This is the question posed on CityNerd video titled “Walkable Cities But They Keep Getting More Affordable”
If you ditched your car, could you afford to leave the suburbs for a great urban neighborhood?
Ray Delahanty answers the question in the 26 biggest US cities.
The analysis assumes the all-in cost of owning and operating a car is $1,000 per month, including purchase, insurance, fuel, and maintenance.
In the city, transportation costs might total about $250 per month for transit passes, biking, ride-hailing, and other small expenses.
This results in an effective $750 per month increase in the housing budget for city center residents who do not own a car.
The results of the video are quite interesting, as you can get more m² in walkable areas in most cities
A grand a month for a car? Only if you can afford to blow money. I bought my car used 6 years ago for $4,000. Between repairs and maintenance, tires, oil, repairs, etc I’ve spent about another $4,500. Plus $1,000 a year fuel (Prius). And $800 a year on insurance. So my all in cost is like $280 a month and dropping the longer I keep it. Plus what I can get from selling it.
I spend under $70/mo on my metro pass, and they’re normally “expensive”* at $104/mo. There are zero added costs, ever, except for if I didn’t also own a car I would need to use a carshare service probably once a month, but it’s hard to gauge since sometimes I use my car just to make sure it actually gets used. Without a car there are no parking fees, no gas, no maintenance, and not even any need to shovel snow or anything else that you likely don’t even realize you do simply to keep owning a vehicle.
$280/mo is a pretty bum deal to not even get other benefits like being driven around or never having to deal with the concept of rush hour.
Plus you can travel as drunk as you want as long as you’re not a problem.
What I dislike about the fuckcars instance. Ignorant people who just think people only live in big cities with public transport and that all of their families and friends and relatives they want to see are all there a mere bus ride or train trip away. Just ignorant to 90% of the land people live on. Most of the country requires a vehicle.
I have 2 cars in a rural “city” cars are absolutely required here. We used to have a trolley, but it got killed in the GM/Firestone conspiracy. Things could have been so much better and as much as I love my MX-5, overall I totally get fuck cars. I wish I had the option to opt out of ownership. But since I don’t have that option, I chose to maximize the fun, and minimize the damage. It’s honestly the best I can do in the Midwest. If the winters continue to get warmer I can get rid of the Wrangler entirely, which … Fuck that’s not good either. It’d be nice to live in a world without cars, and I want that. I’d absolutely give up both for a bus pass or light rail but logistically, I can’t. And it’s bullshit that that was once an option, but our lives were made worse by capitalism and forces outside of our control.
YMMV but if you look around online you’ll see much higher overall costs are more typical and more importantly most people greatly underestimate them
Depends on what you’re able to learn and do yourself and what you buy. I bought a Gen 2 Prius with 160,000 miles on it with a hybrid battery issue. I could buy a nicer one for less money right now than I could back then. It’s currently at 284,000 miles and not showing a hint of slowing down. One of my tpms transmitters went out recently, so that will cost me $100 for 4 new ones next time I replace my tires. I don’t like seeing the yellow light for it on my dash. Lol
That’s definitely not a normal price for a used Prius though. Typically one that is in reasonable condition is closer to $15k.
Lol. Not even remotely close for a Gen 2 Prius. I dunno where you live, but you’d be insane to pay $15k for one of those. There’s a nice one for sale with under 100k miles on it right now for $5,000 that’s about 20 minutes away from my house right now. That one happens to be a good deal, but at the same time, it’s been up for sale for a few weeks now.
Special note: avoid buying a 2010-2014 Prius. Especially an 11 or 12. Head gasket seal issues. If recognized early when they start to leak it’s not a big problem if you know how or are willing to learn to replace yourself. Full day job if you’re not used to doing that sort of thing. Expensive job if you have to pay someone else to do it. If the problem is ignored you’ll end up needing an engine and likely a catalytic converter.
It’s pretty easy to find a 2015 under 150k miles for under $10k.
Can you link that listing?
It’s in missouri on Facebook marketplace. Just do a search there for a 2006 Prius with like 84,000 miles on it and it will pop up. It’s red.