public transport is a disgrace in the UK, I've saved a fortune by running a car

[agentEgypt]

My insurance is up for renewal so just been doing some sums.

Turns out over three years the basic costs of running my car (including purchase price of 6 year old car) insurance, tax, not, service works out at less than 1000 a year. I then spend another 1000 just on petrol, but I travel 30 miles for work and regularly go on long journeys. So that's about 9'500 miles a year.

In London I was paying almost the same for a 1-5 travel card and still had to spend a fortune on train travel to get out of London. In my car I have space for 4 others also!

I always thought running a car would cost a fortune, but its actually way cheaper than public transport! Seems very unfair that the ones that can afford a car have to spend more on public transport. I dont actually like polluting and would rather use public transport but its very unreliable, bad routes and expensive.

This is a national disgrace right?

Airport public transport is cheaper than the car, but takes longer and is more hassle.

I generally find that morage except for Manchester from where I am.
Public transport is both cheaper and generally less hassle. The OP's nearest airport will be Bristol of course.

But to get to my work requires two buses and costs £4. It is a short drive by car.

I agree with you. Obviously it doesn't always work out, but for us, using a car is cheaper than public transport. My ds gets driven to school because it's significantly cheaper than getting the train or the bus, and when we go into London for family days out, it's way cheaper to take the car, pay the congestion charge and pay for extortionate central London parking.

Public transport is only useful to me when I want to go somewhere and drink alcohol.

It depends on location too. I have to drive as a work requirement but certain company sites I've covered were much, much faster by train and cheaper when parking costs were factored in. In fact at one particular site last yesr my manager insisted I use the train on both time and cost grounds.

I'm with the OP, it's awful that running a car is cheaper than public transport for many of us. I'm one of them. Factoring in ALL costs, my car is significantly cheaper than public transport, and that's without attempting to put a price on the convenience of being able to go door-to-door, not having to listen to anyone else's music or smell anyone else's BO, and knowing my car will be there when I need it. Then there's the time factor - my commute takes 45 minutes by car, 2.5 hours by public transport.

My husband gets the bus, since his workplace is just a few miles away, and at least once a week it just doesn't turn up and he has to wait for the next one. Then the bus company moan that it's underused - of COURSE it is, nobody can rely on it so they sort out other modes of transport!

I wish it was different. I would get the train if it was feasible, even if it cost slightly more or was slightly more inconvenient, because I think if you can, you should. It just isn't an option for me.

I hate that driving costs are escalating so much and people guilted about being green when there isn't a corresponding investment in public transport across the country.

On the other hand you can't realistically get to our head office without a car.

To get to the nearest airport from me (18 miles away), assuming traveling as a couple

Car + 10 days parking £42.00 (30 minutes)
Public Transport - Walk, Bus, Train, Train, Bus £50 (90 minutes)
Taxi £59.00 (30 minutes)

I think 12 days ' parking at my local airport is about the same as a taxi there and back_,,, £46. 40 minutes drive each way. Public transport is a lot cheaper but involves going into Leeds. However as I said Manchester is much. cheaper and faster by train.

I'm in Nottingham it's a school holiday now so for me, DH and 2 kids all day travel on as many buses in the large network as we want it's £4.50 a day. £9 on a school day. Weekends and bank holidays are also half price that's for 2 adults and up to 3 kids. No way is a car cheaper than that.

I've just checked mine based on last year's holiday.

Car plus 14 days parking: £83.90, would have taken about 50 minutes
Public transport: We got the train last time, it was £70 including a cab to the train station (definitely not within walking distance!!) and took 2.5 hours
Taxi: £85 each way

We got the train there but a taxi on the way back, as we couldn't face the shuttle + two trains + cab home when we were tired. Next time I'll drive.

It's not a particularly large network in Nottingham though, we're less than 6 miles from the city centre but group rider tickets don't come out this far.

£4.20 to park all day in Broadmarsh plus about 2 quid of petrol on a weekday. Still cheaper than the bus on a weekday (which also takes forever) even if we could get group rider tickets.

I drive to work in 15 minutes door to door, just over five miles. To use public transport I would have to get a bus to main town then another to the place where I work. Factor in the walks at each end, plus waiting for the bus, we are talking about two hours. That is if the buses arrive on time. If it weren't for the fact that a large part of my journey is along windey country roads with no pavements, it would be quicker to walk.

Not wanting to sound like that MasterCard ad but my car is priceless to me/us.

There are things we just wouldn't do without the car.

It costs me £300pcm inc petrol (no commuting) though. I do feel guilty that this is what my rent was when I got my first flat!

We live somewhere where there is 'good' public transport but our lifestyle has adapted around the car.

The activities the DCs do would necessitate taxis. They wouldn't go to the schools they go to, miles apart, if I didn't have a car.

