Cars are over, says Kara Swisher.

I will die before I buy another car.

I don’t say that because I am particularly old or sick, but because I am at the front end of one of the next major secular trends in tech. Owning a car will soon be like owning a horse — a quaint hobby, an interesting rarity and a cool thing to take out for a spin on the weekend.

Before you object, let me be clear: I will drive in cars until I die. But the concept of actually purchasing, maintaining, insuring and garaging an automobile in the next few decades?

Finished.

This could be the most important shift since the Cambrian explosion of the smartphone. Car-sharing continues to increase (Uber and Lyft are set to go public this year), new innovations emerge all the time (Scooters! Vertical-take-off-and-landing vehicles!) and all manner of autonomous technologies are inevitable (Elon Musk, whatever you think of him or the prospects of Tesla, is 100 percent directionally correct). Private car ownership declined globally last year, and it is a trend that I believe is going to accelerate faster than people think.

Not everyone agrees. After an initial rush of hype and hope, there was a backlash against the idea that autonomous and shared cars would soon take over.

But I am pretty good at this guessing game. In 1998, as one of the first Internet-focused reporters for The Wall Street Journal, I wrote a piece titled “I Cut the Cord” about giving up my land line and going all mobile.

That was well before “feature” phones — as the first dumber versions of smartphones were called — and almost a decade before the iPhone. There was not much out there for the general population. Nonetheless, I “snipped my copper umbilical cord” and predicted that everyone else would do the same, and sooner than they thought.

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I did not find it easy, as I noted then: “My own all-cellular journey is strewn with technical glitches and innumerable lost connections, pricey millisecond charges that make using a cellphone seem like a bad addiction, and vague worries that perhaps too much cellphone exposure actually does cause brain tumors.”

But it was time. Absent the brain tumors, this was the thought that hit me recently when my clutch died on a hill in San Francisco. After spending my life buying cars, I will never buy another after I sell my last, a manual Ford Fiesta Turbo named Frank.

Since I first started driving I have named my cars: Cecil the Honda Civic, Jeanette the mighty blue Volkswagen Bug, Roger the Volkswagen Rabbit, Jerry the Jeep Wrangler, John the Jeep Cherokee, Alice the Honda Minivan, Sally the Subaru Outback, Abner the Mazda 3, Cindy the Mazda 5 and Frank. Why wouldn’t I name them, since they were an integral part of my life from my teens to my single days to motherhood?

Many people feel this kind of bond with their cars. They represent so many major life moments (prom!) and individual tropes (freedom!) that it is difficult to imagine giving them up.

But it will be easier than you’d think for a number of reasons that are increasing in speed and velocity, if you will excuse the pun.

Consider how swiftly people moved from physical maps to map apps, from snail mail to email, from prime time TV to watching on demand. What had been long-held practices were quickly replaced by digital tools that made things easier, more convenient and simply better. Some of the shifts have been slower to develop, but then accelerated quickly, like what is now occurring in retail with online shopping and quick delivery pioneered by Amazon.

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Simply put, everything that can be digitized will be digitized.

That is harder to envision with the heavy hunk of metal and fiberglass that is a car, but it is not hard to see the steps. You start using car-sharing services, you don’t use your car as often, you realize as these services proliferate that you actually don’t need to own a car at all.

It’s also a small step toward a more carbon-free life, although my frequent cross-country flights pretty much make me a carbon criminal for life. (My fingers are crossed for not only an electric car, but an electric plane or even carbon-free jet fuel.)

It’s obviously an easier decision if you live near a major metropolitan area, like I do, where the alternatives — cars and then car pools and then bikes and now scooters — are myriad. (Why, by the way, this is a revolution led by private companies instead of public transportation is an important topic for another day.) In other countries, often with denser populations, there are even more ideas bubbling up, from auto-rickshaws and motorbike taxis to new bus services.

Obviously, the biggest change will be the advent of truly autonomous vehicles, which are still years or even decades in the future.

But in the meantime I am going to lean into this future all I can, and will chronicle the efforts over the next year, its costs and its benefits and how I get there. Or not.

Will I walk more? Take more buses or trains? How much will I use short-term car rental services? Will my kids freak out when I decline to be their constant chauffeur? It begins with the off-loading of Frank the Fiesta, so I have no excuse to use it at all. Anyone interested in a car with a loose clutch?

^^^ Our turn, now?

I doubt all the gun owners in the US who are afraid of the gobmint gettin all tyrannical will give up their cars.

Interesting. I'm 36 and don't even know how to drive. I've never owned a car and it would be nice to see less of them on the road. I find they make many people lazy and too dependant. Walking 10 minutes is too long and when people are suddenly without a car they panic and seem to think they have no way to get around.

The rural and the old will have keep having cars.

If you have a platinum Amex, remember that you get $15 A Uber credit every first of the month!

Keep using Lyft and Uber. You're contributing to the development of autonomous electric vehicle. You're helping advance the cause of ending car ownership and eliminating most parking. Less pollution, more shared rides, no more roadkill. Thank you in advance for making the world better through tech.

Lyft's rides are also carbon neutral.

You think people with long daily commutes will give up cars? Twenty years ago I heard about people staying home to work. That people would only go into a job building 2 days a month. That hasn't happened.

Most of the US is shamefully lacking in public transport and republicans are killing light rail.

[quote] Twenty years ago I heard about people staying home to work. That people would only go into a job building 2 days a month. That hasn't happened.

Are you retired (congrats if so)? That's totally happened.

R9 is correct, 20 years ago they said computers will free us up so much from our jobs that we will only be working 3 days a week and most professionals will be telecommuters. Turns out, bosses like to boss people around in person. Companies would rather you sit their wasting time than be efficient and getting the job done quicker at home. You are going to need a car Dear.

Everyone telecommutes.

Did you read the rest of that R10?

