A Guide to Owning a Car in NYC
As I have mentioned a few times before, I am that person who has a car in the City. Why, you ask? Honestly, I’m too lazy to get rid of it. And, if and when you want to leave the City, the rest of the country isn’t as blessed regarding public transportation.
Before I get jumped on for that controversial option, understand that as awful as the MTA can be, at least it exists. You can get a train at most times of day or night and can mostly get anywhere. And if you can’t, chances are a bus will get you there. Honestly, I love the buses. I think they get a bad rap. I find them to be cleaner, more regulated temperature wise and hardly overfull. And if you know the bus stop number, you can text it to a handy phone number, giving you realistic updates on time. If you travel to other cities or anywhere else in the country, then public transport is non-existent. To get to my parent’s house without a car, I have to take a train or bus, and someone still has to drive two hours to pick me up. It’s much faster and more convenient to drive. That said, owning a car in the City has its issues and benefits. Without Further Ado,
Guide to Cars in the City
Photo by @linoleum - Unsplash
benefits
Grocery Shopping
Grocery shopping is annoying on the best of days. You are tired and hungry, and every bag of chips looks appetizing as Hell. You can’t decide what you want for dinner, don’t remember what you have in the fridge, and only stop on the way home because you’re too poor to order takeout again. Then you get through checkout and realize you have more bags than you’ve hands for. Or, you want to be fancy and shop at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, and it’s so far away that you have to lug everything on the subway because you are only making that trip once.
Cars solve this. Unless you live across the street from a store and make short daily trips (guilty), you can load that sucker up and shop twice a month. Some of the grocery stores, particularly in Boroughs that aren’t Manhattan (though maybe it’s better above Harlem), even have parking lots, solving the infamous parking issue. Suddenly it’s a lot easier to buy enormous amounts of oil or rice or that watermelon calling you.
Ikea
Admit it. We’ve all spent a random Saturday afternoon wandering the maze and trying out all the sample rooms of Ikea. However, once you decide to buy something, you are faced with how to get it home. Do you call a Uber Plus and pray it fits? Do you trust those guys offering rides out front (I did once, and it was fine), or do you just bring your car and fill it up. Note, measure your car before you purchase. Otherwise, you will still need to call for a bigger car. No amount of pushing and some random guy offering to tie your trunk shut will make that couch fit in the trunk.
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Moving
Like Ikea, moving entails some vehicle. Now, if you are moving close enough, not bringing any big furniture, and don’t mind making a few trips, then a car makes sense. I moved from my first apartment to my second one in over a week. Both times my roommates had couches and most everything, and I was able to make the treks myself. However, sometimes even a car won’t help, and you need a truck. Shell out for the whole service and not just the truck. Let someone else move everything up 4 flights of stairs and bring your cat and plants in your car.
Traveling
I already touched on this, but leaving the City is way easier. When I want to go hiking for the day, or head to the beach, having an easy way out that doesn’t involve a ferry or two buses, and a taxi just makes sense. There are specific long trips that I chose to do by car as well. I recently drove to The Outer Banks in NC because flying meant renting on the other end and still driving two-three hours when the total drive time was only 7 hours from NYC.
Getting Friends and Family
Regarding traveling, having a car to pick up and drop off out-of-town friends and family from the train and bus stations or the airport makes it much easier. Heck, if you live with someone who drives. It’s easier to bribe them to drive you than deal with the subway at 3 am for a 7 am flight. When friends and family come into the City, they are tired, overwhelmed, and carrying luggage. Throwing it into my car and blasting music on the way home is a smoother entrance into the City. But, if you want to make them sink or swim, don’t pick them up and wait for your sister to call you from Washington Heights because she didn’t get on the train headed to Brooklyn at 10 pm.
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Getting To Other Burroughs
Public transportation to get from parts of Brooklyn to Queens is more challenging than it should be. It takes upwards of 1 hour and 15 minutes, with a few stopovers in Manhattan and a few more delays. The funny thing is, driving is often faster (even though it still takes 50 minutes because you can’t get anywhere in the City in less than 30 minutes). It’s not just Brooklyn and Queens. Last week I went to a place in Alphabet City, and it was 40 minutes, two subways, and a bus or twenty-minute walk to get there. My partner met me later; it was only 30 minutes of driving.
disadvantages
Parking
This is the big one. It’s the one everyone always thinks of when they learn I have a car, and rightly so. Parking in the City sucks. Lots are expensive, charging by the half hour. Dedicated monthly spots are just as expensive, sucking away what little money you have left. That leaves street parking…and let’s face it. If Hell exists, it’s an endless search for street parking in New York City at 10 pm. The first and most important decision you must make is “to drive” or “wait.” There are two camps, equally valid and equally defended as the best. The “drivers” keep driving, searching for a spot to nab. The “waiters” double park on the street they want and wait it out. I’ve done both, and they are at about the same time. I prefer to “drive” because I feel like I’m doing something.
