Kind of like when John Lennon asked us to imagine life without possessions, Uber is asking Canadians to imagine life without a car.
What happened: Uber is choosing 175 people across seven North American cities, including Toronto and Vancouver, to give up their cars for four weeks. In exchange, participants will get $500 in Uber credit and $500 in public transit, car rental, and carshare vouchers.
- Uber has been researching ways people can adopt “car-light” lifestyles that can help cut emissions and reduce traffic — a roundabout way of saying ‘take more Ubers.’
- If you’re interested in applying to take a hiatus from your wheels, you must be using your vehicle more than three times a week and agree to document your experience.
Why it matters: Uber’s experiment highlights a real problem facing drivers: It’s pricey to own a car. Ratehub estimates the annual average cost of car ownership in Canada this year is $16,644, up 45% from 2020. The cost of buying a car, either used or new, has also risen.
Big picture: Turo’s annual car ownership survey found that 37% of non-car-owning respondents don’t have one because it’s too expensive, overtaking ‘can’t drive’ as the top reason.—QH