Have you ever thought about the reasons people own a car? One reason, of course, is for convenience. But, if you ask New Yorkers, you will find that most of them are unwilling to own a car. There are several reasons why New Yorkers think having a car is not really convenient. Like many of them, I myself am against cars. I am not going to buy a car; I don't even think about buying a car as long as I live in New York.
I believe there is no problem in everybody driving their cars to school or work. Commuting by car is really not the problem. However, there are not enough parking places for everyone. So, we are often forced to find a parking place in the street, but that is not easy either because there are already too many other cars on the streets. There are plenty of parking signs and rules. For example, "NO PARKING; MON THRU FRI," and we cannot park near hydrants, so finding a place to park in the street is difficult.
Alternate-side-of the-street parking rules also discourage me from owning a car. Finding a parking space, at least twice a day, when you go to work or school and when you come home, is inconvenient if you commute by car. The alternate side of the street parking rule in New York means we have to empty the streets twice a week for sanitation trucks to clean it. Imagine that you are looking for a place to park near your house when you get home, and the left side of the street is going to be cleaned the next morning by sanitation trucks. As a result, you have to park on the right side of the street only. You are likely to have trouble finding a place to park on these terms.
There is a lot of traffic in New York City because so many people already own cars, which are being used by family members; occasionally, more than one car is owned by one family. Therefore, I would rather take trains than to get stuck in traffic, and trains are generally faster than cars since the train system is very practical and runs well in New York City.
The maintaining of a car, including insurance is very costly. I am concerned about the high expense of owning a car in NYC, especially since car insurance is essential to car owners. Besides the expenses of car insurance, the cost of maintenance is high because of gasoline prices. All the expenses can be avoided if you choose public transportation which is so much cheaper.
Driving a car in NYC is the most polluting act an average citizen commits. Therefore, air pollution is one of the biggest environmental problems which includes exhaust from all combustion engines combine to produce local adverse effects on the health of car users and all innocent bystanders. The combustion of gasoline and other hydrocarbon fuels in automobiles produces several primary pollutants: nitrogen oxides, gaseous hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide, as well as large quantities of particulates, chiefly lead. NYC has become an island of toxic chemicals from the unrestrained use of vehicles burning fossil fuels. Cars are noisy, ugly, often dangerous and dominate the experience of modern living which is gradually killing us! I do not want to be one of the people who spoil our environment. We have to pass on nature to our descendants, so we have the duty to preserve our environment and keep it pure.
Both local and global pollution would be dramatically improved if each car-driving person pledged to use their car 30% less starting immediately. City should reduce vehicular traffic by 30% over the next 3 to 5 years. This is a realistic contribution. Each person can resist the temptation to buy larger, heavier cars, vans, trucks and sports vehicles, or don't buy them at all! Also, it is important that more people try to limit contributions to air pollution by using public transportation.
I used to commute by car everyday, but I often left my car near my house when I commuted. I had trouble finding a parking spot at school, work, and home almost everyday. I have a garage, but it is for my landlord. So, I circled around those places to park, or I parked my car far away. Then, I had to walk many blocks to get to my school, work, or home. Also, when alternate-side-of-the-street parking rules were in effect, I had to move my car if I did not find an appropriate place the day before. Sometimes I had to wake up early in the morning to move my car even though I did not have to go somewhere. What was the point of having a car? Would you like to own a car if you were me? Having a car is supposed to be convenient, but it had turned out to be a source or stress for me. I do not see any reasons why I should own a car, unless parking, traffic and air pollution problems are solved. I am not going to buy a car as long as I live in New York City.
References:
Air pollution and the Environment; <<http://www.naturamed.com/environment/cars.htm>>;
AIr quality in NYC<<http://www.nylcv.org/quide/issues/airqsource.html