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If you ditched your car, could you afford to leave the suburbs for a great urban neighborhood? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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This is the question posed on CityNerd video titled "Walkable Cities But They Keep Getting More Affordable"

If you ditched your car, could you afford to leave the suburbs for a great urban neighborhood?

Ray Delahanty answers the question in the 26 biggest US cities.

The analysis assumes the all-in cost of owning and operating a car is $1,000 per month, including purchase, insurance, fuel, and maintenance.

In the city, transportation costs might total about $250 per month for transit passes, biking, ride-hailing, and other small expenses.

This results in an effective $750 per month increase in the housing budget for city center residents who do not own a car.

The results of the video are quite interesting, as you can get more m² in walkable areas in most cities

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[–] 7 points 8 months ago* (2 children)

Maybe i am out of touch because we own our car outright, but its not nearly that expensive for us. Even with a parking spot rental.

Try adding in the cost of depreciation and it makes a lot more sense. I owned a used car for 10 years and didn't commute using it for most of that time, so it didn't even rack up that many miles. It still cost me over $500/month on average over that time period including depreciation, maintenance, gas, registration, and insurance. I'm sure it would be a lot more if I drove as much as the average american. Though I think the average is probably somewhat skewed towards the most expensive cars.

Needless to say I am now happily car free. $500/month can buy me a very nice ebike, as well as more taxis or hourly car rentals than I need.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Between parking, gas, insurance, and maintenance 500 is more within the realm of reason.

    Yeha if you were hardly using it then why have the extra expense? In my family its used daily (mostly for work commute to a poorly connected by PT workplace). More than worth it for the conveniance and lifestyle it enables

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

    Yes I think I probably should have sold it as soon as I stopped using it to commute. I was mostly just ignorant of all the alternatives to car ownership. Car ownership is not worth it in my opinion unless you truly need to use it several days out of the week every week. And people should be doing pretty much everything they can to avoid being in that situation.

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