London, 2 kids - do we need a car?

[Tier500]

We live in east London (zone 3) and recently had our second child. We don’t have a car and haven’t needed one so far as we just used public transport and taxis. With covid and baby 2 we’ve been wondering if we should buy a car or just hire one, for holidays and day trips mainly but possibly also more regular journeys now public transport is less attractive thanks to covid. I haven’t been on a bus or train since March and feeling a bit claustrophobic now! Then again also worried about the expense and environmental impact of car ownership.

For people in similar positions - do you find it useful day to day? Does it become more or less useful as the kids get older?

Z3, two DC and wouldn’t be without a car.

It’s all very well saying get public transport and taxis everywhere, but you’ve hit the nail on the head with the car seat issue once they are no longer a baby.

In a typical month we would mainly use it for:

• couple of day trips out
• couple of trips to the tip (our Borough appears to have given up on recycling, plus lots of garden bits at certain points in the year)
• maybe a trip to B&Q or another home store type place. We seem to always need something.
• to get to DC1 hobby at the weekend.

In addition we use it for Uk based holidays (probably 2 a year even pre Covid), driving to the airport (couple of times a month for work, various holidays/trips through the year), visiting family (both sets of parents are 3 hour drive away).

Lots of these trips we used to do by public transport pre kids but it’s just not practical now. I’m not going to schlep all the way across the city to catch a train nowadays.

Zone 1 here, I do have a car, I don’t actually need it, its more of a hobby as I like cars.

What I do use a lot is our babboe cargo bike, some of them can be used with car seats as well.

@SimonJT how far do you go on the cargo bike/what kind of journeys do you use it for?

So in a bizarre way it is best putting it off until no way around it as it makes you lazy to manage without iyswim

This for me to. We're in zone 2 and have a car and now a (work) van. I'd say we use the car most days but the majority of the trips are avoidable. Once a week or so it's "Yeah, we wouldn't have done this without the car".

Have you considered a cargo bike? We have one, and it’s changed our life really. Has space for two kids (the other one cycles).

I would seriously recommend hiring a cargo bike for a bit. Both www.carryme.org.uk/hire-cargobike and www.londongreencycles.co.uk/ rent them.
There is a great family cycling group on Facebook which is really helpful in terms of terns vs cargo bike and trikes etc.

Thanks @Username7521 I was actually just googling cargo bike hire! They’re quite expensive at c£400/month but perhaps a shorter period would be enough to give me a good idea. I guess that would be useful for getting around London but wouldn’t deal with the holiday/day trip issue, though then again we could hire cars for that.

In non covid times we mostly take the kids to see friends around London, to museums and concerts in central london, and shopping. They’re so little atm that any regular activities are all local. We have all our food delivered but occasionally go to IKEA/b&q etc. I suppose a cargo bike would be useful for all of that. We could also wait until the baby is 9 months and just get another bike seat for her, though that would mean one of us couldn’t take both kids out. Lots to think about.

[quote Tier500]@SimonJT how far do you go on the cargo bike/what kind of journeys do you use it for?[/quote]
Me, my son and our dog go miles in it, we mainly stick to roads and fairly even surfaces, so park fields that aren’t wet. It must be fairly comfy as my five year old often falls asleep in it.

We’re in Shoreditch, on a Tuesday night I would normally cycle us to West Ham for rugby training, the furthest I have taken it is Hemel Hempstead, obviously on small roads.

If you’re on Facebook join the family cycling group. They have lots of good advice.
Yes it’s a big outlay, but you need to be sure about what type of bike suits you.
I thought I would love the trike (test drove the babboe big) and hated it. It was the turning that I just couldn’t get used to! I went for a two wheel in the end (bakfeits short) but I would never had considered it if I hadn’t tried them out.
You could do a trailer? You could both get a hook up and then just swop bikes?

Outer London borough, south so no tube.

Car was essential, especially as DCs got older and had different activities and went to different schools. Public transport just took too long when you needed to be in two different places at the same time.

Even when younger, the car was so easy - just throw everything in the boot for a day out and not have to carry it all.

My local cargo bike shops let you try before you buy. Might be an option where you are.

We’re zone 2, no car but we do have Zipcar membership and quite a lot within reasonable walking distance.

The DC are 7 and 4 now, we have used zipcar or just the train to get places.

Our pondering of should we get a car has been increasing as of late especially as we have been struggling to get food deliveries in lockdown. I can see that in the next 2-3 years we may get one, and debating whether full electric or just plug-in.

@Seeline

Outer London borough, south so no tube.

Car was essential, especially as DCs got older and had different activities and went to different schools. Public transport just took too long when you needed to be in two different places at the same time.

Even when younger, the car was so easy - just throw everything in the boot for a day out and not have to carry it all.

I agree. As dc get older, I think a car becomes more necessary, especially if you have two or more dc. Pre covid, I'd often need to do multiple drops or pick ups with school, extra curricular activities or appointments. These journeys would take minutes by car but hours by public transport. Once a week my ds would have rugby practice...it would be dark, raining, he'd be covered in mud, with a heavy school bag, people kit and boots. So much easier to get him than have him struggle home on two buses.

Pe kit, not people kit

We've never been without cars, so I can't comment on life without one (zone 4). For us, having a car is invaluable. We spend a lot of time shuttling our children around to various activities eg swimming or tuition plus emergency trips to the shops because they have holes in their school shoes. We could do these things on public transport, but it would take at least an hour and multiple busses.

My SIL (zone 2) doesn't have a car and doesn't drive. She seems happy to get around on busses, so it can be fine.

I would just look a what you do and what you can get to without a car like supermarket, clothes shops, shoe shop, electricals shop, DIY store, work, days out, cinema, holidays, friends, after school clubs etc. And compare cost of car including insurance, petrol, parking costs and depreciation and repairs with car hire / taxi use as required.

We had one old car between us and that worked out well - DH needed a car to get to work and it meant we could do trips to retail parks and out of London and useful for dark evenings.

I had a car with 2 kids in zone 2 (Hackney), one lot of grandparents in Wanstead, the other set up in York. We could have coped without one, but it made life an awful lot easier. So if you can easily afford it I’d go for.

In in Zone 1 and can’t imagine not having a car. I passed my test when DS was 4. I had enough lugging shopping around in rainy days and buses. Prior to that, it was very easy without a car. I drive to and park at work now (also Z1) and will not get on public transport at the mo unless absolutely necessary. I’ve needed the car for school run too. I’m changing to an electric soon as owning a petrol one will become increasingly onerous. I have family outside of London and it cheaper to drive than take a train.
There’s a mum in DS’s class who doesn’t have a car and relies on taxis and unreliable babysitters to collect her child. Yes, all the hinge I mentioned are possible to do without a car but not easy.