nathan.johnson

I had a running race across town this morning at o' dark thirty. I was planning on biking there, but when the alarm went off at 4:45 I contemplated riding in the cold and dark, and decided to stay in my nice warm bed and drive in my nice warm car.

The ride was only about 5 miles each way, so it's not like it would have been difficult, but the car was just so convenient. And I hadn't driven in about a month. So I guess I'm still only car-lite. I was thinking I could be car-free but still own a car for emergencies, but that doesn't seem possible (at least for me).

Anyone else find it just too convenient sometimes to own a car?

dcrowell

I was tempted by my truck for my tiny little 3.5 mile commute a few times, but as I got more used to riding instead, I drove less often. I'm selling my truck this month... if I find a buyer.

bragi

I used to be that way; I was even in the habit of driving 10 blocks to the coffee shop. Now, though, I will do almost anything to avoid driving. I'll walk three miles before driving if possible. When I do drive, I find myself getting kind of resentful and pissed off, and for most of my trips, the car's not any faster than riding or taking public transportation. In most circumstances, the car's my absolute last choice.

Maybe I should sell my car...

runningDoc

I live in brooklyn and we bought a car just for errands/grocery trips/and weekend getaways/vacations.

I'll still bike to get dry cleaning and even walk to the grocery store (its only two blocks away) but sometimes you go to BJ/costos/trader joes/ikea and the car becomes a god send.

Car rental rates went up twice this year and zipcar is nice but even more expensive.

my rule is if its with-in 2miles then I'll take the bike.

I think the car has been super useful bike wise - in the sense that where ever we go (like a quick weekend trip to Montreal) we can bring the bikes and REALLY explore a city.

Its great to do things like pick family/friends up with all their luggage from the airport or making a pizza run when its raining cats and dogs....

but I still get pangs of envy when I see people zip by me on the bike lanes especially when I notice that they can cross the whole williamsburg bridge faster than me in a car sitting in traffic.

Roody

I've posted before that I have enormous respect for carlight people because I just can't do it. I'm either going to be carfree or carheavy, no middle ground.

What can I say? I'm lazy and I have an addictive personality.

enigmaT120

What distance was the race? I've paid the entry fee for a trail run at the end of this month, a 15K. I have not been interested in training sufficiently to be competative for several years so I'm considering riding the 21 miles to the race slow, running the race slow (and getting my free T shirt!) and riding home. After eating all of the post race food, of course. It should be a fun day and it's obviously easier than a triathalon. I'm just not sure I can do it. I have to say that for a race only 5 miles away I wouldn't hesitate.

cycleobsidian

I have come to resent driving as well. When I visit my daugthers in their respective cities I either take my bike (60 km round trip) or public transit. I don't take my car, despite that it sits in the driveway. In my case, taking the car would definitely be faster.

gerv 

In the case you describe, you would survive quite well without a car. Fewer choices. You would just get out of bed early and get on with what you have to do. No second thoughts. No regrets.

In this case, having a car just gives you more choice.

We probably need to turn this discussion towards the purpose of all of us keeping vehicles in the driveway which we never (or seldom) use. Just from the point of view of :
1. land use.
2. manufacturing costs.
3. personal costs to maintain and insure.
4. the recycling costs when we decide to get rid of it.

(Full disclosure: I own a jumbo jet. But I don't use it that much )

nathan.johnson

I was signed up for the half-marathon. I ended up walking the 5k route due to an injury sustained in a bike crash 2 weeks ago. Even if I had run the half, I was going to use this as a training race for a marathon in December, and had planned to bike to the event, run it at marathon pace, then bike home (after the post-race food). 21 miles would be pushing it for a 15k (trail?) for me since I would need to ride my hybrid and not the road bike since I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving the road bike locked up while I ran. On the other hand, a 15k after a 21 mile bike ride on the road bike would be easy-peasy... unless there was a swim beforehand. (I'm a horrible swimmer)

nathan.johnson

I agree. And I still feel crappy about driving 5 miles. Had I not had it, there wouldn't have been a choice, so I would have just got up and rode the bike.

