Cars, Kids and Cash

I have never owned a car. My husband has never owned a car – he doesn’t even have his driver’s license. We live in the city of Toronto, right on two bus lines and a 15 minute walk from the nearest subway station. My husband uses the TTC to commute to work, and Colum and I can meet all our daily needs right in our neighbourhood. Even my parents are only a 15 minute walk away.

We don’t get out of town much, admittedly. But when we do, we hop on a Greyhound bus or Via Rail train. Unlike airports, which are always perched at the edge of whichever city they serve, bus and train stations are right downtown. Still, there are times when you need to go to the suburbs; to visit family, mostly, or to make a purchase at a big-box store. And a car is really nice to have then.

I must admit, though, that with a second baby on the way I keep thinking that a car might be really nice to have more and more often. We still wouldn’t need one on a daily basis, but the longer cross-city transit trips are exponentially more patience draining with kiddies in tow. And while it’s one thing for you and your girlfriend to bum a ride to the nearest subway station, it’s another entirely for you and your wife and two kids and car seats and gear to rely on other people’s vehicles. It stands to reason, then, that we should consider picking up a small used car to keep in the driveway and use sparingly. And that is precisely where I see my next big pay cheque (first big pay cheque, actually) going.

But the economic and environmental repercussions are not that simple. My in-laws are out of town for two weeks and have lent us their car. I can already see how just having a car in the driveway will instantly multiply the number of uses we will have for one. A trip to Sunnyside Beach, for example, is something we might make once a month during the spring and summer. It’s a pleasant hour’s walk down to Bloor Street and through High Park from our home. We would then either walk back or hop on a bus. Last night, though, I found myself suggesting we could pack up our dinner and drive down to the beach for an impromptu picnic. We can go further afield for all kinds of things and drive when we otherwise wouldn’t.

This is not so bad, in and of itself, but the sky-rocketing cost of oil and the snowball effect that is having on our oil-dependant society has me freaked. An article in this week’s Macleans lays out all the doomsday predictions for us to wallow in. Of course, it does vindicate our choice of not looking into buying a home in the suburbs and continuing to rent in the city. Still, there are going to be a lot of young families stranded in their remote cul-de-sac ghettos when they can’t afford to drive anywhere and the value of their homes take a nosedive. And even I will have to learn a little discipline if I ever get my own car. Taking a midnight freedom ride on the open road with classic rock blasting on the radio might be one of life’s greatest pleasures. (Sorry, nature lovers.) But it’s one that we cannot afford to indulge. At least not very often.