On cars
Reasons why you should not drive a car:
1) You harm the environment.
2) It is not a cost-effective way of transportation. The Strait Times on Saturday noted that public transportation takes 1.7 times longer than private transport to ferry a person from point A to B. This means that if a car can get you to your destination in 15 minutes, it should take, on average, no more than 25.5 minutes on public transport. That's a difference of 10.5 minutes. I don't think paying ERP charges, parking fees, road taxes, as well as the initial cost of the car itself (not to mention the driving lessons fees and other miscellaneous charges) is worth that kind of time saved.
3) Over-reliance. Someone - can't recall who, probably a tutor - once mentioned that even when travelling to a nearby convenience store he felt the need to drive his car. Not everyone who drives a car would be as lazy as him, I reckon. But then again, who would use the stairs these days when there's an escalator beside?
4) Less exposure. Boxed up in the vehicle, the only things you would get to see is other cars and momentary glimpses of pedestrians. Not so with public transport, with the masses of people taking the same transport as you and the inherent need to walk from the bus station to the mrt or whatsoever. When I take the mrt I always like to look at the people around me. I think of where they are from, where they are headed, how old they are, are they unemployed, whether they think themselves as good-looking, whether that guy beside her is a boyfriend, whether they make a good couple, what book that person is reading, if its some chick lit thing then why people like to read them, and so on. I also like to eavesdrop on conversations as well as peep on what the person next beside me is messaging. If he or she is reading the papers, even better.
5) Less time to sit back and think. In a car, you are sitting back, but you are probably thinking about negotiating that curve or overtaking that vehicle. In public transport, chances are you don't get to sit back, but when you do, you can take out a book to read, think about others (as mentioned in point 4), or think about your own life.
6) Vehicle responsibilities. I would say topping up fuel, checking your tyre pressure, going for regular technical maintainence, regularly cleaning your car's insides and outsides, are much more troublesome procedures than topping up your fare card.
7) The risk of accident. Nevermind if you bang onto another vehicle, or a lorry smashes into you, or when no one is about your car still manages to fall into the drain. What if you accidentally hit and kill a 10 year old child or a 70 year-old grandmother? Even worse, you cripple a healthy person for life. Think about the guilt you would feel, whether the accident was your fault or theirs, or no one's at all. It's an added cost.
Reasons why you should drive a car:
1) Convenience. No more waiting for the bus or mrt, no more jostling with the crowd. Instead, you can spend time waiting in a traffic jam. There is also the convenience of being able to go out late at night if you've got a supper meeting with friends. You won't be restrained by the last train or the last bus.
2) Luxury. Comfortable seating. Can attract the opposite sex as well, but if you want to attract people who are attracted to you because of this sort of thing maybe they aren't really attracted to you at all.
3) Necessity to job. Being in the upper management in no way should necessitate ownership of a car, unless it is a strict job requirement. In any case, I think it's quite a sad day in the history of mankind when cars come to be regarded as a necessity of life instead of, say, care for the environment.
1) You harm the environment.
2) It is not a cost-effective way of transportation. The Strait Times on Saturday noted that public transportation takes 1.7 times longer than private transport to ferry a person from point A to B. This means that if a car can get you to your destination in 15 minutes, it should take, on average, no more than 25.5 minutes on public transport. That's a difference of 10.5 minutes. I don't think paying ERP charges, parking fees, road taxes, as well as the initial cost of the car itself (not to mention the driving lessons fees and other miscellaneous charges) is worth that kind of time saved.
3) Over-reliance. Someone - can't recall who, probably a tutor - once mentioned that even when travelling to a nearby convenience store he felt the need to drive his car. Not everyone who drives a car would be as lazy as him, I reckon. But then again, who would use the stairs these days when there's an escalator beside?
4) Less exposure. Boxed up in the vehicle, the only things you would get to see is other cars and momentary glimpses of pedestrians. Not so with public transport, with the masses of people taking the same transport as you and the inherent need to walk from the bus station to the mrt or whatsoever. When I take the mrt I always like to look at the people around me. I think of where they are from, where they are headed, how old they are, are they unemployed, whether they think themselves as good-looking, whether that guy beside her is a boyfriend, whether they make a good couple, what book that person is reading, if its some chick lit thing then why people like to read them, and so on. I also like to eavesdrop on conversations as well as peep on what the person next beside me is messaging. If he or she is reading the papers, even better.
5) Less time to sit back and think. In a car, you are sitting back, but you are probably thinking about negotiating that curve or overtaking that vehicle. In public transport, chances are you don't get to sit back, but when you do, you can take out a book to read, think about others (as mentioned in point 4), or think about your own life.
6) Vehicle responsibilities. I would say topping up fuel, checking your tyre pressure, going for regular technical maintainence, regularly cleaning your car's insides and outsides, are much more troublesome procedures than topping up your fare card.
7) The risk of accident. Nevermind if you bang onto another vehicle, or a lorry smashes into you, or when no one is about your car still manages to fall into the drain. What if you accidentally hit and kill a 10 year old child or a 70 year-old grandmother? Even worse, you cripple a healthy person for life. Think about the guilt you would feel, whether the accident was your fault or theirs, or no one's at all. It's an added cost.
Reasons why you should drive a car:
1) Convenience. No more waiting for the bus or mrt, no more jostling with the crowd. Instead, you can spend time waiting in a traffic jam. There is also the convenience of being able to go out late at night if you've got a supper meeting with friends. You won't be restrained by the last train or the last bus.
2) Luxury. Comfortable seating. Can attract the opposite sex as well, but if you want to attract people who are attracted to you because of this sort of thing maybe they aren't really attracted to you at all.
3) Necessity to job. Being in the upper management in no way should necessitate ownership of a car, unless it is a strict job requirement. In any case, I think it's quite a sad day in the history of mankind when cars come to be regarded as a necessity of life instead of, say, care for the environment.
2 Comments:
I would say the thing I love most about having a car is to be able to go to special places. True, the public transport can take us to many places. But it also means it takes us to places where everyone else will be.
Few people have noticed the tranquility that can exist in Singapore, if you know where to look. Its beautiful to be traveling on a long, empty road, not having anyone in sight. You feel as if time had stopped and you entered a different planet with no one but you and the ones in your car. Meanwhile desolate buildings stand quiet by the roadside as you ponder in your seat on life and others. (I'm referring to Tuas and Jurong, locations barely covered by public transport. They are beautiful on weekends.)
Not having a car comes at the cost of our individuality as we are tied to the destinations of the public transport, and to the destinations of all others on board. We loose the ability to go where we want, and thus to an extent the ability to be who we want.
But I'm still anti-cars. Maybe we can have a car pool for special excursions like Colin does?
Aquila
from another view on your point:
1. owning a car is one of the ways harming the environment. besides cars, there are many things also harm the environment.
2. do you know that the 10.5 minutes can earn millions.....can save a life.....
3. it is to maximise the usage instead. arent we also over-reliance on computers which use electricity....
4. own space and privacy....still can look at pedestrians without them knowing you are looking at them.
5. still can depends on your skill of driving.
6. isnt it making you be more responsible......
7. everything we do involve risks....it is how we manage and minimise the risks.
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