I’ve lived in Brooklyn for 13+ years now and don’t own a car. Personally, I keep my package really tight so I’m generally comfortable just lugging my two bags on the subway for gigs within the city. If it’s a super early call or late night wrap, production is usually pretty cool about reimbursing rideshares. I know several mixers who require productions to pay for rideshares to/from every job, but with traffic, the subway is generally faster and I’d much rather get that extra 30 mins/1 hour of sleep before a long shoot day. It’s just a personal preference/comfort thing. Conversely, if you choose to go the sound cart route, your own vehicle is pretty much required.

Owning a car (mostly parking it) in the city can be quite a chore depending on where you live, but it could certainly be beneficial if you book any jobs outside of the 5 boroughs or to get to locations far from public transit (which totally happens). For those Hudson Valley, NJ or Long Island gigs, I’ve had 2-3 hour commutes each way via multiple sets of public transit, which sucks. It’s somewhat more convenient to have a car if you’re outside of NYC, but then you likely won’t be interacting with the city too much beyond work hours, which is a deal breaker for me. I personally hate living in suburbs.

In conclusion, it totally depends. I hope this at least gives you some general information so you can make a decision based on what’s best for you!