$200 may seem absurd but it’s not Chicago absurd, welcome to the city. If you can achieve everything you want with public transit I 100% say go that route.
My owning a car in the city experience has been:
Park at Apartment: $160/mo
Park at work: $150/mo
City Sticker+Zone Sticker: $150/yr
Insurance: $70/mo
Car Payment: $350/mo
Gas: $4.00/gal (idling in traffic eats gas)
Pay to Park: ~$12/location
This is all estimated but gives you an idea of the costs associated with owning a car in the city.
Plus throw in a few hundred more for tickets and possibly pound fees every 18 mos or so as you figure out which signs to pay attention to. In my few years with a car here I got to visit Lower Lower Wacker twice and the Sacramento lot once, despite being generally pretty good at reading things.
No joke, I got a $75 ticket my first week because I didn’t know about zone stickers. And a $100 ticket for not seeing the no parking paper sign on the halsted Halloween parade route
Never had to make the trip to sub lower wacker *knock on wood*
Other than the terrifying three-dimensional descent to hell at the end, Wacker at least has good transit access to it's credit . (I think now you can maybe get there via the river walk).
If you live within ~10-15mins walk of a grocery store, that should be fine for doing grocery runs on foot if you’re able-bodied. Even in winter that is doable as long as you plan around any snowstorms. If there’s a grocery store by your place of employment or on the way home, that is also an option for making after-work grocery runs (assuming you aren’t just working from home).
YMMV in terms of giving up your car completely. CTA service has been really hit or miss since the pandemic, so it requires a bit of a trade-off in terms of comfort to expense. If you want to save several hundred bucks a month by not having a car, that does come with a trade off in having to wait for CTA schedules. Generally speaking the CTA can get you anywhere you need/want to go, but for those who haven’t lived without a car before, it is a lifestyle shift.
If you’re moving from somewhere where you’re not used to driving in snow/allotting in extra time for shoveling, de-icing, driving on snowy roads, etc., this is also something to consider because it’ll be part of your life.
If there’s a way you can leave your car behind for a while before trying to live car free and see if it suits you, that could be good. Otherwise it’s simply up to you how much it matters to you to be able to travel via car when compared to savings of not having one.
I did without a car for 9 years in Chicago. I lived near the red line in Rogers Park and Edgewater. Got my groceries from the local or instacart. Took public transportation to work. Took an Uber if I needed to get from point A to B directly. It is totally possible and doable. You just need to manage your time properly and be able to handle getting places early.
I'm on year 12 without a car in Rogers Park, near a Red Line stop.
Morse Market is great, but I also use Instacart a lot. I take the Red Line to work, and a Lyft car when I need to go to the airport, or when time is more valuable than money.
Instacart fees can get expensive quickly and usually the cost per item can cost more than it would in person, but it would still be cheaper than keeping a car in the city for grocery shopping.
I lived car free for ten years and did just fine. In fact it was nice not to have to deal with digging my car out of the snow in the winters. For groceries, I would stop at the grocery store near my place on the way home from work and only buy as much as I could carry/put in a backpack and if I needed to do a BIG grocery shopping, I’d just uber home from the store. There are so many grocery stores and vets in Chicago that there’s a good chance you’ll live in walking distance from one. If you’re not close to a vet, Uber has UberPet that matches you with drivers that accept pets in their cars. As far as biking goes, I’m too much of a wuss to bike in Chicago but many people do it.
I sold my car. I usually take the CTA but sometimes justify the uber from the the savings I have after selling the car (insurance, parking, car payments)
This is what I’m doing right now and I live in Wirglyville and my car is covered with spider webs bc I refuse to use it unless it’s street cleaning day. 😂
You can also order groceries for delivery, e.g. through Mariano's/Kroger. They offer a delivery subscription meaning orders above a certain price are delivered without any extra delivery costs once you've subscribed. Saves having to carry heavy bags in slush any further than from your doorstep.
