How much of a necessity is having a car where you live?

[OneRealFinch]

Not very maybe at night more so

Necessity on the highest level as I don't do public transport unless going for a strolling in central london and a bit to eat
We live is se London

Necessity, no buses except for school bus, nearest train is 3 or so miles away and costs £10 to get there by taxi and that’s mates rates

Not necessary but I would definitely miss it for getting to work.

The 15 minute drive to work takes over an hour on the bus and if I'm working at our other base its 30 minute drive or over 2 hours on 2 buses.

Shops etc. Would be fine as I could do that on foot.

This is in a town with supermarkets, colleges, uni, hospitals etc. - not a village in the arse end of nowhere.

For my location and lifestyle, an absolute necessity.

• Getting public transport to my work would take me at least 2 hours each way (usually 25-30 min car journey each way).
• No evening (after 7pm) or Sunday bus service.
• No shops nor really any leisure facilities in the village (there is a pub which has been closed more than open in the 20+ years I've lived here, a church, and a village hall).

Very. I couldn't get to work without one or leave the village at all at the weekend.

Not at all for work. Useful for visiting family. Essential for some of our leisure activities.

For me it’s not so much where we live but where I work, it’s on an industrial estate in the middle of nowhere. Takes 15 minutes in the car, public transport would mean 2 buses which would take nearly 2 hours with a 25 minute wait in the town centre then a mile walk at the end

Same for me, not where I live (outskirts of a coastal city), but I work across the country, often in places where public transport is scarce or non-existent. If I can take public transport for work then I will, but that's about 10% of the time.

Essential. Village location with shit public transport.

I don't drive so not at all necessary for me. I study and work at home and public transport is decent enough for when I need it. DH is a bus driver so I get a free pass from the company so it doesn't cost me anything as long as it's their company.

I manage perfectly well without one, so I'd say not essential. Not for me anyway.

Necessary. We live rurally and my DS1's special school is 14 miles away. He cannot go on the bus which leaves at 7.15 to arrive at 9 am which is 25 minutes after the school starts. Plus he gets travel sick.

I wfh and I drive DS into school, then home. Then Dh drives to pick him up and then home.

Probably not absolutely necessary but incredibly useful. We even got the dc driving as soon as they hit 17 and bought cars as it gave them a better opportunity for getting work and not relying on buses to get them to college on time.
I get the train to work, the station is a 25 minute walk away which is nice when it’s dry but shit when it’s not. Dh usually will take me if he’s around but I only go once a week so it’s not really an issue work wise.
But for almost all social things, gym, seeing family etc I’d be fucked without my car, possible again but the time it took to get to places would really eat into my days and limit what I could do.

I recently had to rely on public transport for a few months. Never again.

We could manage day to day without for life, but I drive it for work so need it for that. other than that it's for picking up grandchildren and days out.
Public transport where I live is excellent.

Essential village location. Very little public transport. On days when my car has been in the garage I find it difficult to get anywhere. Getting to work is impossible

Essential.
5 busses a day in and out of the village to a market town 5 miles away where there is a railway station. No bus to anywhere else. No bus at all on Sundays. Last bus leaves the village at 1615. Last back from town arrives at 1745.

I live in a village three miles from the nearest (very small) town. No public transport, nearest bus stop three miles away, nearest train station 15 miles away. I could probably manage with an electric bike for getting to and from work and shopping but any further away and I need a car. Buses are infrequent and I can't get my dog to go on a bus. One of my kids lives 25 miles away, but due to location it would take me all day to get there by public transport!

I can walk into the nearest town in 45 mins if I go across the fields Or I can cycle it in about 20 mins. There's an hourly bus service to the town in the other direction. Both towns have train stations (different lines).

So if I worked from home full time, then it would be easy to live without a car. (and I did quite happily during lockdown/furlough)

However I need fast access to a railway station once a week, my job requires me to drive occasionally and DS goes to school by bus, and the nearest school bus stop is 6 miles away.

So fine for WfH or retirement but not practical without a car unless I change my job and DS changes school.

Not necessary, smallish SE coastal town. I have a licence, dp doesn't, neither of us drive. Dp and both small kids get horrifically bile levels travel sick (slightly more tolerance on train). Beach is 2 minute walk away, town is 5 minutes, nursery is 5 minutes, school is 15 minutes (for ds5).

We have no plans to drive and bought our home strategically for location. Big tesco orders come every other week or so, and we use amazon prime a lot, lots of subscribe and saves on v specific items, which saves us loads even compared to asda/lidl. We have a high weight tolerance push trike for ds and his many hospital appointments as he can't last the 5 minute taxi.

I find it odd how some people think its not adult to not drive! We don't get lifts, we just walk.

Essential. Village of over 800 people. NO public transport and the village shop has just shut which is an awful
situation. South east.

Vital.

110%. If not more.

We live in a small village with no shop served by 4 buses per day on weekdays & none at weekends. We both own cars because we need them, not necessarily because we want to own two.

Essential. Live at the top of a very long steep hill in a small town where everything is closed by 8pm. Nearest 24 hour shop is 2 miles on unlit roads with no pavement.

What's with the spare of driving related questions where the OP is very short and the poster never comes back to the thread?