Simple: I fucking hate driving. I hate the smell, I hate the noise, and I hate the stress. Thr environmental impact isnt exactly a plus point either. You could say that I’m lucky to live in a place with good public transport, but I actively sought out a place with public transport because I didn’t want to rely on a car.

Final nail on the coffin: I developed Menieres disease, so I am prone to intense vertigo attacks at short notice - I couldn’t get a license even if I wanted one.

I just don’t need one, so never bothered with it.

We have good public transport and I believe reading something on the way to be a better use of that time.

Cars are expensive to buy and maintain. Also I don’t think finding a parking spot and then parking is a fun activity. Also the metro can in many cases be faster, and I can use my phone while I’m in it.

I have a license. I enjoy driving as a leisure activity.

But I hate driving to work. I just take the shuttle and enjoy listening to my podcasts. We have a decent public transport system as well, so it helps.

I had no access to or use of a car until I was around 23. Up to that point I lived in a country where you could cycle for most of your daily routine, take the bus a couple of times a month and the train sporadically.

I moved to a country where cycling was for the poor and foolhardy, me for several years, and public transport was atrocious.

Public transport has marginally improved, my bicycle hasn’t been used for 20+ years and our household has one car.

Learning to drive is a process. It takes time. Just like learning to fly a plane takes time. If you have a need to drive, learning how is step one. In my country even when you pass your test, you are required to keep a logbook for at least two years and drive in a variety of conditions before you can actually upgrade your probationary licence.

I don’t want to get a license only to forget everything because I won’t drive.

I see having a car as a necessity only. For me, it’s only acceptable if public transport/bicycle is not an option. Unfortunately, the latter is almost never an option due to how everything is built car-centric, but the former very often is.

Also, I don’t know anything about cars, I don’t have to think where to park that huge piece of shit, I don’t need to be my own driver, I don’t need to do any maintenance, it’s more ecological and even cheaper than just gas.

!fuckcars@lemmy.world

I have a license, but never use it. I’m Dutch. My work and the train station are less than 10 min by bike, the supermarket is a 5 min walk. I can do almost anything by bike and sometimes public transport and it saves me hundreds of euro’s a month.

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So, what’s your reason to not drive a car

I simply don’t need to, nor do I want to. I live in a country with good public transport - in a city with comparably well working public transport. There simply is no need for me. There never was.

I can get around the city either by train (“normal” trains and subways) or by bus. On weekends there is a 24 service for all trains and subways every 8-20 minutes (depending on line). There are also night busses connecting party areas with the nearest train stations and the inner city with the outskirts.

In the mornings and afternoons on weekdays there are additional commuter busses and trains and subways on most lines so the service is scheduled on a minute basis on some lines for some time during rush hours. The “worst” it gets is every 30 minutes in the middle of the night.

And if I don’t want to take public transport I can always use my bike or my electric scooter. The bike lanes are not Netherlands quality, but they’re okay. It’s also fun to drive by traffic jam having my inner monologue making fun of alle the people waiting hours over hours on the streets 😄

The great thing is: Some time ago the government and the individual public transport providers of the cities and areas made a country-wide ticket for all public transport. So I can just hop on a bus in my city, drive to the train station, enter a regional train that goes to another city in another federal state, come out the train station and take the nearest bus I want without having to pay anything except the monthly fee for the ticket or checking if the ticket is valid in that area.

When I want to take longer trips further away I’ll likely take a train on our highspeed railway network covering basically the whole country (not covered by the ticket I mentioned). It’s notorious for being delayed or having issues, but my individual experience is much better than in the memes that exist.

I do have a license but refuse to drive. I guess the main reasons would be:

• I get lost very easily and navigating while driving is much harder (no stopping, turning around etc)
• You can’t entirely zone out or use that time to do something else like reading so if it’s a daily commute this is just lost time
• Road infrastructure here is terrible. I actually find it much safer to drive at night because at least you can see the headlights of cars coming out of blind intersections
• Just like there are (many) places you can’t go without a car, there are also places you can’t go with a car because there is no parking, mainly the city center, which is the place I visit the most

You also can’t drive drunk and I kinda like drinking.

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Not wanting to learn or not wanting to drive?

Knowing how to drive is a useful skill that can come in handy (vacations, emergency) even if you don’t do it regularly.

Refusing to drive daily - absolutely, for political, social and economic end ecological reasons. Everyone living in range of an acceptable public transport should refuse to drive. And those who are not should not stop pressuring and voting local politicians to implement one. It’s 2024, there’s no reason to depend on cars for everyday transportation.

I actually had my first driving lesson just a few weeks ago (I’m 18). I ended up quitting after four lessons because 1) I/my parents don’t own a car, 2) it would cost me all of my savings, and 3) I really don’t need a car nor a driver’s license. I live in a walkable European city and the public transit is pretty good. Honestly, good riddance; the theory seemed very heavy and I couldn’t wrap my head around it, and even if I managed to get a license I would still need to get a car. So, sure, I might miss out on fun independent road trips; on the other hand I’ll be able to appreciate trains and ferries even more for what they are.

Instead of car, people of my country usually able to drive motorcycle.

But not me. I’d rather take my bicycle. I don’t want to deal with cost of maintaining motorcycle.