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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

86 replies

agentEgypt · 23/05/2015 11:08

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?

OP posts:
BettyCatKitten · 23/05/2015 16:19

Marking my place to see if a certain poster appears and berates you for living in an ivory tower and that a car is a luxury itemGrin

Original poster
agentEgypt · 23/05/2015 16:19

I went to durdle door and that cove last weekend. Googled it before hand and found free parking a 10 min walk away. As I was walking along the coast all day it would of cost 14 pounds if I hadn't of planned it and just parked in the main car park.

Hopefully I'll keep on never paying for car parking.

OP posts:
Original poster
agentEgypt · 23/05/2015 16:21

Point is car isn't a luxury. Its being frugal.

Cars seem so much more reliable than they were in the 90s.

The bus and trains seam like a luxury to me. 1 pound a mile here

OP posts:
browntoad · 23/05/2015 16:22

I live close to a direct airport bus service (easybus) and it costs about £6 per person return fare to Stansted. For Heathrow I can just take the tube which costs nothing (for me).

lljkk · 23/05/2015 16:28

You counted the price of the taxi in your comparison with public transport to airport, right?

Less than 20p/mile to move car from A to B is excellent value, kind of unusual though.

Bike still preferred choice for me (and with train, generally same or better cost).

landoflostcontent · 23/05/2015 16:30

I live on the edge of a small town. When we moved here there was a little town bus that went round clockwise and anticlockwise every half hour. Then they cut out lunchtimes for two hours and nothing after 4pm. Then they cut the little bus and diverted a "main" service to cover some of the route.

We could get a bus (it took over an hour and cost a fortune) to get to our nearest main hospital. They cut that and we had to bus to the city, change and get another bus to the hospital, it took up to two hours and cost even more. Then they cut the bus that took us to the city so the first one doesn't arrive till 11am.

Then they say no one is using the service so will have to cut again. We have a car but dread the day we can no longer drive...

ilovesooty · 23/05/2015 16:33

I believe from a previous thread that car parking at Bristol airport is about £50 for two weeks and people charged more than that for hiring out their drives. The OP of that thread was looking for a place to leave her car on a residential street without paying.
It sounds as though you on the other hand are sorted with such a conveniently situated friend with parking facilities so it would naturally be cheaper and easier than public transport.
Since most people have to pay the comparisons are different.

QOD · 23/05/2015 16:33

I wasn't allowed to drive for 3 months post surgery and it was £20.50 a WEEK for a bus pass. I'm about 8 miles from the bus station. It's more than I pay in petrol for a week

Original poster
agentEgypt · 23/05/2015 16:36

Yes I counted the taxi in comparison. Car taxi is still almost half the price for one person, and way less than half price for two.

Its all very well saying bike, and what DM older readers always say, but in rural areas like here is a death trap with most of the roads being narrow nsl. Not practical if you need to do 30+ mikes a day for work year round.

OP posts:
Original poster
agentEgypt · 23/05/2015 16:39

My car is way less than 20p a mile, think its more like 16 over the three years with some of the long trips. Then again I'm not precious with it, someone scratched it while it was parked last month and I just left it. Guys at work that go on about cars would of paid for someoneto repair it.

The fancier the car the more people seem to spend just on maintance. Some peoples seem to be at the guarage every month.

OP posts:
BettyCatKitten · 23/05/2015 17:44

I live in a rural area and many jobs stipulate you need to be a car owner.
I don't drive but DH does and I cannot get to work (nights) on public transport at all.
The poster I was waiting for to comment reckons living in a rural area and having a car is a luxury!
There's actually a lot of poverty where I live and part of the problem is inadequate public transport.

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