To wonder why people 'don't drive'

[ZX81user]

..medical conditions aside.It is such a useful life skill.
I think it is part of a parent's responsibility to get their teen througj their test.

having driven with my friend who is a diabolical driver ..I do think that some people shouldn't drive

I can't see how anyone could say whether running a car is definitively cheaper or not.

Well pp seemed very confident that public transport was cheaper.

It would cost me £25 a week in busfare to get the children too and from school every day on single tickets or £15 on a weekly ticket. I’m sure I couldn’t run a car for £15 a week.

£40 is petrol only though isnt it ?

cost of purchasing the car
insurance
mot
road tax
repairs and maintenance
Membership of AA or similar

whats your average montly spend on your car.

It must be cheaper to run a car if your talking about long distance journeys but day to day life about town or city it’s cheaper to public transport the whole time.

It’s all just circumstantial.

I calculate quickly that our car costs us about £3250 a year. That’s for a family of 5. That’s not including petrol. (Dh’s train travel to work costs about £6k)

whats your average montly spend on your car.

Don't know the actual cost but I do a lot of miles for work, my mileage claim is about £350/£400 per month. I think I actually make a profit from driving for work compared to my costs as my car is small and I bought it new eleven years ago. I could do with a new car soon but it'll be such a pain to have to go car shopping and test driving. I have little interest in cars beyond utility so I guess non drivers don't have that chore. Another big plus of a car is I can keep loads of crap in it, maybe that's a minus :)

I can't drive and have no interest in learning either, 2 of my children are travel sick so it wouldn't be any good for me and they all prefer to walk

Don't forget the cost of parking. We don't have off-street parking, and a permit for parking on the street in our borough costs, on average, about a £180 a year. Never mind the cost of parking at our destination. If DH drove to work he'd have to pay the congestion charge every day (£11) and pay to park on the street when he got there as his workplace has no parking.

Instead he walks there and back every day (2 miles each way) so his commute is free! I top up my Oyster card with £15 about every fortnight. DH probably less, as he only uses public transport at the weekend. So for us, owning a car and driving regularly would definitely be more expensive.

The pp in question was talking about themselves though kenndodd. Of course a person can know whether they save money from running a car or not.

BTW, CuntinuousMingeprovement? Brilliant post earlier. Every time an MN thread about non-drivers gets to me, I start typing a rant about air pollution, and then delete it all halfway through.

Isn't it actually cheaper to run a car than use public transport? That includes factoring in the cost of the car. I know we (family of five) couldn't visit family/friends in other parts of the country as often if we didn't have a car, we couldn't afford the train fare.

Not for me it isn't. It might be cheaper for you to run a car, but certainly isn't for me.

I had a car and I ended up selling it because the only time I ever drove it was to whizz around the block to stop it getting a flat battery!! I was paying insurance and tax and MOT and resident's parking for it to sit there,completely unused - because it's completely impractical to drive a car in London where I live. I walk / bus / tube everywhere, and can get a lot of taxis and ubers for the cost of running a car (that I never drove!)

And yes I was the PP. I can definitively say that for me it is significantly cheaper to NOT run a car. For me. In my life. No idea about anyone else's. Because I have the imagination to understand that people's lives are different. I can well appreciate why driving is essential in many places. I grew up in suburbia and was reliant on my parents ferrying me around everywhere until I was 17 and got my licence. If I ever leave the city and end up living in commutersville shoot me now then obvs I will have to get a car again. But I do know my own finances - and can quite assuredly say that whilst a car might be more efficient for someone else's family, it isn't the case for mine

To all the drivers on here moaning about non drivers taking then piss.Theres an easy solution to that.You have a body part that enables you to say no.Use it,and stop being martyrs

I learnt to drive aged 30 when I moved out of a city. Before that I'd had no need or desire to. I used to think nothing of walking for 2 hours or cycling for an hour to get about. I miss being that fit but I have small kids now so it's different. However, I hate using the car most days. I wish they saw me walking and cycling more. I want them to grow up thinking a car is not an essential. They are bad for your health, your wallet, and the environment. The symbol of commercialism.

If I still lived in Central London, I’d not bother having a car as it’d be pointless.

