Disclaimer: I’m not from the US.
As a student in a relatively large-ish city, I’ve been doing fine with public transportation. I’m not particularly interested in driving because of (no particular order):
- environmental impact (in part mitigated by EVs)
- ‘severe’ ADHD; I would never be relaxed driving
- safety; I don’t trust other drivers to follow the rules properly
Should I still get a driver’s license sooner than later?
It might be easier to learn to drive while you’re young. And even if you don’t need a car, there’s still times you might want to do carsharing or rent a car for a short while. Or your situation might change and you might move to somewhere where public transport doesn’t stop near your place. I’d personally do it, but it’s entirely possible to live without, in your current situation.
In my opinion, it would be convenient to have one just in case there’s an emergency (hopefully not) and you hypothetically would need to drive to resolve that emergency. I would personally get it even if I’m not planning on driving any time in the future, just in case.
A future job might require it. Depends a bit on the type of jobs you are looking to do in the future.
As the other comments suggested, getting a driving licence even if right now you don’t need it is a good choice for the future. You might decide or be forced to move somewhere where not having a licence, so not driving, might be impossible for day to day life.
Also, since you are a student you have probably more to time to prepare for the exams, so I’d suggest taking it soon.
It can’t hurt, but then again, I know a couple of people who have let their licenses expire because they never drive anywhere, and they seem to be doing fine.
I currently live in the very definition of downtown in my city. There’s no parking spaces and nothing. Everything is within 10min walk. But I still value my driver’s license since I can rent a moving van when I move apartment or if I need to get some new furniture in IKEA.
Having a driver’s license opens up opportunities even though you don’t have a car. I’d say go for it if you want to spend the money.
The longer you’ve had a license, the cheaper your insurance is.
Are you currently located in the US? I think getting a driver’s license in the US is unfortunately necessary because of all the car-dependent places that there are.
Literally first line of the post
Disclaimer: I’m not from the US.
Yes.
But I grew up in a city where existence was effectively impossible without a car, so when I say fuck cars it comes with a very sober realization that the system will punish you for trying not to drive.
You can minimize cars in your lifestyle but until we can get systemic change that lasts, we will always have to work in the system we have.
I think having it on the CV looks good, but in a big city it is otherwise unnecessary. I can use public transport to get everywhere I need.
In some parts of the world, a driver’s license is another form of ID, so it may be worth it to get it.
Sometimes it’s also a peer pressure thing, if everyone around you is getting their driver’s license, then you may feel pressure to get it.
If you ever plan to travel to a place that doesn’t have working public transit (e.g. US), you don’t really have a choice not to (although you may wait until an employer pays for it).
Cars have their legit uses, and being able to rent (carshare) one for the few cases per year where it is exceptionally inconvenient not to have one is great. OTOH, depending on where you live, the cost of getting a license might be able to pay for some completely absurd taxi/Uber trips. If a trip costs $300, most people wouldn’t consider it, but if you do that once a year and the license would cost you $3000, that’s less unreasonable than it looks like.
