I agree we are definitely seeing an exodus into the city, which as ridership increases (I think Buffalo NFTA is 20,000 people per day) services hopefully do as well.
I live in the city, besides getting vehicles from other cities for work I drive about 4k miles a year. Hockey, laundry, Wegmans, and winter laziness are the only times I drive. I haven’t even been driving my cars in winter for whatever reason and always just take a Prius from work.
No complaints if cars were no longer necessary for transportation. I’m all about sustainability (obviously). I will always have fun cars, a bimmer and a Z at minimum, but I don’t really need one for my daily commute.
My s14 is my life. I got a 6 year old son, A girl friend, more friends then i can keep up with. some of them are just fumes and some of them are more family then my actual family. my son will always come first and is my #1 but my s14 is my escape, my passion, my hobbie, my reason to look forward to the spring and summer, my reason to want to drive and blast off without a care in the world. i have put in almost 30gs into that car and it wont stop till around 50 thousand or so once i feel she’s complete. i wouldn’t have it any other way. i don’t regret any money i have spent on her.
My wife’s from Manhattan and I would NEVER own a car there.
I’m from DC and I found having a $1,500 car like a Miata or a Civic was perfect because you could park it anywhere without care and you only had to put gas in it once a month or so since you barely drove it anyways.
I could see it if you lived right in the city and the city had a good transport network.
Me personally? Never. I despise city life and my hobbies are skiing, snowmobile, boating, hiking and just generally getting out to the country. All of these things require transportation where public transportation doesn’t go (or won’t tow my trailer).
On nights I ski I work a 7-3 shift, shoot straight to my daughters school and grab her getting out just before the buses. We run home, change, and are on the road for HV by 3:20. 4:25 we’re parked at HV, 4:40 we’re on the slopes. 8:30 back in the car where my daughter has a quick snack and falls asleep. 9:35 I park the car in the garage and she wakes up just long enough to stumble to bed. On nights I don’t take her push it out to 9:30 or 10pm in the car and I’m the one who stumbles to bed after parking the car. No way I could pull this off without the freedom of personal transportation.
I think cars are getting less popular because people are giving up experiencing the real world for the virtual one. They work, go to some club, and spend the rest of the time posting about it on Facebook and Twitter. Who needs a car when your entire life resides inside this 2 mile physical bubble and the rest is all virtual? Toss in a vacation now and then where you basically just move your little bubble life to a different temperate zone for a week. Yeah, thanks but no thanks. I’ll keep paying for 2 cars.
EDIT: The part that makes us strange, IMO, is that as enthusiasts we spend much more on cars than we need to. I could sell the GTO and pick up a basic little 4 cylinder economy car that would work better as transportation and cost me way less in gas, insurance and maintenance. But I’m one of those oddballs who like cars enough that I’d rather spend more to drive the car I have.
yeah this is a whole other form of car ownership… minimization of expenses. that’s sort of how my cousins are. one is 37 married with a new son and still has a 1998 Geo Metro from my aunt. Dude works for the government too. Other cousin is driving a 2002 Mazda something… whatever came out before the Mazda 3 i cant even remember that far back… also a hand me down from mom… cars are basically free
Truth. This area has some of the worst public transportation i’ve ever experienced. Without a car or bike i’d be crippled.
On the flipside, my brother in Brooklyn saves thousands every year not having to pay for parking/ins/fuel/maintenance. He pays his monthly metro pass and gets around very easy.
most younger people think of buying a car as an investment with little benefit because public transit exist and also they don’t go far out locations often.
Also with insurance being insanely high in Ontario and average annual gas prices going higher their parents aren’t too keen on them getting a car either.
my 2¢
I’m waiting for the day when owning a personal vehicle makes you a social pariah. It’s coming. It’ll be the cigarette of 2075. “You don’t need to have a car, think of all the resources you consume just so ‘you’ can go where ‘you’ want to.” We should be mindful of others and ride only when we need to.
lol. America and Canada are too large for a transit system to cover all of the bases efficiently. Yes, I can get from Yellowknife to Galveston by public ground transportation. No, it won’t be cheap, or quick.
I’d be considered “strange” for the vehicles I own, not the fact that I own a vehicle.