This is the question posed on CityNerd video titled “Walkable Cities But They Keep Getting More Affordable”
If you ditched your car, could you afford to leave the suburbs for a great urban neighborhood?
Ray Delahanty answers the question in the 26 biggest US cities.
The analysis assumes the all-in cost of owning and operating a car is $1,000 per month, including purchase, insurance, fuel, and maintenance.
In the city, transportation costs might total about $250 per month for transit passes, biking, ride-hailing, and other small expenses.
This results in an effective $750 per month increase in the housing budget for city center residents who do not own a car.
The results of the video are quite interesting, as you can get more m² in walkable areas in most cities
I’ve never lived in a huge city, but where I live (Estonia), city planning is much better than much of North America so usually you wouldn’t live too far from a grocery store, walking is usually an option, otherwise there’s public transit. There’s literally nothing weird about bringing your grocery bags on a bus or train or whatever.
If you don’t have a car, you just shop for one or two days at a time usually. This way you can actually get fresher ingredients sometimes and you don’t have to plan an entire week ahead at once. In fact, I’m lazy and just shop for one or two days at a time despite having a car and sometimes using it to go to the grocery store. I just don’t know what I’ll want to eat 2 days from now!