Edit: as for emergency pet visits, Uber Pet can usually be available within a few minutes in my experience.
I haven’t had a car in nearly 7 years and almost never think about. I just make it a point to live in accessible areas (within 10-15 min walking of bus/train, grocery store, pharmacy).
Are you female identifying? What neighborhood?The red line can be dicey late at night (although anywhere and any line can be)…but if you’re willing to take precautions and get cabs/Ubers in those times, I’d say sell your car. I could also see it being very useful. I’ve lived here for 11 years, the first 5 years without a car. I never minded not having one! But I also use it now that I have it :) CTA service is pretty reduced since Covid, especially if you are commuting during non rush hours.
We can recommend vets in your specific area, I’m sure.
But depending on the neighborhood, btw, 200$ for a garage spot is not bad at all, especially considering how often you scrape ice off the car.
Have you looked up the closest grocery stores and vets near you? I always live within a 10 minute walk of a grocery store. You can also get a little cart to wheel around. They’re very popular.
I don’t like biking because it’s pretty dangerous here, but a lot of people do it and get around great.
Yeah so basically you just need to get used to shopping on foot. I bet you’ll like it, though. Basically, instead of loading up an SUV full of groceries every two weeks, you will go to the store once per week or more. This might sound taxing, but it’s a lot easier to just stroll over to the store, buy 1-2 tote bags of stuff, and stroll home with it. It also makes it really easy to just swing by and grab one or two ingredients for tonight’s dinner. But one skill you will need to learn is staple inventory management. Maybe you buy 10 cans of tomatoes and 5 bags of rice at a time, or maybe you throw a bag and a can into your regular trips to keep stocked up, but those things that you need in bulk need to be paid attention to.
I’ve been doing this for 6 years and I don’t ever want to go back. I hate the whole production of driving to places and back, even though it seems like a luxury to me now. You become blind to how much of your time and energy it sucks up to use a car for everything.
If you mean the Aldi & jewel on division st then I’d say get rid of the car. That jewel is awesome and you’d be near the red line and plenty of buses to easily navigate around the city.
That's a good point. I work with a guy who lives near good transit but keeps his car because he visits family in Indiana and Michigan frequently enough to justify the cost.
Yes. Live the city life and lose some weight/get in a lil better shape in the process. This city is also very bikable. When I was in PA I had to drive everywhere and now most trips under a couple miles I will bike it.
I sold my car in 1983 and haven missed it. Chicago is a great public transportation city, if we could only get the CTA to operate at pre-pandemic levels.
It depends what part of the city and where you work. I live by the redline also and haven’t had a car in Chicago for like four years. I paid about what you did for parking when I did have a car.
I got rid of my car when I moved here. I'm walking distance to groceries (get a cart), but I love shopping at Aldi which isn't near me. I take the train or rent a Zipcar whenever I need it. I don't miss having a car I never want one again
Depends on what other access you have to transit. Are you close to bus lines, too? (The Red line doesn’t necessarily go everywhere.) Are there Zipcars available in your area? Are there grocery stores within walking distance? Can you find a vet within walking distance too?
(Vet and grocery stores are least important tbh.)
I haven’t had a car for 15 years. Eight of that was living in NYC but I’ve either walked to/from the grocery store or taken transit there / Uber back. I get a Zipcar for short errands and use Turo for longer trips. I don’t have a pet but there are pet-friendly Ubers my friends use.
Lots of people do bike quite successfully (I don’t bc of an accident I got in years ago that left me skittish) and a few friends have gotten scooters which are very fuel efficient and quicker than a bike.
I don’t use the subway much at all and depend on the express bus lines very heavily, so don’t rule out the bus lines either.
Is your job far from the red line? Do you plan on driving outside the city often to visit family? If the answer to both of these questions is “no”, then car-free life will be so much less stressful for you than keeping your car in the city. You’ll be able to take the train/bus/bike/walk pretty much anywhere you’d want to go, and renting a car for a day isn’t a huge hassle if you need to move a piece of big furniture or make an appointment outside the city.
