For the most part the town I live in is small enough that I can walk to wherever I need to go -- my favorite grocery store is about a mile away, the vet hospital where I take my pets (and also train in agility) is just a bit over that. I tend to do a lot of shopping online in any case. I do drive other places occasionally for non-work events, mostly related to my writing groups, but I could probably use one of the ride sharing services or even take the bus, depending on where I need to go.
I run into problems with work, though. Once a week I drive about 65 miles to get to the main office, and then another day I drive about half that distance to get to a different one. A while back I looked up how to get to the main office using public transportation, and it turned out that it would be at least four hours, probably more. Turns out we aren't that great at public transportation around here.
I suppose I could move closer to work -- I used to rent an apartment in that area before I had a car -- but I can't live in an apartment any more and houses in that area are unbelievably expensive. And it's not someplace I really want to live. Plus, if I ended up switching jobs I'd be stuck commuting a long way every day.
I've even thought about moving to NYC because people there don't drive, but that's more than a little ridiculous because I'm never leaving California again.
So... yeah. I don't have an answer. Selling everything and living in an RV in the desert is looking really attractive right now...
(The dogs have no time for my existential crisis because it's time for agility.)
4 comments:
Big dog is wondering if you have considered that he'll have no window to stick his nose out of if you get rid of the car.
The one time I rolled the window down for him he didn't like it. He would be just as happy to jog to agility every week!
As someone who used to not drive: I could go back to it if I had to and if my current car dies I probably would have to, but overall I would not say I recommend it. You have to have a really good central location for where you live and work* and you can't really get out of your bubble most of the time, which is limiting and frustrating. (For example, I am in a writing group in Sacramento because they are not sustainable in Davis at all because of "I have a midterm!" crowd. Ditto taking acting/improv classes.) And about the only reason why I am in the career field I am in is because I could not drive and thus 95% of the jobs in the world were ruled out for me, so I applied at the very large employer within walking distance of my apartment. I really wish I could have learned to have driven earlier/with people who didn't scream their heads off at me, because I could have had a lot different life if I'd been driving at 16 like everyone else.
* If you have to have a house, that realistically rules out not driving altogether.
I think it sounds like you've got it about as good as you can realistically have it, though. You don't have to drive a lot every single day and you can walk around in your neighborhood and most people can't say they have that! If that helps any?
Well, I didn't get my license until I was 32, so I did go for quite a while without a car.
I'm just crossing my fingers that self-driving cars become a reality in the next few years.
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