I Don’t Drive

I’m a non-driver by choice. That is, not only don’t I own a car, I don’t even possess a driver’s license.  And yes, I realize this marks me as a special kind of freak.

As a non-driver by choice, there are very few places in the US that I could live and not have my non-driver-ness negatively affect my life. Some small towns, I guess. San Francisco, maybe.  And my home, NYC.  

NYC is an awesome place for a non-driver to live. Manhattan, anyway. The other boroughs work without a car (well, not so much Staten Island) but not as well.  

So back to that idea I’ve been chewing on - how much is a/any home worth?  I spend, in any given month, no more than $200 dollars on transportation.  That’s a massive overestimate that includes all subway, bus, cabs and out of town trips (excluding plane trips).  I’m betting there are very few car owners who spend less than that a month, factoring in gas + insurance + maintenance + car payments.  

Add to that $500. $500 is the random value I’m applying to living someplace where I don’t have to drive.  Which means (in my very fuzzy logic) that I’d happily pay $700 more a month to live in NYC vs some other perfectly nice where I’d have to drive.