k_X_car_dependency

Surprise experience .. In 100% of the places I chose, I didn’t need a car, even in winters, even with kids! Did we feel deprived? Rarely… Worst places were

1. East Orange
2. 45 Juliette

I’d like to quantify car-dependency by a single number (simplicity is a virtue) — In a month how many times do you NEED your own car, instead of Uber, car rental, bicycle, and public transport?

As I wrote to Sophia Cui, The more “essential” commutes to office, to school, or to see family… tend to be periodic and scheduled, and… can be efficiently supported by scheduled mass transit like trains, buses, ferries.

Weather — affects cycling; and walk could be too cold too wet too long. Experience in White Plains, Bayonne (also JC, Brooklyn) — for 28M I didn’t take taxi or bus even once, except an interview trip to TrexQuant’s campus.

• –situations that call for a car, either rented or unshared.
• [w=beware winter or rain: x% of the days are too cold and I can’t rely on light rail + walk? below 1%]
• [o=largely optional trips. There are usually alternatives.]
• send kids to enrichment classes
• nearby shopping? I can cycle though my peers would drive
• [w] weekly grocery shopping? For short distance, Uber starts at $6 x 2
• [o] Walmart/Target trips
• bulky purchase … furniture etc. Infrequent after the initial set-up. Can pay for delivery or rent a car
• moving home …… pay a professional or rent a car
• [w] hospitals ……. Mostly we have used clinics, not hospitals. we don’t have any chronic health condition yet. If we do, then I wish we stay in a well-connected place and don’t depend on cars
• DMV, post offices and other government matters. .. Not so frequent in my experience. There is often transit access.
• [o] check out various schools/homes? Infrequent… Can pick a free day, and take my bike on the train.
• airport ……………… I have been using public transport + cabs. Economically viable. Airport always has transit access. Driving your own car is often impractical due to long-term parking cost.
• interviews ………… Sounds like a real problem but Absolutely not a problem in reality. Only 1% of the employers are far from transit stations and I never needed to pay for taxi [RTS, SIG]
• [o] family outing …. most of the time (like 90-99%), could use train and then rent a car, but some nearby places may not have train connectivity, so we simply avoid them, as in Singapore and Beijing.
• [o] visit friends …… Seldom. May need them to pick me up from train station. Those far-away friends I simply don’t visit.
• [o] gym ……………… xp[Retro, Citi, Barcap, Baml, RTS, GS] If too far, I would simply to outdoor. In SG and U.S. I never feel unable to work out due to “no gym nearby”.
• [o] cinema………….. Increasingly optional. Just watch at home.
• police station to make police report
• meet lawyers when I have a legal problem. Email is best, followed by phone call. Only initial conversation need in-person.

It’s possible that one suburb is much more car-dependent than another. South Edison vs North Edison? I have rational reasons to prefer a location with lowest car dependency:

• — reasons:
• weather .. unwanted dependency! The better locations offer the flexibility to use public transport or bicycle.
• .. snowy/icy road … and you hate your dependency on cars
• If the location has inherently high car-dependency you could end up needing 2 cars
• congestions
• tolls — very hard to avoid in an unfamiliar place
• tickets — very hard to avoid at least for a beginner
• accidents and problems due to wear-n-tear
• accidents not due to our fault
• private car $TCO
• having no car naturally makes you more active and more healthy. If you live in a remote location you would drive for everything by default. You would not keep a bike. The car in the garage would shout “Use me” … hard to ignore. Some blogger wrote “I guess you could get so used to driving that you don’t bother to walk or bike. A 10-minute walk to shops is good exercise, though it requires planning and getting-used-to.”
• various accidental mistakes — surprisingly common. CSY told me about running red light; two friends were caught drunk driving;
• various stressors .. parking meter, parking space, peak hours traffic,,,
• various road rage scenarios .. a broad/vague but memorable phrase
• http://www.moneycrashers.com/living-without-car/ list many other factors

—-Hi XR,

I much prefer a home location where I don’t depend on car ownership. I will still own a car, for family outing etc, but I hope I could just keep it in the garage most of the time, and don’t need it for everyday shopping or commute.

Most of the locations I chose were like that — Boston, White Plains, Brooklyn.

One of the places (in Bushwick inner city) is 3 minutes walk to the subway, but strangely I won’t feel so comfortable walking on those dirty, run-down streets so I would probably prefer driving in that area. In contrast, your Jersey City home is also a few minutes walk to PATH, but I would feel safe without owning a car in that area.

I believe most suburban areas require cars, including most of NJ and Long Island. However, in my home search, urban locations “show up” more, so to me, the percentage of car-dependent homes is 30-70%.