To take the car next time?

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

Inspired by another thread about how we rely on our cars too much, I decided to leave it at home this morning for our trip into town and get the bus instead.

We are in a village 5 miles from town. The journey takes 10 minutes in a car, 18 minutes on the bus. There were 3 of us travelling, me and my two boys (aged 7 and 5).

Guess how much a return trip cost us? Go on......

£8.50 - £9.50 if our bus is anything to go by

£15?

I don't know. My bus costs 3 quid and we are 12 miles from nearest town.

based on my cheapest bus fare, £4.10 for you, £2 each for the DC, so £8 odd.

Seona got it. £14.60. I nearly got off again!

Here it is £2.50 for an adult, and kids are charged the same unless they have some thing, I forget what it is called (I don't use the bus!). I live on a main road that leads straight to town, it is about 1.5 miles, and takes 5 minutes.

It would cost me and 2 children £15 return!!!!

It would cost me £28 return to take my dcs into town on the bus. It costs me £4 in petrol and possibly £2 parking. I have to have a car because of where I live anyway so have to be desperate to take the bus.

You lot are being ripped off! 28 quid? That's mental. I live fairly rurally and my bus is 3 pound odd return.

My mother decided to be 'green' and use the bus recently for a journey that takes her approx. 40 mins by car - took her 3 hours !!! She doesn't pay as she is over 60 but is sticking to her car in future.

The only bus from our village to town is a minibus for the OAPs once a week on market day!

There is a bus to the city over half an hour away by car and an hour in the bus but I'd not want to wait all day to come home!

I live about a 20 minute car journey, or 15 minute train journey away from the city in a reasonable sized town.

The last bus is at 9pm, and the last train at 9.45pm.

It costs me £6.00 on the train, £3.00 on the bus (plus an additional £2-3 for DS). It costs me a maximum of £6 to park - usually nearer £3.

And I can combine the visit with a trip to a larger supermarket.

Public transport - not blooming likely!

Yep, walk up prices on PT are crazy. A return here for a similar journey is £3.80. My bus pass costs £1 per day. I think my sister paid £75 to get to London recently, whereas I've paid less than the petrol cost for a fairly similar trip. I can still remember looking at a return trip to S Wales on the train, and finding a £15 return. It's a 400 mile round trip!

Lat time I needed to go on a long train journey it cost me nearly £200. Helpful man at the ticket booth told me "it would be a lot cheaper if you booked in advance".

To which I replied "If I'd known my Granny was going to die this week and I would need to attend her funeral, then I would have done that, obviously".

It is actually cheaper to fly than to get the train. Which probably defeats the environmental argument for using public transport.

Not surprised.

But try explaining that a car is cheaper and faster to all those starting the spate of Nasty Car Driver threads recently. I can only assume they know no better....

We have been without a car for three years now and use the local buses/ferries. A return journey to town for two adults on the service bus costs a tenner and if using the Noddy bus/foot ferry method it costs £14 and involves a mile walk to the supermarket at the other end. The bus stop is 3/4 of a mile from where we live.

The service has just been cut back and managing the connections is a pain in the arse.

Our nearest town is 3miles away, across the river.

It's a pretty bus journey though.

I am soooo looking forward to getting a car in a couple of years.

AND...Buses are the best places for picking up nasty colds/flu/bubonic plague etc.

Rural bus services are dire! Sometimes they just decide not to turn up
On a couple of occasions DS has bought a return ticket, and has been left in the cold waiting for a bus that doesn't arrive, and without another bus scheduled for 3 hours. Cue me getting in the car and picking him up despite having bought a return ticket. Not bloody worth it!