Just thought it would be interesting to see the results of this poll.

Number of cars would make it even more interesting.

No Car.  I can go between my house in Cleveland and in NYC via public transportation.

Miles driven per year would also be interesting to know.  I own a car, but walk to work and most shopping/errands so I only put about 5,000 miles per year on it.

I also own a car but drive it half as much as I used to. An easy way for me to track this is by the intervals between oil changes. Five years ago, when I went in for an oil change, I'd routinely hit the 3,000-mile figure on that little windshield sticker before hitting their recommended oil change date (usually 3 months since the last oil change). Now, I regularly go twice as long (six months) before hitting the 3,000-mile figure.

Who chose other?

^I was one of the ones who choose other. My car was given to me, so I wasn't sure if I'd really be considered an "owner."

I live downtown and have a car but I walk to work and take some sort of public transportation to most destinations. The farthest I drive is to Steelyard and I figure those trips will drop in half once Heinans opens. I calculate that I drive an average of  five and a half miles a week.

I probably should've chosen 'other.' But I chose share since my car was given to me by my dad and is shared by myself and my younger brother. The only time it gets used is when I go out to bars. If we had public transit that ran until after the bars closed it probably wouldn't ever get moved. It has very recently gone a month without moving when other people drive on nights out. I'll  very soon be graduating and moving into the completely car free lifestyle.

If I lived in a city with great public transit I would definitely ditch the car. Currently I share a car with my girlfriend, but I find using the car to be much cheaper than taking transit. Transit also doesn't get us to where we need to go for most cases. Since we already have to pay all of the costs associated with owning a car, taking public transportation would be more expensive since gas alone is cheaper than transit passes.

Owned three vehicles:

 

Honda Civic, 101,000 miles

2006 Toyota RAV4: 113,000 miles

2011 Subaru Outback: 114,000 miles (current)

 

And have a 2003 Nissan Pathfinder with 86,000 miles in the rear for some off-roading and larger hauls.

I actually ditched my car 8 years ago while living in Milwaukee (if you want to see a terrible transit system, Milwaukee is up there with the worst). Even with the system in shambles I still learned to love car-free life. Now that I'm in Cincinnati I find comments like "Cincinnati has no transit system" to be hilarious. Car free life is pretty easy here.

^I was one of the ones who choose other. My car was given to me, so I wasn't sure if I'd really be considered an "owner."

 

If you have the title to the car, you own it. I don't think it's all that relevant how it came into your possession.

 

BTW, to those who say it costs less to drive, the nation's biggest advocate of driving disagrees:

 

http://exchange.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Your-Driving-Costs-2013.pdf

^ but most of us already own a car, so we already have to pay ownership costs. For me, operating costs are actually lower than an all day pass. The only way to make transit cheaper is if I had didn't have a car. The problem with that is that I need a car with our city/system. If I moved to a denser city with better transit then hell yeah, my car would be gone in a minute. But when already owning a car, using it is cheaper than using transit. And time costs can be much lower too. 

For people with "car light" lives, car sharing, where widely available, has made it much easier in the past few years to ditch personal ownership. Hopefully we'll see more and more of it in the three C downtowns as resident populations and amenities continue to increase. Taxis help too. Not owning a car definitely doesn't mean never using one.

 

Do Cleveland and Columbus both have Zipcars in their Downtowns?

 

I believe Cincy has a station at 5th Street and another at 12th Street (which is in Over-the-Rhine, a block north of the CBD). Then there's another at UC. And I think those 3 spots are the only Zipcar locations in the metro.

 

Have Zipcar's finances improved at all? I know they were one of those companies that were a darling of investors, yet never in the black. It would suck to develop a reliance upon the service and then have it evaporate.

^Cleveland has a couple cars downtown near CSU, but none closer to the core of the CBD or near other downtown residential neighborhoods.

 

Zipcar was acquired by Avis last year, which I think was widely viewed as ensuring continuity of service for the near and mid-term. 

 

[EDITED for typo]

Cincy has 3 in the basin - the third you didn't mention is on/near Garfield Place

^ but most of us already own a car, so we already have to pay ownership costs. For me, operating costs are actually lower than an all day pass. The only way to make transit cheaper is if I had didn't have a car. The problem with that is that I need a car with our city/system. If I moved to a denser city with better transit then hell yeah, my car would be gone in a minute. But when already owning a car, using it is cheaper than using transit. And time costs can be much lower too. 

 

Where do you live/work in Cleveland that makes it impractical to live without a car? I find that most of trips we take can be accomplished within the neighborhood, IF you live in the right neighborhood (Downtown, Ohio City, University Circle, Tremont, Shaker Square, Coventry, Lakewood, etc).