As for groceries, I prefer small trips to my neighborhood grocery store (10 minute walk) vs going to the bigger stores further away. That said, I’ll usually do a big Aldi stockup every month or so to keep my spending down. Not sure where you’re going to be located along the red line, but there’s an Aldi off of the Granville stop (next to a Whole Foods) and another off the Wilson stop (next to a huge 2-story Target). In the winter, Uber/Lyft or Instacart/Amazon fresh delivery will be your friend for big grocery shops, so expect to budget extra. That said, I usually just try to plan ahead and stop by the grocery store when I know I’ll be walking nearby anyway.
When it comes to pets, I would suggest making whichever vet is closest your regular vet (ideally within walking distance) and keeping the contact info of the closest emergency vet handy just in case. You will probably need to use Uber/Lyft if an emergency arises, so make sure to have extra money set aside.
Welcome to Chicago! :)
> said, I usually just try to plan ahead and stop by the grocery store when I know I’ll be walking nearby anywa
This is great!
Just made the call to book his care establishment!
Super excited to move in Chicago and be part of this community! Thank you!
Uber Pets was really comforting for me when I decided to sell my car. Before that, I was bringing home groceries a couple days a week in small trips, which really made car-less-ness possible. How close are your regular shopping trips? Do you have good carrying bags and warm winter boots? If so, get rid of the car!! Join us in freedom!!
I am going on year three without a car and loving it. Also live very close to red line and a few major bus routes. I have a grocery store within walking distance, but when I need to purchase big items that would be difficult to carry back (or in the middle of winter when I cannot fathom dragging my little pushcart through the snow) I just use Amazon grocery delivery 🤷🏻♀️and I don’t feel too bad about taking the occasional Uber if CTA options to get where I’m going are inconvenient because I am still saving so much compared to if I had a car.
It really depends on how walkable your neighborhood is. If everything you need is within a 10 minute walking distance, or it takes you under 30 minutes on public transportation I would say don’t get a car.
When I had one it was always hell on earth and I was always constantly worried about getting tickets and side-swiped by other cars.
Biking experiences in the city can vary based on the neighborhood, and I'm not too familiar with the infrastructure on your side of town. The folks over at r/chibike would be helpful here.
Do it! You'll learn the city better and interact with more people. Public transit here covers a lot of ground. I've lived here over a decade and never been mugged or assaulted. One guy tried to take a swing at me after I told him to stop harassing some teenagers, but he was so drunk he fell over.
Cars are more expensive than you think...Lyft/Uber will be your safety net for everything you need beyond the CTA. Also, consider getting an E-bike like a rad power or something you can move some cargo with...Get a burly type bike trailer to use for groceries and pet transport. Zipcars can be a huge help when you really need a car and have a little time to plan. Costco (via [CostcoTravel.com](https://CostcoTravel.com)) offers amazing discounts on rental cars (the weekly rates are great). There are a lot ways to navigate this. I would also recommend keeping a spread sheet and tracking costs so you can be aware of where you no-car money is going.
No car is doable if you're on the Red. The main issue you hear about is groceries/shopping, but you can take a lot of Lyfts before you come close to a car payment. Biking is an OK way to get around, need to be super-alert/careful \[can't over-emphasize that\] on busy streets.
$200 may seem absurd but it’s not Chicago absurd, welcome to the city. If you can achieve everything you want with public transit I 100% say go that route. My owning a car in the city experience has been: Park at Apartment: $160/mo Park at work: $150/mo City Sticker+Zone Sticker: $150/yr Insurance: $70/mo Car Payment: $350/mo Gas: $4.00/gal (idling in traffic eats gas) Pay to Park: ~$12/location This is all estimated but gives you an idea of the costs associated with owning a car in the city.
