Is Our Long National Obsession With Cars Finally Ebbing?
One thing I have never understood about Americans is their love of cars and I am from Texas -- SUV country par excellence.
To me a car is like a prison sentence, once all the real costs are figured into the purchase. First there is filling it up. Easily $50 right now, $2600 a year. Then there is oil for the engine, $5 every couple of weeks, maybe every other month or so. Then there are state taxes, $100-$200 a year, maybe more in other places. Tolls? $1.50 each way once a day equals $60 a month, just for the twenty or so business days when using toll roads. Then there is the upkeep. On an American car I'd assume on average over a year it comes out to maybe $1000. On foreign cars, especially European luxury models? Much higher. Then there are inspection stickers, or exhaust fees for some states: $200 a year in some places, $30 in others. And don't forget the insurance racket: $1500 a year? Maybe less, maybe more? Finally, we come to the price of the car in the first place. I think it's pretty hard to get into a car for less than, say, $14,000, so maybe a minimum payment of $400 a month for five years, so about $4800 a year? What's that come out to for a year: $10,000 just to drive one car! (Just imagine having two teens in the house?)
Wouldn't you rather save $8,000 a year and only pay $2,000 a year in infrastructure taxes to ride the subway? Or an excellent bus system? And improve our national rail network? As a part of the bargain you would walk more, get exercise, be healthier and as another bonus spend more time in closer quarters with your fellow Americans, building communities, making new friends, the chance meetings of people reading the same book on the metro or bus?
Or, keep spending $10,000 a year on cars, building ever more far suburbs, locking ourselves in gated communities, shutting out our fellows, and fighting oil wars in the Middle East?
Seems like a simple choice to me. But then again, I'm here in Singapore. I walk to work. I walk to eat dinner down at the food stalls and meet new friends. I walk to go get a bit of coffee. I walk to the store to get a new iron, and ironing board and carry it with me back to my flat. (Or, you can always ride a bike!)
Of course, there are always valid excuses, but the "I have four kids and need a big SUV" isn't even close to being valid. Now, if you work on a farm? Or live in a deep rural community, sure, you need a car. But city dwellers? Not on your life.
What am I missing, that old, time worn, hackneyed excuse that a car equals the open road and freedom? Codswallop if you ask me! Have you ever ridden a train across country? Trust me when I tell you it is much more relxing and edifying than driving, tense traffic and big rigs blowing by you at the speed of light. And when it comes to trains versus planes? Well, there is simply no comparison.
Like I said, I've never understood our national obsession with cars. And financially it's beginning to look a lot less attractive.
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Public transportation is great if you never leave your community. But if there is ever a need to evacuate, you will be left to fend for yourself. Not good for lesser emergencies either. I'll take public transportation when it's more convenient, but that usually isn't the case.
the times they are a changin'
Reminds me of something Thoreau said in Walden: that it would be quicker to walk from Concord to a nearby town than to take the train. Why? Because to be fair you would have to figure in the time it would take you to earn the money to pay for the train ticket. The ticket price is just the proverbial tip of the proverbial iceberg.
cars are prisons
i like that
beats cars are freedom
this is one of the best posts i've seen yet
but then again, i'm a cultist
i'm a doom and gloomer
i believe in PEAK OIL
I currently live a few miles outside of Acupulco, Mexico and haven't had a car for more than 10 years. Like you, I either walk, take the bus, or use a "colectivo" taxi. A "colectivo" taxi follows a predetermined route to a particular destination, holds 5 passengers, and allows you to get on or off anywhere along the route for about $1.10. I've often wondered why this concept never caught on in the USA.
You may not like cars, or any other type of cumbustion transportation, but your math is so screwed up it's silly. The best part is the oil at 5.00 every couple of weeks. LOL. Not sure what car you are thinking about but thats a bit high. Most new cars now recomend oil changes every 5000 miles, and certainly do not leak 5.00 every couple of weeks. Your general point is misplaced. Cars are not prisons, they are a form of freedom that literally exploded the growth of this country. Without "cars" this country would have plodded along and possibly never moved ahead. Don't hate cars, they are just another tool to use like a lawnmower, a kitchen knife, or a shovel. If you like riding a bike great (I still ride my 1980 Ross Riviera), if you live in a city take the subway, but don't denagrate a form of transportation that has made all the difference.
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Oh, I'm sorry. So, take out whatever the cost of an oil change is and whatever it takes to top off your engine oil every so often and what, the car still costs, $9900 a year? Puhleaze. You are the one who needs to work on your math. Add it all up and I defy you to come up with a number less than $9000 a year on a new car that averages 25MPG. You can't do it. Period.
