Commentary

Owned by the car | June 13th, 2008
Over the last two years I've abandoned ambitions of owning a car. This isn't solely for environmental concerns, although there are many, but largely for cost and convenience. After a small amount of thought, it's clear that owning a car is very costly: purchase price (>$2000), insurance ($650/year), maintenance (average of $500/year), parking ($2500 annually for a parking spot), gas (>$500/annually), plus the many miscellaneous charges that arise when owning a car. With those costs of roughly $3000/year, add the stress of having an expensive item that may be easily damaged. I've found renting a car when I need one to be a much more economical and low stress option. When a real need for a vehicle does come up, I'll be able to afford the taxi with all the money I saved, i.e. didn't spend. As for my main transportation, the bus, I get a lot of reading and work done during my 25 minute commute to/from campus.