If you live in anything like a real city and don't absolutely need a car to commute, the misery of street parking alone vastly outweighs any kind of occasional benefit.
But it's nice to have a license so you can rent a car if you really want to.
But it's nice to have a license so you can rent a car if you really want to.
I loved playing Game Boy or reading a book on my way to and from work. Getting around the neighborhood by bike was wonderful with the LA weather. Occasionally I would go somewhere that needed a car such as off to the mountains to ski, so I would ride with my friends who were joining. If no one owned a car, I’m sure we could have rented. I also once got staffed down in OC for work, so I talked with someone on my team and coordinated carpooling with them, which allowed us to use the HOV lane and improve the horrid traffic situation. My coworker was happy to go out of their way to pick me up in exchange for HOV access.
I’ve since lived in big Texas cities and have been able to also live without a car, but I find it much more difficult because there are zero viable public transit options. LA’s public transit is nothing to write home about, but it is usable. You just need to have a good attitude and plan your life ahead of time. Ride sharing and rentals can fill in the rest.
To your point, LA became much more affordable when I got rid of my car. My situation was not perfectly replicable by all, but I do think the issue of car ownership and getting around without one isn’t an all or nothing affair for every citizen. In my situation it worked. For others, it would not. It would be great if more cities simply allowed for the option of getting around without a car and invested in alternative modes of transit. Ideally for me, I’d have a car that I would use for some errands and take public transit for others.
But if they're living on $30k in NYC, do they share their home with one or more roommates? Could they handle a $500 unexpected expense or would it devastate them?
At some age you want to be able to live life a bit more comfortably than in your early 20s, say.
When I moved to NYC, I was able to get a very comfortable apartment outside Manhattan but still very convenient to subway lines, and my rent (by far my largest recurring expense) was lower than I had been paying in my first job out of college 7 years earlier. Sure I had a roommate, but 7 years earlier I had was living with my S.O. Why do we automatically assume that a roommate == lower comfort of daily life than living with an SO?
In my case, I was unquestionably more comfortable in my 30s in NYC than in my 20s in the suburbs in a single family home.
I haven't lived there in a long time, but I lived in Brooklyn both with and without a car. The car rarely added any convenience and was a royal pain in the ass to find parking for. If not for the fact that my job was in CT and I ended up moving there, I would have sold it.
However, everywhere else I've lived, life was much easier with a car.
I'll give the benefit of the doubt and just assume a different life experience, and not just hyperbole.