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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Wondering how many other people are car-free

79 replies

solidgoldbrass · 09/08/2012 00:52

For most of my adult life, most of my friends have been non drivers or car-free. OK I live in London and I do understand that people who live in rural areas generally need to learn to drive and get cars as soon as possible, but the level of car-dependency seems a bit weird to me.

OP posts:

bronze · 09/08/2012 01:16

Living rurally does make a huge difference. I gre up in Herts on a mainline so never learnt to drive as everything was easily reachable
For the latter part of my adult life I have lived rurally or in towns with rubbish transport links. It makes life very hard (I cant even get to my children school without paying £16 return for a taxi) and I am now learning to drive

cantspel · 09/08/2012 01:21

At the moment i couldn't be without my car i need it for too many things.

I think the only time i will not have a car will be when age forces me to give up driving.

Original poster

solidgoldbrass · 09/08/2012 01:22

I do think better public transport (outside cities) .would be a seriously good thing. I absolutely wouldn't live somewhere without good transport; the other week I had a day in Oxfordshire with some friends and I looked at a bus stop (going ' Woo! Bus stops! This is not entirely six-fingered wilderness) and the buses run once. a. week.

OP posts:

caramelwaffle · 09/08/2012 01:28

Once a week? Bloomin' heck.

I have come to realise...transport wise, anywhere without a London bus route (day or night) is shoite! A car is then necessary.

LadySybildeChocolate · 09/08/2012 01:28

I don't drive. My old neighbour used to drive to the shop...at the bottom of the street! Public transport is very good here, and shops deliver most things so I don't need to drive. Would be nice to go to Ikea though.

mercury7 · 09/08/2012 01:30

I am car free by choice and not in London, I live pretty close to a train station though.

cantspel · 09/08/2012 01:31

We have decent public transport but i still prefer my own car.

Public transport is expensive and i dont like the fact you have no control over who you get stuck next to.
I always seem to get a screaming child or the local nutter when ever i do brave the bus into town.

MrsHuxtable · 09/08/2012 01:34

We are still car free, always have been. We're in a small town in Central Scotland with reasonable good public transport and all regular activities are within walking distance. Sometimes I'd like to have a car (for days out to places you can't reach with pt or if I imagine DD was to get sick and needed to go to A+E) but mostly I'm not bothered. I have a license and drive when on holiday back home but DH doesn't drive at all.
At the moment, it's not financially viable for us to have a car either.

MaryHansack · 09/08/2012 01:38

yes but you don't need a car in London, in fact it could be a pain to have one.
That's why it took me 30 years to learn to drive.
Where I live now there's nothing 'weird' about car dependency, it's just how it is, you are fecked without one.

kickassangel · 09/08/2012 01:42

Lady Sybil, it would NOT be nice to go to IkEA. Trust me.

theinets · 09/08/2012 01:45

i've lived in London for 15 years, had no car for 12 years, got one in the last 3 but frankly more trouble than it was worth with parking charges, fines for pointless and petty breaking of rules, congestion charge etc. sold it and now car free again. don't miss it. get the train to rellies in other parts of the country and if we feel like going somewhere for a day out we get a zip car or hire car or similar. it was costing us £3k a year just in maintenance and petrol on a cheap car . i cycle to work every day and probably clock up over 5000 miles a year on my bike. i know it is not possible to live like this everywhere .

Original poster

solidgoldbrass · 09/08/2012 01:46

I went to Ikea today. You can go to Ikea without a car. But their meatballs don't half make you fart.

OP posts:

Pochemuchka · 09/08/2012 02:50

I've been car free for about 8-9 years.
Commuted from Brighton to London for a year and then moved to a different city, 10 minute walk from train station and 5 minutes from bus station.
Just moved to a small Yorkshire town and public transport is excellent. Ok so trains and buses are infrequent on a Sunday but I live within walking distance of everything in the town and am 2 minutes away from the train and bus station.

It's taken me over a year and a half to move here as I wanted the location to be perfect!
My commute to work is one 30 minute train and two 10 minute buses compared to 1 1/2 hours drive so I know what I prefer!
People can't believe don't have a car but TBH I am completely used to it and even the rain doesn't bother me.

I'm far less lazy and make the most of where I live.

angryfurball · 09/08/2012 05:22

I live in a fairly small town with very good public transport, we have a train station and regular buses which I use all the time and always have done. I learnt to drive at 18 but have never owned a car, my husband has one for getting to work but he wouldn't let me touch it if I wanted to!

I like the freedom of hopping on a train to go somewhere and not having to fuck around looking for parking etc. I regularly go from south to north for under £20 on the train so it's not expensive, that's a myth. My legs were also free and they are spectacular at taking me to the shops.

