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Comment by elmomle | Hacker News Reader

It is also a class marker. I intentionally lived without a car in West Coast city as a younger man, and I learned to be very selective about whom I told. The vast majority of people would assume that the only reason for not having a car is not being able to afford one, and would judge me accordingly.

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I have the same situation here. We live intentionally without a car, and our quality of life is fantastic. People assume poverty, given the lack of car, as opposed to I just don't see the value, and value controlling my time (the walks are force exercise, a win for me). I learned along time ago to not play other peoples games.

I only recent got my driver's license again, at 40, after it expired a decade ago. Having a car just didn't make financial sense to me (and still doesn't, I just want the option to be able to drive one sometimes).

I had to learn pretty quick that, if this trivia topic came up, I'd need to mention "I lived in NYC so long that I just never used it and didn't realize it expired" because otherwise people would assume that I lost it because of too many DUIs.

I chose not to drive as a teenager (public transit even in my smallish city seemed fine, I wanted to spend my money on a computer not a car) and it was interesting to watch the assumptions go from "you are incapable / afraid" to "you must be too poor or have a DUI" over the last 30 years.

It's inconceivable to most people that it could be a choice.

Because living in west coast cities without a car sucks. They see a decision you made, question why you made it, and can only conclude it's because you cant afford the other one. People in areas where public transit is good dont come to the same conclussion.

We judge a lot of our friends who dont have cars, or worse licenses. It can be annoying to drive a 30 or 40 something adult around like a toddler.

Increasingly, we just stopped inviting them to select activities. It is like inviting the gluten free vegan to dinner parties.

If I am hosting an event, I'm not interested is spending a disproportionate ammount of time or effort to accommodate one person.

West Coast cities (or pretty much all cities in the USA except maybe NYC and Chicago and sometimes SF) suck without car. Yes, you can do it. It will be a chore.

That attitude and class marker disappears in big cities in much of Asia and Europe

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