CTA Tattler

The only reason I even have a car is because I have 2 dogs and if I ever needed to get them to the vet, that's the only way I could, as they're both too big to bring with me on the CTA or in a cab.

I'll admit, driving to the grocery store and the occasional errand is a great convenience, but it's so rare I doubt I'd miss it if I didn't do it anymore. I usually throw $20 at it for gas once every 4-6 weeks or so...other than that, it's moved around the neighborhood on street cleaning days.

I take the CTA to and from work, and if I'm going out, I will most likely take the CTA, to avoid driving or taking a cab. I value the CTA, overall...that's not to say I wish it wouldn't run better, but it's still cheaper and better for the environment - and my sanity - than driving everywhere.

Erin,
Have you calculated your monthly expense of depreciation? That's the killer that usually clinches the rare driver to sell, since it can be several hundred per month not counting insurance and the rest (parking/gas/maintenance/etc)

Many people want or need cars regardless, but I think we've been conditioned as consumers to not fully appreciate the enormity of the cost involved. The hoopla over gas prices is mystifying to me for all except the people who drive hundreds of miles a day for business/shipping/etc. If you can't afford an extra $20/week in gas, you really can't afford to own your car in the first place, because gas for most people is a minor expense.

Oh, Erin, now you've done it. ;) Someone will post soon, telling you that if it means owning a car, you shouldn't take your dogs to the vet...or you should carry them on your head...or teach them to fly...or you shouldn't have dogs, because the person posting thinks dogs are not necessary...or something. Ignore them! I'm pretty much with you on this. (For me it's the cats.) Plus I do have to get out to the suburbs once in a while, and I give people rides so it's efficient. Now, should I get started on how much I hate taking cabs and why? (Hint: it's mostly the math.)

Oh, and I was not referring to Anonymous' post, which went up while I was composing mine. I do think Anon makes a good point about the extra gas not making that much difference for someone who drives few miles. I'm just saying, the occasional driver usually has reasons why they're willing to bear the expense of owning a car, things that would just be too big a hassle in their life if they did not. And as long as they have the car, they will use it for the optional things (like grocery shopping vs. Peapod) as well. I'll just try to cut back on other optional expenses to offset the gas price difference.

I guess that's why I take the CTA and either borrow a car or do the IGO/Zipcar thing.

If I need something more, you can rent a truck van from Home depot or somewhere. I used to rent a pickup truck from Hertz in Dallas for $19.55 for the weekend.

KevinB

Well, for me, because it involves the care of my HUGE dogs, it's a non-negotiable. I can safely say if I didn't have my dogs, I wouldn't have a car, but because I do...I'm keeping the car. I don't feel terrible about not driving much, and hey, depreciation shouldn't be AS bad with low mileage on an up-kept car. ;)

Tell you what Erin, you get rid of your car and I'll give you a ride to the rental truck place if it'll satisfy KevinB! Or I'll get rid of mine and we'll hitch up a cart for your dogs to pull when I need to take my cats to the vet ;)

Continuing the threadjack: the main thing I personally have to deal with is a sudden emergency - I have a deep-chested breed of dog, and if he gets bloat or torsion, it's nasty, it's quick, and it's a very painful death. I'm not gonna have time to go rent a truck - and have to wait for the CTA to get me there - before it's too late. So I keep my car as a dort of insurance transportation for emergencies just like that.

So that's a little TMI for a transit board, but the point is just as CC said earlier - we all have our reasons for why we choose to keep our cars.

Erin,
You've got a valid reason for the car expense: it's worth it to spend the money to have peace of mind and convenience.

Me, I drive (an old car, too) recreationally because 1) I enjoy driving on open roads and 2) I'm a bit of a foodie who gets cravings for particular restaurants in the farthest nether regions of Chicagoland. But I've been car free before and could easily do it again if money were tight, the car ownership is just a luxury.

Alot of people don't really need it, though, but they've never known anything else and have never been trained to accurately assess the costs involved. I think this is particularly true of younger people whose parents always paid their exorbitant insurance costs and possibly even bought them the car as well. Really major expense, which in the context of a relatively transit- and taxi-rich, pedestrian- and bike-friendly city seems insane unless you make alot of money to justify the luxury.

Erin,
You've got a valid reason for the car expense: it's worth it to spend the money to have peace of mind and convenience.

Me, I drive (an old car, too) recreationally because 1) I enjoy driving on open roads and 2) I'm a bit of a foodie who gets cravings for particular restaurants in the farthest nether regions of Chicagoland. But I've been car free before and could easily do it again if money were tight, the car ownership is just a luxury.

Alot of people don't really need it, though, but they've never known anything else and have never been trained to accurately assess the costs involved. I think this is particularly true of younger people whose parents always paid their exorbitant insurance costs and possibly even bought them the car as well. Really major expense, which in the context of a relatively transit- and taxi-rich, pedestrian- and bike-friendly city seems insane unless you make alot of money to justify the luxury.

I have been carless in Chicago for over 5 years. It has rarely been a hardship. Obviously I ride the CTA a lot and take Metra on occasion. In summer months, I ride my bike to work now and then and I use it often on the weekends to run errands around my neighborhood such as the bank, post office, haircut, etc. It is MUCH faster than driving in heavy Saturday afternoon traffic and trying to find parking. I also belong to i-Go and use it for occasional trips to Target or other errands that I have to haul things. Of course I also walk a lot, but I enjoy the exercise. In winter I tend to use Peapod about once a month to stock up on the bigger items that are a little too much to carry the 2 blocks from Dominicks. You can buy a lot of things online and I have found ways to save money doing it. Finally, I do utilize taxis now and then to get home if its very late.

