Contemplating going car-less

As most people who are acquainted with me are aware, I'm in the market for a newer car. My dear workhorse, 1996 Ford Probe, is rapidly nearing its demise and I am very determined to trade it in or sell it before it completely dies.

Our recent-ish move to a block off of Nicollet (bus route heaven) and skyrocketing gasoline costs revives the ghost of an idea that I daydream about frequently: going car-less.

Financially, it's almost a no-brainer. At this point, filling up my gas tank runs just over $60. The Probe gets fairly poor gas mileage for its size (just over 20mpg). The bare-bones insurance costs about $100 per month. And then there's maintenance...

The cars I'm shopping are your average Civics and Camrys. They'll get better gas mileage than the Probe, but insurance will cost a lot more and I'll be making payments of around $200 per month for an indeterminate number of years. Getting a newer car will likely cost me just under $500 per month.

So assuming a bus pass would cost me about $100 per month, why don't I just go car-less?

FEAR.

I've never really not had a car in Minnesota. There were plenty of times that I shared a car, and I didn't have my own car for the first five months after I moved back from Canada. But at that point, I wasn't really working full time.

It should be so easy! If I didn't have my own car, I would surely walk, bike, and rollerblade more, leading to a healthier and more svelte Lauren. I would save a pile of money. I would, to use that vomit-inducing phrase, "reduce my carbon footprint". Running errands would be more challenging, though, and I'd spend more money on taxis and would probably irritate my car-having friends with ride requests.

Maybe this isn't the time to go car-less. I'd like to, though--isn't it funny? Whenever I don't have a car I wish I did. When I do, I wish I could get rid of it. I probably could do it, if I was committed, but Ryan would have to be on board with sharing his car some of the time, and I'm not sure I'm yet comfortable asking him to make that sacrifice.

My dream really is that a few years down the line, we'll have our cute little house near a light rail station, at least one of us will work downtown and we'll have one car that sits in the garage most of the time.