I think it really depends on your lifestyle. I love to hike, snowshoe and ski. Public transit to Snoqualmie doesn't exist and lyfts would be incredibly expensive, if they would even take you there. Not even factoring in lugging heavy equipment around.
If you stay in the city almost all the time it's probably great. The minute you want to do something outside of the city it's impossible without a car.
> The minute you want to do something outside of the city it's impossible without a car.
Depends on where you live and what you do outside. Over the years, I have ridden my bike to half a dozen different countries, starting from my doorstep. That might be rare, but it's definitely not "impossible without a car".
I also happen to have access to a very active market for skiing/snowboarding weekend trips where a bus takes you to an hotel in the mountains on Friday night, you spend two days on the slopes and get back on Sunday evening. There are all kinds of people on those buses and most of them arrive at the meeting point by car, so it's definitely not a choice made out of necessity.
Rent a car for the weekend? It's like $50/day, so only $3k/yr to do it once a day per week. (Not factoring in the added cost of gas, or the discounts you can get by regularly renting a car and getting your own non-owner insurance)
It's a hassle. You can't customize it. I have a roofrack that accommodates a canoe. Maybe you need chains for the winter; maybe you can get those with a rental, don't know. Etc. Obviously it's an option for people who live in cities and can't easily own a car but if you're going to use it regularly, there are a lot of advantages to having your own vehicle.
I would never want to bring a rental car into a snow covered pass or an icy parking lot. Too much liability. Good suggestion, probably good for a day hike or otherwise.
there are road conditions you cannot drive in without snow chains, and rental companies don't allow you to attach chains. these road conditions are not uncommon if you're going skiing.
effectively there are moderately common road/condition combinations that you cannot drive in a rental car.
> there are road conditions you cannot drive in without snow chains
Where is this? I live in northern part of Scandinavia, and we manage just fine with normal winter tires. Snow chains are pretty much only for semi trucks. Most people even use studless winter tires these days.
And of course rental cars have winter tires in the winter season, anything else would be illegal.
The US does not mandate snow tires at a national level, and in many places (even northern states where snow and ice are common) tire chains are illegal because they can damage the roads.
If you're going up steep hills covered in ice, winter tires or even studded tires are not going to work. You need chains. Then again, the best rally drivers are Scandinavian, so maybe you guys are just better drivers than we are :)
Western US. I can't comment on whether they should be required or not but they commonly are required in Utah, passes in the Sierras such as going up to Tahoe, and in the Cascades.
Seconded, grew up in far northern Minnesota and no-one uses snowchains there, though there is a preference for cars with high clearance (and some sand/skidboards in the trunk, usually). I guess I can see this if you're doing deep backwoods skiing, but that's an awfully niche pastime no? I've never heard of a ski resort that's inaccessible without snowchains.
>I've never heard of a ski resort that's inaccessible without snowchains.
Lots of them in the West. Little Cottonwood Canyon (at a minimum) in Utah. Tahoe from the Bay area (Donner Pass) under certain conditions http://www.dot.ca.gov/trafficops/trucks/chains.html. In a number of cases you can get exceptions for approved winter tires but it varies.
The entire idea is to be low cost, so when you start tacking on all these fees kinda defeats that purpose. At some point you will get to the point where it's the same cost to rent vs own.
A Lyft to Snoqualmie would be expensive, but a Zipcar, ReachNow, or Car2Go wouldn't be. Especially since you don't need car insurance or have to pay for gas.
Zipcars with ski racks might be a little hard to find in Seattle during the winter, but they do exist.
If you stay in the city almost all the time it's probably great. The minute you want to do something outside of the city it's impossible without a car.