I don’t know how often I’ve come home after a long day and circle for twenty minutes before I find a spot. The anger grows and grows as you pass more and more “almost” spots. It infuriates me when I see someone parked in the middle of what could be two spots if only they pulled up a little closer. You have to decide if you will keep parking or shove your car into a tiny spot by doing a 95-point turn. Or, if you are going to risk it and park a little too close to the fire hydrant.
https://www.myparkingsign.com/blog/new-york-citys-parking-signs-get-facelift/307554_460634203996900_1023775757_n-21/
Travel Time/Tunnels
The tunnels and bridges are frustrating regarding how long it takes to use them. Coming home from a vacation hit the Holland tunnel and had the GPS still reading over an hour till home. There is no feeling like the rage of trying to get out of the City after work on a Friday and sitting in gridlock on canal street, honking because that person had to block the intersection.
Pedestrians and Bikers
I don’t bike in the City, but I do walk. And when I do, I hate drivers and bikers. When I drive, I hate pedestrians and bikers. As a driver, I’m responsible for not hitting either, but it’s hard when the pedestrian decides to jaywalk slowly and stares me down when I honk at them during the green light. It’s also tricky when Bikers swerve in-between two cars, run a red light, and cut up and over a sidewalk to only cut off another vehicle.
Photo by Matteo Modica - Unsplash
Don't even think about parking in the City during the week. Don't even double park. Once I double parked somewhere in Midtown, and ran into the store my car was in front of for five minutes, maybe less. I came out and had a ticket. There was no cop. They were that fast. Also, don't trust the meters. Often they are commercial parking only.Traffic can also be awful on weekdays. Honestly, it's terrible every day between 8 and 8. If you want to park in the City, do it after 7 pm, or on Sunday. Meters aren't operational on Sundays and after 7.
Travel Time/Tunnels
The tunnels and bridges are frustrating regarding how long it takes to use them. Coming home from a vacation hit the Holland tunnel and had the GPS still reading over an hour till home. There is no feeling like the rage of trying to get out of the City after work on a Friday and sitting in gridlock on canal street, honking because that person had to block the intersection.
Pedestrians and Bikers
I don’t bike in the City, but I do walk. And when I do, I hate drivers and bikers. When I drive, I hate pedestrians and bikers. As a driver, I’m responsible for not hitting either, but it’s hard when the pedestrian decides to jaywalk slowly and stares me down when I honk at them during the green light. It’s also tricky when Bikers swerve in-between two cars, run a red light, and cut up and over a sidewalk to only cut off another vehicle.
Photo by @flotography - Unsplash
Scratches
If you like a pristine car, forget about it. There are so many unknown scratches, dents, and marks on my car I’ve stopped caring. When I first moved here, I laughed at the bumper guards people had and made fun of the beat-up cars. Now, a few years later, I am the same. I don’t have a lot of memory of bumping any car parking, but in a torrential down poor, it’s hard to tell. But I know people have bumped me because the long scratches along the back prove it.
Everyone Wants To Use Your Car
The most annoying part of owning a car in the City is that everyone you know knows you have one. And they remind you. Long-forgotten associates crawl out of the woodwork to ask you to drive them to Ikea, the beach, or help them move. Sometimes they offer to buy gas, but mostly it’s a pizza. Worst of all, most of them can’t drive, so you can’t even loan them a car if you want to. You have to commit to whatever chaos they are about to embark on. Make firm boundaries and keep to them. If not, you’d be better off becoming a Lyft Driver and getting paid for it.
Money!
Cars are expensive when not living in the City. But here, like everything else, they are $$$. Insurance goes up almost instantly. You are partnered to get a few tickets either while parked or driving. It’s too tempting to check Instagram at a red light. Don’t do it! You get points on your license. Then there are inspections, repairs, and gas. You go through a lot of gas for going so few miles.
CONCLUSION
Even at the end of this list, I still enjoy having a car, and even though I think about getting rid of it a concerning amount, I’m keeping it because nothing beats driving over the Brooklyn Bridge to the entire glorious skyline of New York at Sunset.
