I tend to agree, depending on where you live, you may not need a car.  I
grew up in a rural town.  There, we needed a car -- the closest neighbor
was a 1/2 mile, the closest grocery store was 3 miles, the hospital was
15 miles.  There was absolutely no public transportation, no sidewalks,
just miles of narrow, windy, dangerous country roads.  When I got
married, I moved to the city.  My husband drove to work - there were not
busses that went from d I walked, rode my bicycle, or rode the bus to
work.  We could easily have gotten along with only one car, and we
probably could have gotten by with no cars.  I have cousins that live in
the same city and don't have a car.  They both work close to home and
walk to work.  They even survived getting to the hospital while in or
having thier first baby.  They had a sled and he was prepared to pull
her through the snow on it all the way to the emergency room.  So, in
some places, you can get away without having a car.  You will need to
alter your life style and make changes -- live close to work or live on
or near the bus line.  But it is possible.  And, look at how much money
you save on car payments, repairs, maintenance, and insurance, and how
skinny and in-shape you would be walking everywhere.  It really isn't
all that bad.


>
>
>At 10:10 AM 11/18/98 -0500, you wrote:
>>Okay, now let me start with the fact that I agree with the vast
majority of
>>what was said in this posting, and a salary "in the low 20's" for a
city
>>like LA is ridiculous.  But WHY would you "need" a car if you can walk
to
>>work?  Maybe one of the reasons why so many people complain about low
>>salaries is this bizarre belief that an automobile is as necessary as
one's
>>left arm, and life is impossible without one.  It's particularly
ridiculous
>>in the case of a city like LA where, I understand, air pollution is
>>atrocious!
>
>Wait a min, no one ever said that one always *needs* a car.  From what
I
>understand of LA, it is a spread out city and public transport isn't
the
>greatest across town.  DC is like that as well.  Public transport is
fine
>if you live in the city and stay in the city.  But if you want to go to
the
>suburbs in VA or MD, you need a car because public transport is majorly
>lacking.
>
>Elsewhere in the country, there is no public transport or very limited
ones
>esp. away from the cities.  And even if you do work in a city,
oftentimes
>you need to live outside of the city to find affordable housing that
isn't
>in a crime zone thus you'd need a car to get around.
>
>In Europe, public transport is generally much better (when the workers
are
>not on strike ;) and one can get around the whole country and from
country
>to country without having a car fairly easily.  I know many people in
>London who don't have cars and don't need them.  I'd love to live in a
city
>like that.  (*hint* *hint* to any UK people who need a museum ed
person.  ;)
>
>Deb
>
>
>--------------------------------------------
>Staples &  Charles Ltd.
>225 N Fairfax St.
>Alexandria, VA 22314
>USA
>703-683-0900 - voice
>703-683-2820 - fax
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