-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Driving? The Kids Are So Over It (WSJ)
- Thread starter entremet
- Start date
I'm an older millennial, and even I didn't get a driver's license until I was 21... so I could buy alcohol. I did get a car after college out of necessity. I'm in my 30's now and own a vehicle for recreation, but use transit to get to work. It's really nice not having to drive.
Depends where you live. Theres only so much you can do in areas that coat their roads in salt for 5 to 6 months a year.
Yeah. I am Gen X but I only owned a (used) car for a single year in 2000 and realized how insane that was in a city like Toronto, even pre ride-sharing. Didn't buy another car for 18 years until I moved way out of town and had to.
Driver's licenses are useful for logistic reasons--although I imagine the plain-Jane state ID is legally equivalent--but a car? Automobiles are fucking money pits. Today's cars aren't durable, DIY vehicles boomers reminisce about; they're fragile, technical, interconnected computers on wheels.
Also, add up all the expenses you spend on your car. Gas, registration(s), insurance, and maintenance. That's a lot of money.
Also, add up all the expenses you spend on your car. Gas, registration(s), insurance, and maintenance. That's a lot of money.
Younger people are still flocking to cities and other urban hubs for high paying jobs. Cities have better public transportation. I think you can even crunch the number and see that in some common use cases Ubering ever day (and not even with Uber Pool) can be cheaper than having a car payment and paying for parking.
OP
OP
I want to slap people silly when they consider getting a car in NYC lol. Which is not uncommon for those coming for suburbia to take job here..
Too many people come here and bring their annoying vehicles. Save us, Gen Z.
I'm not a teenager (34) but I haven't owned a car since 2012, and even before that I didn't drive that much. Since finishing college I've preferred to live in places with good public transport options, and my own personal vehicle when I've had one has been a Mo-ped. No plan on owning a car again, unless I have kids someday I guess. Driving sucks, and living in cities well suited to walking and public transport is just a much simpler and happy life.
Moved to a big city in Taiwan a couple years ago and I love not having a car.
There's a grocery store/mini-mall within a short walk. Within a larger walk radius, there's a night market and 3 major malls. Restaurants, food stands, and convenience stores all over the place. Tons of parks. Public transportation within the city is free with a certain card as long as you have enough money to potentially cover larger fares (and the card itself is only like $3 USD). Taxis to places we generally go to range from around $3-$7 USD. For longer trips, there are buses to major places as well as the high speed train which will get you to just about any major part of the island super-fast. Even with taxi fare & the occasional longer trip, we spend a tiny fraction of the amount of money we spent on car payment + car insurance + gas + repairs/maintenance in the US.
There's a grocery store/mini-mall within a short walk. Within a larger walk radius, there's a night market and 3 major malls. Restaurants, food stands, and convenience stores all over the place. Tons of parks. Public transportation within the city is free with a certain card as long as you have enough money to potentially cover larger fares (and the card itself is only like $3 USD). Taxis to places we generally go to range from around $3-$7 USD. For longer trips, there are buses to major places as well as the high speed train which will get you to just about any major part of the island super-fast. Even with taxi fare & the occasional longer trip, we spend a tiny fraction of the amount of money we spent on car payment + car insurance + gas + repairs/maintenance in the US.
Cries in Detroit as I rent a scooter as my public transportation
Factually incorrect.
I agree with them being money pits though.
Ah yeah, not being able to drive friends around would put a damper on desire to get a license. Not being able to drive younger siblings around would get rid of one of parents' motivations for you to get a license and a car.
I'm turning 37. I hate driving, but I have to do it in Southern California. A few years ago, it seemed like self driving cars would be here quickly. Now, I'm not so sure about that.
To me, it's a sign of progress. Cars are financially and environmentally burdensome products that people are told they "have" to own. Less people driving is a net benefit to society.
It's actually more economic for me to have a car in Chicago, as the rent around train stations are significantly higher.
As someone from the UK, I failed my test 3 times when I was 22 and it completely killed all my confidence behind the wheel, so I've just put it off endlessly, and have 0 motivation to sink all the money and effort into learning with a full time job.
Now at 26 with terrible anxiety, I can't even face a test. I'd kill for Uber/Lyft in my area, or just for cars to be automated all together.
Now at 26 with terrible anxiety, I can't even face a test. I'd kill for Uber/Lyft in my area, or just for cars to be automated all together.
Buying a car in that age group has also gotten a lot more difficult.
Fewer teenagers have summer jobs/jobs while in school now.
Entry level/beater cars prices have also jumped up a lot.
Fewer teenagers have summer jobs/jobs while in school now.
Entry level/beater cars prices have also jumped up a lot.
Hopefully this results in more manual transmission cars, as only enthusiasts will be driving in the future.
Sadly in PHX if you don't have one you are basically jobless. I hope the Sunbelt cities can be reformed one day to be in a walkable state.
This. I wouldn't even mind a longer commute if I didn't have to drive or deal with car ownership.
Phoenix? Walk-able? Unless you can do something about the sun, idk, you basically get heatstroke just from going outside for longer than 10 minutes in the summer.
