How the well-off can think about using transit and bicycles

Transit access and street safety for bicyclists and pedestrians are vitally important for people who aren't wealthy, and for people who can't drive due to age, health, or ability. Yet, it would be incomplete and wrong to limit the transit, bikes, and walking discussion as "something we should definitely do for the less fortunate or differently abled, but not for me, because I have a car, and I can drive". You can drive, yes - but have you put your car use under a microscope and analyzed if driving all the time is really to your benefit, financially and otherwise?

Just for context, my wife and I own two "senior" cars, both over ten years old. Mine has excessive oil consumption (though I don't see any smoke or garage floor oil spots), and her specific Ford model has a high likelihood of shredding the CVT transmission eventually, which would be a $10,000 operation to replace. The other part of the context is that I can now bicycle to work easily (we relocated), and I'm going to retire within a year anyway, so I won't even be doing that trip any longer. Although I haven't yet traveled in this manner, I could take the bus and walk to work, but I prefer biking.

It has just struck me that the average vehicle cost in the US these days is $50,000, some pay less, many in my neighborhood and income / wealth stratum pay much more. $50,000 would cost me, as a prime borrower for a 36 month loan, $1,504 per month. For two cars, $3,008 per month (I won't borrow for more than 36 months - I don't want to be upside-down), which would be about the same as our total housing cost. Ouch! How do people do it? (answer - they can't - that's why everyone is so stressed out about money and inflation these days, and why personal indebtedness and debt defaults are on the rise, even among six-figure earners).

I'm an investor, and I'm always looking for ROI - Return On Investment. When I consider that we might have to replace two "senior" cars, maybe about at the same time due to their similar age, my prevailing thought is simply, "Where is the ROI on these depreciating assets with high costs of carry (insurance, financing cost, fuel, oil, tires, repairs)? What is the resulting cost per unit of service provided, in Dollars per Mile?" 

On the other side of the ledger, biking and walking give me exercise, which is very beneficial. My walking and biking routes are reasonably safe. The road crossings are signal light controlled, the only place I'm on the street riding with cars is next to a high school, which is crawling with Spring Branch ISD police directing traffic, so drivers are behaving. Otherwise, it's quiet streets, trails, sidewalks. No other bikes, no conflicts with pedestrians; it's relaxing, I look forward to it. My office building offers me access to showers. Click here for my exact route.

Concerning bus safety and personal security, consider that every year, a couple of hundred people who are in private vehicles die in crashes in Houston. I can't remember when a METRO customer last died in a crash. I'm not sure it has ever happened, and I've lived here 41 years as an adult. Are there assaults and even occasional murders on METRO vehicles? Yes, and even more road rage shootings and carjackings are perpetrated against people riding in or driving private vehicles.

I can freely operate my mobile phone without any safety concerns on a bus, for personal or business purposes. Not so in a car, not if I want to avoid a wreck. I had an employer once with a rule - if you take a business phone call or online meeting in your car, and get into a crash, you could be disciplined, up to and including termination. That was the right policy. Safety first. Everyone goes home. You want to crash your vehicle, and possibly hurt yourself or others? Do it on your own time.

My conclusion is that we will let one of our cars go when it dies a natural death, and we won't replace it. When I get too old to bicycle, I'll get an e-bike or e-trike, and I'll keep riding the bus and Ubering. I actually started keeping a log for all the times when my wife and I are both out of the house in our own cars, and bike or METRO or Uber would not work for my trip (due to excess Uber cost, bad bike weather, no bus service), and I stopped trying to keep that log, because I never logged anything. I found I could always switch over to something. There was never a user case which required two cars in the family (disclosure - she's in a 100% work-from-home job).

My wife is skeptical, she has that "traditional American two car family" belief in her mind. I have a simple answer to get her on board. She is by nature extremely thrifty, but she is happy to have me handle all of the large Dollar transactions. After one of the cars dies, my plan is to hand her a check out of our personal account in the amount of $50,000 made out to a local car dealer, and I will ask her to sign it. She won't sign it. She'll "get it" at that point.