Owning a car in the city

I think it's an age old debate, should you own a car when living in the city? I don't think there's a right or wrong answer, but eventually, I'll need to decide. Keep in mind that right now, I'm still living in Mississauga, and I'm still in a place where driving makes sense; sure I only live 10 KM from work, but I live 60KM from Michelle, 15KM (soon to be 25) from my best friend Ben, and about 30KM from downtown where anything fun happens. Driving to work is simply an effect of owning a car for those other reasons, and along with the fact that I park for FREE at work, why wouldn't I?

However, that will eventually change....I'll be moving to Toronto - whether it be once Michelle's condo is built, or before hand - I'll be living there. It's where I've always wanted to live - at least while I'm in my 20's. I NEED to experience it. It's too awesome not to try it.

Isn't it beautiful?
<---------------------------------------------------Right now I live 30km THAT way

So....when it happens, should nothing change in terms of work, and life - what will I do about commuting...I work in Mississauga, my friends are here, my family is here, so I need SOME way of getting here right? Right. The easy way is a car - but with the costs of parking in Toronto being so high, the traffic ranking among the worst in the world (no seriously), and gas being at pretty much a constantly increasing all time high, it begs the question, is it really that worth it?

Here's the breakdown of my trip - I'm going to work off of the area where I'd be living with Michelle in the future rather than any sort of short term rental, because this would obviously be the most important factor...

The distance from the closest TTC station (about 1KM) to the future condo to my Mississauga workplace is about 37 KM....well...that's the driving distance. The distance to get there via the subway and bus is actually much less - I don't have an actual KM count on that, but you can see the more direct route in the maps below....

The driving route...about 37 KM and in traffic what says about 50 minutes. 

The subway and bus route....I don't know how many kilometres, but you can see
here that it's obviously more direct and shorter. According to the timing, it
would take me about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

So...I think what everyone expected to be true is - it takes longer on transit...if that's a surprise to you, please stop reading...you're an idiot. However, is the extra time worth it...I mean, some people drive more than an hour to work, and it's not like this is going to be the rest of my life (working or living in the same place). In the meantime, I get to avoid traffic, and can sleep on the way to work, if it's been that long of a night. But I digress...because costs are what matter most...my time is not worth that much money.

So....the cost breakdown...

Driving (owning a car) / Month:

• Car: $0.00 - it's owned already.
• Insurance: $160.00
• Parking: $50.00 Free at my work - but not in the city...so for commuting it's nothing, but this could get pricey when it comes to parking at the condo, or around there, especially if Michelle doesn't have a parking spot, which I believe she shouldn't get. So I'd rent a spot - CHEAPEST would be $50.00
• Gas: $250.00 based on 80 km driving per day, at $1.30 per litre for gas, in my car that gets about 450 KM per tank, working 21 days per month....WOW....:|
• Licensing/Maintenance/Cleaning: $20.00 - based on a car wash a month, licensing for a year, and three oil changes a year
• So the total cost monthly to own a car and drive it JUST to work? $480.00

I'm shocked...but I'll move on...

Transit / Month:

• Metropass: $124.00
• Mississauga Transit: $94.50 - based on buying batches of ten tickets, and using them 21 days per month. 
• There's also the option of finding a carpool from the subway to my work in Mississauga, or another form of transportation like a shuttle...but for now....
• The total cost of my trip to take transit is...$218.50

So we see the clear winner in terms of cost here....on top of that, I get access to use the transit all weekend long, and on evenings at no extra cost to my monthly budget. With the car, sure I wouldn't be paying anymore insurance or licensing - but I'd have the added costs of gas and parking - two of the highest costs!

All in all, I think we all see the value of having a car...but when it's not necessary, and you have access to even the least impressive of transit systems....

Beautiful isn't it? Not....but that's another blog....

....it's simply just not worth it. That's an extra $250.00 in savings, or possible mortgage payments in the future. If this hasn't opened your eyes like it's opened mine, then I'd sit down and do the math - I think I just might write some more blogs about how ridiculous spending could be....maybe on eating out. *note to self...do not tag that blog with "eating out"*....:|

Here I come TTC!