What if, here in the Great Newnited States of America, here in the ninth-largest city in the nation, on the tenth day of the seventh month of the 25th year of the 20th century, one discovered that…hang onto your hat…that one really didn’t need a car?
Got that?
Holeee shee-ut. What if a person living in one of the largest cities in the nation, one of the least enlightened and most politically conservative states in the nation, did not need to own a car at all?
Imagine.
Imagine what that would do to commerce here… To the automotive industry… To the taxicab and hired ride businesses? To busses and trains?
Welp…it’s beginning to occur to me that just such a thing may be the case.
The other day, my dear son kiped my car.
Yes. My car is locked in his garage and my garage is empty.
The stupid quarrel at the basis of this fine state of affairs aside, the present predicament — if predicament it is — casts light on a whole series of matters.
* In a city where it never snows and rarely rains, you can get around…and around and around and around…without a car of your own.
* Many of the neighbors are driving for Uber. Consequently, you can get a car-for-hire to show up at your door in five minutes.
* Now that the city has installed train lines on about half the main drags, a train or a bus shows up at the end of your block about every ten minutes.
* A daily train ride or three costs one HELLUVALOT less than a car sitting in your garage.
* Car insurance in Arizona costs, on average, $2,771 a year (!!!). That’s assuming you haven’t gotten a traffic ticket any time in recent years. Add a zillion bucks to that if you got nabbed indulging in any mischief behind the wheel.
So, my friends, what I’m just about discovering is that here in second quarter of the 21st century, it is entirely possible that one does NOT need a car in lovely ungodly Phoenix.
* It may take you no longer to get from Point A to Point B by train, bus, or cab than it does to trudge through the traffic in your own chariot and then park and unpark the thing.
* When you take into account the cost of insurance, storage space, and vehicle maintenance, it may cost no more to travel by cab, bus, or taxi…and in fact may cost significantly less.
* Yea, verily: every minute that tank of yours is parked in the garage or in front of your house, you’re paying some insurance company for the privilege. And it is eternally at risk of theft and vandalism.
Take a look at that damn thing out in the garage or driveway. Do you REALLY need it????