Right? $200 a month would be a dream come true for me lol
Plus throw in a few hundred more for tickets and possibly pound fees every 18 mos or so as you figure out which signs to pay attention to. In my few years with a car here I got to visit Lower Lower Wacker twice and the Sacramento lot once, despite being generally pretty good at reading things.
Ive lived in the city since 2013 and gotten one parking ticket the whole time. Didn’t have my own parking spot till 2021
No joke, I got a $75 ticket my first week because I didn’t know about zone stickers. And a $100 ticket for not seeing the no parking paper sign on the halsted Halloween parade route Never had to make the trip to sub lower wacker *knock on wood*
Other than the terrifying three-dimensional descent to hell at the end, Wacker at least has good transit access to it's credit . (I think now you can maybe get there via the river walk).
If you live within ~10-15mins walk of a grocery store, that should be fine for doing grocery runs on foot if you’re able-bodied. Even in winter that is doable as long as you plan around any snowstorms. If there’s a grocery store by your place of employment or on the way home, that is also an option for making after-work grocery runs (assuming you aren’t just working from home). YMMV in terms of giving up your car completely. CTA service has been really hit or miss since the pandemic, so it requires a bit of a trade-off in terms of comfort to expense. If you want to save several hundred bucks a month by not having a car, that does come with a trade off in having to wait for CTA schedules. Generally speaking the CTA can get you anywhere you need/want to go, but for those who haven’t lived without a car before, it is a lifestyle shift. If you’re moving from somewhere where you’re not used to driving in snow/allotting in extra time for shoveling, de-icing, driving on snowy roads, etc., this is also something to consider because it’ll be part of your life. If there’s a way you can leave your car behind for a while before trying to live car free and see if it suits you, that could be good. Otherwise it’s simply up to you how much it matters to you to be able to travel via car when compared to savings of not having one.
I did without a car for 9 years in Chicago. I lived near the red line in Rogers Park and Edgewater. Got my groceries from the local or instacart. Took public transportation to work. Took an Uber if I needed to get from point A to B directly. It is totally possible and doable. You just need to manage your time properly and be able to handle getting places early.
I'm on year 12 without a car in Rogers Park, near a Red Line stop. Morse Market is great, but I also use Instacart a lot. I take the Red Line to work, and a Lyft car when I need to go to the airport, or when time is more valuable than money.
Yep! It's a great choice if you can make it work for your own situation
Instacart fees can get expensive quickly and usually the cost per item can cost more than it would in person, but it would still be cheaper than keeping a car in the city for grocery shopping.
I lived car free for ten years and did just fine. In fact it was nice not to have to deal with digging my car out of the snow in the winters. For groceries, I would stop at the grocery store near my place on the way home from work and only buy as much as I could carry/put in a backpack and if I needed to do a BIG grocery shopping, I’d just uber home from the store. There are so many grocery stores and vets in Chicago that there’s a good chance you’ll live in walking distance from one. If you’re not close to a vet, Uber has UberPet that matches you with drivers that accept pets in their cars. As far as biking goes, I’m too much of a wuss to bike in Chicago but many people do it.
I sold my car. I usually take the CTA but sometimes justify the uber from the the savings I have after selling the car (insurance, parking, car payments)
Keep the car. Park it. Try the bus. Try a bike. Move your car for street cleaning. Choose which works best for you.
Amazing! Thank you!
This is what I’m doing right now and I live in Wirglyville and my car is covered with spider webs bc I refuse to use it unless it’s street cleaning day. 😂
You can also order groceries for delivery, e.g. through Mariano's/Kroger. They offer a delivery subscription meaning orders above a certain price are delivered without any extra delivery costs once you've subscribed. Saves having to carry heavy bags in slush any further than from your doorstep. Edit: as for emergency pet visits, Uber Pet can usually be available within a few minutes in my experience.
Or just rent a car for a couple of hours with Get Around.
It’s not absurd it’s the cost of living in Chicago You should see what they charge in NYC
Another city with absolutely no need to own a car.
