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Review: "How To Live Well Without Owning a Car - Save Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More Mileage Out of Life" by Chris Balish
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ca6ca7c70910280657r6d859fa0ic21607abbbf4787b@mail .gmail.com, "Dave U. Random" ] wrote: (BikePortland.org) - I have been hearing all about how Chris Balishıs book, "How to Live Well Without Owning a Car" (Amazon.com: http://xrl.us/WithoutCar ), is the foremost manual on how to live car-free no matter where you live. I am here to tell you that it is true.. Balish starts by laying out exactly how much car ownership is costing you, and our society as a whole. I found that angle, as opposed to the ³Save the Earth² approach, to be oddly refreshing. Letıs be honest, most people care a hell of a lot more about their bank account than their carbon footprint. I sold my car, so I was already rid of that cost, but was still stunned by how much a car truly costs.. Continued: http://xrl.us/WithoutCarReview One of the steps to self actualization is not having to own a car and not needing to depend on others for transportation, but everyone's situation is different. I was carless for two years when I lived and worked in Center City, Philadelphia. That worked out fine, but now I live in the Philadelphia suburbs where public transportation is lacking and many of the areas here are not pedestrian friendly. Where I live now, I tried going without a car for four months as an experiment. It was a major pain in the neck. I had to get up every day an extra hour early to get to work. To visit friends who don't live near convenient public transportation, I either had to rent a car or spend hours trying to get to them via public transportation, walking, biking, and/or having them pick me up. I also have four god children who live with their parents in a tiny rural community near New Hope, PA. There is no public transportation near them. There is no way their parents could manage without a car. The nearest public road to their house is one mile unless we cut through the woods and jump over a creek behind their house. The closest regional rail line to them is about 30 minutes away and there is no bus route to get to it from where they live. It takes me ninety minutes to drive to their house. My god kids are ages 6 to 15 so there's no way for me to see them unless I drive. I visit them once or twice a month. In fact, I was there yesterday and I took the oldest girl out shopping for school clothes. Going to the mall was a 60 minute drive. I racked up nearly 150 miles yesterday visiting the kids and shopping. My 2008 Prius costs me roughly $550 a month, which includes my car payment, insurance, gas, parking at work, tolls, and maintenance (e.g., oil changes, tires, etc.). That monthly cost will drop by at least half when my car is paid off in two years. The cost for me to rent a car for one weekend would easily cost me half that amount in my area (South Jersey). I would still have to pay for gas and tolls too, plus there's the value of my time to pick up the rental car and drop it off again. Factoring in the cost of my time, an extra ten hours in commuting to/from work a week and the cost of my driving expenses vs. one of the most expensive public transportation systems in the United States (SEPTA), driving is the cheapest transportation option for me in most situations. For example, if I took public transportation to visit my parents, it would easily take me two hours each way. Driving to visit my parents takes me 20 minutes. If I value my time at a modest $50 per hour, that's $200 in time to visit my parents via public transportation ONCE a week verses $16 worth of my time to drive. Adding in the cost to drive my car to my parents doesn't change that cost differential significantly. Even today, I am supposed to visit some friends for dinner and help them decorate their house in Christmas lights. I can't leave early for this visit because I have a friend who lives two hours north of me who is on his way to visit me for lunch on his way to Virginia for a business meeting tomorrow. There is no way I can get to my other friend's house before dark today if I used public transportation, especially considering that the friend who is on his way to meet me for lunch just called and told me he is running late. On the other hand, when I go into Center City Philadelphia to see a movie, visit a museum exhibit, have dinner, etc., I usually take public transportation because the cost of parking there is not worth the benefits of driving there. My lifestyle at this point in time requires that I drive. As a result, I doubt I will go carless any time soon, although I sure would like to. I am looking at the option of buying a house near where I work, but unfortunately, every house I have seen thus far is way outside my price range. |
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