As a youngster, I always dreamed about the day that I would get my driver’s license. I wanted more than anything to be able to put the pedal to the metal. When I turned 16, drive is exactly what I did. I drove as much as I possibly could. It was the ultimate freedom to be able to just get in my car and go any place my little heart desired.

After four years of driving, I moved to Berkeley, Calif. You can imagine my surprise when I started meeting people who did not own a car. I remember thinking, “How can they live without a car?” What I later discovered is if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you don’t need a car. In fact, a car can be more trouble than it is worth.

This was a hard concept for me to grasp at first. I had to get used to walking to work every day. It took me a while to get the hang of riding the bus. But finally I came to see that a society where cars are not the only source of transportation is actually better. I began to notice that a good public transportation system creates a society that is more equal.

Like me, I know many of you have had your own car since you turned 16. If you have never had to go without a car, I would like for you to take a moment and think about how much you rely on your car. Try to imagine how much work it would be just to get to the grocery store. You would have to first walk or ride the bus to the store. Once you made it to the store, you would be limited to only buying what you could carry home. All errands are a lot harder without a car.

The main problem with a society that has an inadequate public transportation system is it is practically impossible to get a good job without a car. In Raleigh, there are a lot of places to where the bus simply does not go. Without a car, the jobs in these areas are simply off-limits to you. In a society with a good public transportation system, jobs are open to all classes of people, not just the ones that can afford a car to get to the interview.

Although there are more and more people who own cars, it is still an elite thing. To own a car you must have enough money to purchase the car and money to pay for upkeep on it. About a year ago, my alternator went out in my car. Being a broke college student, I called around and found the cheapest place to take it to get repaired. I chose a repair shop on Capital Boulevard. It turns out not all repair shops are created equal, and the one I chose was cheaper because they do bad work.

The new alternator I had installed broke a few months later. When I returned to have my one-year warranty redeemed, I was told the shop was now under new management, and they did not have to honor the previous owner’s warranties. I ended up staying all day and buying an alternator that the mechanic took off a junk car he had out back. I was not surprised when this alternator gave out last week. I decided I needed to take it somewhere else. It was now worth it to me to pay the extra hundred or so dollars to have it fixed right (Plus, I admit it, I phoned home for the money).

While I was waiting to have my third alternator for the year installed, I started thinking about all the people who don’t have the extra $100 and have to take their cars to the cheapest place to have them fixed. Without help from my parents, I would be stuck without a car. Without a car, I could not make it to school or to work.

I recently saw an article in the paper that was discussing the option of toll roads to pay for new highways to be built in Raleigh. We should have toll roads to help pay for the cost of implementing better public transportation. This will probably never happen since the South is a society that will continue to boost the already rich and keep the poor down.