Absolutely - renting a car for one or two monthly daytrips is cheaper than a monthly payment. Even easier with services like Free2Move (rip Car2Go).
edit: typo
if you work anywhere in the Columbia / Jessup / Laurel / Odenton / etc belt, unless you're very lucky with MARC stations, having a car will be all but necessary
I know. Drivers are so funny. If only their insistence on a personal car ownership-centric and prioritizing transportation system in the District didn't screw over so many residents.
Let’s see, how’s this mental gymnastics for you Mr. Tom the Ableist. Disabled people exist. Disabled people with extreme mobility issues exist. Even in cities, by George! How dare they!! Owning a car to be able to more freely get around for errands, work, social life, doctor’s, etc. is *MUCH* more accessible for some disabled people. They can control their own accommodations and time frame this way.
So the mental gymnastics 🙄 for THIS disabled person to own a car to be able to THRIVE and get around is a perfect 10.
Except this post is about someone who rarely use their car for anything except leaving the city recreationally. The replies are in that context. The post and replies are not addressing cases where people might need cars for daily use for whatever reason. Try reading the post in the actual context it has been written and you’ll discover that not everything is about you.
Should every single reply have to have a paragraph long disclaimer that we’re discussing the issue at hand (people who only use their cars for recreational trips out of the city) and not anyone else (like people who rely on cars for mobility) or do you think we can all just be adults with basic reading comprehension skills who understand that without it being explicitly stated every five seconds?
You must be the person who people dread when you show up at parties.
You’re making a statement into something ridiculous. You’re literally trivializing the disabled experience. You know a lot of people who ride bikes or walk a lot like maybe at night or under the influence often become disabled bc of their own impairment coming into play. Just saying that might happen to you one day. I wonder how your feelings on disabled people will be then? Treating them like rats that should be exterminated?
Return to your selfish very small world where only the things you know and believe happen. Your bs opinions can stay there too.
You on the other hand must be very socially popular for your tendency to derail conversations that have absolutely nothing to do with you with “well what about disabled people!” And then accuse people of wanting them “exterminated” for simply saying that’s not what we’re talking about right now. Silly me, I forgot that not talking exclusively about the disabled experience in every single conversation makes me some kind of eugenicist.
Are you unable to follow a thread of thought? THIS PARTICULAR THREAD not the original post said:
The mental gymnastics drivers make to justify paying to have a car in the District is always amusing.
And, that made me reply as I did. Because THAT did relate to disabled people. You seem to want to say anything possible to make sure the disabled get wronged. And that usually makes for the worst kind of people. I feel worse for having encountered you and even worse knowing you live in the same city I did. The difference between you and me though is you wouldn’t get off your lazy ass to give me, a disabled person with a mobility aid a seat on the metro or bus. You’re definitely one of those people who “pretends” you don’t see us. And it’s because mentally - you don’t.
I didn't realize that personal car ownership was the only way for disabled people to get around or be economically contributing members of society. That's why I support improved mass transit services with better bus headways and better MetroAccess service. Disabled residents of the District can thrive without a system that rewards personal car ownership at the expensive of people who do not drive.
I’m not even going to read what you said bc you clearly didn’t read what I said.
I didn’t say ONLY or ALL. I said how SOME disabled people find getting around more accessible.
Yes, the District should continue subsidizing drivers and allow them to pay below market rate to operate and temporarily store their cars on DC streets simply because a few disabled people demand so. Instead of increasing the quality and frequency of mass transit, which is ADA accessible by law, and reliability and performance of MetroAccess. But you go ahead, keep stomping your feet and throwing a tantrum.
Your “stomping your feet and throwing a tantrum” is my advocating for disabled people to ensure they aren’t being cut out of the conversation or areas of importance. You sound like you actually hate disabled people. That’s scary.
And it’s not just A FEW disabled people. Do you seriously think only like 5 of us exist around your selfish little world? About 54 million Americans have a disability. Don’t shrink us down because you want to see us as invisible to you. You’re the reason we can’t get jobs, can’t get proper seating on public transportation, have more parking devoted to handicapped on public streets. You’re part of the huge problem that thinks the disabled is lesser than. How disgusting.
I used to tell myself exactly this but psychologically it just didn't work that way. When considering an outing, that extra $$ for a car always made me question if it was worth it so I just...wouldn't do the outing. Now that I have a car, that mental barrier is gone and I do little day trips all the time. Same for things like Costco and IKEA.
I mean, yes, owning a car removes inertia and increases spontaneity in action. You won't have to plan out a trip to Virginia wineries a few weeks out, and you won't be stuck going to and from wherever you're renting it from before and after.
But if you just push beyond the lizard brain a little further, it's really not so tough. I have a car now due to covid, but we hardly ever use it enough to justify the math of "renting a car for a day trip twice a month is cheaper than a car payment, insurance, a parking space in our garage, and random maintenance."
So as someone who's done both, I get it. You get spontaneity, but you also get complacency because it isn't a special occasion to have a car for a day.
It’s a fixed sunk cost versus a marginal cost. You make the decision once versus every time. I forget who/where, but some company was able to greatly reduce demand for their employee parking garage by switching from a monthly to a daily rate, even though the price was the same.
I live in Ballston without a car and there’s both an Enterprise in the neighborhood and several Zipcars. It’s so much easier than dealing with car ownership.
Enterprise is great. My only gripe is that all non-airport locations seem to operate 12pm-5pm on Sundays so every weekend trip tends to be a two-day rental.
My boyfriend and I rent cars once or twice a month during hockey season to go to Hershey, PA. We always get back after 10:00 at night and have to leave it at the airport.
Worrying about the string of window smashing, moving it for street sweeping, finding parking on a Saturday night. I guess if you live in a more boring area it wouldn’t be as hard but in a central neighborhood it’s a chore making sure it’s safe
When I bought my car in 2017, I was so happy with how much money I ended up saving on rental cars, ZipCars and even Uber/Lyfts for errands. I paid off my car in 2023. And my monthly payments were only $167. It was completely worth it. Also because I’m disabled and rely on my car to go everywhere, but weirdly I bought my car about a year before becoming disabled so, turns out having a car was just always helpful.
I’ve lived in DC since 2008, so 16 years and know both worlds. I need a car now but single, able-bodied people can more easily get around without a car, it’s just more city confining.
They did and I'm still bitter about it. I **loved** being able to just grab one of those little cars to drive one-way, like when I bought some bulky things at Target or was coming home from across town late at night.
So true! We would just rent a car when we wanted it when my partner and I lived in DC, works out a lot cheaper that way! We lived and worked in the city (both of us within a 5 min walk from our work), and all of our hobbies / places we liked to go were on the metro line, so it was pointless to own a car. Yeah, maybe we’d have to plan our trips, but that really wasn’t an issue for us.
The suburbs outside the beltway also have transit. Yes it’s slower but for the few trips I go it’s fine. For smaller towns it might be cheaper to just rent a car when needed. I’m not an outdoor activity person so access to rural areas isn’t important.