I have found my carless life to be less hectic, stressful, healthier and I've saved tens of thousands of dollars. When you have unlimited access to a car you tend to drive all over the place a lot more, buying things you probably don't need anyways all the while you are sitting in a car fighting traffic, complaining there isn't enough parking, etc. I do have my CTA gripes that everyone has, but without it I wouldn't be living in Chicago.

By the way, did anyone notice the Tribune online has posted an article about the CTA shutting down the Blue Line between Rosemont and O'hare for 3 weeks in July? It appears they are going to tackle that part really quick while its completely shutdown for an extended period. I think its a great idea. Suffer for a few weeks in order to have full speed restored before August..much better in my opinion than 6 months of weekend closures all the way into nasty winter! They ARE waiting until the Taste of Chicago ends as well.

[By the way, did anyone notice the Tribune online has posted an article about the CTA shutting down the Blue Line between Rosemont and O'hare for 3 weeks in July?]

This does sound like a good idea. I hate, hate, hate having to go to O'Hare (I live in Rogers Park), and getting the Blue Line fixed from Cumberland to O'Hare would help a lot. So the sooner the better, no matter how much short-term pain.

To add on to something Anonymous is saying: it may well be that many people just didn't realize how much they were paying (in money and frustration) to drive to work, and perhaps the combination of increased congestion and increased gas prices have brought them to the tipping point where they woke up and realized it's just too much. Everyone has a different place to draw the line where cost is not worth the benefit, and perhaps a bunch of people have just crossed it.

But will these people sell the car or keep it parked for occasional use? If a lot of used cars go on the market, good used cars will become cheaper to buy, if not to operate.

I own a car and live in the Gold Coast, making the car truly unnecessary. I never use it, and it stays parked for months at a time. I just can't bear to part with it, and it costs me so little to keep it (insurance is like $500 a year).

My tipping point was finally getting caught up in the street cleaning/towing scam. I can't afford for that to happen more than once or twice a year. So if I'm not using this damn thing (I'm not), then why am I keeping it again?

Erin, of course, does not need to own a car. (Unless her dogs need to go to the vet daily, zip car or the like would do the trick at a fraction of the cost, all things considered.)

This, and the Sun-Times article do raise an interesting point, though: people rarely state their actual reasons for prefering driving over alternatives. Sometimes this is probably because they are socially unacceptable reasons (not wanting to be around "those people" on the green line, or not liking the idea of sharing in general). But at least some of the time, it seems like their reasons aren't all that bad (i.e., I enjoy driving), so why don't people just say that rather than making up stuff about dogs and vets and "needing" to drive to various things? Is it cultural?

You bet it's cultural!

We went from a time when people had to find reasons to justify having a car, to a time when people have to find reasons to justify *not* having a car! And for awhile, the only two socially acceptable reasons were that either you lived in Manhattan, or your physical disabilities made driving yourself too difficult.

Heck, for the last twenty years, in much of the country if every driving age person in your household didn't have their own car, you'd be looked at strangely.

Chart car registration growth against population growth, and it's pretty obvious that the car went from being a status symbol to being standard equipment for American adults.

It may have been a good thing at one time to equate a car in every garage with economic strength. One car per family is certainly something that many of us who grew up in the '50s and '60s can relate to. That family car had a lot of utility.

But today, with everyone having their own car, the car has become, for many people, their last bastion of solitude. Their only private domaine. The one place they can be alone with themselves.

Some folks are being driven to mass transit for economic reasons now, but they won't stay there long-term. Not unless they also make some change in their life that either gives them that physical solitude that their own car brings, or they learn how to make a change in attitude that allows them to tune-out the rest of the world while not physically alone. (iPods and headphones might help in this area!)

The cultural changes necessary to make having a car become optional go far deeper than the price of gas. The price of gas is just a catalyst in this whole paradigm.

absolutely right about having to deal with the issue of not having a car. When I was in high school, I didn't want to take driver's ed and no one could understand why not. Why should I have a reason? I just didn't want to; didn't absolutely need to since I lived in a fairly Pace-rich area at the time. As it turned out, it was a complex mess, taking the class, involving 2 schools and the rest, which didn't help in the slightest.

I'm not going to sit in judgment here on who needs a car and who doesn't. I know I don't. I did join I-Go a few years ago--the place I work gave them a couple of parking spaces so they let us join without paying the initial fee, just the annual fee. I use it maybe 5 times a year--one of those times for the cats' annual visit to the vet--and it's been very handy.

Also, people, Jewel delivers. If you don't like Peapod (and I don't, again, YMMV) you can go pick out your own food and have them bring it to your house. There's a $5 minimum delivery charge and it goes up after $50 worth of groceries. It's about 10 percent of the total.

I love the fact that Chicago Carless' Mike Doyle doesn't allow critical posts to hit his blog. Tip of the hat to you Kevin for maintaining an open blog!

Chiming in very late, but I'd like to add one more factor that no one else seems to have mentioned. Namely, most of us need a job. And where are the jobs, the ever-diminishing number that still exist? In my experience at least, almost exclusively out in the burbs where public transportation is a distant rumor, yea, as a tale that is told.