No problem with non drivers, unless they’re the sort who start laying on the guilt trip, when they need a lift

I want them to grow up thinking a car is not an essential

But for my family a car (each) IS an essential. I suppose we could move house and both get different jobs but our life wouldn't be what it is now. I take your point though about now wanting your children to think a car is the only way. The only issue I have with none drivers is when they insist that its better to be UNABLE to drive, that's ridiculous in the world we live in. Other than that all their points have a lot of strength. Especially environmental and fitness arguments.

I’ve never met anybody who doesn’t/can’t drive exclaim ‘it’s better.’

It depends on your given situation and it’s a lifestyle choice and what you prefer.

People don't drive for all sorts of reasons. If you live in a city there is no point as public transport is usually good so the car sits outside the house all day if you are lucky enough to have parking. It is expensive to buy and run a car so if you don't need it then I would imagine there is little point in learning to drive.

My DH had to drive for his job, service engineer and I learnt because everyone did when I was 18 and I wanted the freedom to be able to go where ever I wanted and whenever. We encouraged both our daughters to do the same but we live in Cornwall where public transport is not great and if you want to go to all these lovely villages and beauty spots in Cornwall you need a car. As both DH and I are retired now and have our own hobbies we still have a car each. I do walk for shopping locally though and try not to use the car for short journeys now I don't work. Travelling by car is usually quicker and more convenient as door to door and if you have loads of shopping or luggage it is better than struggling on and off buses and trains and having to cope with late or cancelled services. I am not sure it is cheaper though overall when you take the cost of buying and maintaining the car into consideration.

As a non driver I'd never insist that it's better. Everyone's circumstances are different and I understand that of course some people do need a car.

What bugs me is when drivers seem to think that not being able to drive is ludicrous and start trotting out "well how do you manage to do this" etc. It's like people can't seem to understand that everyone has a different lifestyle. As a non driver I would never put myself in a situation where not having a car would make my daily life a struggle. Which I'm sure the majority of us non drivers do as well.

I simply can't afford the lessons and the cost of the tests! DH drives so we have a car if we need to go anywhere and so far it hasnt been a problem. School and nursery are both in walking distance, I love near enough to town to pick up shopping while I'm out and there's plenty of bus routes around.

It's something I will do eventually but even if I passed now, we couldn't afford another car, so our money goes on other things.

I, personally, do not need to. I live dead in the centre of town. All the shops are literally a two minute walk away, my work is a ten minute walk away, the bus and train stations are a five minute walk away.

I know I'm lucky though.

But for my family a car (each) IS an essential.

What is it about this they people aren’t getting? That’s YOUR family. What’s essential to your family is utterly irrelevant to anyone else. All this ‘You'd have to drive if you lived in ye olde village 73 miles from the nearest bus stop where the service is only once every six years and your children go to different schools in Land’s End and John O’ Groats’ is nonsense. People plan for the life they actually lead, not some imaginary one they might lead in a parallel universe. Even if a non-driver does decide to move somewhere with much poorer connections, presumably they don’t decide this overnight and move the next day? Perhaps they might actually give it some real consideration first and either a) decide they will learn now after all or b) decide the move isn’t for them?

I get that there are places it’s harder to get to without a car - but there are countless places worldwide that are easy to get to too. I’ve been to 11 countries in the past two years without a car and loved all of it. However, I could only do that much travelling thanks to a good redundancy package, meaning I had the time and money to do so. I can’t go away that often now I’m working full time again - who can? Let’s say I’m lucky enough to go away five times this year; there are hundreds of places I could pick before I have to worry about whether I could go to the Shetland Islands or deepest rural Wales. If you’re desperate to go to those places, fine. Personally I’d rather enjoy seeing the easily accessible places I really want to see rather than panicking about the more difficult to access places.

I think 'essential' car usage should be challenged from an enviornmental point of view, as well as a health point of view. It's pretty poor that we all have to put up with car pollution because people simply 'have' to drive. I'm not sure how we change this over reliance, but it would certainly help obesity levels if people didn't automatically assume they need to use the car.

Maybe there could be more action around Car Free Day in September or the 'In Town without my Car' project.