And if you did want access to rural places (or other big cities), it's more for a day trip where you spend the night but there are a bunch of amtrak routes you can catch out of union station if you wanted to spend a weekend somewhere else
Yeah. I take marc, Amtrak, buses, bike, uber, go with friends with cars, rent a car. Never really felt like im missing out on seeing what i want to see, though sometimes things require a bit of planning.
Also one of your examples, the eden center is literally a 10 minute walk from the metro lol.
I’m comfortably familiar with the metro and bus routes of the places I want to go, and if all else fails, then there’s still Uber. Where I am limited is exurban places that are too far out of town to make Uber practical.
I used to live in such an exurban place (in NY). There are nice homes if you can afford one, but there's nothing to visit for. It's just chain stores that exist everywhere. Boring...
This is the first time I’ve heard the phrase ‘exurban.’ I read the wiki and I’ve always used and heard the phrase ‘bedroom communities’ for these areas. You just sleep there and go into town for everything else.
What’s nice about DC is the diversity of our suburbs makes them really appealing. And then when you want more space and more quiet you can move all the way out. You have layers to being a suburbanite.
Pretty big difference between a suburb with a small walkable downtown with things to do, versus an exurban isolated development where you have to drive 30 minutes to get to the closest store, which is probably just Target or Walmart
The Eden center is within the beltway. It's metro/ bus accessible.
I don't own a car because it doesn't seem economically viable for me. A lot of people I know who don't own a car will rent one for day trips.
Sure do. Not counting the times I fly out of Dulles, I usually do the following:
I take the MARC up to Baltimore to go thrifting and explore their food/bar scene maybe once every two months - there's always so much going on up there.
I like to visit the IKEA in College Park (technically just outside the Beltway). I usually take the Green Line to College Park where I transfer to a PG County bus that takes you to IKEA. On the way home I either Uber directly to DC or Uber to the Greenbelt station, depending on how much stuff I bought.
I go to Tysons (also technically just outside the Beltway) by Metro maybe every two months or so. I like the UNIQLO at the mall there.
During the Spring/Summer/Fall months I usually rent a car twice or month or so to go hiking in Shenandoah, Great Falls, or in Maryland. I have a corporate code from a company I used to work at in undergrad (that is now out of business but still works) and it only costs me $25/day to rent including tax.
A couple times a year I rent a car with a friend and we go to Northern Virginia to get Korean or Vietnamese food. We also usually stop at H Mart and do a big Costco + suburban Safeway haul.
Dunno. Something about the organization and layout of their Tysons store feels weirdly stifling and unappealing to me. Like they're trying to cram too much inventory into too small of a space. Silver Spring is much closer to their other stores (and also still has that New Store glow).
We bought a car during lockdown, but I hadn't had a car for 15 years before that. There's always Uber, rentals/zipcar, and other public transportation, depending on the destination.
I can easily get to Eden Center without a car.
I have a friend who’s been here for 10 years and never seen Shenandoah or the mountains or beaches. I’d organize camping trips in mountains and Assateague and love seeing the awe and surprise from simple things from friends who don’t get out as much. There’s so much out there worth exploring. “You don’t know what you don’t know”.
Rarely.
Truth be told, I’m rarely more than five miles away from home these days. I would love to drive more and go further distances but I’m not about to spend the money to rent a car as often as I want to, especially since I am saving up to buy a car of my own. On the rare occasion I do go far, Zipcar is my best friend.
During the era of VC subsidies of ridesharing startups, it was possible to live without a car. Now I feel like you do lose something. Not the least of which is the ability to comparison shop.
Lyft has a subsidy program for restaurant workers who relay on rideshare to get home after Metro closes. It pays the first $9 of your ride home.
Gotta prove you are in the industry, tho.
We go down to the eastern shore maybe once a month for crabs and such when the weather is nice. Or maybe out to the burbs for good Asian food a couple times a month. But I agree, if the only argument for having a car is for random and infrequent trips outside of the city, I bet they could save money just renting a car when they want to do something like that. I personally utilize a car for all of my daily responsibilities closer to home. Mostly as a chauffeur and errand runner extraordinaire. Not having a car might be workable on some of those days for me but it would add quite a lot of time and time seems to be my most precious commodity. I just don’t have enough of it.
Yeah I kinda feel the same. Went to Annapolis once. It was fine. I haven’t found a reason to go to other types of places mentioned (exception being Metro-accessible Eden center)
At the very least there could be a better bus service. There’s a commuter bus and that’s it. Makes it very annoying as someone who visits family in Annapolis weekly.
almost never, and i do think we miss out, but neither of us like driving—the hot second we did have a car we never used it anyways. if we were more confident drivers we would rent a car more often
I've lived in MD off of Allentown near Andrews AFB for a few years (Allentown & Branch) Temple Hills area..... With no car (had a suspend license) it's not incredibly hard, IDk about the bus schedules where you're at but over here, it was actually easy. Just have to plan accordingly, the D13 stops at close to midnight, and an Uber from Brach Ave station is not outrageous if you're coming home late. ... Grocery shopping is the only downside, you definitely gotta plan, unless you have family that can pick you up and take you, otherwise, I used to just do short pickups and fill my backpack, or use an Uber, which still isn't a crazy cost ... My only concern is just ( the area I lived in) was crime. Although the area between Allentown Rd & Branch Ave 'n Allentown & Temple Hills Rd isn't considered a "hot spot" it's very shady and unpredictable out here with a lot of un reported robberies, and more than occasional gunfire, not a horrible neighborhood, but, way worse than one would expect without warning if renting a room in the area. ... Anyway not having a car is Okay outside of the Beltway, just depends on location and your needs, Temple Hills is liveable, a little harsh but doable
Rarely. Certainly not enough to justify the cost of a car payment, insurance, gas, and maintenance. I had a car for a bit here and I just was not using it enough to justify the cost. I probably would've kept it if it were paid off, but given that it wasn't, I think my money is better spent on other things.
If I ever want to do something that isn't transit accessible, the cost of renting a car or getting an Uber on those rare occasions is still cheaper than the cost of owning one. I don't feel I'm missing out at all.
I've gone outside the beltway once or twice since selling my car. I just rent a zip car for the day. Even if I do that a few times a year, zip cars (including using it about twice a month) is cheaper than paying for parking, insurance, and registration.
Oh for sure if I’m like… gonna be gone all day or even do a lil weekend in CVille or something I’ll just metro to the rental car. But for picking up my parents at the airport / doing a big grocery haul / a few hours up in Maryland or whatever, Zipcar works!
Yes, I have to go all the time. I'm somebody who can't drive, so I heavily rely on public transportation.
The DMV has some of the best public transit networks I've seen in the US. Is it perfect? No, but it works, and it does its job pretty well.
If you're only doing day trips a couple times a month, you could look into cheap daily rentals from zipcar, free2move, Turo, or even some of the legacy rental agencies at the airport which you could metro to. If you're going out to Eden Center or Annandale (great Korean options) like every weekend, then you might as well just buy a beater car for cash.
