The o.p. doesn't even know how to drive yet? I drove for 35 years in NYC without a single accident and in 8 years in Portland have had two. Neither of them my fault. Get the license o.p. and put a few hundred miles under your belt before you start running the numbers. Or better yet, quit while you are ahead and forget that you even thought about car ownership for even a New York minute. I am 58 years old and can pedal a Bob Yak trailer loaded well past its weight limit (70lb) up any hill in Portland. No one NEEDS a car, but the economy would crash and burn if that truth ever got out.