Lyft for me. Amazon Prime for everything else including groceries and milk. For everything else I just walk. Serves me fine even in a state like Texas where local transit is absolute shit.
Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017
361–370 of 438 posts
Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017
#362I don't get how using lyft/uber as your only form of transportation can be at all cheaper. Let me run some basic math. Uber wants $11.50 to take me home right now. Lyft wants $13.40 $11.50 * 2 = $23/day 23 * 5 = $115/week $115 * 52 weeks = $5980/year (I am ignoring vacation weeks for now.) My yearly cost for car ownership are roughly as follows. (Assuming only work and back.) Insurance(1): $886/year Fuel(2): $292.50…
$1,000 purchase for a car? Is it just a deposit or full price for the car? I think it would be more comparable doing these calculations with some sort of median car, so medium sized sedan, 5-8 years old. Surely it would cost at least 10k to buy an average car like that?
I don't think it's fair to make these comparisons using these super cheap cars as presumably better car gives you more comfort and smoother / quieter / more comfy ride experience. Average Lyft/Uber car would cost way more than $1,000 to purchase.
On the other hand, the correct way of making this comparison would be to compare x years of Uber/Lyft usage vs X years of car ownership and I think 10-20k cars that you own would come out ahead in a 5 year comparison, for example (reasonable period of time, most people don't buy new cars more often than every 5+ years).
Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017
#363Earlier quoted context omitted.
i think those numbers are describing a lifestyle and not what it means to own a car. many people who own a car will not pay that much for parking. especially if you live 5 miles away from work. assuming you don’t drive to work and park on the street at home your numbers are down to $4100/yr. but your insurance number looks 2x too big, and maintenance i would drop by half, i think more realistic is a about $3,000/yr
Agreed my company is currently moving close to the center of Atlanta. It’s going to cost $15 a week to commute by train for the minimum 3 days to the office. Employee will match half so it only costs $7.50 a week out of pocket. I own a car bet it much more feasible to ride the train and walk briefly. Parking is free and only a mile to the closest train stop. My employers building has a free parking deck. Does Seattle…
When I visited Atlanta a few years ago, I was the only white guy on the train, and possibly also the only person with a professional job.
A couple of people asked me what I was doing!
If that's changed, that's a great improvement for Atlanta.
Although I would walk or cycle the mile to the station.
Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017
#364Earlier quoted context omitted.
That strongly depends on where you live. Kids don't require a car in New York, but I can't imagine living in a suburb of Dallas without one.
Lifestyle plays a part in where and how you live though. Kids may not require a car in downtown Toronto, but all the nice kid-oriented programs are uptown, where you do need a car to get around. Similarly, living in SF with two kids, I don't technically _need_ a car since MUNI coverage is decent, but we have a fast-paced lifestyle: it's a heck more convenient to have a car when you are regularly going to costco, ikea…
Consuming less never enters the equation, does it ?
Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017
#365Earlier quoted context omitted.
I walked 5 miles or more when I lived in the city (Boston). If Seattle has any of the amenities of Boston there's a grocery store within walking distance. I always took the T (subway) everywhere. I can't imagine paying for someone to drive me places in the city, it was just never needed even for things like you're talking about.
It's kind of hard to walk with your hands full of grocery bags if you are shopping for a family of 3+ especially in the winter.
Shopping trolleys are a thing.
Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017
#366It's part of the reason I haven't bought a car. I'm in my mid 20s and didn't get my license in high school because insurance would have been too expensive (my parents wanted me to pay for it). I think driving is a good life skill so I got my license in my early 20s, but I still have zero desire to own a car. That said, I live in Seattle, where there is good public transportation. Here are my numbers: Parking (I work…
I agree it varies by place. I live in Charlottesville, and it is not very plausible if none of your friends have a car. The public transit is only convenient in downtown and in UVA, but none of the supermarkets are inside the city. Supermarkets, many restaurants, and malls are all along the state high way. It is ridiculous for a walker, because sometimes you cannot walk across the street to get to the McDonald's righ…
There seems to be a weekly farmers market from april to december downtown.
Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017
#367It's part of the reason I haven't bought a car. I'm in my mid 20s and didn't get my license in high school because insurance would have been too expensive (my parents wanted me to pay for it). I think driving is a good life skill so I got my license in my early 20s, but I still have zero desire to own a car. That said, I live in Seattle, where there is good public transportation. Here are my numbers: Parking (I work…
"That said, I live in Seattle, where there is good public transportation." boy are you in for a treat when you move to a city with good public transportation!
I don't understand why every country/state/city doesn't have superb public transportation. I live in a city in India which has a pathetic public transportation system. The buses are irregular and you can't rely on it at all.
Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017
#368Automobile ownership is dumb, but ridesharing isn't the answer either. Cities need to invest in public infrastructure, especially fast efficient public transit. People should also rediscover the joy of human power (walk, bike, run).
That's the bubble mentality of someone who lives in the city and/or doesn't have a family. How about you try hauling a baby in a stroller, diaper bag, and two other kids to a metro train (if you're so lucky to have one close) and then onto a bus. Ride sharing doesn't solve those problems, either, especially since you'd be in need of carseats. So no, automobile ownership is not dumb. There's plenty of use cases where…
Have less kids ?
Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017
#369Earlier quoted context omitted.
Outdoor activities or any hobby that requires you haul around a lot of gear Indeed, this is something that gets totally missed by advocates of on-demand self-driving yadda yadda, because they live in densely populated cities and socialise and get entertainment almost exclusively online. That demographic is overrepresented on HN. Most people who own cars who might use them to commute during the week use them for fun s…
That's what Zipcar (or its competitors) is for. In most cases us city-dwellers still save money on short-term rentals over the cost of car ownership.
A zipcar’s not really for the use case of a weekend away tho’. It would be a traditional rental like Hertz or Avis, then you have to pick it up the night before, load it, then when you get back late unload it, drop it off, then get back home by some other means...
Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017
#370My wife and I share my Jeep but I tried really hard to be carless in Austin, TX. I even experimented with a variety of Segways (at the expense of many jokes) and alternatives to a bike for the longer-hauls so that I'm not drenched in sweat when I get to the office. [1] I was totally fine when we lived downtown as it's becoming very walkable, but it's pretty impractical when you live even a short distance from the cor…
Stay downtown then. If being carless was so important, that was the way to pursue it.