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Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

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Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#391
post #121

It'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'm in a similar situation, but from what I gather lifestyle factors heavily into the "do I need/want a car" equation. Kids, for example, usually mandate a car. Outdoor activities or any hobby that requires you haul around a lot of gear can also make having your own transportation a lot more appealing.

It still depends where you live. A city with good public transit and cycling infra structure and stuff you can walk to, still means you can have a kid and not need a car.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#392
post #138

Living in a small northern Ontario town, I wish we had Lyft or Uber here. Instead, just taxi's (or family) and public transport. Our public transport is based on a center hub topology with the hub being downtown. So if my kid wants to take the bus to work, about kilometer away, it takes 45 minutes half of which is in the wrong direction and involves at least one transfer. Oddly, it takes even longer to get home. Our…

If it’s only a kilometre why not walk? That’s 15 minutes for the average person.

In case you haven't noticed, 15 yr old, and 17 yr old girls don't walk anywhere. LOL.

Nor do they ride their bicycles.

In fact, anything other than 4 wheels (or dad on two) will have them mysteriously taking a sick day. +30C or -30C, no difference.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#393
post #377
post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've recently read that only something like 3% of Indian population pays any income taxes - that's probably one of major reasons.

What the actual fuck? Is this by design or do a billion people all manage to game the system?

I live in South Africa. It's a similar situation here. The problem is that most people are so poor, they legally don't have to pay income tax. (because they are unemployed or have a really shitty income)

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#394
post #377
post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've recently read that only something like 3% of Indian population pays any income taxes - that's probably one of major reasons.

What the actual fuck? Is this by design or do a billion people all manage to game the system?

From what I've read, most people make so little that they're exempt from the tax altogether.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#395

Hah, sorry to self plug[0] but I feel it’s relevant. I just wrote about this the other day, except I was using Uber instead. It turns out that for my personal situation it’s not worth it to go with a ridesharing service. Right now I’m spending $4,560 a year on Uber. Does anyone have bicycle recommendations for under $400? [0] https://pricetaganalysis.com/2018/01/15/how-much-money-i-spe...

Id probably get secondhand

How far are you cycling? It might be worth upping the price too and going electric

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#396
post #374
post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That really depends on location True. Where I grew up, the closest beach was an hour and a half drive away. Closest ski station was in a different country. Wasn't exactly safe to step out of the house to begin with though, being close to slums and all. I consider myself lucky to be able to share different kinds of experiences with my kids now even though the public transport system in north america doesn't help me.…

> You're right, I should just throw my car in the sea. If I also throw out my computer, my grandchildren will be proud that I tried to help bankrupt the ecology-destroying companies that mine rare metals for these gadgets you and I use to waste time online. OR I could just be honest with myself and acknowledge that I'm selfish despite knowing that merely existing is a huge burden on the planet. You can have a sense o…

Do you eat meat? Because if you do, the meat and dairy industry has a much bigger impact ecologically than a car does, at least in the USA. Raising beef or dairy cows requires orders of magnitude more water, land, corn feed (or even grass feed) for less calories than growing plant based sources of food would. Not to mention the conditions these animals are raised in (USA being the worst affender). So next time you take a bite of your steak, think how much ecologically impact that bite cost the world.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same experience. I can rent for $100 for the full day. Problem is usually I have to pick up the car from the airport since local garages office hours are limited. There is very few available on the weekend.

That's crazy expensive. I rent for around $30-$40 (Canadian dollars). Booking several weeks in advance, mind you. I often rent over Saturday night to Sunday morning. The near by place doesn't open until 9:00 on Sunday for returns, so I rent at 9:00 on Saturday even though they are open at 8:00 already, so I can return it within the 24 hours. During certain peak season times, they about double the rate. At those times…

You get good rates at the weekend/holidays because they generally don't have enough parking spaces for all their cars so want them off the lot.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#398
post #396
post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're right, I should just throw my car in the sea. If I also throw out my computer, my grandchildren will be proud that I tried to help bankrupt the ecology-destroying companies that mine rare metals for these gadgets you and I use to waste time online. OR I could just be honest with myself and acknowledge that I'm selfish despite knowing that merely existing is a huge burden on the planet. You can have a sense o…

Do you eat meat? Because if you do, the meat and dairy industry has a much bigger impact ecologically than a car does, at least in the USA. Raising beef or dairy cows requires orders of magnitude more water, land, corn feed (or even grass feed) for less calories than growing plant based sources of food would. Not to mention the conditions these animals are raised in (USA being the worst affender). So next time you ta…

I eat meat on occasion, but not "just for the heck of it", certainly not in the case of beef (you're misleadingly equivocating between "meat" and beef in your post when their ecological impact is very different).

Back-of-the-envelope numbers from a quick search suggest that a day's eating beef is equivalent to driving maybe 15 miles in terms of climatic impact, a day's chicken equivalent to ~1 mile. So "only drive when you're getting at least 1 steak/15 miles worth of fun out of it", and conversely "only eat steak when you're getting at least a 15 mile drive's worth of fun out of it", seem like good principles to live by.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#399
post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Why not? I use ZipCar for long weekends frequently.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#400
post #327

Not sure why so many people here are almost virtue signaling the act of not owning a drivers license. I agree—It's perfectly okay to not own a car if it doesn't make sense to your life situation. That being said, the ability to drive is nevertheless a useful skill and asset and at least in the United States, does not have a very high barrier to entry (for better or worse). There is so much in the United States that a…

> There is so much in the United States that a car gives you access to (most National Parks or wilderness in general are not accessible by public transport). They are accessible by tours, and friends, and cycling, and many other ways. You car people really seem to have a limited understanding of the real world, everything revolves around cars. You can't imagine doing something without a car.

> You car people

Incredible as it may seem, there are people in the world who have life experiences and perspectives that differ from yours. Unsurprisingly, that results in them also having different opinions and making different choices.

Clearly you feel that you've reached some kind of moral high ground, but there's no need to sneer at the rest of us from it.

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