I wouldn't be able to do the spontaneous visits to places/friends I do now if I have a free couple of hours.

It's also my own extra space out of the house, almost like an extra room just for me, whenever I want it. I think I'd feel very cooped up without the car.

I don't like the lack of privacy in public transport- it makes me very anxious. I'm one of those people who puts my bag beside me on the bus as the though of some stranger sitting next to me and touching me makes me feel sick. I don't feel safe in taxis either (bad experience).

I dread getting older and not being able to drive or being do broke I can't afford the car. I feel like it's my lifeline.

For most journeys it is roughly the same cost or cheaper, esp if I have passengers. I avoid places I have to pay to park.

ToBee a network group rider is £7 "we also have a Network Grouprider, which covers the entire network, such as the 1 to Loughborough, 47 to Gunthorpe and 100 to Southwell." For us it works brilliantly combined with a family and friends rail card. I could never afford £300 a month for a car nor to be honest would I want to as I consider myself quite green.

The buses aren't run by NCT so that doesn't work either, despite our proximity to Nottingham we straddle two different bus networks (NCT and Trent Barton). There are some joined up tickets but nothing anywhere near as cheap as a grouprider.

I used to live near Cambridge where parking is extortionate. However, the park and ride was even more. It was cheaper to park in the very center than to drive and get the bus. I gave up with the bus after I waited over an hour for one and paid through the nose. If two of us were going into town, we could park for several hours and have lunch for less than the bus fare.

We live out in the sticks. We have 4 buses a day. They are very expensive, an 8 mile journey costs £4.50. The buses often break down, or just do not turn up.
In the winter, we get snowed in. A lot. Narrow country lanes and snow drifts combine to make getting out of the village near impossible without a 4 x 4, so I drive a 4 x 4, a diesal, because that was supposed to be the sensible choice when I bought.
Even with the cost of fuel and the next whammy to come for diesal owners, we would be cut off without my car.
Local children are bussed to school. In the winter we often participate in a free taxi service to get them to school because the mini buses they use just refuse to come and get stuck!
I do travel to London for work regularly and think the public transport there is fab! You are very licky

Londoners you may well be very lucky (I don't know your preferences), but you most certainly are LUCKY

Bollocks
LICKY and LUCKY

I give up!

Too many diesel fumes, obviously!

Ha ha Sunny, I am such a numpty

Public transport in the UK gets slagged off a lot, but actually - compared to supposedly better european services - it's often quite good.

Yes, the Tube is now ridiculously expensive, especially for visitors - easily three times the price of comparable metro systems in other european cities. But UK train and coach services are pretty good and, if travelling off-peak, can be very good value for money. I'm sure there are some poorly served rural areas but this is true everywhere.

Athena Perhaps it's a good thing you rarely use public transport. I'm tempted to ask if your bag has its own ticket but that would be a whole new issue.

I think if you have to run a car anyway, then it is usually cheaper to use it all the time, rather than public transport.

I think (for a small, cheap car) you have to reckon on about £2,000 a year in costs, not including petrol, repairs or parking, just the cost of owning it. More expensive cars will be more.
It's true that a fair amount of that £2,000 will be depreciation in the value of your car.

When we had a car, it was definitely cheaper, especially when more than one person was going along, to take the car into town and park on a street with free parking than pay over £4 each to get the bus.

But now we don't have a car at all, and it will take a fair few trips into town over the course of a year to add up to the £2,000 we'll have saved just by not owning one, let alone the petrol costs we have saved over the past few years.

DH has a short commute to work by train, and spends about £50 a month on it, so £600 per year. I get the bus into town once or twice a week, maybe spending £300 a year. That still leaves over £1000 for longer trips every now and then before owning a car even starts to be comparable financially. That's nearly £100 a month for family days out by train - we don't spend anything like that much, and we quite often have a day out on the train.

We do need to allow more time to make journeys, and it is frustrating at times having to rely on buses and trains - but I'm convinced that we are actually saving money by not having a car at all. And the DC have amazing stamina for walking, which I doubt they would have if we could take the easy option of jumping in the car more often (I know I would take the easy option )

If we do need to have a car again, we'll have to buy one first - we'd probably buy a used one, but I'd be budgeting about £6,000-£8,000 for one, so we'd certainly be doing anything but saving a fortune.

My car has cost less than 1000 a year over 3 years, maybe I've just been lucky but other than tires and cam belt change with the service its been fine. And only cost 900 to buy. Insurance is now 130 a year as never had an accident and have 2 years no claims.

For the airport I have to get two buses and the mega expensive airport bus. It costs 40 each. No trains there. So I usually drive to my friends house, park it there and she either drops me off or I get a taxi for 10-12 quid each way. Way less than public transport at less than half price for two of us and is really quick, public transport takes hours. Anyone could park on her road, it's empty and a few miles in the taxi to the airport.