"Remote work was less common in the fields of community and social services; science, engineering and architecture; and education, training and library."

What's a Telephone? Is that like a an old smart phone?

You don't need to own a car in NYC or even LA. 95%+ of your trips can be made with Lyft, and you can always rent a Zipcar if you need to.

That's how I get around now. I still have a parking space, but I don't use it.

[quote] I'm 36 and don't even know how to drive. I've never owned a car and it would be nice to see less of them on the road. I find they make many people lazy and too dependent.

Hey NYC Queen, you realize not everyone lives in a major metropolitan community with abundant mass transit right?

Why are NYC Gays so myopic in their view of the world?

Seriously, Boomers should ignore this piece. Don't let it demoralize you.

Rest assured, many will keep the old ways. Many spit on telecommuting and the like. Car ownership is key to true adulthood. Like owning a house and having children. Crucial.

Don't worry. We'll keep things mostly the same. Change is dangerous. We get it.

R16, note I specified NYC and LA. I didn't say anything about suburban or rural areas.

Don't be so defensive. I agree most people need cars outside of major cities. I agree with you, ok?

[quote]even LA. 95%+ of your trips can be made with Lyft,

Bitch Please. You have never lived and worked in LA. The typical worker has to commute over an hour to a job. Lyft would cost me $45 each way every day.

R19, I'm in WeHo and work from home. I go to Equinox CC every day. All by Lyft. AmazonFresh delivers most of my groceries. I walk down Santa Monica to Trader Joe's as well. Near the original WeHo Starbucks.

You can absolutely take Lyft wherever you need to go.

I love how people in 2 cities are confidently predicting the demise of the privately owned car. I lived in NYC for 20 years. You know why I moved there? I kept failing the driving test. My parents sent me to catholic school - no drivers ed.

When I got priced out of the city, I found out that the motor vehicle dept in my hometown had been heinously corrupt. The testers were all fired a few years after I left. I took the driver test again in a different area and passed the first time. I had to drive.

There are millions - literally millions - of people who commute into NYC in cars. The LIRR is falling apart and can't handle the load it already has and it's going to get worse. People spend an hour or two in traffic going into work each morning. They're not going to hire cars to pick them up and drive them. They have this thing called taxi services which are ride sharing. When I lived in queens you called a car service to take you to the train. It was a van jammed with other people and sometimes missed the damn train. The "express bus" took an hour and 15 minutes to go 17 miles because of all the stops it made.

Those millions of people driving their own cars are not going to ride share in someone else's car to get to work. That was already tried. It was called "car pooling." It worked for a short period of time but as traffic increased, people had to get up really early when it was their turn to be the driver in order to get through traffic to get to the house of each person. Eventually they all said fuck it, Im gonna sleep later and take my own car.

Suburbs will not be filled with shared cars that cost people $30 each way. For that kind of money, people will get their own cars. Telecommuting worked in tech, but not in most jobs. Maybe if you're in tech everyone you know telecommutes. I literally don't know one person who telecommutes. The list of types of jobs of people I know is extensive, from health care to repair services, delivery services, banking, construction, landscaping, food services, railroad workers, gyms, estate maintenance, farms, stables, electricians ... they ain't gonna hire rides or telecommute.

[quote] I'm in WeHo and work from home. I go to Equinox CC every day. All by Lyft. AmazonFresh delivers most of my groceries. I walk down Santa Monica to Trader Joe's as well. Near the original WeHo Starbucks.

Silly Queen. Are you for real or just humble bragging? The average rent in WeHo for a 700qs apt is 3,000 a month. A yearly membership at Equinox is $2,800. Amazon Fresh is part of Whole Foods, and who the fuck drinks shitty Starbuck coffee anymore? 99% of the population in LA does not live within a city that is only 3 miles long so they can brag about how close everything is by Uber.

R21, things have changed a lot. Have you used Uber?

If you're an attorney, you take Uber to the office at your expense. You take Uber home at the client's expense if you finish work after 7 PM.

It's becoming the same for more and more people.

R22, Equinox CC is $3600 a year. They sent a letter last week saying that as of March 23, it's $300/month, a minor increase from $295.

And I didn't say I actually go to Starbucks. Reading comprehension is critical in the knowledge economy. I take it you're not part of it.

My beloved gym at the link. The steam room is incredible.

Use Lyft. They're a friendlier company and if you take it a lot, you get better customer service. As with Amazon.

Are you high R23? Most people are not lawyers. Most people cannot charge their clients for Uber costs. Show me where a retail bottom queen, a waiter, graphic artist, nurse, fireman, writer, plumber, teacher or a thousand other jobs that can bill their clients like a lawyer. Lawyers charge for a fucking phone call, how many business can do that?

What a crock.

Something's got to pay for the motorway upkeep. It's called car/road tax.

With AI and no more drivers, rides will be even cheaper for everyone. Contribute to progress. Take rideshare and buy shares when their IPOs happen soon.

R27, you tax reach ride. As do airports. SF has made a ton of money thanks to the fees (link).

Bitch at R24 you don't know who you are talking to, I work in your neighborhood and used to live there, you are as fake as the plastic tits on every Frau who walks into the PDC. Your Gym is in a mall! Oh I am so impressed you discovered Century City's old mall. Oh excuse me, I mean Westfield. Am I supposed to be impressed you are a modern version of a mall rat?

Once you've spent even a little time living in other countries that have old-school dense villages and towns where you can walk everywhere or take cheap/free local transport, you realize how high the quality of life can be. Owning a car should be optional, more used for distance travel. Of course it would be great to have a solid, useful train system in the U.S. Americans romanticize Europe, raving about how they lose weight, enjoy walking more, etc, as if it's all a Disney park. A great deal of what they enjoy has to do with the human scale of cities and towns and the avoidance of sprawl and not having everything center around the car.