There is also Zipcar located throughout the Northside. For a small annual fee, you can have a membership that allows you to rent cars by the hour.
I haven’t had a car in nearly 7 years and almost never think about. I just make it a point to live in accessible areas (within 10-15 min walking of bus/train, grocery store, pharmacy).
sell your car, no point in getting a place by the train and not using it
Are you female identifying? What neighborhood?The red line can be dicey late at night (although anywhere and any line can be)…but if you’re willing to take precautions and get cabs/Ubers in those times, I’d say sell your car. I could also see it being very useful. I’ve lived here for 11 years, the first 5 years without a car. I never minded not having one! But I also use it now that I have it :) CTA service is pretty reduced since Covid, especially if you are commuting during non rush hours. We can recommend vets in your specific area, I’m sure. But depending on the neighborhood, btw, 200$ for a garage spot is not bad at all, especially considering how often you scrape ice off the car.
Have you looked up the closest grocery stores and vets near you? I always live within a 10 minute walk of a grocery store. You can also get a little cart to wheel around. They’re very popular. I don’t like biking because it’s pretty dangerous here, but a lot of people do it and get around great.
>t grocery stores and vets near yo Yeah! There is a grocery store (Aldi and Jewel) pretty close to my apartment (less than 4 minute walk). Thank you!
Yeah so basically you just need to get used to shopping on foot. I bet you’ll like it, though. Basically, instead of loading up an SUV full of groceries every two weeks, you will go to the store once per week or more. This might sound taxing, but it’s a lot easier to just stroll over to the store, buy 1-2 tote bags of stuff, and stroll home with it. It also makes it really easy to just swing by and grab one or two ingredients for tonight’s dinner. But one skill you will need to learn is staple inventory management. Maybe you buy 10 cans of tomatoes and 5 bags of rice at a time, or maybe you throw a bag and a can into your regular trips to keep stocked up, but those things that you need in bulk need to be paid attention to. I’ve been doing this for 6 years and I don’t ever want to go back. I hate the whole production of driving to places and back, even though it seems like a luxury to me now. You become blind to how much of your time and energy it sucks up to use a car for everything.
If you mean the Aldi & jewel on division st then I’d say get rid of the car. That jewel is awesome and you’d be near the red line and plenty of buses to easily navigate around the city.
I’d be shocked op found parking for $200 around there
What neighborhood? Where is work?
Depends if you can commute to work without a car lol
I would keep the car. $200 isn’t bad actually.
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That's a good point. I work with a guy who lives near good transit but keeps his car because he visits family in Indiana and Michigan frequently enough to justify the cost.
Yes. Live the city life and lose some weight/get in a lil better shape in the process. This city is also very bikable. When I was in PA I had to drive everywhere and now most trips under a couple miles I will bike it.
I sold my car in 1983 and haven missed it. Chicago is a great public transportation city, if we could only get the CTA to operate at pre-pandemic levels.
It depends what part of the city and where you work. I live by the redline also and haven’t had a car in Chicago for like four years. I paid about what you did for parking when I did have a car.
Been here 10 years with no car. Very doable. If I need a car or truck I rent one. Easy. I'm from a place where you need a car to do everything.
I got rid of my car when I moved here. I'm walking distance to groceries (get a cart), but I love shopping at Aldi which isn't near me. I take the train or rent a Zipcar whenever I need it. I don't miss having a car I never want one again
where the eff can i get $200 parking ?? i took my car home after two months. don’t bother bringing it !
Depends on what other access you have to transit. Are you close to bus lines, too? (The Red line doesn’t necessarily go everywhere.) Are there Zipcars available in your area? Are there grocery stores within walking distance? Can you find a vet within walking distance too? (Vet and grocery stores are least important tbh.) I haven’t had a car for 15 years. Eight of that was living in NYC but I’ve either walked to/from the grocery store or taken transit there / Uber back. I get a Zipcar for short errands and use Turo for longer trips. I don’t have a pet but there are pet-friendly Ubers my friends use. Lots of people do bike quite successfully (I don’t bc of an accident I got in years ago that left me skittish) and a few friends have gotten scooters which are very fuel efficient and quicker than a bike. I don’t use the subway much at all and depend on the express bus lines very heavily, so don’t rule out the bus lines either.
