What will it take to get/force you out of your car and into some other form of transit?

[Preppy]

My wife and I recently sold both of our cars and picked up one car for double duty (she drives to work, I take transit). Mostly this was because before we were married, we both had our own cars... but it doesn't hurt that to rent an extra parking spot in downtown toronto costs $150-$200 per month; and we really didn't need the extra car. No to mention, parking downtown is really expensive.

I have a toy car that I can use from time to time if need be, but it sleeps mid-town at my father in law's house.

I would consider a vespa or something similar... but really, we do need a car to get around on the weekends.

So what would it take to get you out of your car? What would it take for you to be forced from your car?

• Cost of gas?
• Cost of parking?
• Cost of insurance?
• Committment to being energy conscious?
• Never get rid of your car, regardless?

[Fe2O3]

I'm a suburban dweller, so I have no choice unless I move or switch to scooter or motorcycle, which would be a deathwish on my commute

[ATL_Av8r]

I already take the train into downtown. No way was I going to deal with traffic and parking. The train is somewhat reliable and I have a deadline of what I HAVE to be at daycare before they lock my kid up and make him stay alone overnight.

[WhistlerYOW]

If every car just stopped working and the bus was the only thing that still ran, picked me up exactly when I wanted to leave, and dropped me off exactly where I want to be.

Until then, transit is just a tube full of poor people that gets in the way.

[dieselraver]

i have a family and taking mass transit to do shopping for the kids is out of the question. i can't imagine trying to haul $400.00 worth of costco stuff home on a bus... my God....

[CWDave]

The invention and perfect implementation of teleporters.

[bob12312357]

Death

[vmchurch]

Losing my legs......and even thats only a maybe

[redshift]

It would have to be a complete lack of infrastructure. Either fueling or roads. Failing that, I'll drive until they tell me I can't anymore.

[90 GT-G60]

The invention and perfect implementation of teleporters.

This

I took regional rail into Philly from Delaware. Hated it.
If I had to take Public transportation to where I work now it would be train into Philly>train to Norristown>bus to Plymouth Meeting.
Looking at close to 2 hours if not more. Last train out of philly to the station in delaware where I would park used to be 5:36pm.

No thanks. I will drive the 50 miles one way.

[justanotherusername]

Not possible for me. I couldn't do what I do without a car.

[dunhamjr]

i would have to relocate to be able to get rid of my car completely.

taking buses to get to work would double the time my commute takes, so its not an option since my commute is ALREADY an hour each way.

i however already have limited my own driving about as much as i can at this point. i drive 3-4 miles to a transit station, then vanpool to work 3 days a week. the other 2 days per week i telecommute.

if i am driving but NOT commuting to work, the car is always filled with either 3-4 bodies... (me, wife, baby and sometimes grandma).

my wife works 14 miles from home and there is no good transit option to get her to work easily and in a timely fashion.

walking or riding a bike the 4 miles to the transit station is not an option, too many BIG hills to traverse. and in seattle it rains like 260 days per year.

i am not willing to ride a bike in the rain for 20-40 minutes each day to then sit in a bus for 4 hours a day... just to save 8 miles of driving per day.

[Air-over-water]

I do not think anything would be able to force me out of a car and into another form of transit.
Partly because the next 'big' city is ~150-200 miles away but mostly because I enjoy driving too much to give it up.

[2VWatatime]

Something around a .30 caliber or larger. Here's a news flash - there are lots & lots of people who don't want to live in a giant shoebox of smaller shoeboxes. Cities are great places to visit, but don't want to live there...

[EnIgMa '06]

I will never get rid of my car(s), but I dream of the day that I don't ever have to drive. In grad school, I biked fifteen miles a day rain or shine. In Minnesota. I had studded tires in the winter. It was glorious. On particularly terrible days, I took the light rail train and biked the rest of the way. I didn't have to drive, I only did when I wanted to.

[SVTDanny]

I tried to do the public transportation thing. Stuck with it for close to 6 months, but ultimately it just sucks. Too much waiting, too many people, too little control. It isn't cheap either - round trip for me to go to work and back is right at $13/day.

I'm now back to driving to work, just coming in early and leaving early so I don't have to sit in any traffic.

[Pf3il]

urban environment -> bicycle.

[Air-over-water]

I tried to do the public transportation thing. Stuck with it for close to 6 months, but ultimately it just sucks. Too much waiting, too many people, too little control. It isn't cheap either - round trip for me to go to work and back is right at $13/day.

I had to take the park and ride while working at One Shell Square in Houston, I was lucky to have the cost reimbursed.
If the bus was full I could always just hop in the SLUG line, most of the time it was a fun ride.
But I am glad I do not need to take the bus anymore.

[McBanagon]

Cost of parking, and traffic got me out of mine.

• Taking the subway to work costs me $15 and takes me an hour to get there.
• Parking at work costs me $20, and takes an hour sitting in traffic to get there.
• My left foot, wear and tear on the car, and my wallet says..... subway.

I would much rather drive my cars to work. Drinking a cup of coffee, listening to the radio, farting, picking my nose, and having a guaranteed seat..... but It's not worth it.

[Live-Wire]

Suburban dweller. My commute is only 15min across town. If I took the probably 3-5 buses needed to get to the industrial park, it would most likely take me an hour. So it makes no sense. I make good money, I can afford the car, I'm going to use it and enjoy it.

