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
1000 a month for owning and operating a car seems like a lot. Maybe i am out of touch because we own our car outright, but its not nearly that expensive for us. Even with a parking spot rental.
I live in an awesome urban neighborhood, and still wouldnt want to be without the car. I dont use it when it doesnt make sense, but ive lived both with and without, and with is worlds better. Grocery shopping (especially at places like Costco) is much easier. Errands that would be an all day affair without the car become a few hours affair. Friends and family across the city are much easier to see. Things like that.
Dont get me wrong, i love a walkable neighborhood with a walkable downtown. Its why i dont live in a suburb abomination. When it makes more sense to use PT I use it. But life is better with the car overall. Its not a zero sun game. We can have both. And bike lanes. And pedestiran plazas. Etc.
1000 seems like a lot, but you need to factor in insurance, cost of parking, repurchasing fule, windshield washer fluids, oils, cabin air filters, car washes, heated seat subscriptions. It all adds up quickly.
And I know I must be missing stuff in this list as well like maintenance and depreciation of the vehicle as well.
Also parking costs are generally subsidized with city taxes for on street parking, but owning a condo or home with a driveway you could be looking at property tax attached to your home, and in a condo you may need to purchase the parking spot as a separate property.
Try adding in the cost of depreciation and it makes a lot more sense. I owned a used car for 10 years and didn’t commute using it for most of that time, so it didn’t even rack up that many miles. It still cost me over $500/month on average over that time period including depreciation, maintenance, gas, registration, and insurance. I’m sure it would be a lot more if I drove as much as the average american. Though I think the average is probably somewhat skewed towards the most expensive cars.
Needless to say I am now happily car free. $500/month can buy me a very nice ebike, as well as more taxis or hourly car rentals than I need.
Between parking, gas, insurance, and maintenance 500 is more within the realm of reason.
Yeha if you were hardly using it then why have the extra expense? In my family its used daily (mostly for work commute to a poorly connected by PT workplace). More than worth it for the conveniance and lifestyle it enables
Yes I think I probably should have sold it as soon as I stopped using it to commute. I was mostly just ignorant of all the alternatives to car ownership. Car ownership is not worth it in my opinion unless you truly need to use it several days out of the week every week. And people should be doing pretty much everything they can to avoid being in that situation.
I mean it’s not crazy IMO, running cost is probably 500 but depreciation is a major factor. A rule of thumb is around 10-15% of the value of the car each year so if you can sell yours now for 35000 depreciation is in the range of 300-400 a month. Older cars have a lower depreciation but higher maintenance. Then also not applicable in your case is financing cost which varies a lot.
In your case I’d look at how much just paying for a taxi for Costco and full day rental for day trips would cost compared to owning a car.
The car isnused formximmuting to work daily, so absolutely less expensive than cabs
But did you factor in all the other things like insurance, oil changes, car washes, property tax for owning a driveway and public street maintenance?
I see, I was under the impression that you didn’t use it for work as in walking/biking/public transport instead.