Why I don't own a car in Newfoundland

This is a conversation that comes up fairly regularly over the years that I've lived here - why don't I own a car?

I have a driver's license and I maintain it, driving a friend's car once in a while, but I don't own a car here. I used to own a car when I lived in BC and I would have driven it across Canada when I made the decision to move here, but I knew that it was not likely to survive the trip. Either because it would have an epic breakdown or I'd have an extreme episode of road rage, or both. I do miss my car - it was a little 5-speed sports car that looked like a piece of shit, but ran beautifully otherwise as it drove smooth (after a run-in with a ditch, surprisingly enough) and was really easy on gas.

This province is nuts for the price of insurance - it is not regulated the way it was in BC. You get different rates depending on who your insurance company is. In BC it's regulated by the Insurance Corporation of BC - you know what your rates are going to be, regardless of who your insurance company is, and the only time it really changes is if you've got an address in the interior of BC or the coast. Here, auto insurance shopping is a thing and it blows my mind that you can't just walk into a insurance broker and get the same pricing you would at another insurance broker for your vehicle.

And then there's the cost of fuel and maintenance. Gas prices fluctuate a fair bit, and it always costs more on the island than pretty much anywhere else in the country. Yuck. And maintenance is nuts too, especially when everything has to pass inspection. And there's a fee for inspection too. Not to mention that there's often no guarantee that the repairs done to your vehicle will help it pass inspection. Unless you've got an in with a shady dude who will slap a pass on your inspection forms even though in reality your vehicle shouldn't even be on the road...I've seen entirely too many of these over the years. You shouldn't be able to see the road through the floorboard of your car...

There was a time when I was taking a taxi twice a day five times a week. About $100 a week in taxi fare, and it was still cheaper than owning my own vehicle. Sure, I could have taken a bus once my shift changed to allow me to easily hop a bus in the morning, but it also meant I'd have to be up too damn early in the morning. Sometimes an extra hour of sleep is worth that $10 taxi fare in the morning. Or my shift end/start times would leave me waiting for close to an hour before the next bus arrived. That is time I could be using for something important or meaningful, instead of sitting around waiting for my bus and then enduring the meandering bus ride that looped through parts of the city in the opposite direction of where I lived. Sure, I could have walked home in the same amount of time, but the pain I would be in by the time I arrived would never be worth it. So I took a taxi instead of wasting precious time.

And then there are the crazy drivers out on the road. I swear that too many people here don't know how to drive and have no business having a driver's license. It probably doesn't help that a lot of people on the roads come from towns that have maybe one stop light and stop signs are merely a suggestion. Right of way is lost on these people. So are the rights of a pedestrian. I've lost track of how many times I've been rightfully in a crosswalk when a driver has cursed me out for being there. Or how many times I've almost gotten hit while crossing with the lights like I'm supposed to as a pedestrian. Or been a passenger in a vehicle where the driver can't seem to make up their mind what lane they're supposed to be in, or blow through stop signs, don't stop before turning corners, and so much more. And then there's been all the times I've been a pedestrian and watched all the above. Oh, and it seems that for a great many folks that turn signals are merely a suggestion as well. I think that driving in Quebec wouldn't freak me out as much as driving here does. And I already know I suffer from road rage from driving in BC for so many years...I'd end up on charges for beating the living shit of an idiot driver here, almost guaranteed.

But I still keep my license current and drive friend's cars sometimes. Yet it is not likely I will ever own a car here. Besides, if I ever decide to travel outside of the city, I can just rent a car for the time I'd need it and then return it when I'm done.