How I Learned Not To Drive
How I learned not to drive
by Christian Peralta
Riding transit has many benefits—including having someone else to do the driving.
Southern Sierran - February 2004
As a trained urban planner and quasi-environmentalist, I know all of the reasons why Americans should try to loosen their dependence on cars.
The prevalence of automobile use is largely responsible for the unhealthy air in most American cities, and contributes to water and ground pollution as well. Cars keep us from being more active, and have the tendency to make us lazy (picture the last time you circled for a nearby parking spot). They take up a lot of space in our cities (think of all the roads, parking lots and garages devoted just to cars), and they can kill vibrant urban street life (as well as human life).
On top of all that, they’re rather expensive. According to AAA, the average cost of ownership for a car ranges between $4,000 to $8,000 a year, depending on the car and number of miles driven. While the ability to go practically anywhere on a whim (as long as the traffic isn’t bad and there’s readily available parking) is probably worth the price in some instances, many people are burdened with the cost of car ownership.
This summer, after graduating from college and beginning a new position at a Downtown nonprofit housing developer focusing on transit-oriented development, I started to think that it might be a good idea to kick my car habit. So in July I stopped driving my car and started using transit, my bike, or my own two feet for every trip.
My morning commute grew from 30 to 45 minutes each way, but instead of facing the thousands of other motorists on the road, I take a leisurely 15-minute walk to the Red Line subway stop at Hollywood/Highland, catch up on my reading (or just close my eyes and nap) during the 20 minute train ride, and walk four blocks to the office after getting off the train at Pershing Square.
Getting around the city hasn’t been too hard either. The MTA operates over 200 bus lines in L.A. County, and with the opening of the new Metro Gold Line to Pasadena, runs 73 miles of rail service, which usually can get you within walking distance of most places you want to go. With the help of the MTA’s online trip planner, you can find out the best route between almost any two destinations in the metropolitan area.
While riding transit does present some minor challenges and inconvenience, after two months of forgoing my car, I was confident enough in my ability to use transit that I sold my car and officially joined the ranks of the car-free. By riding transit rather than continuing to drive, I lowered my annual transportation expenses from about $7000 to $700 a year--not to mention being able to do my small part to relieve congestion and reduce pollution.
I’d like to encourage anyone whose contemplated driving less (or not at all) to give transit a try. I’m not claiming that transit in Los Angeles is perfect—it’s far from it—but for many people transit can provide a reasonable alternative to driving. And the costs—both economic and environmental—are much less.
Christian Peralta is a policy analyst at Livable Places, a nonprofit housing developer and public policy organization working to make the Los Angeles region more livable and sustainable.