Would you take the bus or pay for parking?

[Springhun]

Please tell me what you would do.

Imagine you Work about 15 miles away. Your options are either:

A) half hour drive, leaving at 8:15. You spend about £65 a month on petrol and £110 a month on parking. You’d get home around 6:15 or so

B) taking the bus to work. This takes around an hour, leaving at 7:30 and getting home at around 6:40. During the school holidays it is quiet but during term it is packed with school kids. This costs £90 a month.

I like you go for B to save around £90 a month?

A few of the worst times I've travelled by bus:

1. Perverted man got on and started asking 12yo me and friend disgusting questions. We went to the police.

2. School kid full bus and children fucked about trying to make the bus tip over on corners. Cue bus driver stopping and yelling etc.

3. Kids threw stones and smashed the bus window. We all had to get off and wait for another bus.

4. Crazy bus driver lady thought she was Sandra Bullock in Speed. She was driving like a maniac. My cousin fell off her seat.

5. Stuck sitting next to someone who smelled of poo and BO.

And the worst: 6) Hubby stood in puke. A huge pile of vomit. On a hot day.

I'll pay an extra £90 a month over that!

Do you have DC to drop off? If you do, have you factored in the price of their bus tickets?

I only ask because I was in this situation recently. I'd worked out it was an extra £25 a month to take the car and park. But, stupidly, I had forgotten to factor in I would also have to get DS a bus pass and therefore it made it significantly cheaper to drive. I then looked around and found a privately rented space a 2 minute walk from the office for just over half the price of a monthly bus pass!

Car without noisy annoying children every time

Depends entirely on your finances - can you afford the extra £90 per month?

Using your figures you gain at least an hour a day at home by driving, which is potentially 20 hours a month. That's £4.50 per hour. How much do you value the extra time at home? Personally I'd pay £4.50 to have an hour at home rather than on the bus, as long as I could afford it.

Surely just buy a monthly bus pass and see how you go, over the summer.

It depends on your finances. The saving would pay for a holiday, which for me would be a deal breaker, if money was tight. If it wasn't, I would go for the Car.

I do the bus because £90 would be a lot to me but depends how much you earn but on rainy days I’d probably end up in the car.
I like that on the bus you can read or snooze or text.

I like to think I would use the bus due to the financial and environmental benefits. However I am a lazy cow and am of the opinion that while I am paying to keep a car I may as well use it.

Can’t you do a mixture? Or is the £90 cost dependent on a season ticket?

It really depends whether time or money is most critical. If you have DC to drop off and collect then car would make sense. If you’re saving for a house deposit, then bus would be better.

Car. I detest public transport in any form and the time spent in the car, even if it's sitting in traffic is worth any price to me.

I'd use the car too.

It really depends whether you would miss that £90.
I am fairly frugal, but I would take the car and try and find cheaper parking if poss.
(I hate getting up earlier than I have to, I like my own space & I get travel sick)

As PP have said, depends on your finances really.

I would probably drive but park a bit further away for free and walk the last bit if that is a possibility?

Take the car but find free parking or cheaper parking.

It would depend on how tight I was for money and how it impacted on childcare.

If another parent was home looking after kids I would get the bus (unless it meant I missed bed time). If I was really struggling financially I would get the bus.

Team up with a colleague and share parking and petrol costs? Both quids in!

Car definitely. I despise buses. They’re for peasants (tongue in cheek)

Car, always car.

Car. If you have a safe and reasonably easy cycle route (I admit this is practically nonexistent in the UK) consider cycling when the weather permits it but otherwise just drive. The public transport provisions available to you clearly aren't satisfactory.