How dependent is daily life in the U.S. on having a car?

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N2Shooter@reddit

Except in the major cities, it's an absolute requirement. I don't think you understand just how massive the United States is.

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Fred42096@reddit

95% of the time it’s a survival need like water, non-negotiable. Within certain major cities you bc a make do without one with varying degrees of comfort.

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jguerrer@reddit

Unless you are on the East Coast in a major city it will be functionally mandatory.

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gusto_g73@reddit

I grew up in Portland in the and it was super easy to get around without a car.

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Kwinicole@reddit (OP)

So would you say the East Coast is generally the easiest place to live without a car?

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CommandAlternative10@reddit

I was car free in Minneapolis, Chicago and San Francisco. Was it easier when I lived in NYC? Absolutely! But it is doable in non-East Coast cities too.

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freeski919@reddit

Not necessarily a major city. I've lived in/ around small eastern cities (under 100k) where the bus infrastructure is good enough that some people don't have cars.

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Accomplished_Fig3198@reddit

The average American depends on a car to do basic errands. There are some people in cities or without children that can get around without a car, but for the majority it’s a requirement.

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Stupidlysurviving@reddit

I live in a rural area where we drive 2 hours (160 + miles) to the dentist.

It's absolutely necessary.

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Kwinicole@reddit (OP)

2 hours for a dentist is crazy that really puts into perspective how necessary a car is in some areas

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BlazinAzn38@reddit

Also how big the US is, lots of people don’t realize that

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Augen76@reddit

I could not safely get to any place of employment or acquire any goods without a car.

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Jerzee_Implant2012@reddit

In most major urban areas in the Northeast corridor (Boston to Washington, DC) you can manage day to day life without a car.

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melodyangel113@reddit

I need my car every single day. I could not live comfortably without one

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capsrock02@reddit

If you don’t live in a major urban center, extremely.

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Many cities and some larger towns at least have bus networks that may be adequate for some to get around, but most people will still want cars. Only a handful of cities have good enough public transit that you could go without a car with little inconvenience

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vrilliance@reddit

It depends HEAVILY on location.

In NJ, public transportation goes pretty far. You can walk maybe 20 minutes at most and find yourself in front of a bus stop heading to another bus heading to a major town or city. The sidewalks tend to be developed, at least in North New Jersey, and there are enough stop lights that it does not feel unsafe to cross a busy road. One could do a grocery run all via public transport, so long as you're okay with the mild embarrassment of taking 2 minutes to pull your cart up the stairs to the bus.

But in NE (Where I live in right now), public transportation is not nearly as friendly. I live maybe 15 minutes from Omaha, but there's one bus in the morning and one in the evening heading into there. The sidewalks stop and start at random and are unmaintained, and it's hell trying to cross a busy road, even with a crosswalk, as the lights might be slow or nonexistent. There IS no bus system out here that can reliably lead you to work or groceries. You either work close enough that it does not matter or you own a car. Or carpool and beg your friends. (I am the one begging as I never learned how to drive).

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witchy12@reddit

The only reason I have a car is because I work outside of the city. Otherwise, I would be completely fine with not having a car.

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NS_8099@reddit

Depends on where you live but in many places, very.

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suspiciousdishes@reddit

Most places 100% required. Ive had job applications ask me if I have a reliable car

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emschick9@reddit

Where i live now it's impossible to not have a vehicle. Where i lived when I was a teenager it was inconvenient but otherwise fine.

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Michael-Balchaitis@reddit

Depends on where you live in the US. I haven't needed a car in 6 years.

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Kwinicole@reddit (OP)

That’s interesting is that mostly because of good public transport where you are, or just everything being close by?

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Michael-Balchaitis@reddit

Everything is close, and I can just walk. I take an Uber for anything else.

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OneNerdyLesbian@reddit

There is no public transport where I live. Theoretically, you could use Uber or Lyft, but it's not reliable here because it's a rural area. You either need to have a car or someone else who's willing to drive you around.

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the_real_JFK_killer@reddit

I can get around my small town by walking just fine. But if I wanted to go anywhere outside my town (technically a village because nys is weird with those terms) then id absolutley need a car.

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LifeFindsAWhey@reddit

I'd say you need a car in most areas of the country. Obviously big cities (some way more than others) have better public transit options.

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BurritoDespot@reddit

It 100% depends on where you live.