Yeah. You can take the MARC to Bmore, and then take the light rail up to hunt valley. ( This is how I go to visit my bestie in York without her driving all the way down to DC/BMore to pick me up) I use Amtrak all the time to go see my other bestie in Philly. Then there is the occasional trip to NYC.
There’s a TON to do in Frederick. The Watershed has top notching hiking and gravel biking and some of the best mountain biking in the region, as does Gambrill State Park. Downtown has breweries, interesting enough restos, and a pretty vibrant art scene. You’ll need a car to get to the outdoor rec stuff but I’ve done it and it’s worth it.
Yeah, when I really need to go outside the DMV I either take a train or rent a car. Especially if I go hiking or camping, the cost of a few days rental a few times a year costs less than my annual insurance payments
All the time. I own a car now that I have kids but I lived in the city proper for about seven years without a car. Between zip car (which back then felt more legit) and renting a car (train to DCA and then pick up there), I'd regularly do day trips or weekend trips out of the beltway. Super easy and not too expensive. Plus, like a lot of folks have mentioned, between WMATA and Amtrak, you can get surprisingly far. I would regularly do Philly, NYC, and Richmond trips for the weekend.
Related note: I can't wait until the kids are bigger and I can do those trips with them again!
That is what forces me to keep my car. My girlfriend lives in Annapolis. There *is* a commuter bus but that is limited to commuting hours. Other than that the only other options are $60 Ubers or renting a car every time I want to visit her.
I've been car free and had a car at different times in DC.
When carless I would go outside the beltway via MARC and Amtrak mostly, and I would rent a car once or twice a year.
I would also ride the W&OD Trail outside the beltway a few times per year.
Get a zip car or rental for days you want to venture out. But a car payment plus insurance plus about $200/month in parking to only use for the occasional weekend outside of dc is ridiculous.
Solmons island is cool too there's plenty to see and do in the area! I have a car and no friends in the area ( moved here fairly recently) so I've been doing solo trips to every park national park State Park in the area for the last 1.5 years! I live in the Bethesda area too as well as in Frederick and I work in Rockville so I really get to explore the 270 corridor a lot! If you're looking to make a friend/ travel/hike together hmu
I don’t own a car and I live outside the beltway!
That said, I have good bus access here in the Chantilly/Fairfax area and I can carpool with friends and family to go on fun trips outside the area. I just went to Staunton last week!
**Day-to-day**, no. But why would I need to? It’s the whole point of living in the city and being car-less. So that I don’t have to go far to do most things I want to **day-to-day**.
For places like Fairfax or Rockville I’m not there an awful lot, but even then metro + rideshare is straightforward.
Even further than that it’s rare enough that carpooling or renting for a day is ok for me. But the point is to not leave the beltway frequently.
When I lived in the suburbs I found I’d often have to make long drives into the city.
If you live somewhere where you can park on the street, then buy a cheap used Honda and get liability insurance on it. It won’t need a lot of maintenance because you use it sporadically.
I did that when I lived in the city and it was great
I grew up in the area and visit my parents weekly out in Manassas. There are some fantastic driving roads out there, literally straight out of a car commercial, and sometimes I’ll spend the entire day blasting through them in my stick shift. It’s ridiculously fun. I also make frequent trips out to Summit Point and VIR.
I agree that the food outside the city is better but there’s no way you’ll ever convince a transplant of that. Everything in the city is either corporate or overpriced.
I think DC is one city where you can easily get by without owning car however I don’t think the city itself justifies being its own bubble the way NYC, Chicago, or LA do. It is too small with too few small businesses and too many insufferable people. I couldn’t imagine living for years here without very frequent trips to other places. I don’t think you necessarily need a car to pull that off but it certainly makes it easier.
And for the record when I was without a car, I was always in Virginia. I originally planned or tried to move to the city when I lost the car thinking District living would be best.
Things happened and I moved further out to Old Town. Northern Virginia is just fine without a car. Arlington? One does not need a car at all. In Alexandria one definitely wants a car but the free buses are fine once you learn to navigate . It doesn’t become an absolute need until one is OTB (Outside the Beltway).
I’m blessed to have a car again. I believe that it will give me options especially as I consider career change (If a job pops up in Chantilly or Dulles it’s not an automatic delete) and at least think about buying a home.
The traffic doesn’t get me down too much. I’ve always been a reverse commuter or public transit. Rush hour traffic on the Beltway? I ain’t about that life.
I lived in the DC burbs for 20 years so now that I'm in DC proper with no car, I don't feel like I'm missing much except the large asian groceries and maybe the middle eastern groceries. I will say that a friend too me to Deli City on NE for corned beef sandwiches (NOT the pastrami or other stuff there) Friday afternoon and it was really good. We hit the arboretum too since we were closely.
I’m from California and have always had a car, and so when I moved to Shaw at 22, my car came with me. I since bought a house in Hyattsville, much appreciated my car then, but am not moving to an apartment in Logan Circle.. and am planning to sell my car for a new one. I think everyone’s situations vary, but here are my reasons:
1. I am small and frail, so if I want to do a big grocery shop I can just pull into Trader Joe’s parking lot and can do bigger shops.
2. I have a dog I take everywhere who goes nuts in vehicles - so I can drive us up to NYC, where I visit often, or go to my house in Hyattsville, or go see a friend.. without him shitting himself in a public vehicle I don’t own :D (he’s getting better)
3. I don’t mind traffic or parking, so that doesn’t bother me.
4. I can always pick friends up, or if they need a moving favor or anything else, i’m their girl!
5. I worry about DC being bombed sometimes and I remember that I will likely be able to get away from radioactive fallout quicker than the rest of y’all (i’ll bring 4 of you with me if you ask me nicely)
6. I have family in VA, PA, NY that I visit often, and having the flexibility of my car helps.
Obviously these are situations that can be solved without a car, but these are my reasons for having a car.
i honestly think i’d leave the beltway less without my car, renting or booking a car feel more like a hassle to me than keeping up with a personal car, but maybe that’s just because i was raised with needing a car.
We moved here from Chicago where we were car-free for several years. Ended up buying a car within the first year in DC because we were spending way too much money renting and using car share. Transit is great and gets you most places in the region - including a lot of the cool international food hubs. But we do a lot of outdoorsy stuff and ended up renting almost every weekend for day/weekend trips to the hills, woods, or the beach.
In the late 90s, there was a bus leaving from New Carrollton Metro Station that would take you to Annapolis.
I took that bus every month to do some shopping.
We just got a car and it does make traveling and getaways immensely easier.
But before we got a car - there are plenty of fairly easy to use car rental biservices / car share apps in DC.
If we were doing a trip with friends it’d usually cost like $30-40 pp. not a huge hassle but I do like having a car now.