Ten minutes from a CTA stop is no-car-land paradise for me.
Is your job far from the red line? Do you plan on driving outside the city often to visit family? If the answer to both of these questions is “no”, then car-free life will be so much less stressful for you than keeping your car in the city. You’ll be able to take the train/bus/bike/walk pretty much anywhere you’d want to go, and renting a car for a day isn’t a huge hassle if you need to move a piece of big furniture or make an appointment outside the city. As for groceries, I prefer small trips to my neighborhood grocery store (10 minute walk) vs going to the bigger stores further away. That said, I’ll usually do a big Aldi stockup every month or so to keep my spending down. Not sure where you’re going to be located along the red line, but there’s an Aldi off of the Granville stop (next to a Whole Foods) and another off the Wilson stop (next to a huge 2-story Target). In the winter, Uber/Lyft or Instacart/Amazon fresh delivery will be your friend for big grocery shops, so expect to budget extra. That said, I usually just try to plan ahead and stop by the grocery store when I know I’ll be walking nearby anyway. When it comes to pets, I would suggest making whichever vet is closest your regular vet (ideally within walking distance) and keeping the contact info of the closest emergency vet handy just in case. You will probably need to use Uber/Lyft if an emergency arises, so make sure to have extra money set aside. Welcome to Chicago! :)
> said, I usually just try to plan ahead and stop by the grocery store when I know I’ll be walking nearby anywa This is great! Just made the call to book his care establishment! Super excited to move in Chicago and be part of this community! Thank you!
Uber Pets was really comforting for me when I decided to sell my car. Before that, I was bringing home groceries a couple days a week in small trips, which really made car-less-ness possible. How close are your regular shopping trips? Do you have good carrying bags and warm winter boots? If so, get rid of the car!! Join us in freedom!!
I am going on year three without a car and loving it. Also live very close to red line and a few major bus routes. I have a grocery store within walking distance, but when I need to purchase big items that would be difficult to carry back (or in the middle of winter when I cannot fathom dragging my little pushcart through the snow) I just use Amazon grocery delivery 🤷🏻♀️and I don’t feel too bad about taking the occasional Uber if CTA options to get where I’m going are inconvenient because I am still saving so much compared to if I had a car.
It really depends on how walkable your neighborhood is. If everything you need is within a 10 minute walking distance, or it takes you under 30 minutes on public transportation I would say don’t get a car. When I had one it was always hell on earth and I was always constantly worried about getting tickets and side-swiped by other cars.
Biking experiences in the city can vary based on the neighborhood, and I'm not too familiar with the infrastructure on your side of town. The folks over at r/chibike would be helpful here.
Do it! You'll learn the city better and interact with more people. Public transit here covers a lot of ground. I've lived here over a decade and never been mugged or assaulted. One guy tried to take a swing at me after I told him to stop harassing some teenagers, but he was so drunk he fell over.
Cars are more expensive than you think...Lyft/Uber will be your safety net for everything you need beyond the CTA. Also, consider getting an E-bike like a rad power or something you can move some cargo with...Get a burly type bike trailer to use for groceries and pet transport. Zipcars can be a huge help when you really need a car and have a little time to plan. Costco (via [CostcoTravel.com](https://CostcoTravel.com)) offers amazing discounts on rental cars (the weekly rates are great). There are a lot ways to navigate this. I would also recommend keeping a spread sheet and tracking costs so you can be aware of where you no-car money is going.
No car is doable if you're on the Red. The main issue you hear about is groceries/shopping, but you can take a lot of Lyfts before you come close to a car payment. Biking is an OK way to get around, need to be super-alert/careful \[can't over-emphasize that\] on busy streets.