I don’t think she is saying car ownership will end tomorrow, but it does seem it is a possibility. My partner and I used to have two cars and realized that we didn’t need both. We are down to one, and it may be our last. I think the trend will continue and it’s fine by me. I hate driving.

Obvious Troll threads based around troll articles are obvious and yet we gobble it up and fight some more. Who exactly is behind this Truman show level toss the bone into a pack of human dogs show? Ask yourself that. People in cities will probably give up cars, they always have. Cars are a hassle in cities where it snows. Hell when I lived in Cambridge/Boston I knew many who never even learned to drive and car ownership and parking was a bitch. Everywhere else - you gonna need a car hon. Of course the busy body city dwellers insist only their reality is just - everyone else, and certainly anyone else with another opinion should just "Poof" disappear. Bye Felicia.

Swisher is right. I take Uber all the time to transport large items. The driver do not mind having a 2X4X10 through their the length of their car, taking the time to tie it down, put the red ribbon on the end, and having it protrude out of the backs of their vehicles. They are more than happy to do this.

Lesbians name their cars. I say this with love. Every woman I've dated who had a car has named her car.

R33, Kara Swisher doesn't write troll articles, and just because you find it triggering doesn't mean it's a troll thread. 🤣🤖🚗

I've bought just two cars in 37 years. My next, and last car, will be all-electric.

Most of this country is rural. I live in a tiny 4 sq. mile city of it and I've lived here for 44 years. There has never even been a taxi here. No trains, one local bus that goes different places once a day. Our area is made of up of mostly 500 ft. high hills. and you can't get anywhere without going up and down them. I lived without a car for 6 years when I was in my 30's. It was hell. I did have to walk everywhere but the only places to walk to at the time were ½ mile away. The next town over is 6 miles away but there are only highways to get there with no back roads or sidewalks. Cars can only be over in major cities.

[quote]Once you've spent even a little time living in other countries that have old-school dense villages and towns where you can walk everywhere or take cheap/free local transport, you realize how high the quality of life can be.

That's my situation and I love it. I have never owned a car, never had diver's license and never will. BUT I'm only able to do this because I live in a town that is made for walking and with an extensive public transportation system.

[quote]Obvious Troll threads based around troll articles are obvious and yet we gobble it up and fight some more.

Will you please go fuck yourself with your immature "troll"crap?

The article that OP posted is on the front page of the NYT. Let the adults have a discussion about an important topic, we don't need you to play hall monitor. Idiot.

[quote] Seriously, Boomers should ignore this piece.

No, don't. This is fantastic news for car owners if it turns out to be true. Do you know how great it is to drive when there are fewer cars on the road? I moved from a bigger city to a smaller one, and I love the reduction in traffic.

Would you walk over a mile (each way) to work 4X a week? I did that until a polar vortex hit and then my ass got a parking pass at work and started driving.

The writer of this article has owned SHITTY cars... therefore has no appreciation for the automobile as anything more than a white appliance.

So r8 is all for losing even more lower end jobs to automation.

People who live in cities with mass transportation and 24/7 Uber access don't get to make these choices. I live in a suburb of 100,000 people. At this exact moment, there are 10 Ubers within the town limits. Even if they made the bus service better, it's still not enough to serve the needs of this many people.

And suggesting the entire country telecommute or do their grocery shopping via AmazonFresh is its own kind of nonsense. How out of touch are you people? Do you realize how many American households don't even have bank accounts?

I work for a large financial institution in Pittsburgh and we just had our work-at-home option revoked.

I just love the logic of reducing pollution when I’m sitting in an Uber that has to carry the weight of the driver and myself, vs just myself in another vehicle. Unless she meant the pollution at vehicle’s end-of-life.

This looks more like thinly veiled hype at upcoming IPOs.

We've prioritized road building and personal car ownership for 65 years at the expense of public transportation and building cities with mixed-use development. Conservatives are fanatically opposed to public transportation and suburban liberals likewise loath any increase in density. I badly wish cars would be over but there's no way to make that happen.

[quote] With AI and no more drivers, rides will be even cheaper for everyone.

With AI and no more jobs, no one will be able to afford anything.

More Agenda 21 horseshit--there's nothing more satisfying than stripping an engine down to the block and rebuilding it, the deep-throated roar of a well-tuned V8, the power of a diesel . . . or a performance of Robert Schuman's Symphony No. 2 in C major by the Berlin Philharmonic . . . what this twat has never thought about is the amount of toxic manufacturing processes required to produce electric vehicles, the heavy metals contained in the batteries, our creaking grids than cannot possibly handle recharging, the lack of distance electric vehicles provide, their severely reduced function in cold weather, etc. . . . telecommuting/the Uber lifestyle is a fantasy for 95% of us that have "real" jobs and are present on site, wherever that happens to be. My dentist doesn't telecommute, or my doctor, my attorney, my grocer.

What WILL happen is that as ICE vehicles continue to be demonized as the anthesis of civilization is that petroleum costs will rise into the stratosphere so that only the elite and their minions will use ICE vehicles everyday. Remember the old saw, "Do as I say, not as I do"; you can bet that as you're sitting in your Uber electric with thousands of your closest friends that the VIPs will be speeding high above in their private jets.

"Idiocrasy" has arrived and we're living it!

I'd rather crawl than take public transportation in my city. I'll drive my 12mpg beater till the wheels fall off.

[quote]Companies would rather you sit their wasting time than be efficient and getting the job done quicker at home.

Oh, dear!

[quote]The driver do not mind having a 2X4X10 through their the length of their car, taking the time to tie it down, put the red ribbon on the end, and having it protrude out of the backs of their vehicles. They are more than happy to do this.

I know I would be absolutely thrilled to have the privilege of loading someone's lumber into my debt-financed car that is both a taxi and my personal vehicle. Please, sir! May I load some more?

tell that to your typical suburn tract house owner located 20 miles or so from their citys downtown core in almost any state in the nation. Exactly how are they suppose to get to work etc etc etc?