 

 

^Cleveland has a couple cars downtown near CSU, but none closer to the core of the CBD or near other downtown residential neighborhoods.

 

Zipcar was acquired by Avis last year for, which I think was widely viewed as ensuring continuity of service for the near and mid-term. 

 

Enterprise CarShare also has a location at University Circle in a partnership with CWRU (but is it only for CWRU students?):

 

http://www.case.edu/finadmin/security/travel/WeCar.html

Auto Makers Rebound as Buyers Go Big

U.S. Sales Cruise Back to 2007 Levels, Driven by Fondness for Pickups, SUVs

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303870704579298142769322998

 

Five years after skyrocketing fuel prices and turmoil in financial markets knocked auto makers into a tailspin, the U.S. market has recovered to its former size and character, dominated by larger, more powerful and more profitable vehicles.

 

For the year, U.S. consumers bought 15.6 million vehicles, up 7.6% from 2012, according to market researcher Autodata Corp., the strongest volume since 2007. Purchases of light trucks including sport-utility vehicles exceeded cars, a reversal from the year earlier.

 

The Obama administration, as part of its publicly funded rescues of GM and Chrysler, now majority owned by Italy's Fiat, pushed Detroit to focus on smaller, more efficient vehicles and plug-in electric cars that use little or no petroleum.  But as gas prices drifted lower last year, U.S. consumers trading old vehicles for new favored pricey pickup trucks, SUVs and luxury cars. Ford, for example, boosted sales of its F-150 pickup by 8.4% in December over a year ago, while sales of its subcompact Fiesta and compact Focus cars plunged by 20% and 31% respectively.

 

U.S. sales averaged 16 million units a year between 1998 and 2007 then bottomed out at 10.4 million vehicles in 2009. Analysts and industry executives expect sales this year to reach about 16 million vehicles."

Auto Makers Rebound as Buyers Go Big

U.S. Sales Cruise Back to 2007 Levels, Driven by Fondness for Pickups, SUVs

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303870704579298142769322998

 

Five years after skyrocketing fuel prices and turmoil in financial markets knocked auto makers into a tailspin, the U.S. market has recovered to its former size and character, dominated by larger, more powerful and more profitable vehicles.

 

For the year, U.S. consumers bought 15.6 million vehicles, up 7.6% from 2012, according to market researcher Autodata Corp., the strongest volume since 2007. Purchases of light trucks including sport-utility vehicles exceeded cars, a reversal from the year earlier.

 

The Obama administration, as part of its publicly funded rescues of GM and Chrysler, now majority owned by Italy's Fiat, pushed Detroit to focus on smaller, more efficient vehicles and plug-in electric cars that use little or no petroleum.  But as gas prices drifted lower last year, U.S. consumers trading old vehicles for new favored pricey pickup trucks, SUVs and luxury cars. Ford, for example, boosted sales of its F-150 pickup by 8.4% in December over a year ago, while sales of its subcompact Fiesta and compact Focus cars plunged by 20% and 31% respectively.

 

U.S. sales averaged 16 million units a year between 1998 and 2007 then bottomed out at 10.4 million vehicles in 2009. Analysts and industry executives expect sales this year to reach about 16 million vehicles."

 

It's tough to load kids, especially multiple kids, into a Smart Car.

 

One of the great ironies of government intervention was the replacement of big cars and station wagons with larger and less efficient vans and SUVs.  The primary reason:  they counted differently (if at all) when calculating corporate CAFE.

It's tough to load kids, especially multiple kids, into a Smart Car.

 

One of the great ironies of government intervention was the replacement of big cars and station wagons with larger and less efficient vans and SUVs.  The primary reason:  they counted differently (if at all) when calculating corporate CAFE.

 

You're right. It is tough to load kids into a smart car. It's also unnecessary for most households to have much more than a smart car, since cars typically sit idle 20-23 hours a day.

 

Why?

 

Because only one-third of American households have children.

 

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2011-06-03-fewer-children-census-suburbs_n.htm

...Ford, for example, boosted sales of its F-150 pickup by 8.4% in December over a year ago, while sales of its subcompact Fiesta and compact Focus cars plunged by 20% and 31% respectively.

 

It's tough to load kids, especially multiple kids, into a Smart Car.

Quite easy to load them into a Focus though.

 

I chose share as technically there is a car in my name, but it's my wife's 99% of the time. I take the motorcycle about 75% of the year and take the bus most of the rest but I took the car today since school was cancelled and the wife is off work; no need to freeze at a bus stop if no one else need the car.

