West Seattle since 1979
Bchap, I absolutely agree with you that it should be a personal choice. Not everyone can go carless or even use public transportation for work, because of various reasons. Not everyone can bike or walk everywhere either.
And not everyone can drive or wants to. I don’t have a car and don’t drive because my depth perception is poor and I got in several accidents years ago when I did have a car, because of misjudging how far away another car was. So it’s not safe for me to drive. But I have been made to feel as if I’m a drain on society because I don’t own a car and therefore don’t pay taxes on licenses and gas. I’ve been told, or have heard others being told, that we are moochers and leeches because we use public transportation, and that the bus fares don’t pay the entire cost. So there’s that.
Not to mention weird looks and people thinking i was strange, to the point that I really didn’t like to get to know people and still don’t because of their judgment of me for not owning a car. And every time I’d go to a social event from the time I stopped driving until maybe the last 15 years, people felt that they had to provide rides to and especially from the event for me, even though i kept assuring them that that wasn’t necessary–that I’d take a bus or if it was really late, a taxi.
You feel like you’re being shamed or chastised for owning cars, and that’s unfortunate and shouldn’t happen. I don’t think that everyone who tries to encourage people to consider other methods of transportation such as public transportation is saying that no one should own cars, but I’m sure there are a few who do that, and that’s really unfortunate and wrong.