"Boomers", OP? Gen Xers are as deeply entrenched in the U.S. "Car Culture" as Boomers are.

Naming one's cars is a deal-breaker for me, just too darned cutesy!

Fuck You, r55.

The Northeast has public transportation. But people are leaving the Northeast in droves. Where are they heading? To places like Florida and Texas, which lack public transportation. The New York Times can be counted on to run pieces that are relevant to virtually no one.

How the hell do you take weekend trips without a car?

In my private jet, of course, R58.

I don't understand the people saying they are in their thirties and can't drive, or that they could never pass the test. I can understand choosing not to drive, but there is really not an excuse to not know how to. I never took a driver's education class and my parents didn't give me lessons, yet I passed my test on the first try and I've been driving since I was 15 and have never gotten a ticket or been in an accident that was my fault. I am now 35. Driving is not hard.

R17 is WAY too invested in this.

Get some friends, dear.

[quote]How out of touch are you people?

Tech trolls aren't social. That's why it's cute when they pretend they're cool.

lol yeah no.

R63 Seconded by Atlanta.

Swisher lives and breathes the Silicon Valley bubble.

Rather than "the Wall" the Repug thugs could FDR like boost US econ all over the next 5-10-15-20 years with public transport and light rail and town planning infrastructure that supper Public Health and Carbon reduction policy....

BUT it aint gonna happen!

As a non-American I am sad that one of the world's wealthiest and innovative economies can but see the wood for the trees (inappropriate metaphor I know) in terms of employment and quality of future life for its denizens and not to mention contributing to Policy trend setting, global health and tipping points that are critical in this very mind-set shift.

^^supports

- my country is just as blinkered still - but inroads (excuse pun) ARE being made....

I live in Vancouver and lived in Calgary before that and have never driven. I’m in my early 30s. If our governments would invest in transit car ownership could become unnecessary in most cities.

The problem with relying on public transportation is the loss of freedom. You become dependent on the government and others. You can only travel to places where the transportation goes and only at times when the transportation is provided and not necessarily when you want or need them. I am appalled by my generation's seeming hatred of the important freedoms upon which our society is based. It is especially concerning seeing such views on an LGBT messegeboard, where we should all be weary of giving the government too much control over our lives, when we have only recently gotten out of our bedrooms.

You can also walk

Or ride a bike

Until the last drop of oil is extracted from the earth, the petroleum companies and their Republican lackies will make sure cars using gas will still be needed, local public transportation will be demonized, and any non-petroleum methods of transportation and production of electricity will be stymied at every turn.

R70 R71 Only, if where you want to go is within walking distance. You are still beholden to others, whether it be the government for planning and zoning, or to businesses for locating in your area. Whereas if you have a car you are free to go a couple of blocks or a few hundred miles on a whim.

SUVs and crossovers are taking over. If it means I don't have to see one again, okay, let cars be done.

Enjoy the automated software from Boeing!

This only makes sense in New York City and San Francisco. The idea that people will not be driving cars in the rest of the country in twenty or thirty years is ridiculous. If I were to take Uber or Lyft everywhere, I would be spending about $100 a day, or $3,000 a month. It makes no sense. The parallel she's trying to make with landlines and cell phones is silly. Having a phone you could carry with you was a convenience people wanted. Giving up their car to take public transportation is not something most are interested in, especially since most cities have terrible public transportation. In many cities, what would take you 20 minutes to drive would take you easily an hour or an hour and a half to get to on a bus.

R76 Exactly, the only time I ever used a form of Public Transportation was the bus service that my University ran, mainly from the parking lots to to other areas of the campus. But, I quit using it because it was so inefficient. I discovered that I could walk the four or five blocks to my class, usually up hill, quicker than riding the bus. And, I hated having to arrange my schedule around the bus schedule. The only time I used it was if it was raining.

R20, Aren't You Special!

MARY!!!

Reminds me of a really smart and/but “on the spectrum” coworker 30 years ago. He never got his driver’s license and had done some major math to justify he was ahead financially, between public transit and cabs. As much as he was brilliant in some ways, he probably did everyone a favor by not driving.

R79 I remember we had a long term substitute teacher in middle school, who took taxis everywhere, because she never learned to drive. She complained that it was hard to make a living for her and her two children on a substitute's pay. This was well before Uber and Lyft, and she even took a taxi to pick up her children from school, instead of them riding the bus. I quickly deduced that she was an idiot. And, she was. When our teacher got back from maternity leave, she had to reteach us everything the sub had, because she taught us wrong.

I grew up in the South, never got a car. I walked, bus, or rode a bike. Lived in nyc for 11 years. Then moved to CT. I just walk or bike. Never had a license, never will. Will never own a car. Don't give a shit. I love walking and biking. I'm scared of biking lately because people are becoming worst drivers with their stupid phones. Die cars die. Walking and biking gives you a hot body.

I think we are going through a transitional period regarding cars and how we use them, but I do think that ultimately, the car as we know it will stay because of the frau factor - women, and especially women with kids, want to use cars to get around.

R81 I bet you are one of those annoying people who gets your friends to take you places in their car.

Im reply 81. I forgot to say I do know how to drive. I would just rather not get involved. I would drive illegally sometimes for work if my boss needed. But all the license and registration, and the cops pulling you over...etc. Nah, I'm good. No thanks. I will walk for hours. Once I walked 5 hours to work. Love it.

My perception of it is Uber/Lift are pulling a Wal-Mart on the traditional taxi industry, and in a few years will switch to driver-less cars of their own ownership. To all you guys and gals currently subsidizing this “disruption”, enjoy the “gig economy” while it’s involving your time and the wear and tear on your own vehicle.