LST · 09/08/2012 06:35

DP has a car. I haven't even passed my test and I have no intention in doing so.

I hate the dependency DP has on the car. He never uses a pushchair!

LST · 09/08/2012 06:35

Annnd it's ridiculously expensive

danteV · 09/08/2012 07:06

We have 2 cars, although mine isn't used much.
Local transport here is crap. For example the last but from town to where we live is at 10.05pm. Of I am working at dhs restaurant and he is with the kids, I have to drive home.
Getting the kids to school/ nursery would require 4 expensive buses that are not reliable and an hour and a half to two hours.
When dh is at the restaurant I like to go out, again need the car.
I learnt to drive at 18 and have always had a car. Wouldn't be without one.
For a while we had 1 car and I got the bus to and from work. Took ages, keep not turning up and was costing more than a second car would.

Acumens100 · 09/08/2012 07:10

I don't have a car. I spend that money on computers instead. Much more fun!

But seriously, I think we would be properly poor if we had a car. It makes the difference with the people we know on similar incomes. A friend of mine cleans two houses a week just for petrol money.

onetiredmummy · 09/08/2012 07:18

I don't have one, I can drive but its not necessary at the moment.

I walk 6 miles a day to & from school but I dont feel any fitter not shifting any weight

If I need to go into town there are buses & I have a pushchair to carry stuff in.

MrsPnut · 09/08/2012 07:19

We have 2 cars but only got even one since we left London.

Where we live now it costs £3.60 return on the bus into town and the last bus leaves town at 6:30pm.

If more than one of us wants to go into town or if we only want to go in for less than 3 hours or after dinner time then you have to drive.
We do live in Lincolnshire though, in the area with the highest number of traffic accidents in the country.

RubyVaultingGates · 09/08/2012 07:20

I drove the car into the garage 5 years ago when it simultaneously needed 3 new parts that I couldn't afford and since then petrol and insurance have sky-rocketed.

Trusty Skoda won't be coming out any time soon.

But, I have a bike with a childseat and a trailer for local journeys and as I live in London transport to other places is good anyway.

If we need to get somewhere like Whitby then we'll hire a car.

TalHotBrunette · 09/08/2012 07:30

I passed my test last week, aged 26 and previously would have agreed with you but it changed my life overnight!

I live in a small town but a lot of stores, friends' houses and activities are out of towns and not practical to walk with a pram (although I do walk miles and still intend to as its good exercise for me and fresh air for the dc).

I didn't learn to drive when I was younger as I couldn't afford it but had friends who would drive me anywhere I needed to go. Then I went to uni in a city with great transport and couldn't have afforded a car anyway. Then I moved to a town where I lived and worked ten mins walk from anywhere I needed to go, namely work, the pub, tescos, the train station

Now I live further out of town, about a forty min walk with the dc in all weathers, their nursery is on a nearby industrial estate which isn't really walkable, friends have also moved out of town, the dc's activities, work meetings etc are spread out across the whole borough and the last two years have been a logistical nightmare! It took me two years to pass but just being able to get in the car and not have to rely on anyone else to pick the dc up or come to visit me rather than my going to them, not turning up to work soggy on wet mornings etc. I feel much less limited.

MrsKeithRichards · 09/08/2012 07:30

We could probably survive without one but I wouldn't want to. I live in a town in Scotland with a bus running through every ten minutes to the high street or into the city. I work in the opposite direction though. With my car I can drop my son at school and get to work in ten minutes. Relying on buses I'd be 40 minutes late so would have to get earlier bus and pay for breakfast club!

But it's more lesuire time. Last weekend I it was lovely. We packed the car and an hour later dh was pitched up alongside a loch nestled in between some stunning mountains. I dread to think how long that would take on buses. Or we just wouldn't know about or go to these lovely places.

FermezLaBouche · 09/08/2012 07:39

I live 13 miles away from my new job but couldn't rely on buses as they are very infrequent and my working hours vary massively. I live in the centre of a small city and the trains are excellent, as well as the metro service. It means I only need my car to get to work and back, for the most part. For anything else I can use public transport.

Having said that, if I were able to go car-free I would be about £240/month better off.

janey68 · 09/08/2012 07:44

In many cities having a car is actually a DISadvantage, so I don't think it's a case of claiming any moral high ground (not saying the op was btw) - you're simply doing what makes your life easier.

Rural areas are quite different, and often even when there is public transport it doesn't run at the right times for work.

We manage on one car which dh needs for work. I can walk to my office so I don't run one

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