traffic… Anybody really seen a decline in traffic?? I’m sure in some places, but not around my parts…
I’d be waiting a long time for a bus or train. I had an engine put in av150 miles from home in rural Minnesota. Spose I could get a bus or train anywhere within a hundred miles to pick it up? You folks in dense population areas really need to get out more and see the country. I know some of you prefer trains or planes though.
I do know people who have turned down jobs because the workplace was more than a mile from home. They don’t want the five year loan and haven’t saved a penny in their six year work history. In fairness, a penny would have been barely possible.
Some owned cars that were ten years old and had a $1,400 repair bill and they couldn’t afford to pay. Driverless cars are a new thing, Carless drivers have been around for a while.
They couldn’t guarantee a ride and so they took the nearest offer. If the closer place didn’t come through, the farther offer would have been accepted.
@bing, I’ve been to may large cities and rural areas as part of the jobs I’ve held over a 50 year working career. I found out that everyone is pretty much the same. They want a safe environment to live in and raise a family. They want good jobs that allow them to accomplish the first goal. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves so that they can feel the joy of bonding with other like minded people.
I use to work with an old black woman from rural Louisiana. Her cube was next to mine and we both arrived at work before 7am. I enjoyed talking to her about family and raising children. Hers were about 10 years older than mine and her experience was interesting and worthwhile. I appreciated her technical expertise as well, but it was her knowledge of life that I really liked. We became good friends even though our lives were in some ways very different.
Living car-free??? Why? I remember being young and poor, and facing staggering insurance rates. I lived insurance-free, but still had a beater to get me where I needed to go. And if insurance companies continue these outlandish rate hikes, more and more people will make the financial decision that insurance is simply too expensive and not worth it, especially if the only benefit it provides is being compliant with the law.
And objectively speaking, insurance is only truly beneficial to those with assets to protect. Those who are working low-wage jobs, and living paycheck-to-paycheck really do not benefit from having insurance. They aren’t going to pay for any accident which might occur, because the money to pay for such losses simply does not exist. If sued, such a person would simply declare bankruptcy.
Sure when you are young. Still my first car cost $125, then $500, then $175/until after college. Insurance was $26 every six months. Sure times have changed but the cost to earnings ratios are similar. You don’t need a lot of money and there is much freedom with a car.
Having no assets is a terrible long term reason for not having insurance. Judgements can follow you for a lifetime.
I agree. Bikes are NOT an option for way too many people. A large part of our population is obese. I’m sure they could benefit from using a bike instead of a car, but they gave that idea up years ago.
Only people that could actually benefit from bikes are people who live in the city. And NOT every city. Boston is NOT a fun place to ride a bike in. I’m 5+ miles from the nearest grocery store. How many trips do I need to make on my bike to get a weeks’ worth of groceries? Maybe with a small bike trailer I could get it done in 2-3 trips. How about winter months? A very large portion of the population lives where it snows. Ever ride a bike when it’s snowing? I have when I was a kid. I won’t do it now that I’m 70.
In addition, not every area has a section of the roadway devoted to bikes. In my neck of the woods, most of the roads have no shoulder and as a result, riding a bike can be… not very safe.
When I was a young kid, we lived in a nice residential area of Brooklyn, and my family didn’t own a car. The public transit that was available was more than sufficient to get us anywhere w/in NYC easily, and it was also easy to connect with railroads that would take us to distant destinations.
Then, we moved to Northern NJ, and even though my father was able to walk to work, we finally got a car. That enabled us to take nice Sunday drives in the country, and to take a lot of long-distance summer driving vacations.