R83 Actually no. Only if they want me to go somewhere with them. You want me to come to some party with you? Go out? Then you gotta come get me. Cause I'm a loner and love to be home ALONE. So, usually they do it because I'm a bomb person and don't give a fuck if I hang out with you or not. I never ask for a ride. I'm good right here doing my thing.

R84 I wouldn't want to employ anyone who walked five hours to work, because if you walk that much, even in the cold, you are going to be a stinking sweaty mess by the time you make it to work. I say this as someone who loves to walk. Before my dog sadly died from an accident, he and I would go for two hour walks every evening, but I would never have done that and then gone into the office, or to a doctor, or to the club, etc...

R86 Anyone who describes themselves as a "bomb" person, usually isn't.

^^^haha. That's what you think pal. You have no idea who you're talking to. TRUST ME.

If I wake up tomorrow and decide on the spur of the moment to visit friends 100 miles away, I won’t have to struggle to find a rental car on a Sunday morning.

Having a car means means the freedom to go where you want, when you want. If people no longer want that freedom, I feel sorry for them.

Besides, how are you supposed to make a quick getaway if you need to?

A quick getaway? What the hell? What kind of gangster life are you living in? haha.

I'm just glad for all of you that don't have cars since it makes the road less crowded. Enjoy the bus, bitches.

I live in the red-state boonies. Uber is a rare bird around here, and there's no public transportation at all. Not having a car is extremely restrictive in many places.

My car is also my storage area. I need lots of “stuff” in my car for work. How am I going to schlep all of it around on Uber or public transportation? Stupid

Besides the fact that she's not very in touch with reality, Ms. Swisher is looks like she's a real barrel of fun. She can stay in her little urban bubble and nobody cares what she thinks.

I’m amazed at how many cars she has owned so far. I’m in my 50s and on #4.

I wouldn't wipe my ass with the NY Times. I haven't read that rag since they repeatedly reported over and over and over that Iraq had WMD's and was part of 9/11

Cars will be around a lot longer than the NY Times. It's rather funny, that they don't even sell it in the stores anymore in so many states. A few years ago you could go into any chain grocery store and see a display of the local newspaper, the nearest big city's newspaper and the NY Times. Now, no one carries it. If you want to read that rag, you have to subscribe to it.

Some stupid moron writing this article and the Times publishing it, is what I call quaint. Not many newspapers are willing to print such useless shit. And from such a dumb cunt who does nothing but talk out of her ass. No wonder they are having such bad financial difficulties

You've really got to hand it to the times. They never get tired of employing jackasses or printing shit stories that no one cares about or reads

[quote] I live in the red-state boonies. Uber is a rare bird around here, and there's no public transportation at all. Not having a car is extremely restrictive in many places.

Really? Are you sure? We've never heard of anything like this. This must be some rare phenomenon that only applies to your town

[quote] The shift away from private vehicles will happen faster than we think

oh yes. I think it will happen very soon. I'm willing to even set a date for when this will occur.

I predict, the First of Never or the 35th of Nevuary at the latest

R12, Meet public education. Meet farming. Meet small businesses. Meet pro sports. Meet restaurants.

You know why people like owning cars?

Yes, freedom. Spontaneity. Convenience. The garage is always closer than any Uber. Destinations and/or stops along the way can be kept private. Multiple stops (Post Office to bank to store #1 for five minutes to store #2 for ten minutes to the doctor's....).

But mostly......schlepping stuff, and in any weather. This is the reason no Segway or its ilk will ever replace automobiles.

Groceries. Coffee or soda at hand. Work papers. Whimsical or practical miscellany. Pets.

Sorry, r93! I posted before I read you! GMTA!

R101 please repost that hourly.

Give the "you don't need no stinkin' autonomy, just take public transport and suck it up" kids something to think about.

[quote] local public transportation will be demonized

That's because it's shit. Crazy people, multiple stops increasing travel time, smelly people, rude people, criminals, loud people, and *ugh* screaming babies.

If life in the city without a car is so wonderful, how come there's never anywhere to park in urban residential neighborhoods?

I like the 'walk 5 miles to work guy'. I've gone for years at a time without a car, and this was mostly before Lyft, Uber, and home grocery delivery. I'm finding it especially easy to do now, getting around on a relatively inexpensive ($1k) e-bike, with the occasional Lyft, very occasional car rental, plus Kroger Ship delivery for staples and Instacart for the rest. I'm in rural AZ, by the way.

Cars will meet their deserved death in exactly 12 years!

Yes, Ms. Realtor Eyes, citizens' lives will be so much better when they are forced to rely on shared transportation which they neither own nor have any control over.

I don’t drive and never have because it scares me, but I’m kicking myself for not realizing just how much virtue signaling I could have gotten out of my neurosis.

Change is coming for most; but not as swiftly as Swisher wishes.

The key is denser population centers: more stuff and other things people want to do, nearer by: more walking; easier deliveries. Most city dwelling Europeans, compared to those in the U.S. live in smaller spaces. They have way fewer cars.

Lots of land (for “ranch” homes) and the automobile encouraged spread in all but the oldest of US cities. We got what we got, and even Uber/Lyft can’t singlehandedly change it. But generational economic shifts might.

For a bunch of reasons, young Americans are the first generation in memory expected (on average) to do less well economically than their parents. One consequence is they are beginning to live in smaller spaces. People are doubling up for longer. More old homes in downtown areas are being repurposed into small apartments. More convenience stores, smaller restaurants, and footprinted shops are moving in to serve these denser populations (as well as more “to go” and delivery services). The bottom line is more Americans will be living in smaller, packed together spaces, as in Europe, and car ownership will plummet.

As a columnist for the New York Times, Kara Swisher has a private driver. I'll bet she's never been in an Uber that smells bad, driving recklessly, or just arrived in America and doesn't know where anything is or how to communicate with you.