A Smart Car is also one of the worst buys out there. It's fuel inefficient, has poor resale value and requires premium fuel.

 

Fuel inefficient: 34/38 MPG, which is easily beat by many larger vehicles. And it requires premium fuel.

Resale: Poor to average by KBB.

Crash worthy: Good to average by IIHS. Rated Acceptable for whiplash protection in rear impacts and Poor in an offset crash test.

^I've always assumed that one of the selling points of a smart car is the east of finding on-street parking. I would guess a huge proportion of the their US sales are in SF, Boston, NYC, and a handful of other cities where off-street parking is scarce.

That's all I really see in their adverts. But I've had no problem parking any vehicle from a large SUV to a compact car, with and without backup cameras, and I suspect more would be comfortable with it if we had more uniform and strict standardized testing of motorists. If you are trying to fit into an absurdly small spot, then it is either not a parking space or others are improperly parked. And if it is the latter, then prepare to see some nice dents and dings when they back or pull into your vehicle :)

And if it is the latter, then prepare to see some nice dents and dings when they back or pull into your vehicle

 

That's what bumpers are for. Welcome to any major city where parking is a premium...everyone taps the other cars bumpers when street parking. And if you can get your car in a spot, it's not too small.

^^I don't think you're really appreciating the setting, Sherman. Parking on residential side streets in big cities is almost never striped so 10-foot wide gaps between parked cars are quite common, and not because other people are parking "improperly."  Aside from hydrants, curb cuts, and specific "no parking" signs, whether or not something is a parking space depends entirely on whether you can fit your car in it.  That's the appeal of the Smart Car. Can't say I'd ever get one, but I can see the draw to some people, especially in climates not always conducive to scooters and bikes.

 

[Edited for typos]

BTW, while ERocc was going to the extreme (shocker) by using a Smart Car as an example, any small car suffices as the car to own/lease or share to accomplish most tasks that most households need. Considering how many hours we use it per day, a car may well be the least cost-effective item in our household budget in terms of cost-per-hour of use. Yet many of us are forced or feel forced into owning one by the lack of options to car-dependent lifestyles in terms of quality housing in service/amenity-rich neighborhoods.

12:29 pm

Jan 21, 2014 AUTOS

Vital Signs: More Households Don’t Own a Car

By KATHLEEN MADIGAN

 

Is America’s love affair with the automobile cooling?

 

A study out this month by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute finds that a larger share of U.S. households do not own a car, light truck or SUV. In 2012, 9.22% of all U.S. households were without a vehicle, little changed from 9.29% in 2011 but continuing an uptrend started since 2007, just before the economy fell into recession.

 

Ownership rates vary greatly among the 30 largest cities, says the study’s author Michael Sivak, director of Sustainable Worldwide Transportation at Michigan. New York had the highest share of non-car households, 56.5%, while San Jose had the fewest, 5.8%. Sivak calculates that 21 of the 30 cities have seen a rise in non-ownership since 2007.

 

What’s behind the vehicle avoidance?

 

READ MORE AT:

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/01/21/vital-signs-more-households-dont-own-a-car/

 

 

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The American Cities With the Most Growth in Car-Free Households

by Angie Schmitt

 

Have we reached peak car in America? Research from the University of Michigan suggests the answer is “yes.”

 

The highest rate of vehicle ownership in America occurred in 2007, when the average household owned 2.07 vehicles, according to research by Michael Sivak for the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute [PDF]. Recently, the average number of cars per household dipped below 2 — at the end of 2012, it was 1.98.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2014/01/21/the-american-cities-with-the-most-growth-in-car-free-households/

12:29 pm

Jan 21, 2014 AUTOS

Vital Signs: More Households Don’t Own a Car

By KATHLEEN MADIGAN

 

Is America’s love affair with the automobile cooling?

 

A study out this month by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute finds that a larger share of U.S. households do not own a car, light truck or SUV. In 2012, 9.22% of all U.S. households were without a vehicle, little changed from 9.29% in 2011 but continuing an uptrend started since 2007, just before the economy fell into recession.

 

Ownership rates vary greatly among the 30 largest cities, says the study’s author Michael Sivak, director of Sustainable Worldwide Transportation at Michigan. New York had the highest share of non-car households, 56.5%, while San Jose had the fewest, 5.8%. Sivak calculates that 21 of the 30 cities have seen a rise in non-ownership since 2007.

 

What’s behind the vehicle avoidance?