Also I like my peace/solitude when going to/from my work - I like to take the long way to work, wake up a little, enjoy a coffee and listen to music. It relaxes me for my day. I have a neighbor down the street who works at the same plant/same shift as me and we only car-pool together on night shift because our daily routines vary too much when going in for day or afternoon shift. I used to commute/car-pool with another co-worker when we both lived 65kms away from work. That made sense, but it was still annoying in some ways (he was a great guy, and still friends)... I couldn't handle sharing my ride to work with 30 other people... not every single day. And the speed of the system would have to be comparable to using a car. I only enjoy public transport when it's a subway. I like subways. They are cheap, they are super fast, and they are clean. If I lived in Toronto I'd have no problem using one... but I'd still own a car.

Buses are a scourge of the earth. They constantly block and slow down traffic. They are far from 'express'. They are smelly and loud. Subways FTW.

[genjy]

I live in a Los Angeles-Pasadena suburb. I LOVE driving--and I live close to a well-known mountain road among driving enthusiasts.

However, my house is near (~1 mile) my workplace, grocery stores, eateries, and my kid's school--so, I mostly just walk or bike everyday. I don't really have to drive other than for entertainment or special-ish errands--or when I am lazy.

There are a lot of college/univ students in the area, so I don't look like a weirdo trying too hard to make a point by biking or walking--many, many students bike and walk, too.

In a few years, Los Angeles Metro will have a light rail stop ~1 mile from my house. I will have a very inexpensive, reasonably speedy, and comfortable mode of public transportation to Pasadena and Los Angeles. This is a new light rail line on top of already rather good bus system, too.

Unfortunately, my wife works 37 miles one-way, but it's sort of a transitional position and she will be looking for something in Pasadena in a couple years. Hopefully, she will be able to take the light rail to work.

We (or at least I am) are trying to cut down on driving. I was born in a city with a famous, world-class subway/bus system, so this pub-trans thing is in my blood (my wife's blood, not so much).


My daily driver for daily things:


Plus this in a couple years:

[Harold]

Public transportation is not an option for me. Unless you have 24 hrs service. I work 2nd shift.

My commute is already 20-25 mins , even if public service were available it would probably be at least a one hour commute each way just to go 25 miles, no thanks.

[classicjetta]

Already done here. Neither car gets driven on a daily basis anymore. By her own choice, the wife got fed up with exorbitant parking fees and joined me in taking the bus. I like being able to read a book or surf the web while commuting, and I don't stress about traffic, wear on my car, or idiots on the road. Our situation is somewhat of a rarity, living in a neighborhood of decent sized single family houses but with great transit service. Love it.

[6cylVWguy]

Convenience.

[adrew]

I live seven miles from work and have a (janky) grocery store about two miles away. We drive all over the place now since gas is relatively cheap and we have fuel efficient cars. Right now I only buy gas about once a month if we don't go out of town on the weekend, and it costs about $35 to fill up at $3.59 a gallon (for 380-400 miles).

To get me to bike to work gas would probably have to get up to $15 or $20 a gallon. That would put a Yaris fillup at $150-$200. I could absorb that pretty easily, but if gas prices were that high, everything else would be so expensive that I'd probably have other things to worry about aside from getting to work.

[dunhamjr]

round trip for me to go to work and back is right at $13/day.

$13/day does sound a bit much... but really if you had to ONLY pay that on commuting days, in complete exchange for all car costs. (monthly payments, gas, insurance, parking, maintenance) then $13/day could end up actually cheaper in the long run.

when i swap over to riding on the bus in May 2013, my 'commute' by bus will be $5/day. 3 days a week. the company will give me $50/mo for not driving. AND i will have save paying $150/mo in potential parking fees.

so for me, its going to be a no-brainer to ride the bus.

[Beanboy]

Always will have one, but I just use mine for rec purposes, not for work commuting.

[brickfrenzy]

I already bike to work 3 times a week. I'm good, thanks.

[askibum02]

I live too far out in the sticks to even come close to public transit. Even if I could use it, it's unreliable at best. When I lived in DC I didn't use it either, because it didn't work with my schedule. In at 5:30am, out at 7:15pm four days a week.

[BostonB6]

What will it take to get me out of my car an into some other form of transit?

This:

[G0to60]

Right now my options to get to work (40 miles round trip) are this:

Drive - ~35 mins each way
Bike - ~2 hours each way
Bike/Light Rail - ~3 hours each way

I've done each of these at one point and driving is just the most practical. I can't spend so much of my time commuting. I am really thinking about getting a scooter or small motorcycle next summer for our fantastic summer weather. It will probably take me about 45 minutes because I'll stick to the back roads. I won't save a bunch of money on gas since that will be off set by the initial purchase price but it will save wear and tear on my cars. That alone will save me time and money.

[Brendan@bwalkauto]

My E39 broke (and my LEAF was left at work due to a miscommunication with the lady), so I'm typing this from a train station bench. I don't see myself doing this everyday for any reason given my fairly short commute.

I'm actually tempted to just pay the money and take a cab...

[VWVan]

Entertainment on the bus.


If I could get to work in less time I might consider it. But now I would have to drive 35-40 minutes across town to get to the skytrain station. Take skytrain another 20-25 minutes, then walk 20 minutes. I drive in less time to get to work, even less on the way home.

[71DubBugBug]

What will it take to get me out of my car an into some other form of transit?

This:

this
nothing wrong with public transport, but if you live in the suburbs, you still have a 3-5 mile drive to get to public transport

and i cant be tied down by either a woman or a schedule

[devianb]

I live 3 miles from work so I don't need to drive. I have a bike, the buses take me just about anywhere in the city, and as a last resort I can walk.