^ 3 guys ^

Wrong. ^

[quote] For a bunch of reasons, young Americans are the first generation in memory expected (on average) to do less well economically than their parents.

They used to say this all the time about Gen Xers, R110. Remember McJobs and "would you like fries with that?" I don't know how and why the media keeps pushing this narrative about millennials when it was only 20-25 years ago they said the same about Xers.

Most of the millenials where I live own cars. And no I don't live in the sticks either.

R7, though your English and sentence structure is obviously poor, I agree w/ your thoughts 100%. However, that doesn’t matter, as they are not the target demographic, and will mostly be expired w/in the next 20-30 years, or less.

R114, because magazine/newspaper writers like to think of themselves as more than just writers, but prognosticators as well. They adore finding a contemporary trend and pouncing on it and wildly announcing "x is the next big thing." It's the shit Pulitzers are made of.

Anyone who things Americans (or any other car owners in the world, for that matter) will be giving up their cars for socialized transit is completely delusional. With your own car, you go when you want, you leave when you want, and you're not forced to socialize with people you don't know. As far as mass transit, the day humanity has to rely on some moribund transit agency (like SEPTA, CTA, MTA or NJ Transit) and its do nothing bureaucrats to get people from point A to point B is when society will have collapsed.

For the kiddies just coming out of college and are used to sharing meals, bathrooms and dormitories with strangers, this sharing concept might seem normal. But you reach a point in your adult life where you want your own space that you don't have to share with strangers.

Now get off my lawn, you damn kids.

This writer makes Tom Friedman look like a genius.

If I lived in NYC I probably wouldn’t bother with a car but I am at least 20 miles from any urban district. I need a car to get around and especially to work. I also enjoy driving, not a fan of “self driving” this and that. I’m 39.

I live in Minnesota (Twin Cities) and bike a lot, including to work, but that’s only about six months a year. It’s too fucking cold and icy otherwise. I love having a car for groceries and other shopping.

I am an elementary school teacher and will never telecommute. I’d love it, but like posters have stated above, it just isn’t in the cards for some of us.

While I think the local light rail is fantastic, it doesn’t really work for my work commute, and I won’t add 1.5 hours to my daily trip to work for the bus.

There is absolutely a class element to this discussion. I don’t want to lose all that time to waiting for two buses, but a huge swath of people have no other choice, and until AI makes its promised advances, janitors, housekeepers, child care workers, and others have to settle for shitty public transport - or if they can afford car payments and insurance, drive.

I’ve 7 (no slouches) nieces and nephews, from final year to twelve years out of college (ranging from state schools to Ivies) and living from Silverlake to Portland to Brooklyn.

ALL share apartments.

Only three have cars. A fourth - the college senior - borrows from his parents for weekends.

In comparison, my four siblings all had cars by graduation.

This is bullshit.

I work with 30 men and women in their 20's. They all LOVE their cars.

As one of the guys told me: " there are 2 things you should never share: your girlfriend and your car".

It's highly doubtful that ride sharing will be less expensive than car ownership, particularly in the suburbs and exurbs and rural areas, which is most of the US. This is what will kill or impede its mass adoption.

All the new millennial marketing and apps is about creating new middlemen who take even more money than the old middlemen did, with even greater hype than ever before. Now the middlemen want to rent you your car.

The combined populations of the LA and NYC metro areas is less than 5% of the US population.

Millennials won't stop cars, just as they're not stopping home ownership. The difference that came with Gen X is that the Dream won't be realized so easily (but not so much delayed), and the difference that came with Gen Y/Millennials is that the Dream will be rather delayed (but not so much weakened). But both generations want their home and vehicles and will try to get them.

Gen Z may drop much concern for having cars and houses due to modern changes, but even they will aspire to having more direct control than indirect control. That means eventually having some sort of exclusive/easy access to vehicles they can control the environment of.

My partner is in his 30s and loves cars, though less in the garage way and more in the showcases (and getting as close as possible to affording the showcased cars) way. Most of my friends in their 30s either have cars or have a partner that drives because they outright functionally can't drive themselves. My friends in their 20s are a mix; some are car nuts, some have a car just because they have to, and some just bus in the city.

What may have changed in the last while (5, 10, 20 years) is that car ownership is less of a mark of adulthood. But its still wanted and its utility still cannot be ignored.

All that said, I have some agreement with the article. Personally, I expect Gen Z to just keep cars for their usefulness but (generally) little else, and Gen 'Alpha' (they'll be young adults in the 2030s-40s) to consider it old news aside from what software the cars may be using, services may be offered around them, and availability of ridesharing or similar accessibility.

Despite increasing moves 'back' to suburbs, smaller cities, and some rural areas, population will still grow even more in most urban areas, and that's more people that can't/won't prioritize owning a car for a longer time (first its some of their 20s, then most of their 20s, then 30s....). The longer they're without a car, and with alternative paths growing (first transit/buses, then taxis, then ridesharing, then we'll see..), the less important getting a car will feel.

But sure, house ownership isn't going away, and cars are considered extensions of that. I can still see the number of cars owned to more often reduce to 1 instead of up to 2-3+, and replacements being less often. The emotional and functional connections aren't going away any time soon, but I do agree with the premise that for seeming-rapidly-growing younger populations even owning a car will increasingly - and sooner than it may feel - be 'quaint'.

I do not expect to be reaching 2050 with highways packed with cars we all own/lease. I think such things will still exist, albeit in more developing nations, but the alternatives are coming fast and with few speedbumps.

Men will look for their excitements in other ways, I'm certain.

R121, the problem is that the situation you describe here and in your previous comment at R110 is a step backward in standard of living. Do you think anyone, including Europeans and Manhattanites, wants to live in a small space or share an apartment? It's true that there is a minority of people who prefer life without a car, but they are just that: a minority. This is proven by the large number of people living in crowded cities who nevertheless choose to own a car despite the expense and hassle.

