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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:
MargaretThursday · 12/03/2022 19:11

No. Both practically and financially.

We have 2 buses from our place an hour. They leave (and return) within 10 minutes of each other and go to practically the same places.
The cost to go into town return is about £5 for an adult-and children are 75%.
Yes, I could walk, which would take me about 45 minutes, but often I'm under time pressure and I have a bad back which means carrying anything isn't good.

DepthOfTheAbyss · 12/03/2022 19:11

No I couldn’t. I work in various locations and have a lot of stuff I need to take. Ils are elderly and we help with various things including hospital visits. My family live quite far and although I could get the train if I had to, it’s easier to go in my car with stuff rather than arranging taxis and trains.

optimistic40 · 12/03/2022 19:22

I could, but it would take a while with the younger one to get to school... But generally I wouldn't be without the car for longer journeys - my family is quite far away and the train is really expensive!

bobsholi · 12/03/2022 19:23

I can't afford a car and it's so difficult to get by without one. We live quite rurally and I often feel trapped. Plus it's an absolute pain going anywhere with the DCs and I'm having to lug my bag, possibly a picnic, coats, abandoned scooters and a crying DD up and down massive hills!

optimistic40 · 12/03/2022 19:24

@bobsholi

I can't afford a car and it's so difficult to get by without one. We live quite rurally and I often feel trapped. Plus it's an absolute pain going anywhere with the DCs and I'm having to lug my bag, possibly a picnic, coats, abandoned scooters and a crying DD up and down massive hills!
Sounds a pain!
peboh · 12/03/2022 19:24

Yes, quite easily if I needed to. Everything I need locally is within walking distance, and we have plenty of transport links if wanting to go farther afield.
However I like driving, so whilst I could live without my car, I don't want to.

IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere · 12/03/2022 19:24

We haven't had a car since last May when it needed so much work doing it wasn't worth fixing. We decided to see if we could cope without it. We live a 10 minute walk from DH's work. DC have all left home. I give DH a list and he walks to the supermarket and gets a taxi home (£ 3.50, once a week). To visit my mum in the nursing home I go with a family member so we share her car. The theater/cinema is just a few yards from our house so entertainment is on our doorstep. It is half a mile from our house to the centre of town so I walk into town two or three times a week.

I keep thinking "I wish we had a car" but I don't know what difference it would make to our lives!

DontDoThatGeorge · 12/03/2022 19:25

I live in a town where the buses have been reduced to almost none and there's no trains since Beecham.

I work in the city, it's 29 miles away and I have to go in 4 days a week. To get there by public transport I'd have to leave the night before. This seems impractical, so I'll keep my car thanks.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 12/03/2022 19:25

@EinsteinaGogo

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.

I have a busier life than most people seem to on MN. Most on here seem to like being at home all the time so having a car makes no difference!
StillMedusa · 12/03/2022 19:28

Not without difficulty.
Day to day stuff yes... I walk to our supermarket, never drive (I have an 'old person' shopping trolley Grin) I can walk to the local shops and the doctors.
But work is 10 miles away and on a dangerous country road ..and I can't cycle much due to a knackered hip. I also care for my grandson , including picking him up from the childminder 8 miles away.
Then there is my Mum...non driver and lives 130 miles away.. .growing up with a non driver made me never want to be in that position.
We drive small cars (very small..just bought an old Smartfortwo!) and use them as little as possible.. but we need them.
Dh is an HGV driver, so not a lot of option not to drive!

FourChimneys · 12/03/2022 19:29

We can do most things on foot, by bike or on public transport, having deliberately chosen this town for that reason over 30 years ago. We do have a car but use it once or twice a week. With a disabled family member I don't want to get rid of it at the moment.

LaWench · 12/03/2022 19:30

Not especially if the DC cancel their activities.

We are down to one car for the family , DH walks to work, I WFH. The DC can walk to school. We have a co op within walking distance and a bus route to 2 towns. We regularly have shopping delivered.

No car would seriously limit our lives but I don't think we need more than 1 unless we work further away from home.

GrannyBloomers · 12/03/2022 19:30

Threads like this are upsetting for me. I have limited mobility and live rurally. Without the car I'd be housebound.
But today's society and Government have shown they don't give two hoots about anyone with a disability.

dirtyjoan · 12/03/2022 19:34

No, we need a car but we only have one.
I travel for work and public transport wouldn't be viable.
We have a dog, caring responsibilities and both work full time so we couldn't do most of what we do without it.

Everyone says that though, I'm sure.
Even if I didn't have a car for personal use, I would have to for work.

dirtyjoan · 12/03/2022 19:35

All our holidays are in the UK too so again, we couldn't do the trips we do on public transport.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 12/03/2022 19:35

@GrannyBloomers

Threads like this are upsetting for me. I have limited mobility and live rurally. Without the car I'd be housebound. But today's society and Government have shown they don't give two hoots about anyone with a disability.
Why is it upsetting? OP isn't judging anyone, they simply asked who could manage without a car. If you can't, you can't. No one is having a go.
GreyCarpet · 12/03/2022 19:49

@GrannyBloomers

Threads like this are upsetting for me. I have limited mobility and live rurally. Without the car I'd be housebound. But today's society and Government have shown they don't give two hoots about anyone with a disability.
Why would you be upset by this thread? Confused

I plan to keep using my car until I can no long afford to. I'm not upset that other people will make different decisions based upon different needs or priorities. Why would you?

applewhitenights · 12/03/2022 20:04

Not completely without a car as public transport is sparse where I live.

We use the bus when we can, for example weekday work (as the bus fits these hours) but weekends we have to drive to work. Works out slightly cheaper doing a mix of monthly bus ticket and car runs, rather than solely car use.

LampLighter414 · 12/03/2022 20:11

I could but frankly I don't want to.

Thecurtainsofdestiny · 12/03/2022 20:13

I'm required to have use of a car for work. Other than that I rarely use it these days.

FuzzyPuffling · 12/03/2022 20:16

No.
Four buses a week here to three different places. Very hilly, single track lanes.
7 miles to the nearest small town ( and primary care), almost 50 miles to the nearest city and hospital.

LegallyBlende · 12/03/2022 20:18

No, can't. No public transport here.

weegiemum · 12/03/2022 20:22

No. I'm disabled and unable to drive. I can't walk more than 50m and so rely on my husband or my ds for lifts. I use taxis as well. I don't think I'd manage buses, anyway our local bus stop is too far to walk. I need 2 sticks to walk 50m.

My 2 dds use buses and our city's train and underground. Ds less so as he has a car, partly to help me. She is a GP and needs his car for work, as he works in a rural area and (unusual I know) he does house calls!

Pedallleur · 12/03/2022 20:25

We are a car society and have been led to believe that was the future. Public transport was only for the poor. The US is a case of this. When I grew up in the 70s there were less cars, rail travel was cheap but things moved on. Cars got cheaper, rail was sold off to private companies etc. Some new estates don't even have pavements. Be interesting to see what happens in the next 15 years.

daisypond · 12/03/2022 20:38

Car ownership is on the decline, though. I think it was 80% of people had passed their test by the age of 30 in the 1990s. But by 2010 it had risen to age 45 for the same 80% pass percentage. It’s probably even higher now.

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