) would present me with a choice that I had not given any consideration since I turned 16 years old: I would now have the option of not owning nor needing a car. For 12 years I had driven myself around, with the exception of a few weeks here and there when either the car was being repaired or I had sold my old one and hadn't gotten a new one yet. As a result I had spent countless dollars on repairs, insurance, gasoline, registration, parking fees, smog inspection, parking tickets, and the dreaded moving violations.
That was about to come to an ignominious end. My decision to ditch the car when I left California was swift and debateless, almost a no-brainer. For moving to New York City meant not only that I would be moving to a place where they actually had seasons, it would also be a place where the public transportation is among the world's best. No more would I have to drive while looking over my shoulder (or in the rear-view mirror, actually) for CHPs waiting to write me up a speeding ticket. No more would I sit in traffic jams on the way to work, caused by rubbernecks having a look at an off-road construction site or, God forbid, an accident on the freeway. No more would I fork over hundreds of dollars every year for insurance that not once in 12 years did I make a claim against. My record of zero accidents would remain intact; my speeding tickets would expire off my record in three years. The pressures of owning a car and the responsibilities of driving were expulsed forthwith.
I did some careful calculations before the move, attempting to ascertain whether using public transportation would in fact be more economical than owning a car. But there is no doubt that it is: between the weekly trip to the gas station (and this was before the recent rise in gasoline prices), oil checks, insurance, and occasional repairs, my monthly expenses for the car were over $100 not counting special circumstances--and this doesn't even count the ever-depreciating cost of the car itself. A month on the subway, on the other hand, would cost me an average of $70, and today that number has actually decreased, to $63, with the advent of the 30-day, unlimited-use Metrocard.
Confident in my decision, I unceremoniously dropped my car off at my mother's house the night before I flew to Newark airport. My sister sold it within a couple of months, and that was it. Not once have I missed having a car, although I have needed to borrow one from time to time, and my girlfriend has her own car that I use occasionally (mostly for out-of-town trips or picking people up from the airport). I ride the subway to and from work every day, and use it to get around the city on the weekends. I use trains to visit my grandparents in Elizabeth, NJ. I have learned the buses and subway lines needed to get to both JFK and La Guardia airports. Every major sporting venue in the city has a subway stop. There is no need for a car in my life, with the exception of getting to my Friday night hockey games at Chelsea Piers, which is not an insurmountable task without a car--but it's a royal pain in the cheeks to get there via bus and subway, and expensive in a taxi.
So I have no regrets. When you consider how much money you throw into your car, and how much time you waste in traffic jams, and how much anxiety you incur while avoiding the other morons on the road, and the angst that comes with knowing that the police are always finding new ways to hide, there's really no chance that I'll have the desire to own an automobile ever again.
Besides, I like riding the subway, even though I am convinced that the MTA is run by idiots who have no clue what a nightmare the 6 train has become, nor have ever stood on a platform while a train arrives whose brakes howl louder than a 747 revving its engines prior to takeoff. Contrary to popular belief, the New York subway isn't just passengered by the homeless and insane; it's also a great place for girl-watching, and for catching up on your reading. Instead of sitting in traffic while driving home, I can take a short nap or read a magazine while I ride the B train (a much better use of my time). During the course of a five-day work week, I go through three newsweeklies on the way in, and various books or monthlies on the way home. That's valuable reading time when you have a schedule as busy as mine.
Rob Donner