Instead of (rather gleefully, I must say) announcing this decline in standard of living as though it were a good or even neutral thing - or as though it had been imposed by God or nature rather than by our own elite - wouldn't it be more helpful to ask why this is happening and what we can do to improve economic conditions for people in their 20s?

Oh and I think some people misunderstand such a title.

When I was young in the 1990s (I know, I'm a child compared to majority of this site's userbase), I mostly lived in very rural areas. There, religious (Mennonites) and even some farmers still used horses for much of their travel. In the 2000s the remaining farmers carried over to cars, often spurred by their Internet-adopting Millennial kids. In the 70s-80s though, many used horses and were only picking up cars. In the mid-century, cars were not necessarily very common.

So it took several decades, but various advancements in inter-connectivity ended up changing things more rapidly than they'd have expected. Of course by this point (90s-00s) almost everyone in the cities considered cars a total norm, but I'm talking about the argument of 'most of the country is rural'.

I'm absolutely certain that in the next couple decades, rural nuts will be cracked in regards to ridesharing, autonomous vehicles, and more computerized road systems. My hometown area, for example, won't let go of car ownership being of apex teenage importance any time soon, but in the meantime, most PEOPLE, of whom live in CITIES, will be much more rapidly shifting their own priorities. In the end, people won't want to directly administer maintenance of a car if they can help it. They won't store a car if they're used to life without driveways. They won't opt for constant alertness for long traffic jams if they can keep things on some Auto Mode. Etc. Gen Z will accept so many changes and they'll do it because they still feel they control things, but before we know it (a gen after), yes, owning cars may become as 'quaint as owning a horse'.

R125 it only really changes if smaller cities and towns are able to grow in pace with larger cities/metropolises. Since they can't, yes, we get more crowded cities with more expensive real estate. Only a portion of the problem can be chalked up to things like foreign ownership/immigration, slowed wage growth, and so on. Its mostly because people go to where the jobs are and more and more jobs tell us 'go to this office that's housed in/near downtown to be in touch with economic centrality'.

If some industry would spring up that necessitates lots of workers in all sorts of rural areas, with great demand and pay, enough to sap interest away from cities, then yes, we have slowly more room to accept more of a standard of more living space for more people. But we haven't found that, and oftentimes the existing industries are downsizing/automating more than growing in human demand. I could go back to my hometown, but for what? My friends in Toronto could go to an outlying city, but for what? Some reduced living standards don't erase the overall better living standards than otherwise. They often know that they can save and invest until their middle age then find a more outside-the-city house at that point.

R124, I can foresee a time when individual car ownership is more limited than it is now - limited to people in rural areas and old-fashioned suburbs. Instead, there could be shared vehicle fleets - car clubs, you might call them - that would serve denser neighborhoods. The cars would be stored in service garages responsible for cleaning and maintaining them. The residents, or members of the club, would walk over and get a car when they needed one and pay by the hour or day. That entire transaction would presumably be electronic.

The car clubs would compete based not only on fees but on hours of operation, availability and vehicle type. You'd probably pay more for your car on a Saturday at 2 p.m. than you would on a Tuesday at 4 a.m. There might be a monthly fee as well, particularly for clubs that offered 24-hour service, guaranteed availability and a wide range of vehicle types.

That could be pretty nice, actually. All the benefits of ownership but none of the trouble.

You'd still have to have car insurance, so I suppose we'd still be subjected to those Liberty Mutual ads aimed at the Idiocracy component of the population.

R11, I telework 4-5 days a week, but the working 3 days a week is a pipe dream, unless people can afford to work part-time. As far as cars, I'll keep mine. Those of us in the central part of the US have no other good form of transportation. I love the English train system, but we're too big unless we run it at a loss.

R127, you're right that the problem - and it is a problem to be solved, not an ordained inevitability - is the concentration of jobs, but it's the concentration of jobs in certain cities. This is what's new. Jobs have been concentrated in urban areas for more than a century. But today, they are increasingly found in only a few cities. Furthermore, modern lifestyle preference - which I admit I have little patience for, but whatever - is to live not in just any city but in a few trendy, "progressive" cities. No jobs and no people are flocking to St Louis or New Orleans or Rochester.

A national policy to encourage development in less popular cities would be a big step forward. Why was Amazon only considering hip and trendy locations? Why wasn't the Federal government interested enough in our national welfare to encourage them to locate in, say, Detroit? Anyway, that's another topic, but that's the kind of thing I mean. While a small core of terminally hip young people might refuse to move to a less-developed city, I think most would be happy to move to a less trendy but lower-cost city in exchange for well-paying jobs and the chance to own a home and start a family before they're 45.

R110 / R121 here. Not sure what to make of “gleefully neutral” accusation. Merely expressing my observations and thoughts.

I’ve stayed in European cities for months at a time. Lived in smaller housing spaces and walked / biked more. I didn’t find it less pleasant than car-centric US, just different.

Neither I nor most of my neighbors coveted cars and the related hassle. Still, they’re useful for the occasional trip through the countryside or to IKEA.

So, this thread is as good as any.

I've always wondered, how to people in NYC (or London, whatever) without cars get groceries? I rarely eat out (and maybe that is the answer), but I go once a week, and I have at least 4-6 bags each time. Fresh vegetables, canned items, pop, etc. are very bulky. Surely people aren't making multiple trips from the cab waiting on the street? Is delivery more common (I'm not a fan of delivery when dealing with produce)? Genuinely curious.

One issue with all forms of public transportation is the extra time it all takes. It's simply not possible to beat the efficiency of having your own vehicle. Any other option requires waiting, route (for the Uber, for the bus, for the train) and route planning. For example, to take the local Park 'n Ride to a concert downtown requires me to find a way to the train station about 5 miles from here, take the train to a station downtown, switch lines and ride up to the venue. And then to do it all in reverse.