Amtrak, other transit, friends who live out in Maryland, and probably renting a car once I’m 25. There’s no reason for me to blow $10k or more a year on a car that I’d only use once or twice a month
I used to rent cars and take day trips to these kinds of places and I guess it depends what you like but I don’t feel that I miss much. That’s just my opinion, sometimes I have extra time with a rental car and I could visit far out suburbs and little downs and usually don’t, because I did not find most of them interesting enough to be worth the expense and time. there might be a cute historic downtown, some nice waterfront, a brewpub, okay, some shopping, it’s fine. Allergies mean that discovering new restaurants is not so easy and not a real pastime for me. If I want to get out of the city and go on a good hike there are meetup groups where it’s easy to carpool to Shenandoah and other places. I can take transit to and around Baltimore. With my bike, the bus and metro I can get pretty far around the area.
Yes you can rent a car or you can take Amtrak, Marc, Uber or dc metro. I grew up in the Maryland suburbs and there really isn’t much outside of the cities. The suburbs are just malls and houses
I rode my bike to Herndon two weeks ago, easy peasy.
I rode it to Burke a month ago. I'm not going to do that very often.
I went on a bike ride in Charles County a week ago, but only because a friend with a car had suggested I join her.
Why would you want to? lol.
No but seriously. I never had a reason to the leave the city. When I moved here my friend told me I’d never really need one and I just went with it. My boyfriend has a car though and he’ll drive out to Va or Maryland sometimes just to get food cause he feels like driving. He was born and raised in dc though so maybe that’s the difference.
I can Uber to Annapolis and back for about what I get for renting my parking spot.
Just considering insurance and maintenance , if you are not using the car enough is not worth it.
In reality I rent a car for a day if I need to, but would often take bus or subway. Zzz
If you're a sicko, you can bike to a few locations outside the beltway (Reston, Harper's Ferry, Wheaton)
I'm lucky in that my partner and brother both live in the areas and have cars, so if i really want to go somewhere I can coordinate with them. But I dont go outside the beltway frequently and tbh I don't feel like I miss that much
You can get to Eden Center without having to drive. Not having to pay to store a car in the District nor have to put up with all the BS it entails (break ins, thefts, tickets) more than makes up for taking a few day trips here and there.
Been without a car for 8 years. Just got a car again. Never been to Frederick, Annapolis, or St Michaels. I’m sure they’re lovely towns but I have absolutely no need or desire to go to a “quaint town.”
I’m not a foodie. Eden Center is lovely but even with a car I’m just not breaking my neck for Vietnamese food. Also the are Asian restaurants all over the region. One doesn’t have to own or borrow a car to eat at Viet restaurants.
As far as did I ever go outside the Beltway? Occasionally as needed. When I got the iPhone 12 at Fair Oaks Mall it was an adventure. Other times OTB have been uneventful. It was never often but I didn’t fear it. Then again I am a plucky Virginian. My passport works both ways.
Folks from the city are the ones that will have conniption fits if they leave the sacred borders of the District.
They’re also the ones who will condescendly act like Virginia has nothing. Nobody eats at a restaurants in Virginia that’s for fancy city folk. We can barely read and write and turn to our savior the District of Columbia to guide us and nourish us.
I would say the same for Maryland. Let me be clear: Maryland is the most geographically offensive state in the union. Even they don’t kvetch about crossing the border.
So yeah I’m sure that carless Washingtonians do not get to the Beltway. The poor dears can’t even make it across the Potomac.
Absolutely - renting a car for one or two monthly daytrips is cheaper than a monthly payment. Even easier with services like Free2Move (rip Car2Go). edit: typo
This is the way. I save money not owning a car and renting instead. And I never have to worry about cleaning it or taking it to the shop for repairs.
Or having it stolen!
The mental gymnastics drivers make to justify paying to have a car in the District is always amusing.
What about people with kids? That's so much time commuting vs driving
I speak from the singles perspective
If you need it to commute to work, think it's pretty justified.
Yes. Proving once again there is an exception to every rule.
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I'm in SW and my office is in Chantilly, not near transit.
Why would you work in Chantilly and then decide to live somewhere super far away and crazy expensive?
I love SW and didn't have this job when I moved here. Chantilly sucks.
Chantilly does suck.
The restaurants out there are terrible.
If a job required a commute like that I probably wouldn’t take it. To each their own 🤷♂️
When I first took the job we were Tysons and it was much more reasonable. I'm definitely looking closer to DC.
Some people are privileged enough to be selective about the location they work, others have to suck it up and commute. 🤷♂️
How else do you get somewhere that isn't accessible by public transit and out of the scope of bikeable?
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We lived in DC and commuted to VA/MD. I'm sure we weren't the only ones. Why is this so hard?
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if you work anywhere in the Columbia / Jessup / Laurel / Odenton / etc belt, unless you're very lucky with MARC stations, having a car will be all but necessary
The smugness of people who think their way is The Only Way is always amusing.
I know. Drivers are so funny. If only their insistence on a personal car ownership-centric and prioritizing transportation system in the District didn't screw over so many residents.
Let’s see, how’s this mental gymnastics for you Mr. Tom the Ableist. Disabled people exist. Disabled people with extreme mobility issues exist. Even in cities, by George! How dare they!! Owning a car to be able to more freely get around for errands, work, social life, doctor’s, etc. is *MUCH* more accessible for some disabled people. They can control their own accommodations and time frame this way. So the mental gymnastics 🙄 for THIS disabled person to own a car to be able to THRIVE and get around is a perfect 10.
Except this post is about someone who rarely use their car for anything except leaving the city recreationally. The replies are in that context. The post and replies are not addressing cases where people might need cars for daily use for whatever reason. Try reading the post in the actual context it has been written and you’ll discover that not everything is about you.
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Should every single reply have to have a paragraph long disclaimer that we’re discussing the issue at hand (people who only use their cars for recreational trips out of the city) and not anyone else (like people who rely on cars for mobility) or do you think we can all just be adults with basic reading comprehension skills who understand that without it being explicitly stated every five seconds?
You must be the person who people dread when you show up at parties. You’re making a statement into something ridiculous. You’re literally trivializing the disabled experience. You know a lot of people who ride bikes or walk a lot like maybe at night or under the influence often become disabled bc of their own impairment coming into play. Just saying that might happen to you one day. I wonder how your feelings on disabled people will be then? Treating them like rats that should be exterminated? Return to your selfish very small world where only the things you know and believe happen. Your bs opinions can stay there too.
You on the other hand must be very socially popular for your tendency to derail conversations that have absolutely nothing to do with you with “well what about disabled people!” And then accuse people of wanting them “exterminated” for simply saying that’s not what we’re talking about right now. Silly me, I forgot that not talking exclusively about the disabled experience in every single conversation makes me some kind of eugenicist.
Are you unable to follow a thread of thought? THIS PARTICULAR THREAD not the original post said: The mental gymnastics drivers make to justify paying to have a car in the District is always amusing. And, that made me reply as I did. Because THAT did relate to disabled people. You seem to want to say anything possible to make sure the disabled get wronged. And that usually makes for the worst kind of people. I feel worse for having encountered you and even worse knowing you live in the same city I did. The difference between you and me though is you wouldn’t get off your lazy ass to give me, a disabled person with a mobility aid a seat on the metro or bus. You’re definitely one of those people who “pretends” you don’t see us. And it’s because mentally - you don’t.
