Do you think we are becoming more car dependent?

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No matter how many efforts to get people out of their cars and walking/cycling, town planning, and especially many of the new build estates popping up without infrastructure seem to be pushing us in the other direction.

I quit driving due to a surgery 2 years ago and apart from the dreadful mess the trains are in at the moment, I haven't looked back. I didn't change my diet, but becoming a ton fitter and slimmer was a nice side effect. I planned to return to using a vehicle but am in two minds now.

Granted, I have no children at home who need driving around, and I live close to some decent walks, but I have this feeling the way the country is heading, we are becoming less and less able to reduce car use.

Visiting my family last week I noticed my home town has become chock with traffic, most shops are out on retail parks now and there are very few cycling paths or places to walk. With so little attention to improving public transport I can't see this getting any better. And once you atart walking everywhere, you realise that there are more roads than pedestrian spaces in a large, typical town. And it stinks, which I never noticed so much when I was driving myself.

People discuss processed foods and sedentary jobs when looking for reasons to explain rising obesity, yet few people look at increasing car use as a factor.

I'm totally reliant on our car here in Ireland. Our public transport system is a nightmare. Take today for instance, I have a hospital appointment, it would take 2 hours on 2 different busses to get there and then the same back. It takes 35 mins to drive. I'm pregnant and have a chronic illness , there's just no way I could manage a 4 hour journey. There is also no other hospital in my whole county that does maternity.

It’s been like pulling teeth round here to try and get buses improved. Hopefully bus franchising will help.

There’s a real contrast between the number of people who want vast sums of money spent on fixing potholes but refuse any investment in public transport. And I’m amazed at just how bad traffic has to get before people will consider an alternative - my commute is quicker by bike (and cheaper because I don’t pay for parking and yet people look at me as if I’m mad for cycling).

I’d like to see higher car tax for those enormous cars that weigh so much more (and we wonder why potholes are worse) and can’t fit in normal car parking spaces.

Also: look at the absolute success the LEZ in London has been for improving air quality. LEZs should be mandatory for cities!

Yes car use is increasing . Public transport is non existent or unreliable in many areas including mine . People use their cars for recreation not just to go to work or do the shopping . We have kids in their back firing bangers driving around and around just to hear the noise , not going out for a reason but just to drive . The only thing that will make people think is a pay per mile . Maybe then roads use will be reduced .

There’s a real contrast between the number of people who want vast sums of money spent on fixing potholes but refuse any investment in public transport.

Public transport is a big reason why so many potholes exist, due to their sheer enormous weight.

Given how fucking shit public transport is, they should be banned and more taxis be made available.

I think this is a really interesting topic but I also don’t think there is one answer. I used to walk everywhere - sometimes missing buses intentionally so I could have a big walk and free my ming. Then I passed my test and I only walk when I’m drinking.

my daughter asks for lifts rather than walking. Once she called me to pick her up from a friends house 0.2 miles away. Her excuse was that it was dark and she was nervous. It would never occur to her not to ask me for a lift.

we have neighbours that we call “the walkers” as they are always walking. Mostly just for the sake of it but they walk to the shop and come back with 6 eggs only. I would change what I was cooking if all I needed was 6 eggs. They are almost definitely retired so more spare time.

my dad thinks cars should be banned and cycles everywhere. He doesn’t work and has a lot of spare time. Seems to have forgotten what is practical. For example, he didn’t believe me that it’s not possible for me to cycle to where I used to work from where I live. It was only 25 miles or so but it was either motorway or winding country road, I also had to drop and collect DD from childcare the opposite way and there were no shower facilities at my very corporate place of work. He moaned I was killing the planet but couldn’t seem to understand why it simply wasn’t feasible. I also wasn’t particularly fit and am fairly sure that 25 miles of winding and hilly country roads would have killed me if the cars didn’t.

and I think that’s the answer… for most, it simply isn’t a feasible commute without a car. The trips to the shop take a quarter of the time and we don’t want to make tasks harder than they need to be when most women already feel like they are on the edge of burnout.

If only the rules applied to all. Sadiq khan gets chauffeured around in a petrol V8 £300,000 Range Rover and does not have to pay ULEZ. Talk about the haves and the have not whilst us peasants have ro get the tube or walk 🤷‍♀️

It doesn’t help that trains are so expensive; I’d happily get the train more but it’s more than double the fuel cost and that’s just for one person so for us as a family it’s way too

You've hit the nail on the head there in Germany you get a ticket for up to 5 people €8 and can go on any underground or train in the whole city of Munich. It made it a pleasure and of course they were all on time, safe and clean!!!!

We have excellent public transport so I tend to use my car only for longer journeys, e.g. the 60 miles to a dd, which would take a lot longer by PT.
But I have neighbours, one in particular, who only ever walk from the front door to the car - and the particular one would see PT use as a sign of poverty. Same as a bloke at a class I used to attend - he had a bus pass but never used it because ‘Buses are for losers.’

And IMO some people’s cars are so bound up with their sense of status/self esteem, that they have to be seen to use them as far as possible.

