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[RedKing]

To be fair, often there's no easy way to get to the high school without a car. And it's not like the cars are expensive new ones, either.

Maybe I just haven't lived in an actual rural area (I grew up outside a town, but close enough that the bus got me anyway) but I thought high school buses covered...  Everybody?
Of course the bus ride can be crazy long.  I actually rode the bus to school, then walked home from that first high school.  For my senior year I was in a city and rode my bicycle, which saved at least half an hour.  Maybe a full hour.  That's where I saw so many people driving to school, even though everyone had to have other options...  It was just *cool* and what the middle class kids did.

At least that's how I saw it, and I didn't like it.  I was pretty excited about green policies back then, and did a lot of cycling anyway.

NCSU was a lot better actually...  Maybe because so many people were from other parts of the state, but also because the Wolfline system was reliable, free, and had good coverage.  Even when they put a bunch of classes off on a separate campus too far to walk to, the bus coverage meant that most people didn't insist on driving out there.  And on the main campuses, the walking paths were more expedient than trying to find parking.

Yeah, I used to drive to Carter-Finley and ride the Wolfline in, because fuck trying to park on campus. Would occasionally park on Hillsborough St because my classes were *right there*. But I got tired of usually having to park like three blocks away in some residential neighborhood.

And now I'm sad that I'm not in college/grad school anymore. Those were good days.

[SalmonGod]

Bus rides can get pretty ridiculous in rural areas.  My bus ride was an hour long when I was a kid.  Lots of high school students work, especially in rural areas, and they have to juggle working hours with requirements that minors can't be scheduled to work past a certain hour and such things... which means that bus ride might make it impossible for them to hold a part-time job.  Not anything I personally experienced, but I can easily see it being a reason for high school students to be driving.  There's also extra-curriculars.  Some nights, I was stuck at the school until 9 pm after practices, because that was when my parents could get me.  I'm sure anybody able to drive and fix that shit for themselves would want to do so. 

Driving is really damn essential through most of the U.S., because everything is all spread out and there's no public transport outside of metropolitan areas.

[Kot]

Have some pleasant dreams.

My dreams are so fucking great that I can't sleep due to them and then don't want to wake up due to them.
Thanks tho.

[miauw62]

Are you talking about dreams that are good except they're bad because they're good? Because I know that feel...

E:
On a related note, not a fucking clue what will make me feel satisfied with myself. Talked to girls quite a bit at the megagame thing yesterday, still feel like I haven't done anything...

[Kot]

Are you talking about dreams that are good except they're bad because they're good? Because I know that feel...

Fuck.

[i2amroy]

To be fair, often there's no easy way to get to the high school without a car. And it's not like the cars are expensive new ones, either.

Maybe I just haven't lived in an actual rural area (I grew up outside a town, but close enough that the bus got me anyway) but I thought high school buses covered...  Everybody?

Officially they cover everybody in the nearby areas, yeah, but there are often plenty of places where there might be a little cluster of 3-4 houses 20 minutes down a dirt road that the bus doesn't cover once you get rural enough. I mean personally the closest bus stop for my high school to my house was already a 15 minute drive away, and if you're driving that far you might as well drive the second 15 minutes and make the whole trip in a half of an hour instead of in 2.5 hours.

And yeah, driving is pretty essential just for basic getting around in most places in the United States. As a comparison for you Europeans, in the time it took my family to drive to the nearest city for school in the morning, and then drive back in the evening, you could drive all of the way across Switzerland (barring serious traffic, of course). And I'm not even in a pure rural area. In some of the areas in the middle of the United States you can have multi-hour commutes to the nearest city, and then multiple hours to get back in the evening, even if there isn't any traffic.

[Rolan7]

There's so much sprawl.  I didn't live on the other side of a bunch of strip malls, even when I lived in sprawltastic Raleigh I was fairly close to the center.  So yeah, I was in a lucky situation that way.

[Lord Shonus]

-snip-

How in Satan's glorious name can the average student of your university afford a car? It's something rather unusual around these parts.

In many places, it is very common for a parent to give their worn-out 5-10 year old car to their kid when the kid reaches driving age, since that car only has a few years left and needs replaced anyway. This gives the young driver a great deal of agency that is a great bridge to adulthood and lets them get experience driving in a vehicle where a few dings and dents won't matter so much.

[KingofstarrySkies]

-snip-

How in Satan's glorious name can the average student of your university afford a car? It's something rather unusual around these parts.

This is America, people often drive their cars to *high school*.  It's pretty dumb.

Happens here too. I wouldn't say dumb, many people in my High School have a part-time job and shit. I'm not envious, I'll stick with the bus, thanks.

[Spehss _]

-snip-

How in Satan's glorious name can the average student of your university afford a car? It's something rather unusual around these parts.

In many places, it is very common for a parent to give their worn-out 5-10 year old car to their kid when the kid reaches driving age, since that car only has a few years left and needs replaced anyway. This gives the young driver a great deal of agency that is a great bridge to adulthood and lets them get experience driving in a vehicle where a few dings and dents won't matter so much.

Can confirm, this is pretty much what my parents did.

[SalmonGod]

I'm 32 and never been able to afford my own vehicle.  Still driving my parents hand-me-downs.

[Levi]

I'm 35 and I never wanted to have my own vehicle.    I live in a pretty walkable/bus-able city though.

You can save so much money by not having a car.

My sad for today is yet another yearly 3% rent increase.

[SalmonGod]

I'm 35 and I never wanted to have my own vehicle.    I live in a pretty walkable/bus-able city though.

You can save so much money by not having a car.

I wish I didn't need a car.

[Orange Wizard]

I wish I didn't need a car.

+1

[Graknorke]

Blisters under the base of my toe. Fuck.