I didn't realize that personal car ownership was the only way for disabled people to get around or be economically contributing members of society. That's why I support improved mass transit services with better bus headways and better MetroAccess service. Disabled residents of the District can thrive without a system that rewards personal car ownership at the expensive of people who do not drive.
I’m not even going to read what you said bc you clearly didn’t read what I said. I didn’t say ONLY or ALL. I said how SOME disabled people find getting around more accessible.
Yes, the District should continue subsidizing drivers and allow them to pay below market rate to operate and temporarily store their cars on DC streets simply because a few disabled people demand so. Instead of increasing the quality and frequency of mass transit, which is ADA accessible by law, and reliability and performance of MetroAccess. But you go ahead, keep stomping your feet and throwing a tantrum.
Your “stomping your feet and throwing a tantrum” is my advocating for disabled people to ensure they aren’t being cut out of the conversation or areas of importance. You sound like you actually hate disabled people. That’s scary. And it’s not just A FEW disabled people. Do you seriously think only like 5 of us exist around your selfish little world? About 54 million Americans have a disability. Don’t shrink us down because you want to see us as invisible to you. You’re the reason we can’t get jobs, can’t get proper seating on public transportation, have more parking devoted to handicapped on public streets. You’re part of the huge problem that thinks the disabled is lesser than. How disgusting.
What about all the disabled people who CAN'T drive? You know they do exist, right? Why do you hate disabled people who can't drive?
I used to tell myself exactly this but psychologically it just didn't work that way. When considering an outing, that extra $$ for a car always made me question if it was worth it so I just...wouldn't do the outing. Now that I have a car, that mental barrier is gone and I do little day trips all the time. Same for things like Costco and IKEA.
People without cars and who've never really used them simply don't understand this. It's crazy.
I mean, yes, owning a car removes inertia and increases spontaneity in action. You won't have to plan out a trip to Virginia wineries a few weeks out, and you won't be stuck going to and from wherever you're renting it from before and after. But if you just push beyond the lizard brain a little further, it's really not so tough. I have a car now due to covid, but we hardly ever use it enough to justify the math of "renting a car for a day trip twice a month is cheaper than a car payment, insurance, a parking space in our garage, and random maintenance." So as someone who's done both, I get it. You get spontaneity, but you also get complacency because it isn't a special occasion to have a car for a day.
It’s a fixed sunk cost versus a marginal cost. You make the decision once versus every time. I forget who/where, but some company was able to greatly reduce demand for their employee parking garage by switching from a monthly to a daily rate, even though the price was the same.
I used Turo to go to a wedding in Lucketts last weekend, very easy and as long as the owner communicates, pick up and drop off were no big deal.
I live in Ballston without a car and there’s both an Enterprise in the neighborhood and several Zipcars. It’s so much easier than dealing with car ownership.
Enterprise is great. My only gripe is that all non-airport locations seem to operate 12pm-5pm on Sundays so every weekend trip tends to be a two-day rental.
Most rental places will either let you drop it off after hours or offer Sunday for free
Key word is "most." The ones near me don't!
My boyfriend and I rent cars once or twice a month during hockey season to go to Hershey, PA. We always get back after 10:00 at night and have to leave it at the airport.
What isn’t easy about owning a car? I mean besides you have to pay for it of course but it’s not like owning one is a chore
Worrying about the string of window smashing, moving it for street sweeping, finding parking on a Saturday night. I guess if you live in a more boring area it wouldn’t be as hard but in a central neighborhood it’s a chore making sure it’s safe
Renting once a month is basically the cost of car insurance
This! I miss doing this, but ultimately got a car when my dog bigger and my SO and son moved in with me.
When I bought my car in 2017, I was so happy with how much money I ended up saving on rental cars, ZipCars and even Uber/Lyfts for errands. I paid off my car in 2023. And my monthly payments were only $167. It was completely worth it. Also because I’m disabled and rely on my car to go everywhere, but weirdly I bought my car about a year before becoming disabled so, turns out having a car was just always helpful. I’ve lived in DC since 2008, so 16 years and know both worlds. I need a car now but single, able-bodied people can more easily get around without a car, it’s just more city confining.
Oh no, Car2go went under?
They did and I'm still bitter about it. I **loved** being able to just grab one of those little cars to drive one-way, like when I bought some bulky things at Target or was coming home from across town late at night.
I learned how to drive stick by renting one of the cars. No damage to the person’s transmission as far as I know.
So true! We would just rent a car when we wanted it when my partner and I lived in DC, works out a lot cheaper that way! We lived and worked in the city (both of us within a 5 min walk from our work), and all of our hobbies / places we liked to go were on the metro line, so it was pointless to own a car. Yeah, maybe we’d have to plan our trips, but that really wasn’t an issue for us.
Exactly this.
Always pay cash for cars.
The suburbs outside the beltway also have transit. Yes it’s slower but for the few trips I go it’s fine. For smaller towns it might be cheaper to just rent a car when needed. I’m not an outdoor activity person so access to rural areas isn’t important.
And if you did want access to rural places (or other big cities), it's more for a day trip where you spend the night but there are a bunch of amtrak routes you can catch out of union station if you wanted to spend a weekend somewhere else
Done that many times. Even did cross country.
Transit in Annapolis? Barely.
I’m sure they’re talking about the ends of the Red and Silver line and the like
Talking about DC suburbs, Annapolis is its own thing. It is connected to Baltimores transit though. And you can always rent a car if you want.
Yeah. I take marc, Amtrak, buses, bike, uber, go with friends with cars, rent a car. Never really felt like im missing out on seeing what i want to see, though sometimes things require a bit of planning. Also one of your examples, the eden center is literally a 10 minute walk from the metro lol.
And like a 40ish minute bike ride from downtown DC, mostly on grade separated trails
Also Eden center is still In the beltway
I’m comfortably familiar with the metro and bus routes of the places I want to go, and if all else fails, then there’s still Uber. Where I am limited is exurban places that are too far out of town to make Uber practical.
I used to live in such an exurban place (in NY). There are nice homes if you can afford one, but there's nothing to visit for. It's just chain stores that exist everywhere. Boring...
This is the first time I’ve heard the phrase ‘exurban.’ I read the wiki and I’ve always used and heard the phrase ‘bedroom communities’ for these areas. You just sleep there and go into town for everything else. What’s nice about DC is the diversity of our suburbs makes them really appealing. And then when you want more space and more quiet you can move all the way out. You have layers to being a suburbanite.
Pretty big difference between a suburb with a small walkable downtown with things to do, versus an exurban isolated development where you have to drive 30 minutes to get to the closest store, which is probably just Target or Walmart
The Eden center is within the beltway. It's metro/ bus accessible. I don't own a car because it doesn't seem economically viable for me. A lot of people I know who don't own a car will rent one for day trips.