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Kwinicole@reddit (OP)

That’s what I’m starting to notice seems like it can be completely different depending on the area

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Zealousideal_Crow737@reddit

I've lived in Boston for 15 years without a car. Anything out of a major city is nearly impossible. I would say I'm an outlier.

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Shoddy-Secretary-712@reddit

It depends where you live.

The closest store to me with fresh produce is a 20 minute car drive.

There is public transportation bus. I have never used it, but I think to get it to come to my town, you have to schedule in advance. The buses do some regular stops in the local city.

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CelebrationFar1351@reddit

If you live in a big city in the northeast, 0%. If you live anywhere else, 100%.

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buffaloburley@reddit

Way too much

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Perdendosi@reddit

I'd say that in most cities over about 100-250,000 people (or about a half a million to a million in the metro area), there will be areas of that city where you could live without a car and get along reasonably well (especially if you can afford to take a cab or uber \~ 1x per week). But even in those cities, if you live outside the downtown core or specific neighborhoods that have been targeted for increased public transportation, a car is basically a necessity.

The exceptions may be New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and D.C., where public transit is pervasive and regular enough that it reaches most of the city with reasonable regularity.

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Fun_Inspector_8633@reddit

In most places it’s pretty much a requirement.

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Kwinicole@reddit (OP)

Yeah that’s the impression I had like outside certain cities it’s almost unavoidable

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animepuppyluvr@reddit

I can easily walk 45 mins to the grocery store and under that for a number of restaurants. My work is a 2 hour 20 min walk. I need a car for SURE. Busses aren't really operating in the direction and timing is need to get there and back.

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PinchedTazerZ0@reddit

In Seattle, my home base, I don't really need to use a car

At my rural property where I live 7 months of the year or so I'm 2 hours away from a grocery store. To eat I need to drive in every so often.

It used to be almost every other day because it's off grid with no cell and I needed to check email but starlink has made a huge difference. Not to mention I cant receive mail and don't have any trash services.

My folks live in a 100k population city with garbage public transit and suburban sprawl. A walk to the grocery store would take a good hour and a half

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Legrandloup2@reddit

It depends where you live and how the local public transport is. I studied abroad in france for a year, mostly in Paris but I spent time in smaller places too and every place was decently walkable/had decent public transport which is not the case in a lot of america. Everyone I know either drives or has someone in their household that can drive in the US

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rawbface@reddit

groceries

How does anyone outside of a big city get groceries without a car? I'm not carrying ground beef and a gallon of whole milk outside and carrying it home in 90 degree weather. That's degusting. Plus a week's worth of groceries for a family of 4 weighs like 150-200 lbs. Nobody in good faith can honestly choose to do this, and then scoff at Americans for using a car...

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OldDogWithOldTricks@reddit

I just applied to the closest job I will have ever had. It's a little less than two miles away in 100°+ heat. Any form of bus would require walking and standing around in the heat.

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molten_dragon@reddit

There are only a handful of cities in the US where you can comfortably live completely car-free.

There are a number of places where you can get by with public transit, but it's going to come with considerable inconvenience.

And there there are large swathes of the US where you basically have to have a car to function in society.

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o93mink@reddit

Of course it depends on the city or state, just as it does in your country.

If you live in a dense inner city area you can probably walk to a lot of places. If you live in a rural area you might take much of the day to walk to your neighbor’s house.

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Basicly-Inevitable@reddit

I live in a dense inner city, and I still need one to get to work. It would take 3 hours using public transportation.

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mdavis360@reddit

Totally dependent on the location. New York City? No car needed. Charleston, SC-you need a car.

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Aggravating-Key-8867@reddit

I live in a region of about 1.5 million people. But it's not really a dense city. There are public buses, but the vast majority of people rely on cars every day. I know people who take the bus to work and spend over an hour each way, whereas if they had a car they could get to work in 20 minutes.

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Fart_Tart_2000@reddit

It really depends on where you live and your level of mobility. I lived in Chicago for a long time without a car, even with a newborn. But I have a car now because it's just so hard to rely only on transit with school and activities. Transit also isn't pet friendly and taking a rideshare with pets is annoying.

If I lived in the densest part of the city and my kid's school was closer it would be okay.

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notthegoatseguy@reddit

In like 80% of the US though public transit will be far slower, and less useful, than being able to drive.