Without a car, if my elderly mother needed a prescription picking up or a few groceries, that would be my complete day rather than a task that took under an hour and could be fitted around everything else.
I think being without a car suits people who go to work, come home and that's pretty much it, but when you have lots of micro journeys to do then it becomes exhausting and time consuming to do on foot or public transport.

I agree that the way new estates are being built, it requires even more car use as the transport links are even worse and they're not generally being built with shops, schools and medical facilities. I wouldn't live on one of those because I like knowing that I can walk out of my front door to a cafe or shop or park and don't always have to get in the car.

I can see the benefits to fitness of less car use but I don't want to pound the streets like we had to during COVID. If I'm walking for exercise or to clear my head, I want to walk somewhere where there's natural terrain and that means a ten minute drive to her there.

No trains or trams where I live. When we moved here there was a bus service from a road a 5 minute walk away. You could get buses which passed the schools, went to the local town centre or into the nearby city. The service was completely cut 25 years ago. Its a 25 minute walk to the nearest primary school and about 40 to the secondary. To get to town on a bus you have to walk 20 minutes to the nearest stop for a twice hourly service. You can get a bus into the city centre from there too - it's £7.50 for a single...... We are suburban not rural more so now they've built 200 new houses on the fields nearby (5 years of noise and dust ). Like us to get to the supermarket, doctors, dentist, school or work they'll need to use their cars. I drive a small car and would struggle without it.

There are far fewer buses than pointless journeys made in enormous 4x4s.

I often used bus to go to town but recent increase of bus fares put me off doing it. DH and I compared cost of my bus tickets and cost of him dropping me off and picking up. The answer was obvious so he dropped me off.
I looked up our way to the cinema by bus - 2 buses and 1 hour 20 minutes one way or 19 minutes by car. Again it’s non brainer what option we would choose.

You said that you don’t have children, imo it changes things significantly. You can build up your life style around your needs and wishes. DH often goes by car to work (walking distance in principle) because he needs to pick up DD afterwards or take her somewhere.

I think we absolutely should be prioritising walkers and cyclists. Near me there was a proposal to improve walking route to the local start as part of a new housing development, however local residents objected to the new paths and they never happened, there’s no footpath to the station, you have to walk on the road or grass verge and it’s unlit, feels very unsafe at night and you can’t wear nice shoes if it’s wet.

Theyve just cut the number of buses to the local 6th form from 12 to 4, so all the kids are keen to get driving as soon as possible, the 4 buses are always packed and often some stops are missed leaving kids stranded.

I’m considering moving to town once the kids are grown, our village is lovely but I hate having to get in the car for everything.

I didn’t drive until I was in my mid-30s and I was definitely healthier and my pace of life was better. Cars allow you to be so busy and I’m not sure it’s a good thing.

I don’t mind the part of your post about walkers and cyclists but can I gently point out that the reason why you were healthier when you were younger might be ( just might be) because you were younger. And if it was before you had children - it’s probably contributed significantly as well.

I would of thought people were becoming less reliant on cars tbh who can afford a car in this economy when they have a mortgage to pay?

Even a one hour lesson is about £40 not getting to the insurance and the car itself.

Anyway the roads are obviously busier because there's a lot more people in this country than there was twenty or so years ago.

The joys of mass immigration.

Who cares about 4x4s?

EVs weigh far more and are equally responsible for road damage.

Absolutely, but I was much more active as well. I walked 4 miles last week and I was knackered, I’m only 45. When I go into london and use public transport I walk a lot more than I do day to day driving to and from work in a more rural area.

Rubbish. HGVs cause way more damage to roads than busses. The average bus weighs less than 10t. HGVs can be up to 44t.

I've definitely become more dependent on my car since having DD - unfortunately it's a time thing.

I'd love to walk her to pre school in the morning, it's only 20 minutes away but that's 30 with a 3 year old and then 20 back for me which means me starting work an hour later vs 10 mins in the car. Of course I could make that time up later but I like to spend time with her and DH and that time is precious to me, so I choose the car.

On the weekends we walk much more if we are going out and about locally, but public transport where I live is so rubbish (just buses no train station close) so getting further afield is just too much stress.

I used to cycle a lot but after being treated like shit by so many drivers just for existing and a couple of scary near misses I don't cycle on the roads anymore. I wouldn't want DD to either. I've known too many be knocked down.

It's sad and I'd welcome solutions but not sure what they'd be?

We have no choice but to use the car. We have no train line. The bus runs once an hour but doesn’t work for getting into work. It would be on hand to get me home but by the time I walk to the bus stop and wait on it I’d be just about home driving. Can’t walk home. It’s a busy A road with no pavement.

HGVs arent public transport.

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

I’ve never drove, however recently I have been thinking I might need to start. To get to work it takes me 2 hours on two bus’ which driving it would take 20-30 minutes. Same for going anywhere really it takes up my whole day just to pop out for something.

Yes.
Theres no way we could be without one.

Theres no public transport within 30 min will of my house.
The local school that was 20 min walk closed about 5 years ago and merged with next village, so it’s now an hour uphill walk with no paths. So nursery and school has to be by car.
Our small town used to have butchers, bakers, hairdressers, hardware store. None now. So these are all a 20min motorway drive away.