From time to time one of the major rental car companies issues a report on the expense of owning a car. Over the years I’ve noted the figure, which never decreases, and I believe it is up to over 40 cents per mile driven.

What would be the effect on car ownership if every car had a box on the instrument panel that required coins to be inserted before the car would operate?

Just like a coin-operated washing machine, if you didn’t feed the car money, it wouldn’t run. Imagine that for every mile you wanted to drive, you would have to fish out even as little as a quarter.

This would drive home the truth that to drive a car is to be on an endless tollway with toll booths at the insurance company, the gas station, the dealer’s showroom, the repair shop and the parking garage.

I have friends who live in rural southern Illinois on an estate with horses, woodland and rolling hills.

There is only one catch.

To obtain even the most insignificant item, such as a quart of milk, they must drive 10 miles. Although they may think themselves free, they are, like so many Americans, prisoners of the car.

Some suburban areas are without sidewalks and stores are in malls surrounded by acres of pavement. We’ve designed our world for cars and we shape our lives to them.

In Evanston we have alternatives. I found this out when I needed to get to work in the Loop from my home in Evanston.

I could walk 200 feet and catch the No. 204 bus or I could walk two blocks and catch the No. 203 bus. A three-block walk would take me to the No. 97 bus stop and a 20-minute walk got me to the Red Line train at Howard Street.

What did I do?

I took an even better option and started riding a bicycle.

Now that I work at Northwestern, I have a 15-minute commute by bike. It has become so enjoyable that I’ve given up my car along with the annual expense of several thousand dollars that it took from my pocket.

I never park more than a few steps from my destination. There are no traffic jams for bikes, with routes through parks and on paths that no car can take. I am free to stop in an instant to enjoy something I see.

I’m not sealed behind windows that conceal identity, but can speak to people on the street and exchange a smile rather than an angry gesture. Biking is civilizing.

Best of all, riding a bike slows down the pace of life. You can ride at the speed you choose on the city’s many residential streets. You stay fit. Having biked through two winters, I can testify that it can be a year-’round activity.

So snap that invisible chain that ties you to the steering wheel. In Evanston, you have options denied to many living elsewhere.

There are some who must drive, but for too many only the will to do things differently stands in the way.

Try putting your feet on the pavement or on pedals. Like the signs say, slow down and live.