 

READ MORE AT:

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/01/21/vital-signs-more-households-dont-own-a-car/

 

 

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The American Cities With the Most Growth in Car-Free Households

by Angie Schmitt

 

Have we reached peak car in America? Research from the University of Michigan suggests the answer is “yes.”

 

The highest rate of vehicle ownership in America occurred in 2007, when the average household owned 2.07 vehicles, according to research by Michael Sivak for the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute [PDF]. Recently, the average number of cars per household dipped below 2 — at the end of 2012, it was 1.98.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2014/01/21/the-american-cities-with-the-most-growth-in-car-free-households/

 

Things that might cause this without any cultural shift away from private transportation, as the economy begins to slowly recover:

 

-Younger people beginning to move out, or roommates beginning to fly solo.  Two cars in the "household" becomes two cars in two households.

 

-The gradual replacement of two older and less reliable cars with one newer, more reliable one.

You're forgetting one... Retiring baby boomers seeking to downsize. Whereas a household with two working adults in their 50s and 60s becomes a household of two retirees, the need for that second car diminishes. Certainly the level of driving does.

 

And this is where the cultural shift comes in to play. The younger generation that's entering the workforce to replace the retiring baby boomers aren't into cars like their parents or grandparents were. So they aren't replacing the vehicle-miles traveled lost from retirements. The data is supporting this.

 

Will it continue as the economy recovers? Who knows? But I suspect the wages earned (vis-a-vis all costs of living) of these new hires won't support pre-recession car ownership levels, even in households where two cars are wanted but only one is owned. We'll find out if this is true and to what extent. But I think this is just as much a cultural shift as it is economic. I think that because per-capita driving was on the decline starting in 2005, several years before the recession hit.

I have a 15 year-old Honda with 205,000 miles.  It's been paid off for years, and I typically spend $2,000/yr on repairs. 

You're forgetting one... Retiring baby boomers seeking to downsize. Whereas a household with two working adults in their 50s and 60s becomes a household of two retirees, the need for that second car diminishes. Certainly the level of driving does.

 

And this is where the cultural shift comes in to play. The younger generation that's entering the workforce to replace the retiring baby boomers aren't into cars like their parents or grandparents were. So they aren't replacing the vehicle-miles traveled lost from retirements. The data is supporting this.

 

Will it continue as the economy recovers? Who knows? But I suspect the wages earned (vis-a-vis all costs of living) of these new hires won't support pre-recession car ownership levels, even in households where two cars are wanted but only one is owned. We'll find out if this is true and to what extent. But I think this is just as much a cultural shift as it is economic. I think that because per-capita driving was on the decline starting in 2005, several years before the recession hit.

 

Good point.  I stopped and saw my dad and his fiancee on the way to and from Dayton.  They have two cars, but the one is pretty well snowed in.  They live in West Jefferson, which is sort of the Columbus equivalent of Brunswick, so it's not like it's a walkable spot either.

Greg Billing ‏@gregbilling  3m

Pittsburgh Mayor @billpeduto speaks about reducing/eliminating  parking minimums to bring the cost down of new developments. #nbs14

March 25, 2014

Out of Gas: Most Americans Can't Afford New Cars

BY BEN POPKEN

 

For many Americans, new cars are driving out of reach.

 

Jose Hernandez, 24, lives in East Los Angeles and makes $26,000 a year working the front desk at a clinic. After trading in his previous car with $6,000 in negative equity, he financed a 2013 Civic EX for $25,000 at 2.3 percent for 6 years, paying $379 in monthly payments, plus $100 per month in insurance. He finds a new car can be a stretch.

 

"I believe most cars are slightly out of reasonable price range for the average American, especially considering most 'affordable' cars don't last very long and lose a lot of value rather quickly," he said.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/out-gas-most-americans-cant-afford-new-cars-n58876

I really hope the Elio concept makes it to production. (http://www.eliomotors.com/) This makes so much sense that it will work if it's not poorly executed, or forced into changing by special interest groups backed by the auto manufacturers. 

For many low-income families, cars may be key to greater opportunity

http://blog.metrotrends.org/2014/04/low-income-families-cars-key-greater-opportunity-2/

^ So many low-wage service jobs, which make up the heart of America's "low-skill"/low-education job field, are located out in the auto-dependent burbs. I assume the authors know that subsidizing auto-ownership so that people can get to these jobs is not a sustainable solution, but it makes for an interesting thought experiment. Trying to figure out how to make a car share program work for low-income commuters is also an interesting task.

