Is car ownership on it’s way out? Do we really all need to own cars? Experts seem to think that by 2025, private car ownership will die.
Did you know that the average car is parked 95% of the time? Thinking to our family’s vehicles – we have three vehicles. My husband and myself work at home at least half of the week. Our driving is in the evenings, running kids to school, church and sports activities. Other than that, the majority of the mileage put on our vehicles are from the weekends or when we take road trips.
John Zimmer, co-founder of LYFT recently took to Medium to discuss what he calls The Third Transportation Revolution.
Most of us have grown up in cities built around the automobile, but imagine for a minute, what our world could look like if we found a way to take most of these cars off the road. It would be a world with less traffic and less pollution. A world where we need less parking?—?where streets can be narrowed and sidewalks widened. It’s a world where we can construct new housing and small businesses on parking lots across the country?—?or turn them into green spaces and parks. That’s a world built around people, not cars.
Private Car Ownership
Zimmer continues talking about autonomous vehicles and how they will account for the majority of Lyft rides in the next 5 years. He also states that by 2025, private car ownership will all-but end in major U.S. cities.
The car has actually become more like a $9,000 ball and chain that gets dragged through our daily life. Owning a car means monthly car payments, searching for parking, buying fuel, and dealing with repairs.
My sister-in-law lives in downtown Austin. She’s in her mid-20’s and her and her partner spent the last 3 years, just using either a car share or ride share programs to get to and from work and activities. They recently did purchase a vehicle for convenience, but was not a true necessity. Of course, location and lifestyle dictate the necessity for a vehicle.
Car Ownership for Families
Could my family life without a vehicle and it be economically feasible? Probably not. We have 4 kids and we live in the country, outside of the suburbia. UBER doesn’t service our area, Lyft does – but expect at least a 20-minute wait.
Zimmer does make another point in his article that really stood out to me.
Transportation doesnt just impact how we get from place to place. It shapes what those places look like, and the lives of the people who live there.
While I don’t plan on moving back to a populated area anytime soon, I would love to see how suburbia and cities would evolve with less vehicles on the road.
What do you think? Is car ownership on it’s way out?