Sean
I understand your point. It would be a good thing if rapid transit would blossom and allow us to take reasonable public transportation. But it will take years if not decades to get a system that would work for most people. We are spread too thin. It is unfortunate, but it is a fact. Take Orange County in CA. No way people could use buses given the current configuration. We have created this problem over the last 50 years with urban sprawl and it is not going to get fixed anytime soon even if we start now. So many people have moved further out of urban cores to find affordable housing are now having that savings eaten up in travel costs (your numbers are bit ridiculous). If the price of housing closer in goes up with demand as the outlying housing prices go down there are going to be millions of people who are in a pile of trouble. BTW with a used car getting 20 mph my commute costs for 50 miles per day is about half of what you calculate (gas, repairs, insurance) and I am now driving much less since I moved to Texas (worst drivers in the World!)
Unfortunately I am limited by 250 words for my reply, but here goes Mr. Math wiz. I own a 2004 Dodge Hemi Ram 4x4 Quad cab. Bought the truck in Nov. 03, paid 26500.00 I put down 15K for the truck. Cost of the monthly payment. 325.00. Insurance monthly comes to 120.00. Fuel varies because of the cost of gas, but I would say over the life of the vehicle averaged 75.00 per month. Maintainence roughly 150.00 per year. Roughly 6300.00 per year. NOT 10K no where near 10K, and thats on a truck that gets 15MPG. The prison is in your mind, not the car you drive.
Well first I live in Maine... higher taxes, but lower Insurance. I do all my own repairs, and I would NEVER buy a new car, I have a 2001 SAAB 95 wagon which gets 28/29 MPG, and I bought it for 8K two years ago. Since purchased I have changed the oil every 3,000 miles, honed the disks and replaced the brake pads ($165.00) and replaced windshield wipers ($32.00) I paid cash for the vehicle, so no interest payments,
One thing I notice is no matter how expensive gas is, there is always a bunch of it spilled on service station macadam. My tip? fill your car in the AM before the day gets hot. fill only till the pump clicks, don't push that last bit of fuel to the top of the filler pipe.
Funny though, I drive 50-60, but am always passed at great speed usually by some clown in an empty pick-up. The wind drag above 50 steadily increases dropping gas economy precipitously.
I fill my tires to 38-40 PSI which makes them roll better (hint they roll better when they look round) and I grease my wheel bearings regularly and make sure the wheels spin without impediment.
High schools should mandate drivers education courses which teach this stuff, but as in most other areas, we save a nickle to spend a dime..
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As for the idea that the car is a tool, I agree. So was the horse drawn cart and the steam engine. Times changed, people innovated and moved on. Sadly, the true costs of owning a car--not to mention the costs of pollution from cars--are not factored in when people make the decision to buy. I am all for free markets and free choice. But markets must function by including ALL costs, not by hiding them. When they don't they cease to be free markets.
I live in Tokyo. My family owns two bikes. I haven't driven a car in four years...an
From what I understand, the Tokyo train system is run by private companies, and the growth of the Tokyo area after WWII was entirely by train (housing built around train stations) - this is all great and it's cool that it works so well, but this model just doesn't fit in most parts of the US.
Yes, the Washington Metro is awesome. At about a billion dollars a mile, it should be!
But we'll always need private vehicles, if only to get to the train station.
And I can't imagine going grocery shopping for my hungry teenage boys on a train. We fill 2 shopping carts each week, because we cook almost all of our meals at home.
Not to mention that it's sticky hot here and rains almost every day. Not the best conditions for walking! Oh, that's right, I'm spoiled (rolling eyes).
I think we'll end up with more public transportation, and more growth close to transportation stations, for cost avoidance and environmental reasons, and we'll move to less powerful, smaller cars as Europe has done.
But it's unreasonable to expect a mass migration from the existing suburbs to new Tokyo-style suburbs built around train stations anytime soon.
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In Zurich, which is not a densely populated city, the trains/subway/light rail are all within a 5 minute walk of anywhere. No one needs a car to take a 5 minute walk. If it rains, take an umbrella. If it snows, wear a jacket and a cap.
A friend of mine who's living in Salt Lake Utah has decided to try and drive less. He rides his bike to the trax station, rides the trax to the train station, rides the train to his job.
He started 2 months ago.
His conclusion ? He's read 5 good books in the last 2 months instead of getting mad in traffic jams !
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