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Original poster

Could do you do without your car?

236 replies

anon2334 · 12/03/2022 14:14

Or would you never consider that ? Public transport? Cycling? Walking all good options depending on where you live. I’m cutting back, school runs I need the car though , but definitely walking more into town etc and to parks. Just doing occasional trips out etc.

OP posts:

LoganberryJam · 12/03/2022 17:52

I couldn't manage without a car (unless we moved house). We live rurally and it would take me hours to get to work by public transport.

SunflowerSmith · 12/03/2022 17:55

I couldn't do the school run, it's 2 miles along country lanes with no pavement.

We also have a caravan 60 miles away that we go to every couple of weeks
I'm planning to walk to the local shops more and am going to buy one of those pull along trolley bags to bring the shopping home. It's only a 15 minute flat walk and will have the added bonus of helping with my weight loss

Aug12 · 12/03/2022 17:59

No, I live rurally approx 10miles from the nearest village and we are not on a bus route. I have a newborn and toddler so we would be completely isolated without

Abraxan · 12/03/2022 18:01

I'd rather not.

My 4 mile/10 minute drive to work would take about 1.5 hour door to door by bus. Too hilly for a bike to be a serious contender, plus I have arthritis. I often have to carry books/laptop/iPad between school and home as well.

Dh could use the bus more easily for the getting to and from work, but most days he also goes to see clients in their homes, at other offices, in residents homes, etc. So he'd see far less clients in a day, as travel costs for home visits are paid by the client his fees would increase to them, but he'd still be doing far less chargeable time.

We both have electric cars so feel a bit less concerned than we did.

JanisMoplin · 12/03/2022 18:09

Don't have one. In London so don't need one. I like to walk and hate going to the gym so this doubles as exercise for me.

Doublechins · 12/03/2022 18:09

I have to travel 2.5 hours to work and public transport doesn't start early enough so no I couldn't do without a car

tinytemper66 · 12/03/2022 18:14

No. It would take me about 2.5 hrs there and 2.5 hrs back daily to get to work.on public transport. Takes 45 mins by car and we car share between 3 of us.

MadMadMadamMim · 12/03/2022 18:24

No. It's not an option. Rural living, no public transport. 5 mile walk to the nearest village shop. 45 miles each way commute to work along back roads.

People who bang on about 'giving up your car' don't really understand how some people live. Currently life is very difficult due to rising fuel costs and the fact that I don't have any other option. It has just cost me £70 to fill my car for work next week.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 12/03/2022 18:24

I can't drive so I've never owned a car. So I've purposely chosen to live somewhere with good public transport (not London!) Large suburban town.

I walk lots. I walk DS to school (30 minutes) then walk to work (40 minutes). Repeat at the end of the day. We happily walk anywhere up to about an hour.

Today we got the bus into the nearest city to meet friends for lunch. Cost £7.80 return. The buses to the city run 24 hours 7 days a week. Train station is a 30 minute walk from our house too.

Tomorrow we go to DS's swimming lesson and horse riding lesson, both are walking distance from home so no transport costs.

Floralnomad · 12/03/2022 18:26

In theory I probably could but my lifestyle would be so drastically affected that there is no way that I would . Driving is one of life’s pleasures and public transport is the exact opposite of that .

Waxonwaxoff0 · 12/03/2022 18:28

@PinaColada123456

Never, never, never, never, never. Never! My car is my life. My lifeblood, my wheels, my access. My life. I don't think much of people that haven't bothered to get their licence (illness exemptions don't count obviously).

I don't think much of narrow minded people.

shamalidacdak · 12/03/2022 18:31

Nope. Been racially attacked too many times on public transport

PaperMonster · 12/03/2022 18:33

No! I live rurally. There’s no good public transport. It would be ridiculously difficult without a car - unless I was retired and had all the time in the world to use the bus. However it’s used about three times a week. I walk a lot as I mostly work in the village I live in.

Kite22 · 12/03/2022 18:35

No. I need it for work.

Could we manage with one between us ?

Probably, if we had to, but it would limit what we do so much, it isn't something I would choose to do.

Allthegoodusernamesareused · 12/03/2022 18:39

I don't drive, so don't rely on a car myself. Despite living in a small semi rural village, everything is walkable or accessible via public transport (hourly bus Monday to Sunday, and railway station 25 minutes walk away). I work from home now, but even when I worked in the city I never felt like I needed to drive.

DH does have a car but now only uses it a couple of times a week (shopping and taking DC to clubs etc) as he cycles everywhere else.

EinsteinaGogo · 12/03/2022 18:43

I often wonder how anyone and their family manages to have a busy / spontaneous life if they don't drive.

If you live in a big city with tubes and Ubers on tap, then sure, of course.

If you live rurally, semi rurally or a typical suburb, you'd have to have quite a slow, routine pace of life to be without a car.

I could do that out of necessity but absolutely would not out of choice.

Byefornow · 12/03/2022 18:43

I could get into my local town and city centre on the bus or train and I have a supermarket in walking distance. I do have elderly parents half an hour’s drive away who rely on me for visits and shopping so I would have to rethink that. I could get food deliveries for them I suppose and get a taxi to visit them twice a week.

I did work it out once and it would be way cheaper to get taxis everywhere instead of running a car!

PiesNotGuys · 12/03/2022 18:46

Locally, within ten miles I use the car or I walk.

Further I usually get the train.

But I can easily walk to the nearest town and back, it’s about three miles away. I can walk to a city six miles away. I walk the school run which is between 1.2-1.9miles. I walk to the supermarket, only a mile, I’ve carried home a weekly shop too many times to count. The train station is at the end of the street. For longer trips.

The one awkward one is the bank, I need to go every week and it’s three miles away so a
six mile walk, which is obviously easily doable but it’s part of my working day and takes a lot of time out of my afternoon on a Friday so I usually do drive that one, for speed.

I do however know lots of people who drive the school run, drive to the supermarket, drive to the town, and wouldn’t consider walking.

Maybe it’ll change.

EinsteinaGogo · 12/03/2022 18:48

@shamalidacdak

Nope. Been racially attacked too many times on public transport

That's bloody sad to hear, I'm really sorry.

lightinair · 12/03/2022 18:52

We live in London (zone 1, the most central bit) and we have no problems living without a car here. Parking is expensive and a hassle, most places we'd visit are inside the congestion charging zone, and the tube is so much quicker (and free for me and the dc to travel on).We have 2 tube lines within a 5 min walk, and another 4 within 9 minutes walk, an Overground line within 10 minutes walk. 13 bus routes within a 10 minute walk. So we're very well connected. We get our groceries delivered and we have excellent coverage for delivery and courier services like Amazon Prime and Hermes.

There are a few places we've visited in outer zones and outside London when it would have been useful to have a car. But for those occasions, we get a taxi, and the cost of those taxi rides is far cheaper than the cost of owning, maintaining, insuring and putting fuel into a car.

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 12/03/2022 18:53

No. I'm disabled.

CirreltheSquirrel · 12/03/2022 18:56

I used to live without a car. I was in a car club and would hire one when I needed one, but didn't own my own.

I'd now struggle a bit more. We have only done about 5000 miles in the car in the last year (one car between us) and both do a lot of cycling. I could cycle commute (my other half does, and I used to until I got a job further away from home) but our "car" doubles as a camper van/bike van, and it's much easier to buy exactly what we need and not use it much than trying to hire something suitable.

MinglingFlamingo · 12/03/2022 19:01

Yes! And I could cycle to work but the public transport where I live is crap to say the least so weekends would be pretty dull. Walking the same dog routes as the we did in lockdown which got tedious then.