so what are you going to do when there is no more petrol at all?

[Orangejuicemarathoner]

All these people all over the media and social media saying why they personally need petrol over other people, because their job is more important/their need is greatest/they have no alternative, or whatever.

They don't seem to realise that petrol is expected to run out completely in their life time anyway. 4-5 decades, most projections, although it is likely to become unavailable to private citizens a long time before that, maybe 20-30 years before.

What are these people planning to do then?

What are these people planning to do if the country does run out next week, or next month, or next year, any of which is possibly after Brexit, and what are they planning to do in a world or a country without petrol?

I'll be dead.

I'll carry on using my bike. There's nowhere I need to get to that I can't walk or bike to.

I’d love to not have a car at all and use public transport, but it’s so unreliable and useless that for example it would take 40 mins of walking, 30 of standing around and an hour in a train to get to work when I can drive there in 50 minutes. If this was remedied we wouldn’t need petrol as we would all be able to get about without cars and use electric trams/trains/buses.

By the time petrol runs out electric cars will be the norm for everyone, along with the required charging system.

A lot of us will be moving House to areas with better transport links or changing jobs in the future.

I'm really not bothered about owning my own car as long as I can have ready affordable access to one whenever I need it. I also love public transport when it's plentiful cheap and reliable, which currently is nowhere outside of London

@NantesElephant in theory a bike would be great on the way to work as it's downhill but after an 11 hour shift it would be tortuous. I'm nearly mid 50's and it's impossible in my job to wfh.

@JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon as hamsters are nocturnal you'd have to work nights. The lazy little blighters will be asleep during the day.

Yes, there will be some massive changes, because for all the protestations, the era of the petrol/diesel car is over

What makes you think that? Unless they are literally banned by government fiat, many (the majority, likely) would still choose a conventional petrol-powered vehicle.

It’s all fine and well saying we will all need to live near where we work how does that work for those of us living rurally? I live in a tiny village that is literally rows of houses on either side of a main road, shops and schools no where near by. I work in community nursing covering that wide rural area, I can do 40 miles easy just at work so I won’t be giving up my car whether that be petrol or electric any time soon

@NantesElephant i will not be changing career I’m afraid

I've been so glad for my electric car this week! It'll just be that everyone will have one, eventually.

I've lived my entire 60 years without a car.

I know so so many people that have them and don't really need them.

Electric cars will be way more of a thing then

@Orangejuicemarathoner I can't cycle due to urticaria unfortunately

@UsedUpUsername the government could charge a hefty fee per day to use a petrol car. in my area of london, its £12.50 per day to drive a non ULEZ compliant car. RIght now ULEZ compliant cars include petrol and diesel cars, but I can quite imagine that only electric cars would be allowed in future. We have buses and a local tube station and most of the homes are terraced houses and flats so I imagine a lot of people would give up their cars if that happened. I don't think it would affect the property prices, i mean parts of Chelsea are in the congestion zone which imposes a charge on any car in addition to the ULEZ charge, but property is still eye watering.

@UsedUpUsername Or rather it would be £12.50 per day starting from 25 October! I live in a suburban area btw. quite far from central london but in zone 3

It's such a shame that the government won't spend money on building up a decent public transport system, but hardly surprising. The number of people who would support this is probably dwindling year by year as more people learn to drive. I have friends who proudly announce they haven't caught a bus for 30 years, and why would they?
Where's the incentive? Bus travel is looked down on in this country more than almost anywhere else. I know this isn't the point of this thread really, but it's clear how few people are willing to give it a try and I get it.

@HalfwomanHalfcookie they might not have a choice. I mean there is a living standard squeeze and the cost of running a car is only going to go up. Not just because of buying the car or fuel. Due to population increase, houses with their own drive will become increasingly a preserve of the rich in whatever area of the country. Increasing number of people in rental - usually flats or small terrace with no parking.

You could perhaps choose to live in a further out, less densely populated location with more space to park your 2 cars- but your commute would cost more as the price of electricity/petrol increases. Coupled with higher cost of gas and food, people sticking to car ownership and living in areas without public transport will mean they will get poorer.

Onlychildhamster they will have a choice themselves as they are very comfortably off, but yes there may be others who aren't so lucky. If nothing is done to address the abysmal public transport in some parts of the country people will find themselves cut off. It's depressing.

It’s all very well charging £12.50 a day to drive a car, what if there isn’t an alternative?
Where I live I have to walk for approximately 30 minutes to get to the bus stop to get the bus to work. It’s over open countryside so if it rains I get soaked and that’s exactly what happened the last time I did it.
There wasn’t even a bus to get ds to college.
The bus service did not start on time, then it ended before the end of his college day.
Yes sobs of us have to live like this. The last time we went into a big city in my county we drove. Expensive to park but there isn’t an alternative the last train home left Someone talk 9.30pm, yes that’s right 9.30pm and we live about 3 miles from the station so a car would have been involved too.
Can people stop and think about those of us who aren’t privy to great public transport.
Oh and I dont live in the sticks as such, we live on the edge of a town!!!!

@UsedUpUsername

Yes, there will be some massive changes, because for all the protestations, the era of the petrol/diesel car is over

What makes you think that? Unless they are literally banned by government fiat, many (the majority, likely) would still choose a conventional petrol-powered vehicle.

Petrol cars are being banned by governments (or at least the sale of new petrol cars is being banned. Car manufacturers are switching away from petrol, you won't be able to buy one when they're no longer being manufactured.

@Onlinedilema I can't see a scheme like this being implemented where you live, this scheme is only in zone 1-3 London but I can see it being implemented in other cities (and there being support in it). My friend in Bristol is scathing of SUVs which he sees as unsuitable for the narrow roads in Bristol's city centre.

But over 80% of Brits live in urban areas, and even if they live in the suburbs, they probably do need to drive to the inner zones for work/hospital appointments so they would need an electric car. If over 80% of people are purchasing electric cars, you probably would too. Maybe some 80 year old dear who only uses her ancient petrol car to drive to the Tesco every week or to the countryside might refuse to follow the trend, but even my husband's 90 year old grandfather has bought an electric car (he does have his own drive and live in outer London though).

Petrol cars are being banned by governments (or at least the sale of new petrol cars is being banned. Car manufacturers are switching away from petrol, you won't be able to buy one when they're no longer being manufactured

Which is so ridiculous because you didn’t need to ban the horse and cart to get people to use cars. If electric were superior to the combustion engine people would make the switch without the coercion.

But over 80% of Brits live in urban areas, and even if they live in the suburbs, they probably do need to drive to the inner zones for work/hospital appointments so they would need an electric car. If over 80% of people are purchasing electric cars, you probably would too. Maybe some 80 year old dear who only uses her ancient petrol car to drive to the Tesco every week or to the countryside might refuse to follow the trend, but even my husband's 90 year old grandfather has bought an electric car (he does have his own drive and live in outer London though)

There’s not this kind of demand for electric cars though. I mean 80%? That’s really … unrealistic