Realities of Not Having a Car

1. The Pain that is Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping is an event planned far in advance. When you don't have a car, you often have to plan far in advance with someone who does have a car so they can drive you. If you can't have anyone drive you, you have to plan how you'll get there. You could walk, take public transit, or call a cab. Weather Matters! You may cancel your grocery trip if it's raining because busses are often full when it's raining and run late and sitting on a crowded bus soaking wet with all your groceries isn't most people's idea of fun. You also have to be aware of what grocery store you choose, as some don't offer bags- so you have to bring your own or walk home with an arm full of groceries. You're also limited because you can only buy what you can carry comfortably.

2. Doctor's Appointments.. ugh.

Doctor's appointments are something that most people dread as a general rule of thumb. However, when you don't have a car and are trying to book doctor's appointment's it becomes even harder. You have to plan extra hard around whoever has a car's social and work schedule to be sure they can drive you or check bus times and routes and pray they're not late to figure out when and how you can get to your doctor.

3. Late Night Food

Most restaurants close around 9pm and even the late night fast food restaurants have lobbies that close around 10 pm. This means that if you work late but don't have a car- you can't grab a burger or taco bell because you can't walk through the drive through. Your options are pretty much whatever convenience store is within walking distant for some chips, beef jerky, or frozen burrito if you have a microwave.

4. Donating/Selling/Buying Clothes

Tons of people do Spring, Fall, Winter, or Summer cleaning in an effort to clean out their closets. However, if you don't have a car and plan on trying to resell your extra clothes, give them to friends, donate them, or buy more clothes to replace them- then you plan this far in advance. Although, "Hey want to drive me to Buffalo Exchange so we can sit and wait until it's our turn to buy a few clothing items for 30% of what they'll sell them for or Hey want to help me lug 8 garbage bags full of clothes into the women's shelter and then wait until they sort them so I can get a tax deductible receipt?" does sound very enticing- some errands like these are simply a pain and you may not have any one willing to spend half their day off doing these mundane tasks, so the garbage bags of togo clothes may sit in your closet until they're out of style, double as living room furniture, or simply get put back into your clothing rotation. Most donation places don't offer pick up options anymore and it can be really expensive and embarassing to ask a cab or an uber driver to help you haul away garabage bags of clothes. And if the weather isn't peachy- your stuff may get damaged.

5. Trips are hard...

Vacations are special things and some take months off a year for vacation and others might get a few days, if they're lucky. There are some great options to travel to your destination like Megabus, Greyhound, Amtrak, or various airlines- however if you don't have a car, it becomes even more expensive. Often times you need someone to drive and pick you and your vacation bags up from whatever transport station. Ridesharing can be hard to coordinate and hitchhiking is dangerous and illegal- so those without cars are forced to ask for or pay for a ride to and from their destination and figure out how to get around once they arrive. This means no last minute day trips, beach excursions, or surprise visits to your sister in the next state. If you have a carless friend and plan on vacationing in the same span of time, get with them and coordinate. It can be a much needed break for someone without transportation to find someone to take a trip with or help them get to a destination.

6. Getting to and from Work

As someone who just got a car after not having one for over 3 years, I can tell you it's such a relief to be able to drive myself to and from work. In the past, I had to coordinate bus times and make sure I was early and hope that the bus was on time. This meant waking up atleast an hour before I had to be at work to allow myself time to get ready, walk to the bus stop, wait for the bus, ride the bus, and walk to work from the bus stop. During peak season, I had to leave an extra hour and adjust to holiday bus hours. The busses sometimes just don't come and then I'd be forced to call a cab or recently an uber, if my phone had juice in it. You also end up spending a ton of money in cab and uber fares just to get to and from work. You're always feeling like you're late and whenever you're early, the bus isn't. ALmost every write up I've gotten for tardies has been related to me not being able to get to work on time because of a late bus or one that never came. I've been left stranded when a bus crashed and left stranded when a cab never came multiple times. Your day always starts out bad when you end up soaked in the rain waiting on a bus or cab and especially bad if any cars splash water at you while they drive by.

7. GENEROUS COWORKERS WITH CARS ARE ACTUAL ANGELS

Your coworkers are hit or miss at any job but if you are lucky, you find special saints in your coworkers with cars who offer you rides home after a super long shift so you're not waiting at a bus stop or forced to pay for an uber. You may get super lucky and find one who wants to carpool on a regular basis and offer them coffee, gas money, and infinite hugs. I wish all the carless people find a generous car having ride giving angel and now that I have a car, I pledge to offer my carless coworkers and friends rides!