I don't think there are going to be manual self driving cars
Good. Schools are already trying to teach kids too much. Throwing in a driving curriculum takes up valuable curriculum space.
I love being able to drive in my non-city multi-county area I have to cover. It really is "freedom". But if I lived in a city hell fucking no would I drive. I don't know how possible it is due to how large the US is for the rest of the country, but for sure get cars out of cities.
Well duh. But what enthusiast would want an automated car if the intention is to have fun driving it?
Not at my high school. We had it as a full semester course with textbook, homework worksheets and all.
Wouldn't they be after school programs?
Ah, interesting.
Work exclusively night shifts lol but it would be still be hot as hell even at midnight. PHX lives and dies off the automobile
In other words, the powers that be are making it harder to get a car and deal with the related expenses and then are like, "OMG why aren't young people buying cars!?"
I wonder how many car manufacturers dodge taxes, too.
I consider myself fortunate to live somewhere walkable. I'm perfectly happy to do Zip Car to do all my shopping for the month in one go. IMO, it's even more cost effective to do so. But the dinosaur politicians will keep pretending it's young people's fault for avoiding cars.
I wonder how many car manufacturers dodge taxes, too.
I consider myself fortunate to live somewhere walkable. I'm perfectly happy to do Zip Car to do all my shopping for the month in one go. IMO, it's even more cost effective to do so. But the dinosaur politicians will keep pretending it's young people's fault for avoiding cars.
I'm 37 years old and never had my license. People are always confused/borderline rude when they find out I don't have a car or license.
What little extra money I do have isn't going towards gas/maintenance/a car.
Fuck that.
What little extra money I do have isn't going towards gas/maintenance/a car.
Fuck that.
I still love driving, I especially love driving since I just bought a brand new car at the end of February, and I do still pretty hard-subscribe to the ideal notion of car=freedom. But I'm gen Y, not gen Z like these kids, so that makes sense.
I take public transportation to work during the warm months, want to buy an eBike to circumvent that and still have relative freedom (my current city has very robust, well-maintained bicycle infrastructure), but that's more because my job is on a college campus and I have to buy a $700 annual parking permit to drive to work -- and I say FUCK THAT.
Still, if I do buy an eBike, I'll probably use it more often than my car around town.
I take public transportation to work during the warm months, want to buy an eBike to circumvent that and still have relative freedom (my current city has very robust, well-maintained bicycle infrastructure), but that's more because my job is on a college campus and I have to buy a $700 annual parking permit to drive to work -- and I say FUCK THAT.
Still, if I do buy an eBike, I'll probably use it more often than my car around town.
I hate driving, i wish i lived in an area that allowed me to just walk everywhere but I'm in the midwest where a car is basically a necessity.
The automotive and oil industries pushed us so far in one direction it's going to be a shock if it's undone. People used to live close to where they worked. Now it's not uncommon to drive hours to your job. Telecommuting is undoing this to a degree.
I was off Thursday afternoon and just looking out my front window. Within a 10 minute span I saw a USPS truck stop in front of my neighbors and drop off a box. A minute later a fedex truck drove by. Another couple minutes later an Enterprise rental truck stopped at another neighbors and dropped off an amazon box (yes, car rental companies deliver packages now). After that, a UPS truck drove by.
It's just crazy to me how far cars and gas have changed society and I'm starting to wonder at what cost. It's expected everyone owns a car, at least if you live in the suburbs. And now everyone loves their 2 day shipping so there's a dozen more vehicles buzzing around your current hemisphere.
I was off Thursday afternoon and just looking out my front window. Within a 10 minute span I saw a USPS truck stop in front of my neighbors and drop off a box. A minute later a fedex truck drove by. Another couple minutes later an Enterprise rental truck stopped at another neighbors and dropped off an amazon box (yes, car rental companies deliver packages now). After that, a UPS truck drove by.
It's just crazy to me how far cars and gas have changed society and I'm starting to wonder at what cost. It's expected everyone owns a car, at least if you live in the suburbs. And now everyone loves their 2 day shipping so there's a dozen more vehicles buzzing around your current hemisphere.
Nah. Plenty of fairly well-off youngish/early middle age people who live in cities who understand how pointless owning a car is 99,9% of the time. That rest of 0,1% they can just take a taxi or pay for other kinds of professionals (movers and such). While those can be kinda expensive from a certain POV, buying, owning, using and maintaining a car dwarfs those expenses.
I've seen so many "NYC Apartment Tour" videos to know that so many people talk about the mistake of bringing their car from home. New York public transit has always been good to me when I visited.
Though right now my wife and I are thinking of relocating to Brooklyn in a few years and with the idea of raising a family. I don't know how the car debate goes when you add kids in the mix. But I wouldn't be surprised to see another article saying Gen Z are refusing to have kids (when Gen Z's are hitting early 30's), so it would probably be a moot point for them.
That just stupid on both parties.
But yeah, when I was a teenager I got a used car as a present. Buying a new car for the most inexperienced driver is ridiculous and dangerous.
