Its an infrequent question you get if you dont own a car in the US. With mass transit generally being shit everywhere, but slightly less shit in cities, people who dont live in cities think moving things around is impossible, because a car is the only possibility that they are personally acquainted with.
Its not impossible, just vaguely awkward sometimes as this meme shows, which is a solid tradeoff for not having to deal with all the bullshit owning a car entails.
Right. Think of all the few times you might need to buy something truly cumbersome and bulky that can’t realistically be brought home via mass transit. Now, think of how much it might cost to have that item delivered - a service readily available in cities.
Calculate up how much a car costs, insurance, fuel, maintenance, and parking, and to be fair, subtract mass transit costs.
Compare that to the rare delivery.
See if you’re better off, saving money, not having a car.
On the rare occasion you do want a car for long-distances not practical by air or other transit, rent one.
Source: lived in a major metro area. Car was a real burden having the expense of it, parking it, and having to be on watch all the time for street sweeping or snow days where you couldn’t park on the street. The subway was cheap, accessible, and far quicker than driving the vast majority of the time.
Last time I rented a car to get my sister home from the Airport a little more comfortably after a long flight, she was worried about me spending too much just for that.
I had to put it in perspective for her: The rent with fuel was around 45 CHF. One year of insurance for a normal car alone would be about 450 CHF. Never mind any of the other costs.
And I don’t even rent a car 10 times a year! (Unless you also count when I rent one for work, but that’s charged to the workplace of course.)
I just checked the website of Citybee. That seems quite similar to the service I use actually.
The one here is called Mobility you pay by time and by kilometer. Around 2.50 CHF / h and 0.75 CHF / km, but it depends on the category of vehicle of course. I used it for about 3h and 50km for that airport trip.
Ah yeah. When people say “rent” I still read it as Hertz/Avis/Sixt/Enterprise in my head lol
To be fair, anything over a day, these seem cheaper. But yeah, for a few hours, my preference is Bolt Drive as it’s convenient and a local company unlike Citybee which I think is Lithuanian. It still serves as an alternative though
Yeah for full days or long distances the older places can be cheaper. Also for vans for moving furniture.
I helped in a move once where they had gotten a van from Mobility. Suddenly we had to start hurrying with the loading and unloading because the cheapskate had reserved only minimal time, I think like two or three hours. That was the worst thing ever, as if moving furniture isn’t a bad enough activity already, lol.
For short distances, Bolt Drive has very good van pricing actually. Anything longer, there’s a mechanic in my hometown whose van has a big turbo setup and a subwoofer. Fast n loud piece of junk, feels like it’s gonna fall apart, but he charges 25 euros a day and doesn’t care how much you drive.
Ive rolled a queen bed from house to house on a dolley before, along with many other things. Pulled my old couch to the same house on its one good rolling wheel. The grand old “5 block city move.” It wouldn’t be realistic to do outside of a city, but it also took some real grit and just embracing the stupid to do there.
The fun part? Several people honked and waved, while others offered to help. People loved seeing someone just hulking that shit down the road. One of those nice “city people” moments.
I think your summation of the sass is better than mine, to be sure.
Its an infrequent question you get if you dont own a car in the US. With mass transit generally being shit everywhere, but slightly less shit in cities, people who dont live in cities think moving things around is impossible, because a car is the only possibility that they are personally acquainted with.
Its not impossible, just vaguely awkward sometimes as this meme shows, which is a solid tradeoff for not having to deal with all the bullshit owning a car entails.
Right. Think of all the few times you might need to buy something truly cumbersome and bulky that can’t realistically be brought home via mass transit. Now, think of how much it might cost to have that item delivered - a service readily available in cities.
Calculate up how much a car costs, insurance, fuel, maintenance, and parking, and to be fair, subtract mass transit costs.
Compare that to the rare delivery.
See if you’re better off, saving money, not having a car.
On the rare occasion you do want a car for long-distances not practical by air or other transit, rent one.
Source: lived in a major metro area. Car was a real burden having the expense of it, parking it, and having to be on watch all the time for street sweeping or snow days where you couldn’t park on the street. The subway was cheap, accessible, and far quicker than driving the vast majority of the time.
Last time I rented a car to get my sister home from the Airport a little more comfortably after a long flight, she was worried about me spending too much just for that.
I had to put it in perspective for her: The rent with fuel was around 45 CHF. One year of insurance for a normal car alone would be about 450 CHF. Never mind any of the other costs.
And I don’t even rent a car 10 times a year! (Unless you also count when I rent one for work, but that’s charged to the workplace of course.)
Here it’s more like 40-200 eur per year for insurance and 60+ to rent for a day
But if you can get your shit done in an hour or 2, Bolt Drive or Citybee are prolly gonna cost you under 20.
I just checked the website of Citybee. That seems quite similar to the service I use actually.
The one here is called Mobility you pay by time and by kilometer. Around 2.50 CHF / h and 0.75 CHF / km, but it depends on the category of vehicle of course. I used it for about 3h and 50km for that airport trip.
Ah yeah. When people say “rent” I still read it as Hertz/Avis/Sixt/Enterprise in my head lol
To be fair, anything over a day, these seem cheaper. But yeah, for a few hours, my preference is Bolt Drive as it’s convenient and a local company unlike Citybee which I think is Lithuanian. It still serves as an alternative though
Yeah for full days or long distances the older places can be cheaper. Also for vans for moving furniture.
I helped in a move once where they had gotten a van from Mobility. Suddenly we had to start hurrying with the loading and unloading because the cheapskate had reserved only minimal time, I think like two or three hours. That was the worst thing ever, as if moving furniture isn’t a bad enough activity already, lol.
For short distances, Bolt Drive has very good van pricing actually. Anything longer, there’s a mechanic in my hometown whose van has a big turbo setup and a subwoofer. Fast n loud piece of junk, feels like it’s gonna fall apart, but he charges 25 euros a day and doesn’t care how much you drive.
I mean it’s awkward if you’re moving a chair. Moving house though can be a real pain if you’re not paying for movers.
I think the association here is more “you barely even walk into Walmart, I carry my house with my own legs when move.”
Ive rolled a queen bed from house to house on a dolley before, along with many other things. Pulled my old couch to the same house on its one good rolling wheel. The grand old “5 block city move.” It wouldn’t be realistic to do outside of a city, but it also took some real grit and just embracing the stupid to do there.
The fun part? Several people honked and waved, while others offered to help. People loved seeing someone just hulking that shit down the road. One of those nice “city people” moments.
I think your summation of the sass is better than mine, to be sure.