I admit it. I was a car junkie. I owned more motor vehicles by the age of 30 than many Americans own in a lifetime. Of course, most were used heaps, and I squandered a lot of my 20’s hunched under the hood or crawling under the chassis of each of these beasts, and squandered a lot of money, despite the ‘bargain’ price tags of my vehicles. Most of that time, I lived in towns with meager transit service, and I had foolishly taken work far from my home. For me, keeping these hulks alive meant retaining my freedom.

But then I made the decision to move to the big city, with a world-class train network, an array of bus routes, and taxis on every corner. And yet I still owned a car, and was driving everywhere. I was livid every time I had to pay another ticket, buy another window sticker, or was late for work or an appointment because I had to park 8 blocks away.

And the meter of car ownership just kept running. My car insurance doubled as soon as I told them my new zip code, and I still had to keep the heap alive. I was clinging to my car-centric mindset, even though I was surrounded by folks who had never owned a car, or drove theirs rarely. Before I made it a point to get a new job close to home, I remember getting throbbing headaches from sitting in two hours of stop-and-go traffic daily, I was eating a lot of drive-thru food and my weight was getting out of control. …read more of The Freedom of Car Sharing here