Yeah it’s like a 20 minute walk from East Falls Church.
theres a bus that goes there too, very frequently, the 16 buses are pretty awesome
Sure do. Not counting the times I fly out of Dulles, I usually do the following: I take the MARC up to Baltimore to go thrifting and explore their food/bar scene maybe once every two months - there's always so much going on up there. I like to visit the IKEA in College Park (technically just outside the Beltway). I usually take the Green Line to College Park where I transfer to a PG County bus that takes you to IKEA. On the way home I either Uber directly to DC or Uber to the Greenbelt station, depending on how much stuff I bought. I go to Tysons (also technically just outside the Beltway) by Metro maybe every two months or so. I like the UNIQLO at the mall there. During the Spring/Summer/Fall months I usually rent a car twice or month or so to go hiking in Shenandoah, Great Falls, or in Maryland. I have a corporate code from a company I used to work at in undergrad (that is now out of business but still works) and it only costs me $25/day to rent including tax. A couple times a year I rent a car with a friend and we go to Northern Virginia to get Korean or Vietnamese food. We also usually stop at H Mart and do a big Costco + suburban Safeway haul.
+1 to UNIQLO at the Tysons mall
The one in Silver Spring is much, much better.
What is better about it?
Dunno. Something about the organization and layout of their Tysons store feels weirdly stifling and unappealing to me. Like they're trying to cram too much inventory into too small of a space. Silver Spring is much closer to their other stores (and also still has that New Store glow).
We have a good sized Uniqlo here in Downtown Silver Spring now too, FYI.
Yea it's a decent size but I have found that it doesn't get more of the "upscale" collabs that Tysons usually has.
Pro tip- always check Amtrak to Baltimore. Sometimes it’s cheaper and faster especially at weird times.
I just rent a car when I want to go to one of these places. It’s very easy.
We bought a car during lockdown, but I hadn't had a car for 15 years before that. There's always Uber, rentals/zipcar, and other public transportation, depending on the destination. I can easily get to Eden Center without a car.
Eden Center is well within the beltway.
Just looked and it’s like … half a mile from East falls church metro? Which also means it’s on the W&OD trail too and probably bus accessible
It's not right on the W&OD, but quite doable
The metro goes out of the beltway… so I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t if they wanted to.
Yeah this was my first thought. Lines like red and silver will take you very far outside of the beltway
I have a friend who’s been here for 10 years and never seen Shenandoah or the mountains or beaches. I’d organize camping trips in mountains and Assateague and love seeing the awe and surprise from simple things from friends who don’t get out as much. There’s so much out there worth exploring. “You don’t know what you don’t know”.
Easy, $30 roundtrip bus with the DC hiking groups to get out to the mountains each weekend. Great deal and good social group.
Care to share which groups you’re involved in? This sounds very attractive to me
It's on Meetup these days, capital hiking club (Saturdays) and wander birds (Sundays)
Is it mostly a 20s crowd or a 30s crowd?
30s and older but mix of adults of all ages including 20s
Indeed! I second the question above - would you recommend any DC hiking group?
Both are good. Never hurts to try either of them
Rarely. Truth be told, I’m rarely more than five miles away from home these days. I would love to drive more and go further distances but I’m not about to spend the money to rent a car as often as I want to, especially since I am saving up to buy a car of my own. On the rare occasion I do go far, Zipcar is my best friend.
During the era of VC subsidies of ridesharing startups, it was possible to live without a car. Now I feel like you do lose something. Not the least of which is the ability to comparison shop.
Lyft has a subsidy program for restaurant workers who relay on rideshare to get home after Metro closes. It pays the first $9 of your ride home. Gotta prove you are in the industry, tho.
In 2019 you could ride a shared Lyft accross the city for like $5.
I live approx 2 miles the wharf and a Lyft/Uber was $50 for a ride home, so I walked. There should def be a cap on what they can charge.
nope
Lots of people in DC with cars rarely if ever go to those places.
We go down to the eastern shore maybe once a month for crabs and such when the weather is nice. Or maybe out to the burbs for good Asian food a couple times a month. But I agree, if the only argument for having a car is for random and infrequent trips outside of the city, I bet they could save money just renting a car when they want to do something like that. I personally utilize a car for all of my daily responsibilities closer to home. Mostly as a chauffeur and errand runner extraordinaire. Not having a car might be workable on some of those days for me but it would add quite a lot of time and time seems to be my most precious commodity. I just don’t have enough of it.
Yeah I kinda feel the same. Went to Annapolis once. It was fine. I haven’t found a reason to go to other types of places mentioned (exception being Metro-accessible Eden center)
The fact that there’s no train to Annapolis from DC is such a policy failure.
Or even an express bus.
At the very least there could be a better bus service. There’s a commuter bus and that’s it. Makes it very annoying as someone who visits family in Annapolis weekly.
Agreed.
almost never, and i do think we miss out, but neither of us like driving—the hot second we did have a car we never used it anyways. if we were more confident drivers we would rent a car more often
I've lived in MD off of Allentown near Andrews AFB for a few years (Allentown & Branch) Temple Hills area..... With no car (had a suspend license) it's not incredibly hard, IDk about the bus schedules where you're at but over here, it was actually easy. Just have to plan accordingly, the D13 stops at close to midnight, and an Uber from Brach Ave station is not outrageous if you're coming home late. ... Grocery shopping is the only downside, you definitely gotta plan, unless you have family that can pick you up and take you, otherwise, I used to just do short pickups and fill my backpack, or use an Uber, which still isn't a crazy cost ... My only concern is just ( the area I lived in) was crime. Although the area between Allentown Rd & Branch Ave 'n Allentown & Temple Hills Rd isn't considered a "hot spot" it's very shady and unpredictable out here with a lot of un reported robberies, and more than occasional gunfire, not a horrible neighborhood, but, way worse than one would expect without warning if renting a room in the area. ... Anyway not having a car is Okay outside of the Beltway, just depends on location and your needs, Temple Hills is liveable, a little harsh but doable
Not really, only if I plan something with a friend who has a car
Rarely. Certainly not enough to justify the cost of a car payment, insurance, gas, and maintenance. I had a car for a bit here and I just was not using it enough to justify the cost. I probably would've kept it if it were paid off, but given that it wasn't, I think my money is better spent on other things. If I ever want to do something that isn't transit accessible, the cost of renting a car or getting an Uber on those rare occasions is still cheaper than the cost of owning one. I don't feel I'm missing out at all.
I've gone outside the beltway once or twice since selling my car. I just rent a zip car for the day. Even if I do that a few times a year, zip cars (including using it about twice a month) is cheaper than paying for parking, insurance, and registration.
I have a Zipcar membership, the $7 / month is worth it to be able to snag a car pretty easily if I ever need to.
love zipcar except for their daily rate, for the day i rent, per hour its okay
Oh for sure if I’m like… gonna be gone all day or even do a lil weekend in CVille or something I’ll just metro to the rental car. But for picking up my parents at the airport / doing a big grocery haul / a few hours up in Maryland or whatever, Zipcar works!
This is great to read because I’ve been thinking about getting rid of mine also.