Interesting. My car is fully paid off; I paid cash for a used car. It's semi-permanently parked in a private parking lot owned by the association that I rent a condo from (with roommates). All 3 of us have cars, even though only 1 parking spot is allocated to each condo. So 2 cars are parked in the "visitor" parking spots. It would be relatively easy for us to get rid of one car (maybe two) and car-share. That could theoretically open up 2 car parking spots that could be used as something else. But if we went from 3 to 1, would that space really be used for something useful or would it just sit vacant?

One of the reasons I want to get rid of my car is because of maintenance and insurance. That's just money being dropped into a black hole never to be seen again.

Regarding #4, what does it cost to recycle a car? Assuming I sell it (it's still usable), there would be little or no cost. But when it becomes unusable, the scrap metal and parts are still salvageable. But whoever does the salvage must make more by salvaging them than by simply hauling the car to the landfill (or wherever it goes). So what would be the net cost of junking a car?

(can I have a ride in the front? )

ro-monster

When I last owned a car (about 10 years ago), I sat down one day and calculated my total cost of ownership. It came out to $11 or $12 per day. That didn't even include car payments, as the car was paid off. I was driving it about twice a month, which made the price of each trip pretty outrageous.

If you look at it that way, you might find that you can rent a car or take a taxi when you really want to use a car, and still come out ahead financially.

borobike

They should pay you, if you do it right.

Many scrap yards will weigh your car and pay you a certain price per unit weight, to scrap or part out, or both. Most cars should get around $200-300, or more. You just need to find a yard that will accept it.

That way, all it will cost you is the gas for the trip there and back. And you get a little spare cash to blow on something else, unless you were able to sell it for much more. Assuming it isn't a total heap, I think you'd be able to get more than $300 for it one way or another.
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bragi

I've done your math on my own car use, and it's even more stupid than I thought for me to own a car. I spend about $7/day for my car. That doesn't sound too bad, does it? But I don't use it every day. I use it about once or twice a month. That's 24 days a year at the most. That means the cost of my car per day that it's actually used is about $105.00. I'm definitely going to have to get rid of it.

wahoonc

If you want to keep a car but only use it occasionally AND want to make it more difficult so you don't fall into the "it is handy so I am just going to use it this once" trap, freeze the keys in a cup of ice in the freezer. The keys will still be readily available, but the added work of getting them out of the block of ice will make you think twice before you grab the keys for that 1 mile drive to the store.

Aaron

bragi

Aaron: This is a bit extreme, I think. It's a CAR, not meth...

Roody

That's the problem with "free parking" in a nutshell. Multiply it by 800 million, and you see the issue facing the country.

The solution is pretty basic. Those parking spaces should not be free. They should be charged for at whatever the market will bear. If peopel had to pay for parking at real estate rates, they would think twice about owning cars that just sit around most of the time.

nathan.johnson

I agree. If I had to pay for parking, the car would be sold immediately.

The same principle holds for public parking anywhere though. It's vastly under-priced.

gerv 

It actually costs -- at least in hard currency -- very little to crush a car and maybe salvage some of the metal in a lower grade steel. However, much of what was crushed is not recyclable, except that it moves into the water supply and we then start drinking it.

That sort of cost...

Roody

In some countries I guess you pay a fee for disposal of the car when you buy it new.

wahoonc

We have some recycling yards down here...they crush the car then ship it to a place in SC that has this huge machine that beats the car into pieces and they are separated out for more complete recycling. The machine is about 50 miles from the middle of nowhere...and for a good reason, the machine uses some sort of centrifugal hammers to destroy the car and it makes an ungodly racket, it can be heard for a good 10-15 miles when it is running.

Supposedly the stuff that can't be recycled from a single car fits into a trash can.

Aaron

wahoonc

Depends on the person...and I don't doubt there are people that are addicted to cars.

Aaron

gerv 

Seems like there is a very good effort to recycle as much as possible. Apparently, there is quite a bit of non-recyclable material left after the huge magnets sweep over the shredded vehicle.

It does seem that there is ongoing research to up this percentage, but any way you look at it, even 100% recycling would entail massive energy costs.