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SabresBills69@reddit

Some areas if karge cities you csn live carlesscwith an occasional car need.

Nyc and nany city downtown areas can be this way.

Eherevi currently live jn suburban dc I can live without a car. I can use subway/ bus to get to everywhere i need to ho yo kn a regular basis. ( supermarkets, drug stores, dr offices, department stores)

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BlazinAzn38@reddit

There’s probably 3-4 cities in the US where it’s feasible or reasonable to do without

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BreastTickles@reddit

I take transit but I also live in one of the most expensive areas of the country. When I leave my area and see the car dependency we've created, it's quite depressing. Gas stations, car washes, fast food, there's not much variation in businesses and the isolation I feel is incredible. But that's what people want I guess? Or they think they want that? Can't figure it out.

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Milehighjoe12@reddit

If you live in Chicago or NYC don't really need it.. anywhere else it's pretty vital.

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beamerpook@reddit

Depends on where you live, but besides the major cities, public transportation isn't available, and the way places are laid out, it's not feasible to walk or bike.

I used to live out in the sticks, where it took like 20 minutes drive from the nearest major store

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SaltandLillacs@reddit

Don’t have a car in Boston. I am fine as I can walk or take the T everywhere

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JolyonWagg99@reddit

There are cities and neighborhoods where cars are absolutely necessary and others where they are not needed at all.

It’s not possible to provide a blanket answer to this question.

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icspn@reddit

There are a couple of cities where you can live without one, like New York City, but most places you're going to struggle very much without one. Public transit exsists, but exists but it's often expensive, slow, or unreliable. If you're in a rural area it might not exsist at all. In college I used public transit and getting groceries or doing my laundry was a 3-4 hour long ordeal, just for the travel part.

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ATLien_3000@reddit

The US is a big country.

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Cranks_No_Start@reddit

>does it depend a lot on the city or state?

YES. The nearest grocery store is 2 1/2 miles away, with about 1000 feet of elevation change, the nearest bus stop is 30 miles...and god only knows how long it takes to get anywhere using that as it has limited service AND you have to share the bus with the homeless because its free.

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GlockHolliday32@reddit

If you live in a place where you don't need a car (public transportation, subway, etc), chances are you live in a terrible part of the country.

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cruzweb@reddit

It depends entirely on where you live. The US is mostly car-dependent. If you live in a city with a functional transit system, you can make do with public transit. Unfortunately, most cities do not have a functional transit system and I think New York is the only place where the majority of people take transit to work.

The latest 1-year estimates from the US Census Bureau estimates that nationally 3.7% of Americans with a job take public transit to work https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/commuting/guidance/acs-1yr/Mean-public-worked-from-home.pdf

Generally speaking, car ownership is not optional for the vast majority of Americans.

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DruncleMuncle@reddit

I live in an affluent town... there is no public transportation, and it takes 20-30 minutes for a ride share.

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i_wanna_retire@reddit

I’m in a small town in a rural area. It’s an absolute necessity.

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laurcone@reddit

It depends on the city. In my area, very common. You'd have a tough time without a car, but its not impossible.

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Dubricna@reddit

Also, there are places other than cities (and it's almost always nearly impossible to live a full life without a car outside of a city. But not 100%)

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SnooPineapples280@reddit

It depends. In my city, you definitely need one.

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ReadingRainbowie@reddit

Totally dependent my man

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Atlas7993@reddit

It depends on were you live, but at least having access to public transit is essential -which is almost exclusively limited to urban areas. I live in an urban area of Iowa, and our bus system only runs from 6am to 5pm, which is EXTREMELY limiting. If you live rural, you basically have to have a car, or know someone willing go give you a ride, because public transit doesn't exist there.

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GooseneckRoad@reddit

It's easy to live without a car in large metropolitan cities, but everywhere else, it's challenging. My city has a 500K+ population, but is still extremely car dependent.

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SenseAndSaruman@reddit

I would say 98% of places you’d need to have a car.

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NegotiableVeracity9@reddit

This is definitely region and town specific. Some parts of the US, like major metropolitan areas on the east coast, some parts of the PNW and bigger random cities sprinkled im between, you don't need one. However, for anywhere in the southeast, midwest, desert areas, mountain areas, smaller towns outside the coastal cities, you need one. You've got to find a narrower scope to this question to get an accurate answer.

