Driving Forces: Can You Give Up Your Car? | Newsweek Voices - Keith Naughton

Posted By: rossnewsweek @ 10/24/2008 4:20:02 AM

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Posted By: HillBillyBill @ 08/20/2008 6:17:11 PM

Yes, I can give up my gasoline fuelled car.
But just renting another gasoline fuelled car is no answer at all.
For the sake of future generations, we must move as rapidly as possible to fuelling vehicles with non-oil derived fuels.
Future generations will need the oil for asphalt to pave their roads and shingles to cover their roofs and materials to build their computers, cell pones, ipods, blackberries and thousands of plastics and other products taken for granted today made from petrochemicals derived from oil.
We enjoy mind boggling wonderful things made possible by what the generations that came before us made possible.
We cannot continue to burn up the earth's oil reserves and force future generations to reverse this progress instead of being able to build upon it.
Let may people--all people--grow!

Posted By: yours2share @ 08/06/2008 5:21:43 PM

Car clubs like Zipcar work really well in certain circumstances. Either you don???t make many journeys, or they are short and you can walk instead (and, as a Brit, I appreciate that in the US it is often not easy for people to walk relatively short distances because often the environment is simply not designed for anyone to do anything but drive, this is very different than in the UK) or there are good public transport alternatives for the longer journeys.

If you have to commute two hours a day, five days a week, then car clubs will always be more expensive than owning a car, as will hiring a car.

Car clubs are simply one of many ways of reducing the cost of travelling. They must be considered alongside:
??? Public transport
??? Walking
??? Hiring cars
??? Taxis
??? More efficient cars with a higher miles per gallon
??? Cars that are cheaper to maintain
??? Car sharing / life sharing
??? Not actually making unnecessary journeys
??? Living nearer to your place of work

All have instances where they are particularly important, and usually any one household has to rely on four or five ways of reducing costs. Over time, the two that are actually most important are more efficient cars and living nearer to places of work. The first is constantly being improved by the car manufacturers, the second occurs as people slowly move over the years to reduce their costs.

Car clubs also only tend to exist in city areas because they need to be managing many cars to get the required economies of scale. I???m also interested in ???informal car clubs??? where a small group (3-6 people) of local people get together to buy a car together. www.yours2share.com enables people to find suitable partners.

In the UK we are also working out the same issues, coupled with serious traffic congestion. And petrol currently costs the equivalent of $11 a gallon here, $4 a gallon sounds rather wonderful.

Posted By: WhyNotV2 @ 08/05/2008 2:12:20 PM

"The cost: About $10 an hour, plus a $50 annual membership fee and a $25 sign-up fee."

Okay, I have a commute of about 2 hours a day (1 hour each way with traffic figured in) and 5 days a week. So $20 a day, $100 a week at 50 weeks is $5000 a year. That's approximately $417 per month. I spend $100 a month for gas and have a $225 a month car payment (yes it's low, but it's also an inexpensive car). I'd actually be losing almost $100 per month. Yes, I'm probably not the norm, and the woman being spoken about in the first paragraph was driving a larger SUV. That's the problem, or part of it... vehicle size. Go smaller and save cash in a number of areas, fuel being one of them. I'm not suggesting a Smart (they don't look even remotely safe next to anything on the highway), but there are very nice, affordable commuter vehicles out there. Ditch the larger SUVs and trucks, drive the speed limit, curb the rest of your driving habits (hammering the accelerator at a light, running all the way up to the stop line before putting the brakes on, etc.) and you'll save money and have the freedom to not rely on an hourly 'rental'.

Just my 2 cents.

Posted By: creekprecious @ 08/05/2008 4:46:10 AM

To have my own car is a dream. So I will not easily give that dream up!

Posted By: sea-sak@hotmail.com @ 08/05/2008 1:41:25 AM

I live in Seattle. Sold my car last year and started using Flex/Zip Car. There are at least seven cars parked within four blocks of my house - plus two in the parking garage at work. Honestly, it sounds like a great concept - but the fees really add up. Try driving over the lake for a meeting at 2:00...then sitttin in two hours of traffic as you attempt to get back across the bridge. Suddenly you've just paid $70 for a car that you drove 20 miles. When the new company took over, of course, you had to pay all of the sign up fees again. It just hasn't been a good experience for me. You have to plan your time so carefully cause if you are late returning there are fees involved. It's one big stress ball affair. Go rent a car from Enterprise for the day. Save yourself the headache.

Posted By: BrownFoxNine @ 08/04/2008 6:41:48 PM

What a great Idea, why didnt I think of that!!

JT
www.FireMe.To/udi

Posted By: BrownFoxNine @ 08/04/2008 6:41:08 PM

Dude what a great idea. Why didnt I think of it.

www.FireMe.to/udi

Posted By: mjbruce @ 08/04/2008 4:40:12 PM

Giving up my car would be fantastic. I would love to not have to pay gas, insurance and maintance. But, out here in Phoenix everything is so spread out. Not much city transportation. If I took a bus from where I live that goes downtown, then catch another one to where I work, It would take 2 1/2 hours one way. No share rides around either. Can't afford to move either. There are alot of people in my same position.

Posted By: ndrock @ 08/04/2008 3:52:13 PM

Yes, if I had to, I could. BUT, I live close enough to my job, to a food market, and the library is only 8 blocks away. FOR people that have to drive a great distance, I can't see how they are going to give up private transport easy. I am sure they will do their best to try, but for me it was an easy decision. I put in $25.00 of gas at the beginning of last month, I still have 1/4 tank left. I just stopped driving and started walking.

Posted By: hankthehorrible @ 08/04/2008 3:45:30 PM

My wife gave her Geo Prizm to 1 of her daughters, we're now a 1 car family. My 1990 Honda Civic wagon gets 30-35 mpg & that's w/ 302000 miles on it (new engine & tranny after 275000 miles).
The thing that bugs me is this: Why do people feel I "need" a new car when my old car is running fine, has good mileage & I can work on it myself, should the need arise?
I personally look @ the "green car" thing the same way as the organic food industry (I know that industry hates the word "industry" but what the heck): Sure, they'll feed you good stuff, but it comes w/ a price & a pretty hefty price @ that.
Another reason I won't part ways w/ the old ride is because I don't want tp help fill the landfill. Makes more economic & environmental sense on the "big picture scale" to keep the Gray Goose.
As for transit system, ours ain't bad, but not good. The REAL fortunate thing for my wife & me is that our jobs are 4-5 miles from home & we have the pleasure of riding our bikes to work, thus saving us gas.
Bottom line: It all comes down to personal situation(s) & a large scale solution can't be forcibly imposed.

Posted By: esmack @ 08/04/2008 3:19:47 PM

I live in Denver and we have a pretty good transit system. I have not had a car for 3 years now due to a nasty divorce. I have 3 kids and we make it work. If I absolutely need to my mom will pick us up. But this also has taught my kids that a car is not neccesarily a "need".

Posted By: accuadra @ 08/04/2008 10:49:26 AM

What about non-profit car sharing organizations like PhillyCarShare? I pay a $15 monthly fee, and I can pay as low as $5 an hour. Prices have gone up since I first joined, but it is understandable. Wouldn't other American cities benefit more from models like that of PhillyCarShare, where the profit is returned to the customer?