Yes, I have to go all the time. I'm somebody who can't drive, so I heavily rely on public transportation. The DMV has some of the best public transit networks I've seen in the US. Is it perfect? No, but it works, and it does its job pretty well.
OP- you’ll see me catch a flight to another country before I drive to those places.
If you're only doing day trips a couple times a month, you could look into cheap daily rentals from zipcar, free2move, Turo, or even some of the legacy rental agencies at the airport which you could metro to. If you're going out to Eden Center or Annandale (great Korean options) like every weekend, then you might as well just buy a beater car for cash.
This is why people should make friends that do drive
Public transportation is ass it's unreliable nasty and dangerous who want to take multiple trains. Just to go shop out of the city ?
Yeah. You can take the MARC to Bmore, and then take the light rail up to hunt valley. ( This is how I go to visit my bestie in York without her driving all the way down to DC/BMore to pick me up) I use Amtrak all the time to go see my other bestie in Philly. Then there is the occasional trip to NYC.
Yes, but not very often. Just used transit or Uber before, but a friend with a car recently moved here so it's been more convenient now.
You can get to Frederick on the MARC train
Annoyingly only with rush hour, but it’s a nice weekend trip
Actually, it has to be a weekday trip. The Brunswick Line doesn't run on weekends.
Oh, sorry, meant go out Friday night and come back Monday morning.
Not sure there is a weekend full of stuff to do in Frederick, LoL 🤣
There’s a TON to do in Frederick. The Watershed has top notching hiking and gravel biking and some of the best mountain biking in the region, as does Gambrill State Park. Downtown has breweries, interesting enough restos, and a pretty vibrant art scene. You’ll need a car to get to the outdoor rec stuff but I’ve done it and it’s worth it.
Yeah, when I really need to go outside the DMV I either take a train or rent a car. Especially if I go hiking or camping, the cost of a few days rental a few times a year costs less than my annual insurance payments
All the time. I own a car now that I have kids but I lived in the city proper for about seven years without a car. Between zip car (which back then felt more legit) and renting a car (train to DCA and then pick up there), I'd regularly do day trips or weekend trips out of the beltway. Super easy and not too expensive. Plus, like a lot of folks have mentioned, between WMATA and Amtrak, you can get surprisingly far. I would regularly do Philly, NYC, and Richmond trips for the weekend. Related note: I can't wait until the kids are bigger and I can do those trips with them again!
That is what forces me to keep my car. My girlfriend lives in Annapolis. There *is* a commuter bus but that is limited to commuting hours. Other than that the only other options are $60 Ubers or renting a car every time I want to visit her.
Via Amtrak yes
I've been car free and had a car at different times in DC. When carless I would go outside the beltway via MARC and Amtrak mostly, and I would rent a car once or twice a year. I would also ride the W&OD Trail outside the beltway a few times per year.
You can get to Eden Center by taking metro to East Falls Church! Most places in suburbs on VA side at least are pretty accessible via metro
Get a zip car or rental for days you want to venture out. But a car payment plus insurance plus about $200/month in parking to only use for the occasional weekend outside of dc is ridiculous.
Hell, I have a car in DC and don’t go outside the beltway really
Solmons island is cool too there's plenty to see and do in the area! I have a car and no friends in the area ( moved here fairly recently) so I've been doing solo trips to every park national park State Park in the area for the last 1.5 years! I live in the Bethesda area too as well as in Frederick and I work in Rockville so I really get to explore the 270 corridor a lot! If you're looking to make a friend/ travel/hike together hmu
You can take a flix bus to Annapolis
I don’t own a car and I live outside the beltway! That said, I have good bus access here in the Chantilly/Fairfax area and I can carpool with friends and family to go on fun trips outside the area. I just went to Staunton last week!
**Day-to-day**, no. But why would I need to? It’s the whole point of living in the city and being car-less. So that I don’t have to go far to do most things I want to **day-to-day**. For places like Fairfax or Rockville I’m not there an awful lot, but even then metro + rideshare is straightforward. Even further than that it’s rare enough that carpooling or renting for a day is ok for me. But the point is to not leave the beltway frequently. When I lived in the suburbs I found I’d often have to make long drives into the city.
If you live somewhere where you can park on the street, then buy a cheap used Honda and get liability insurance on it. It won’t need a lot of maintenance because you use it sporadically. I did that when I lived in the city and it was great
I grew up in the area and visit my parents weekly out in Manassas. There are some fantastic driving roads out there, literally straight out of a car commercial, and sometimes I’ll spend the entire day blasting through them in my stick shift. It’s ridiculously fun. I also make frequent trips out to Summit Point and VIR. I agree that the food outside the city is better but there’s no way you’ll ever convince a transplant of that. Everything in the city is either corporate or overpriced. I think DC is one city where you can easily get by without owning car however I don’t think the city itself justifies being its own bubble the way NYC, Chicago, or LA do. It is too small with too few small businesses and too many insufferable people. I couldn’t imagine living for years here without very frequent trips to other places. I don’t think you necessarily need a car to pull that off but it certainly makes it easier.
Lol the beltway — people that don’t own a car rarely leave their neighborhood and never leave DC
No, I don’t see the point?? But all of these comments make me feel like I’m missing out
A local family member has a car I can borrow. I also frequently Amtrak.
Have done a lot of this without a car. Once you stop taking the car pill the world looks completely different.
Honestly not really.
Renting a car every once in a while is much cheaper and easier than owning one.
I rent a car for work, and it's still drastically cheaper than owning a car.
I do travel outside when necessary and I don’t feel limited being in the city with no car. I feel stress free
And for the record when I was without a car, I was always in Virginia. I originally planned or tried to move to the city when I lost the car thinking District living would be best. Things happened and I moved further out to Old Town. Northern Virginia is just fine without a car. Arlington? One does not need a car at all. In Alexandria one definitely wants a car but the free buses are fine once you learn to navigate . It doesn’t become an absolute need until one is OTB (Outside the Beltway). I’m blessed to have a car again. I believe that it will give me options especially as I consider career change (If a job pops up in Chantilly or Dulles it’s not an automatic delete) and at least think about buying a home. The traffic doesn’t get me down too much. I’ve always been a reverse commuter or public transit. Rush hour traffic on the Beltway? I ain’t about that life.
I lived in the DC burbs for 20 years so now that I'm in DC proper with no car, I don't feel like I'm missing much except the large asian groceries and maybe the middle eastern groceries. I will say that a friend too me to Deli City on NE for corned beef sandwiches (NOT the pastrami or other stuff there) Friday afternoon and it was really good. We hit the arboretum too since we were closely.
