To think people don't use public transport as its so unreliable

We have good public transport where I live, but as a non driver it's necessary for me to live somewhere that does. I never really have any issues.

I think the (lack of) reliability is a huge factor but for me, for long distances it’s the cost. DH and I are going to Liverpool next weekend- 6 hours train, 5.5 hours drive (assuming no traffic). We’d both rather go by train, we have no desire to drive that distance or for that time and would rather relax on the train. However, it’s £145 each for the train tickets and we can drive for around £100 in total. It’s a no brainer, no amount of convenience is worth the best part of £200.

When ever I use public transport I am pleased I can choose not to. Waiting in often cold and rainy places, unreliable, often crowded, dirty, and often get stuck near someone I'd prefer not to be. Such a shame as we should be encouraged out of our cars.

Exactly..stuck between rock and hard place. I live rurally but work 2 hrs (public transport) away in the city ... The council has doubled parking in the city here too. Ridiculous prices. Why i dont drive and park to work.

It’s also ridiculously expensive.

Public transport of any description is non existent where I am.

I used to rely on trains until recently. The strikes were a massive pain in the arse.

Avanti are worse in North Wales than on their other routes. Over the last fortnight two of their services (they don't run many in the first place) have been cancelled more often than they have run:

I live in London, buses are generally not so bad expense wise. If you need to be somewhere by an exact time however, they often change route, randomly stop for ages, or just don’t appear leaving you late.

Trains/tubes are expensive, £15.60 for an adult travel card. Under 18s have subsidies but it’s still pretty pricey when you add it alongside an adult fare. If we go into London as a family, we’ve taken to driving in as it works out much cheaper even if we have to pay the congestion charge. I’d really like to get the train for the environment and ease but it just costs too much 🤷‍♀️

@DdraigGoch exactly my point, Avanti are better the Northern and Transpenine...

@Outandabout43 yep, completely agree , its pickles at times

The buses here have been very unreliable since lockdown ended.

A lot of the buses are supposed to run every 10 minutes... but you can wait 40 minutes for one. Hardly reliable when you're trying to get to work.

And the council have doubled the cost of parking in town - to encourage drivers not to use their cars and get on a bus instead!

🙄

I live in a large town, around 85k people. You'd think we have a decent public transport system, given the numbers.

Nope. Buses running hourly in some parts, every 20mins if you live closer to the town centre.

I try to avoid driving into a nearby city (because driving and parking there is a pain) so I take public transport. Wanted to take my children to a gaming convention. That would have meant a bus into town, walk to the train station, 15min train ride, walk to the correct bus stop, bus from the city centre to the event. An hour and a quarter, all in. Not too bad, BUT...

There were no trains running that day (strike or railworks? No idea). We found out at the station; there were no clues on the website.

The alternative bus (which takes an hour into the city and which should have arrived every 20mins) was cancelled twice, meaning we waited for over an hour for a bus to arrive. It was a different company to the first, so we needed new tickets. Roadworks in the city centre meant the buses were not running from their usual point and I could not for the life of me find the alternative bus stop. We ended up using a taxi.

All in all, the trip took 3.5 hours, we managed to catch the last 2 hours of the convention and missed all the acts the kids were looking forward to.

Public transport is a joke if you need something reliable and reasonably uncomplicated anywhere outside of large cities. And yes, it's far too expensive.

I used to commute from a city to a town by bus. There was only one bus that was in time for work, but it always got me there on time, even the day there was an accident on the route and most colleagues who were driving were late. Without a reliable bus service I would have had to get a car.

Now living a third of the distance away from the city. Same bus company, DD commuting to school. Her bus frequently got cancelled. After a complete week of calling me from the bus-stop, she gave up and started getting a much earlier bus, which was more reliable, although not wholly so. In the middle of the day we've frequently had alternate buses cancelled.

Her generation in this area are not going to risk relying on public transport to get them to work, because they've had such a bad experience as sixth-formers. There is talk of a more frequent and reliable bus service, but even if we get it, it's going to take a while before anyone can trust it - and of course once you've got a car, not many people go back to using public transport.

Buses in my city are abysmal. Expensive, weird routes, limited timetable, completely unreliable, no night buses. The one I could take to work goes on a route that is gridlocked at rush hour. It's always faster to walk.

Very surprised to see Avanti described as reliable!

You must have very cheap insurance and do very low mileage. Though you haven't mentioned maintenance or depreciation.

In North Wales Avanti are appalling. TfW may often be overcrowded but at least they turn up.

The tubes are fine, the Overground is fine except that it's suspended for engineering works at the weekend so often. London buses are fine. Birmingham local trains are fine .... their buses not so much.

But having used inter city trains for getting out of London all my life, I'm now starting to think "can I trust them?" every time. They're getting so unreliable.

Public transport compared to driving, is for the most part:

1. Slower
2. Less reliable
3. More costly
4. Less convenient and flexible
5. More dangerous

And there is also an added risk of being penalised for an innocent mistake.

Yup. I drove a 12 hour round trip to Scotland for the sake of one meeting because it is too much of a predictable ball ache getting the train. With my car I can stick an audio book on and not worry about loud passengers on their phone near me, dive into services as needed, adjust my route if anything happens, and it cost me about the third of the rail ticket.

Totally agree. For me, it's time. A one hour journey in the car takes 2.5 hours on public transport, including the waiting (usually in the rain). Add in the frequent late arrivals and/or cancellations and that's exactly why I can never use public transport!

I walk short distances, but drive for everything else. Public transport would have to have more pros than cons compared to driving for me to even consider it, but I doubt that will ever happen.

I’d love to use buses more, but there is only one an hour in each direction where I live (and I don’t live rurally), they start too late and finish too early to be any use on my commute, and half the time they don’t turn up.

Expensive and unreliable. Train for two of us from West country to Surrey was over 200 pounds. Cost me about 60 in the car. Can't risk bus to work as would frequently be late. I tried to be carless for 18 months and gave it up when a 5 mile journey home ended up taking over 2 hours.

I commute by train/ bus...3-4 hr a day. Its the parking cost the reason i dont drive there .public transport is pretty bad though, unreliable...train costly, bus not so but miss buses out or late.