Automobile Enthusiasts

local public transportation or, for us older folks, some kind of senior service.

When I first lived in the Washington DC area I lived without a car for my first seven years. And that was before the Metro opened. I finally bought a car only because I wanted to take classes at the local community college and getting from home to school then back home and finally to work was simply not feasible without a car.

Nearly ten years ago when I was divorcing and had decided to move to another part of the country, I seriously considered the DC area mainly because of the good public transportation there. Had I moved there I'd have given up owning a car, but I decided on Santa Fe instead. So I still have a car. But someday I'll relocate to some other part of the country (this is highly dependent on where my son, currently in a PhD program in astronomy at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA winds up) and I sincerely hope to wind up in a place with very good public transportation so I can give up driving.

I agree about long commutes being a curse. I have never fully understood why anyone would be willing to submit to a long commute, even though I understand some of the realities that lead to them.