It's also not amenable to variations. I can't count the number of times I've taken the car on an errand and made change en route to do something else ad hoc whie I was out (such as duck into Lowes to get a new lightbuld) that didn't occur to me when I left. Can't do that, even in an Uber.

Who the hell wants to deal with the vermin on public transportation?

Hell, a man was just arrested for repeatedly kicking an old lady in the head.

"Who the hell wants to deal with the vermin on public transportation?"

The socialists among us, r134. Certain "urban planners" and "sociologists" won't rest until everyone is living in a 16 foot wide, 900 square foot row house with no front yard and a postage stamp sized back yard, within walking distance of public transportation, on narrow streets. See Inga Saffron.

It's their dystopian wet dream.

I know you are semi-tolling R134, but it is bewildering to be how the article's author just is SOOOOOO out of touch with the vast majority of Americans. This is why the deplorable hate the NYT. The measure of disconnect is astounding.

And don't forget they want us to give up AC too R135.

[quote]but I go once a week, and I have at least 4-6 bags each time. Fresh vegetables, canned items, pop, etc. are very bulky. Surely people aren't making multiple trips from the cab waiting on the street? Is delivery more common (I'm not a fan of delivery when dealing with produce)? Genuinely curious.

Yes, delivery is more common. However, you noted you go grocery shopping once a week. Most city dwellers go once a day to pick up the items they need for that day/evening. Grocery stores are not as prevalent as your local “bodega” (sort of like a small deli with grocery items also for sale), and there’s usually one or two within walking distance. As you’re walking back to your apartment, you pop in there and get what you need. Usually walk out with one or two bags at most.

Thanks R138 I always wondered. Seems like a PITA to me, but I imagine if you live in an inner, inner (NYC, SFO, BOS) city it is just standard operating procedure. I guess if it was just down the block going twice a week wouldn't be so bad.

The lure, the entrenched idea of the "romance" of the Open Road; "Route 66"; "Little Deuce Coupe" and "Little Red Corvette"; "See the USA in a Chevrolet"; "Drove my Chevy to the levee..."; etc. = the American psyche, regardless of who doesn't own a car.

That was manufactured by the automakers and oil companies

Along with drive-in movies, restaurants, etc... I suppose we still have drive-through take out and ATMs but it’s not the same as the old “drive your personal living/dining room” to the venue business model.

R139, it is a PITA, plus the local bodega - and typical urban supermarkets, for that matter - don't have anything like the stock that a full-sized suburban supermarket does. The produce selection is often good, though. Also, in nicer urban neighborhoods, there's usually at least one fancy grocery store that sells Whole Foods-type stuff, including better quality dairy and meat. Or else there's a WF itself not too far away. Two bags is not too much to manage on a Lyft ride.

City dwellers who have cars or can borrow one often make a trip every couple of weeks to a big supermarket in the suburbs or at the city's edge to stock up on things like toilet paper, canned goods, pet food and other items that are more expensive in the small local shops.

On the other hand, a lot of urbanites live in such small apartments that they have nowhere to store a 12-pack of TP or 8-roll pack of paper towels, so they put up with the higher prices for the 4-roll pack from local urban supermarket and buy these items more often.

I'm like you - I prefer a weekly shopping trip and have many bags to bring home, but I'm a die-hard suburbanite. I hated city life after a couple of years. Obviously, not everyone feels that way, but not everyone loves city life, either.

I want Kara Swisher to cover a story in Rome NY. For two weeks. Having to meet 12 sources and go to 6 local repositories. By bus.

Happy LYFT IPO Day!!!!!!

The day CARS are over is when we run out of fossil fuels. Which is probably not more than 15 years away.

LYFT IPO was originally at 62. Raised to 72 yesterday by the bankers b/c of demand. Now expected to open at 90.

^^The 1970s are calling. They want their data back.

R148 meant for r146.

Did anyone buy some shares today?

the fucked up thing about Swisher's wording is that she says cars are over...because uber and lyft drivers can drive you. And they don't count I suppose?

r69, you say:

[quote]The problem with relying on public transportation is the loss of freedom. You become dependent on the government and others.

Do you have any idea how much you rely on your government for:

paving the roads

enforcing safely regulations of cars

repairing roads

adding salt to roads in wintry weather

fighting trillion dollar wars in the Middle East to ensure cheap gas for your car

R148, there will be electric cars all over the road transitioning from fossil fuels.

We just be like

Funny-- she was savaged in the comments to the article and the Times quickly buried it, e.g. it wasn't on the homepage any more.

As the 154 posters before me have no doubt noted, it was a ridiculous article, starting with her bragging about how prescient she was on other things and completely ignoring the fact that people with kids and people not in NY/SF and a few other cities really have no other options.

[Quote]The garage is always closer than any Uber.

Garage? In urban neighborhoods you are typically dealing with street parking that can be a decent walk from your place. Especially if you got unlucky when you parked your car. It can absolutely be more convient to uber somewhere.

I guess I fit this article. I am an "urban professional" in my 30s who doesn't own a car.

She doubles down on this and the commenters are ripping her apart again.

She truly does not seem to get that her life in San Francisco is markedly different than life elsewhere in the US, especially in the burbs.

And like many Valley denizens she also doesn't seem to get that scooters are great in cities with relatively mild weather, but no one in Chicago or Boston is taking one on a snowy winter day.

[quote]It's true that there is a minority of people who prefer life without a car, but they are just that: a minority. This is proven by the large number of people living in crowded cities who nevertheless choose to own a car despite the expense and hassle.

you're entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts

Within the five boroughs, ownership is lowest in Manhattan, with only 23% of households owning a car, followed by Brooklyn and the Bronx, with 44% and 46% respectively. In contrast, a large majority of households in Queens (64%) and particularly in Staten Island (84%) own at least one car.