Skip downtown NY or central LA. I am talking about the majority of America, is very low population density with sprawling suburbs and rural housing areas.
Even the suburbs are deserts without grocery or market or gas stations within walkable distances. You have to have a car to work or live a normal life high functioning. I can't even imaging how to live without a car!
Recognizing you have a vehicle problem, part of breaking the automotive addiction, but as the only viable means of getting around, it's hard to have a good alternative solution, especially when nearly everyone else nearby uses cars or SUV's for the same reasons.
I love riding bicycle and got an e-bike and special clothing to enable winter riding & can take the extra time to get to work by waking up extra early, but I am zealot and do not have & never had children.
Meg & I work & have no children, so are DINKs and still feel poor because of the high housing costs. Gasoline prices are up 400% since the year 2000. Food prices are up 74.9% since 2000. Real estate prices are up 300% since the year 2000. We can't but a home nearby, not even close, they cost $700K or more, even small ones.
Thats 913 ft of elevation gain and 633 ft of elevation drop or a very hilly route. It cost us $1800/ mo to rend someone's basement in suburbia on a mountain top with very steep roads to access it. These are so steep that even walking on them covered in snow sound extremely dangerous in terms of slipping hazard.
I am talking about 450ft in 1 mi of elevation change, where parts of the road are 18 degree curved slopes that have crazy inclines that require full hydraulic braking front & rear on our Lectric XP3.0 eBike. People who have lived up here for a long time tell me they have to replace the brake pads on their cars in less than a year because of the steep sloping roadways on the mountain.
On a metro bus it takes 1.5 hours one way, but more since I have to walk 15 min to the closest bus stop!
On a bicycle it takes a little over 1 hour one way
On an e-bike it takes about 35 min one way
On a motorcycle or motor scooter or in a car/ SUV its 17 min one way
Thus cars or privately owned passenger cars are the only viable transportation option nearby! They are the only time efficient way to get too and from for most commuters, many of who cannot afford to live close to where they work because of real estate prices where the good jobs are.
This means many Americans have to commute longer distances in traffic congestion that takes over 1 hour one way, in a car or SUV. Taking a bicycle the same distance would require the athletic skill of a Tour de France cyclist, not exactly practical given the huge topographic variability or hilly terrain around puget sound in the Seattle Tacoma metropolitan area including the nearby suburbs in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.
Near Seattle there are also many low skill dangerous drivers from all around the world, many who moved here very recently from non-car countries with no significant history of automobile use by regular people. So not only are they new at driving, but they did not grow up around cars, their parents did not have or own cars, so they are also at a huge disadvantage from a skill and safety perspective as drivers. As a school bus driver I witness these low skill drivers doing all sorts of foolish dangerous things in traffic, especially the School parking lots.
Cell phone distracted drivers of all kinds are lane bobbing against the fog line that delineates the lane edge to the right of the vehicle. We have left hand drive vehicles or automobiles and drive on the right side of the road, the opposite of Japan or the UK, where left hand drive the norm.
They are building out a LINK light rail system locally, but I am not sure how many people will actually be able to make good use of it without owning a car, especially given the extensive car parks they are building at the loading stations, like the park & ride lots for metro bus use.
The sub-message is that you can use your car less by driving to one of these nearby bus or train or rail access lots, then using the bus or train for a fee to go the main distance. If your car is a gas guzzler, this might save money on fuel, but it will take more time than driving the same route, usually. If parking costs money, then using the bus or rail might help you avoid those city parking fee's.
This park & ride idea popular for people who live in Suburbs who work in cities. But it seriously it means you have to also own a car as the only viable transport option and can only add bus use, train use, bicycle use, e-bike use or sprinkle in motorcycle or scooter use in fair weather. This means static car insurance costs no matter how much you drive or not. Cars that sit unused are damaged by sitting around disused, tires rotting, fuel fouling, oil acidic, they are meant to move. Most cars sit without being used for 20+ hours per day.
Meg has a 2010 Prius III with high mileage
I have a 2022 Corolla Hybrid
We inherited a 2001 Audi A4 2.8 30v V6 Quattro sedan from the late Connie Schwarz :( I would rather have her back than her car, but the car a nostalgic reminder of her. I just paid Buttera motors $4200 to tune the Audi nicely to make it in good working order. We take it to church in Monroe on Sundays, 60 miles round trip. It requires premium fuel & only gets 23 MPG //
Our 2020 Yamaha MT03 motorcycle replaced the 2019 Honda Grom SF
Meg's 13 Honda PCX150 needs a little work, but still works
Segway MP, Hiboy S2 Pro, & Lectric XP3.0 are our low speed fun vehicles
My bicycle a Specialized Crossroads 2.0
Meg's bicycle a 1998 Marin Classic that we customized extensively :)
I bundle the motor vehicles on Geico for insurance that costs $1500/ yr
I do oil changes, air filter changes, belt changes, coolant changes, gear lube changes & similar DIY with tools and am mechanically savvy at working on stuff like a mechanic. This saves us a lot of money on maintenance. Tires for our cars cost about $700 for all 4, and go about 60,000 mi.
We spend about $2000 per year on fuel, since her Prius III gets 48 MPG, the Corolla Hybrid gets 53 MPG, the MTO3 gets 58 MPG, the PCX gets 83 MPG, the Audi can get 40 MPG but tends to get 20 something the way I drive it on Sundays when the freeway traffic finally lightens up //
I think we are spending around $6000 per year on cars, insurance, fuel, repairs, tires, etc. But that's for 3 cars, a motorcycle and a motor scooter. Thats on the lower side, and sure America spends a lot on roads, the cities do, the states do, the Fed does, but without trucks that use those roads, society does not work as the covid 19 debacle showed in vivid detail. Truckers are the unsung heroes of the US economy and logistics makes the world move.
Without roads, which are an ancient idea much older than train tracks or rail systems, modern life would not be possible.
In addition to all the paved roads, there are many more dirty and gravel roads in poor conditions such that all wheel drive SUV's made by Toyota like the Landcruiser are popular in developing countries with poor quality roads.
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