If you're an Angeleno who's ever considered giving up your car and living the "sharing" lifestyle, take note: it is not cheaper to use app-based ridesharing services Uber and Lyft everywhere than it is to own a car in Los Angeles. (Is there really anyone who really though it might be, though?) According to NerdWallet, it's about $6,000 cheaper to own a car than it is to exclusively take rides from ridesharing services (rates for both companies worked out to the same in LA). For the cost of owning a car, you could take about 14 Uber rides a week. So decadent.
NW factored in gas, insurance, car payments, and parking, among the litany of other costs that come along with car ownership, but it still came out on top. To arrive at the totals, they calculated the number of trips taken each day and the number of miles traveled every day (using Federal Highway Administration averages) and the amount of time drivers spend driving from place to place (using "the average one-way commute time" from the Census). They then compared the cost of owning a car (with rates and numbers for a Toyota Camry) and driving to all those places versus calling for a ride from one of the services. (A fully detailed explanation of how they came to these figures can be found here.) The cost of having your own car came out to about $11,890 per year, far less than the cost of internet taxis. Plus there's an added bonus: when you are driving yourself, you are way less likely to be abducted by your driver.
· Can I Avoid Car and Insurance Costs by Using Lyft and Uber? [NerdWallet]
· 8 Secrets You Learn Being an Uber Driver in Los Angeles [Curbed LA]
· Lyft [Curbed LA]
· Uber [Curbed LA]
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