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jc8495@reddit

(Chicagoland area) in the suburbs extremely, there are very few places you can walk. Not even just about distance but there are a lot of places that don’t even have a sidewalk. In the city you can live and die your whole life without owning a car

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AfterAllBeesYears@reddit

It is only really possible in a few of the largest cities in the US, and even then, it can depend on where you work or what your exact situation is.

The cities that come to mind as being livable without a car are NYC, Boston, and DC. There may be others, but those are the ones I think of.

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ArkansasTravelier@reddit

I drive 40 minutes each way to get to work and other than within the downtown of where I work, there is no public transportation, so very much needed

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Jedi4Hire@reddit

Moderately dependent. But that can vary from city to city or even neighborhood to neighborhood and weather you're living in an urban, suburban or rural area.

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Ravenclaw79@reddit

A car is a necessity, unless you live in a big city

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I_amnotanonion@reddit

I live in a rural area. You could make do if you never needed to be somewhere on time. There are vans that go to some of the larger towns in a big loop, but they are infrequent and often delayed. Once you make it to the bigger towns, they are walkable or have local bus systems that aren’t that great.

So basically, yes, you have to have a car. I’m in central VA

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savagedragon01@reddit

Depends on where you live. Most major cities have pretty good public transportation but some are still very car dependant. If you are outsode the core of the city or in the suburbs you wpuld need a car. Anywhere outsude a major city you definitely need a car.

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DeliciousMoments@reddit

Depends a lot on where you live, and even then it depends a lot on lifestyle.

I live in Los Angeles. Many people will tell you it's impossible to live here without a car. I did for 6 months. I have a friend who hasn't had a car in 10+ years.

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gonzagylot00@reddit

It depends on the city and state. If you live in New York City, then you won’t need a car. If you live in Los Angeles you will need a car. Those are our two biggest cities.

You pretty much need a car in the city I live in (Raleigh).

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Distinct_Damage_735@reddit

It depends IMMENSELY on where you live (like most things about the US). I live in New York City and have no need or use for a car. I used to live in Arizona, and it was almost a strict necessity; it was possible to live without a car but it was extremely limiting.

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VinegarMyBeloved@reddit

Depends a lot, but in most places, yes. I live in a decent sized city and we have buses and a light rail, but they’re not always reliable and don’t go everywhere. It’s basically impossible to find housing within walking distance of the hospital system I work at (unless you have $3000/month to blow). If my car suddenly broke down I could find a way to survive for a few weeks, but it would take me twice as long to get everywhere

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shammy_dammy@reddit

As always, the answer is depends. Could I rely on public transportation when I lived in a rural village in SW Wisconsin? Uh...there was absolutely no public transportation. When I moved to Madison, WI? Yes. I lived on the same bus route that took me to my job and the walmart was a couple of stops down.

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DoubleBack9141@reddit

You may be able to live without a car, but it is far from comfortable in the vast majority of America. only the largest of cities would make it "comfortable" to be without a car.

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Ok-Energy-9785@reddit

Depends on where you live

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slothbear13@reddit

Where I live, you can get groceries without a car. Many do. But it is incredibly inconvenient, with buses only coming once an hour and there being no train.

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PA_MallowPrincess_98@reddit

If you don't live in a city or a city with public transportation, then 100% of daily life revolves around having a car.

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Millenialdoc@reddit

Most places in the US are not walkable nor do they have good public transportation. Some cities like DC, NYC, Boston and Philadelphia are more pedestrian friendly.

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ladyorthetiger0@reddit

Depends heavily on location. I live in a downtown suburb just outside a major city with an excellent transit system and I've been fine without a car for the last 12 years. But in many areas a car would be necessary.

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mugenhunt@reddit

There are places in the US where you can get around without a car, but for most of the US, you pretty much need a car to survive.

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Practical-Emu-3303@reddit

NYC - Don't need a car.

Yonkers just north of NYC - need a car.

Pretty much everywhere else - need a car.

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jennyjenny223@reddit

People pay a lot of money to live in a place where a car is not necessary.

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BFFassbender@reddit

Where I live (coastal South Carolina), there really isn't much in the way of public transportation. I think in my town there is a very basic bus service but it doesn't serve anywhere near where I live, so owning a car is necessary for me to get to work and just about anywhere, yes.

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