Y’know… Over the past few days — “weeks,” really, is more like it — a kinda startling revelation has occurred to me. Hang onto your hat, now: What with the proximity of key retail stores, the new lightrail running up and down Conduit of Blight Blvd., and a fleet of shiny new busses, I don’t really need to own a car.
Oops: should’ve warned you to sit down before reading that… 😀
But seriously… Without the little catastrophes of the past two or three weeks, this idea would never have entered my fuzzy little mind. BUT…oh, yes, but: the fact is, between the lightrail, the shiny new busses, and the Uber cars swarming all over the neighborhood, I actually may not need to have an expensive pile of metal and glass sitting out in the garage.
Yeah. Seriously!
I can get from Point A to Point B with very little more trouble than it takes to climb in my car and drive between those points.
We have several Uber drivers living here in the’ Hood. They’re delighted to take you wherever you imagine you want to go. And if they’re not available, Phoenix still hosts a fine fleet of standard taxicabs. Call a Yellow Cab and it’ll be at your door in minutes. An Uber driver lives right across the street from me! He can be here in seconds, not minutes.
But…but…what does it take to walk from here to most of the fine emporia where I shop and loaf?
A lightrail line runs across Main Drag North, turns south on Main Drag West, swerves southerly toward Central, goes right past my son’s street, and proceeds to a stop in front of the Beloved AJ’s Grocery Palace.
So…uhm….. {ahem!}
Why on earth would I imagine that I want a car, here in the ‘Hood??
Consider: AJ’s is indeed a drive away. BUT…within a ten-minute walk, we have these fine emporia:
- Albertson’s: a huge supermarket
- Sprouts: the beloved hippy-dippy peddler of nominally organic chow
- Walgreen’s: huge drugstore
- Bookman’s: bookstore, music, whatnot
- El Rancho: supermarket
- Fireworks store (!)
- Post office
- Doctor’s office
- Beauty salon
- Independent pharmacist
- Veterinarian
- Coinstar
And on and on and on… there really is little need to drive anywhere. Certainly not on a regular, day-to-day basis.
Do I need a car to get to the Mayo? Yeah: I wouldn’t want to hire a cab or Uber to schlep halfway to Payson. But I sure don’t go out there often. And for that matter, we’re within walking distance of a major regional hospital…I could extend my little self so radically as to take up with a doctor who practices there. (The one I had there moved to $un ¢ity awhile back, having seen the dollar signs on the wall of the new hospital out there….)
But if you’re considering how much it costs to keep a car — taking into account insurance, regular servicing, repairs, gasoline, parking, and whatnot — the tab for maintenance, repairs, taxes, storage, and the stuff so routine that most of us never even think about it anymore very probably comes to more than it would cost to hire Uber or a taxicab to get around town. A LOT more…
Truth to tell, something over 90 percent of the places I go are within walking distance, or within a reasonably priced cab ride.
And given that amazing little factoid, one could argue — quite reasonably — that a person living in this location really has no need for a car. Especially if that person doesn’t commute to a job.
What the heck: not only that, but walking to the destinations around here comes under the heading of good exercise. When the weather is sane — which, believe it or not, is most of the time — you can walk to any of those places without putting yourself out much.
So…frankly, I’m beginning to think more & more that my son did me a favor by absconding with my car. Who needs it???