Ana Pokora

Traveling through the MTA is a major hassle, and it can be a workload trying to survive in the means of traveling. A lot of people say it would be much easier to drive your way around the city, but the truth is driving requires just as much patience as public transportation. If your still not convinced, keep reading for the observations I have made through my experiences the past three months.
It is by no means easy to live in the suburbs, but even living in a rural community has its own downfalls (People driving 40 miles under the speed limit). There are a lot of wonderful things about driving in the city that makes you just want a car. 
1. You get to your desired location without need of walking.
2. If your going shopping to a store, you don't have to worry about carrying your bags. Your handy dandy car has a trunk that will easily take care of that.
3. Let's face it, although there are signs everywhere saying to "Curb your dog", nobody ever does it. And yes when you drive, you don't have to walk or stare at a pile of crap a dog left over. 
4. This is probably the most important, You don't have to walk through a bunch of people that have a nasty attitude on the streets. You don't have to sit on the subway and listen to a crackhead's made up story to get some money out your pockets.
5. It is very easy to go out with friends when one of you has a car, there is no worry about delays or getting lost finding a location (You can all do it together!).

Those are probably the most greatest things I can come up with about driving (I'm sure there's more). But I am eager to list the negatives (That's the point right?).
1. GAS PRICES: this is definitely at the top of my list. With this economy and greedy government, I wouldn't be surprise if by the end of this year the gas goes up to $5 a gallon. But nevertheless, this is probably the biggest downfall to being a driver. Regular gas goes by quick since it's very watery, and although premium and premium plus are much more thicker and last longer, they can run your pockets very low.
2. TRAFFIC: Don't be fooled by the easy drives you have when you take the highway, Rush hour is the devil's mother. Although people say rush hour begins at 4pm, there is more than one rush hour. The first rush hour is in the morning, when you are driving to work like every other New Yorker in the city. If you work anywhere but downtown your completely fine, but if you have to drive through downtown to get to your destination, your luck has run short.
3.TOLLS: Although they are easily avoidable, nobody wants to pay them (Specially since they're going up). Whenever I find myself avoiding tolls, my drive goes from 25 minutes to 2 hours. Like I said, Nobody wants to pay these ridiculously high tolls, that are honestly pointless, to get to where they want to go. Taking the Queensborough bridge is probably the biggest pain in the world. You must have A LOT of patience to deal with the inconsiderate drivers, money hungry yellow cab drivers, slowly moving trucks, police officers and desperate drivers that drive so fast you would think they're about to pee their pants.
4. PARKING: Nowadays, everybody and their mama has a car. The hardest thing in the world is to find parking space that is FREE. It is very hard for me to understand how this city is in a crisis when they have meters in every corner charging for parking space. The other blow to parking is the cleaning hours. If you don't move your car when the streets are being cleaned then sir, you have earned yourself a ticket. I remember last month, I parked my car in a location where no cleaning was being done, but to my dismay it was too close to a bus stop. By the time I was back, my car had been towed, I had to pay $185 to take it out and I also got a ticket for $115 for parking "on the bus stop", and I still have to pay taxes? (Lord have mercy!)
5. FRIENDS: Yes, your friends, they fall into this category. It is wonderful to be able to go out with your friends with no expense of time but friends are annoying as hell! The first thing that happens is that you become their personal driver, they ask to to drive them everywhere without regards of the duties you carry with your life. They WILL NOT give you gas money, but will gladly sit there and enjoy the ride without even mentioning it. My most favorite: you become their new driving instructor. If I paid $360 to get my lessons and $100 to get my license, what on earth makes you think I'm going to have the great heart to provide you with a coupon? Lets be realistic, driving schools are there for a reason, and they do a great job at teaching you how to drive. I was very fortunate to have a great instructor and of course my father is a truck driver so my fear is non-existent.
 
There you have it folks! That is my report on driving, but it's not over yet! 
Next week I will follow up on the MTA, my favorite form of transportation!!!
 
 What's your input on this topic? Leave your comment down below!