^ So many low-wage service jobs, which make up the heart of America's "low-skill"/low-education job field, are located out in the auto-dependent burbs. I assume the authors know that subsidizing auto-ownership so that people can get to these jobs is not a sustainable solution, but it makes for an interesting thought experiment. Trying to figure out how to make a car share program work for low-income commuters is also an interesting task.

 

It's not just the "service jobs" nor the low wage jobs. 

 

New or relocating companies locate in the outer suburbs primarily to avoid potential CERCLA liability.

 

We had this issue at the Strongsville plant.  We were locked into hiring people with cars, or working with the temp agencies that provided transportation.

Interesting report from what most would consider to be a politically conservative journal. Even Forbes is realizing that a demographic change is underway when it comes to how America moves.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michelinemaynard/2014/04/16/roads-versus-rail-the-big-battle-over-public-transportation/

I recently bought a new car and I was surprised at how many enthusiastic congratulations people gave me. It was actually kind of shocking for me, as someone who lives a car-light lifestyle, to see how the average person views buying a car as a major life achievement.

Imagine if you'd bought the Wiremobile!

We have two vehicles, but there are extenuating circumstances.

 

My wife has a 1997 wheelchair conversion minivan. Without the van she is basically unable to venture out, can't go anywhere. Just this week had to put $600 in repairs in the van - ouch. But over a period of time, not so bad. As the mechanic told me, compared to the cost of a new one, he can install a whole new engine and drive train for a fraction of the cost. That is the track I am following.

 

I am driving a 2001 Mercury Grand Marquis sedan. It just recently turned 50,000 miles, and is still performing well. Won't win any gas mileage derbys, but at the distance I drive it who gives a shit?

 

The two vehicles combined rarely exceed 5,000 miles a year. This is due to the fact they rarely leave the confines of Mason Ohio. So vehicle ownership is not the issue, it is how you use them.

 

Just thought I would drop this little notee.

No actually it costs more to own a vehicle than it does to drive it.  If you buy a $20,000 car and drive it just 10 miles per month for 20 years, it still eventually is worth $0 and costs upwards of $100 per month to license and insure. 

 

But it gets crazier.

 

If you had instead invested that money (upwards of $50,000 over 20 years) in a conservative mutual fund in an IRA instead of the car, depending on your age, that money could have doubled, tripled, or more. 

 

No actually it costs more to own a vehicle than it does to drive it.  If you buy a $20,000 car and drive it just 10 miles per month for 20 years, it still eventually is worth $0 and costs upwards of $100 per month to license and insure. 

 

But it gets crazier.

 

If you had instead invested that money (upwards of $50,000 over 20 years) in a conservative mutual fund in an IRA instead of the car, depending on your age, that money could have doubled, tripled, or more. 

 

 

Or you could have invested the money and used some of the interest or dividends to join a car share. It's unfortunate that so many people rent their appreciable asset (housing) and own their depreciable asset (car). This is especially true among poor families who are forced to spend an average of a third of their flat/falling income on owning a car because there are few alternatives. No wonder so many poor families are locked into poverty.

Wave goodbye to the two-car family

Phil LeBeau | @Lebeaucarnews

Tuesday, 18 Nov 2014 | 1:57 PM ET

 

Imagine the typical American family.

 

Odds are your vision includes a home with two kids, as well as two or more cars.

 

But according to a new study by KPMG, that image is becoming a less common reality. As a growing number of consumers participate in car sharing, wait longer to buy their first vehicle and move to the suburbs, KPMG predicts that in about 25 years, fewer than half of U.S. households will own more than one vehicle.

 

"We think that the two-car family, over time, it is not going to go down to zero, but a significant amount of people are going to reduce that number," said Gary Silberg, a partner at KPMG who conducted the study.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102193080?utm_content=buffer678c4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#

My niece is 19, politically liberal, lives on W 132nd near Lorain, and attends Cleveland State. 

 

She used to take RTA to school and I believe to her job as well.  One would think she'd be a candidate to remain car free for awhile.

 

She recently, at some effort and lifestyle shift, bought her first car.

 

I think having her phone stolen on the bus had a lot to do with that.

My niece is 19, politically liberal, lives on W 132nd near Lorain, and attends Cleveland State. 

 

She used to take RTA to school and I believe to her job as well.  One would think she'd be a candidate to remain car free for awhile.

 

She recently, at some effort and lifestyle shift, bought her first car.

 

I think having her phone stolen on the bus had a lot to do with that.

 

And the reason why you posted that is, what? To point out that the KPMG study is wrong? That your niece will keep the trendline from moving 0.0001% farther from the status quo you hate to see fading?

In a country of 300+ million people personal observations lose their effectiveness.