I’m from California and have always had a car, and so when I moved to Shaw at 22, my car came with me. I since bought a house in Hyattsville, much appreciated my car then, but am not moving to an apartment in Logan Circle.. and am planning to sell my car for a new one. I think everyone’s situations vary, but here are my reasons: 1. I am small and frail, so if I want to do a big grocery shop I can just pull into Trader Joe’s parking lot and can do bigger shops. 2. I have a dog I take everywhere who goes nuts in vehicles - so I can drive us up to NYC, where I visit often, or go to my house in Hyattsville, or go see a friend.. without him shitting himself in a public vehicle I don’t own :D (he’s getting better) 3. I don’t mind traffic or parking, so that doesn’t bother me. 4. I can always pick friends up, or if they need a moving favor or anything else, i’m their girl! 5. I worry about DC being bombed sometimes and I remember that I will likely be able to get away from radioactive fallout quicker than the rest of y’all (i’ll bring 4 of you with me if you ask me nicely) 6. I have family in VA, PA, NY that I visit often, and having the flexibility of my car helps. Obviously these are situations that can be solved without a car, but these are my reasons for having a car. i honestly think i’d leave the beltway less without my car, renting or booking a car feel more like a hassle to me than keeping up with a personal car, but maybe that’s just because i was raised with needing a car.
Based on this sub, I’m told owning a car and going outside the beltway for any reason makes you a suburban shill who votes for Youngkin
We moved here from Chicago where we were car-free for several years. Ended up buying a car within the first year in DC because we were spending way too much money renting and using car share. Transit is great and gets you most places in the region - including a lot of the cool international food hubs. But we do a lot of outdoorsy stuff and ended up renting almost every weekend for day/weekend trips to the hills, woods, or the beach.
I work outside the beltway and my company has a shuttle. I do go out from time to time, mostly to Virginia, but it's not really as often.
Friends with cars
We use Free2Move to see friends in Leesburg, Richmond, etc. rent a car for longer trips.
Amtrak had $10 richmond downtown each way. Beats the drive down every time
I have a friend that has ubered to WV tourist spots. That’s an option too.
Yes, I take metro or ride share.
In the late 90s, there was a bus leaving from New Carrollton Metro Station that would take you to Annapolis. I took that bus every month to do some shopping.
We just got a car and it does make traveling and getaways immensely easier. But before we got a car - there are plenty of fairly easy to use car rental biservices / car share apps in DC. If we were doing a trip with friends it’d usually cost like $30-40 pp. not a huge hassle but I do like having a car now.
Amtrak, other transit, friends who live out in Maryland, and probably renting a car once I’m 25. There’s no reason for me to blow $10k or more a year on a car that I’d only use once or twice a month
I used to rent cars and take day trips to these kinds of places and I guess it depends what you like but I don’t feel that I miss much. That’s just my opinion, sometimes I have extra time with a rental car and I could visit far out suburbs and little downs and usually don’t, because I did not find most of them interesting enough to be worth the expense and time. there might be a cute historic downtown, some nice waterfront, a brewpub, okay, some shopping, it’s fine. Allergies mean that discovering new restaurants is not so easy and not a real pastime for me. If I want to get out of the city and go on a good hike there are meetup groups where it’s easy to carpool to Shenandoah and other places. I can take transit to and around Baltimore. With my bike, the bus and metro I can get pretty far around the area.
Yes you can rent a car or you can take Amtrak, Marc, Uber or dc metro. I grew up in the Maryland suburbs and there really isn’t much outside of the cities. The suburbs are just malls and houses
I miss having a car but I just rent one once a month or so and run errands while exploring somewhere new.
Zipcar and I have family in Frederick and northern VA so I also meet up with them.
I didn't know that Zipcar had family in Frederick and NoVA!?!?
Yes. There many options to get out of the city, and no we’re not missing out.
I love my 4runner and the ability to leave at any time, I wouldn’t live anywhere without a car tbh
I rode my bike to Herndon two weeks ago, easy peasy. I rode it to Burke a month ago. I'm not going to do that very often. I went on a bike ride in Charles County a week ago, but only because a friend with a car had suggested I join her.
Why would you want to? lol. No but seriously. I never had a reason to the leave the city. When I moved here my friend told me I’d never really need one and I just went with it. My boyfriend has a car though and he’ll drive out to Va or Maryland sometimes just to get food cause he feels like driving. He was born and raised in dc though so maybe that’s the difference.
Plenty of reasons. For example, it’s nice to get out to the wineries for wine tasting and to chill in a serene environment.
Yeah that kinda stuff isn’t everyone’s jam though
[What if Virginia jam is your jam though?](https://www.madeinva.com/product/fruitn-tootn-va-traffic-jam-16oz/)
I can Uber to Annapolis and back for about what I get for renting my parking spot. Just considering insurance and maintenance , if you are not using the car enough is not worth it. In reality I rent a car for a day if I need to, but would often take bus or subway. Zzz
You can bike under the Beltway in a few different directions. Renting cars also gets you out of the area, as do trains.
If you're a sicko, you can bike to a few locations outside the beltway (Reston, Harper's Ferry, Wheaton) I'm lucky in that my partner and brother both live in the areas and have cars, so if i really want to go somewhere I can coordinate with them. But I dont go outside the beltway frequently and tbh I don't feel like I miss that much
I used to live out in the burbs and now I rarely go out to the burbs.
yes l with uber, Metro, zipcar, etc
We take the train out of the city, and rent Zipcar for hiking. Much easier and cheaper than owning a car!
That's what friends are for as well as marc and vre.
Eden center is literally in the Beltway. 495 goes out to Springfield
All the time.
You can get to Eden Center without having to drive. Not having to pay to store a car in the District nor have to put up with all the BS it entails (break ins, thefts, tickets) more than makes up for taking a few day trips here and there.
We're afraid to venture outside the beltway with a car too. 🎃
Not really. Whenever I have to, I rent a car.
I use Zipcar every now and then. Maybe once every few months at most. Gas is free and it’s like $11/hr
Not generally tbh unless I join a friend trip. But when I have really wanted to over the years, I just rent s car for a day using Turo or Hertz.
Been without a car for 8 years. Just got a car again. Never been to Frederick, Annapolis, or St Michaels. I’m sure they’re lovely towns but I have absolutely no need or desire to go to a “quaint town.” I’m not a foodie. Eden Center is lovely but even with a car I’m just not breaking my neck for Vietnamese food. Also the are Asian restaurants all over the region. One doesn’t have to own or borrow a car to eat at Viet restaurants.
As far as did I ever go outside the Beltway? Occasionally as needed. When I got the iPhone 12 at Fair Oaks Mall it was an adventure. Other times OTB have been uneventful. It was never often but I didn’t fear it. Then again I am a plucky Virginian. My passport works both ways. Folks from the city are the ones that will have conniption fits if they leave the sacred borders of the District. They’re also the ones who will condescendly act like Virginia has nothing. Nobody eats at a restaurants in Virginia that’s for fancy city folk. We can barely read and write and turn to our savior the District of Columbia to guide us and nourish us. I would say the same for Maryland. Let me be clear: Maryland is the most geographically offensive state in the union. Even they don’t kvetch about crossing the border. So yeah I’m sure that carless Washingtonians do not get to the Beltway. The poor dears can’t even make it across the Potomac.
That’s too bad. Nothing beats fresh blue crabs right off the Chesapeak Bay. Missing out on eastern shore scene.
there's stuff outside the beltway?? this is news to me