To think that no-one will choose to swap cars for public transport when it's still easier / cheaper / faster to drive?

[BogstandardBelle]

Since starting a new job 18 months ago I have used public transport to get there and back 3 days a week. I leave my house, walk 10 minutes to the metro, spend around 20 minutes on the metro with one change in between, then walk around 15 minutes at the other end to arrive at work. I always assumed that (living in a big busy city) it was cheaper and easier to travel this way and never really considered driving.

This morning I needed to take some heavy bags into work, so I decided to drive. I left around 15 minutes later than usual and still arrived at the same time! And I didn't need to walk anywhere or share my space with hundreds of coughing / sneezing / inconsiderate / odd people en route. The cost was negligible compared to the 64 euros I spend each month on a metro ticket.

I'm really disappointed! I know that the exercise is good for me, and god knows the air pollution problem in my city doesn't need yet another single occupancy, short distance car journey being added to it. But it was so much easier / more pleasant than using public transport... and now I know how easy it was, there's going to be a little voice saying "just take the car...".

So it is unreasonable to expect people to give up their cars when public transport is actually more expensive, less convenient and overall harder work than driving? I used to think that all the motorists clogging up the roads / causing the pollution were BU, but now I'm not so sure.

But cost isn't just financial, it's time too.

That’s why I cycle as it’s quicker over 2 miles than driving and many studies have found the same.

The £1200 a year I’d rather spend on a holiday

I don’t have the time to drive to work early to get a parking space, or sit bumper to bumper in traffic for 20 minutes per day and have a short journey take 30 minutes.

www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2018/11/07/data-from-millions-of-smartphone-journeys-proves-cyclists-faster-in-cities-than-cars-and-motorbikes/

Cycling is faster than driving

@FunkyKingston that depends entirely on the terrain though, surely? Cycling on the flat through a city on marked cycle routes is very different from cycling on windy, hilly, NSL roads in rural Cumbria.

I can cycle miles on the flat but on the fell roads I'd need to cycle on to get to work? No way. I see ultra fit professionals struggle on those roads, let alone your average commuter.

That study isn't based on rural roads though @ivykaty44 - it's about city commutes. They're two very different kettle of fish.

Ada line - I did give you the 500 cyclists commuting to a rural location... one interviewed cycles from Meridan to Gaydon daily.

Again, is that hilly rural or safe rural? I know lots of rural roads I'd happily cycle on, others that would be an absolute death trap.

It's absolutely not safe to cycle on the fell roads around here in the dark - no way. Even the professionals avoid it completely in the winter months. It's far, far too dangerous.

There are also 10 million bus passes for pensionable people who can travel for free after 9am, that is cheaper than driving and parking

There are also 10 million bus passes for pensionable people who can travel for free after 9am, that is cheaper than driving and parking

Only if the routes go where you want to go, when you need to go there. Which isn't the case in huge parts of the country.

Adeline it’s very easy to find Gaydon and Meridan on a google map and look at the contours of the hills, the mains A roads. There will be a lot of commuting traffic coming off the M40, M42, and M6 aswell as the A46

I've looked. Those are still relatively main roads with street lights. Not narrow fell roads with absolutely no street lights whatsoever. Most of the roads I drive are barely wide enough for one car most of the time, let alone cars, tractors and cyclists, in the dark, in the winter.

The first photo is the A46 - light, spacious, with plenty of room for cyclists to pass traffic safely and easily. The second is the A593 that I drive everyday. It's barely wide enough for two cars in parts, there's regular lay-bys for people to pull-in, has blind bends and high hedges so overtaking is often impossible - it's also barely ever gritted in winter and there's no street lights.

They might both be A roads but they're not the same type of road in terms of safety by any means. There's also three times as much hill climbing on my route on the A593 than there is on the other route you mentioned.

I really have too much time on my hands

adaline you are just looking for excuses why you personally can't commute by bike.
that's fine.

but for many many people addicted to driving cars on short distances cycling (or even walking) is a viable alternative.

adaline you are just looking for excuses why you personally can't commute by bike.

It's not an excuse at all - it's called real life!

I've said plenty of times cycling or public transport is a great alternative for lots of people, but equally it's not an alternative for many millions of others. You know that, though, you're just using me to try and prove some kind of weird point.

We don't invest in public transport in Britain because people are wedded to the idea of their personal space.

In rural and semi rural areas people need cars. But in suburbs they don't. They just want to use cars and that's why public transport is shit in those areas. It's a vicious circle. I used to live in a suburb. People wouldn't be seen dead on the bus - they were for teenagers, old people and losers.

I see it on these threads where people talk about how they want to be private and don't want to sit next to people. Eww! Other people are so disgusting.

Fine, if you want to drive. Just pay for it.

adaline you are just looking for excuses why you personally can't commute by bike.

I find this really odd. As I've already said I can't drive, I have to get the crappy public transport, and cycling for me is still not a suitable and safe alternative. For the same reasons Adaline says it's not suitable for her. Recognising something is going to put you in real danger, and avoiding that danger if you have a possible alternative isn't an excuse, it's being sensible.
I've had to walk on some of the unlit, nsl, hilly and windy roads here in the dark through necessity after public transport failures. It was a scary experience - and I had a flourecsent and reflective tabard. I spent more time in ditches than anything else. You just can't be seen whether walking or on a bike, and you'd have less chance of staying upright and uninjured having to take a dive into the hedge as yet another car flies by.
If I cycled it's likely I'd be a statistic sooner rather than later.
There are many towns and cities and even rural areas where cycling is suitable and safe, mine and Adalines aren't. That's not an excuse, it's a fact of life.
The route I take to work incidentally makes up part of a national cycle race, known for it's challenging inclines and roads. And that's in daylight!

adaline you are just looking for excuses why you personally can't commute by bike.

It is not an excuse for many, many, many people living in rural and even semi-rural areas. It's reality! Seasonal, shift work and people having several jobs over the 24-hour schedule is the norm in such areas, as well as bendy A-roads with national speed limit, poor weather conditions and having to get from one job to the next with limited time is real life for many in rural areas. Plenty from my own area have to make long commutes for even regular office work and public transport doesn't serve for them.

Yep, so makes sense to cycle on the A83 every day . . . said no one ever.

I live on the mainland and am using public transport to get into the closest city, 33 miles, on Thursday, to be with a mate who needs a GA for a medical procedure. We have just the one car so I'm using public transport to get there. I'm getting a lift into 'town' some 2.5 miles away, to catch that main transport (if not I'd either walk the distance, it's now howling a gale) or have to pay £1.35 for the bus. Even with the car for that part, the journey is going to cost me about £25. There is no way to cycle it.

This is Cumbria, this is Yorkshire, this is the Western Highlands, this is many regions in the UK.

And as to the point of the thread really, in areas like myself, Adaline and hamster live, where cycling isn't a safe alternative, poor public transport is not encouraging people out of their cars, it's doing the opposite.

Everyone who lives in a large town or a city should be able to use cheap, safe, accessible and reasonably fast public transport for daily life. I'm in London, so almost never drive in the city apart from supermarket shops, but other cities I know have abysmal transport. Of course people will continue to use their cars if there's no easy alternative.

We don't invest in public transport in Britain because people are wedded to the idea of their personal space.

We don't invest in public transport in Britain because it is privatised.

Although funky is ultimately saving time as she/he/they is doubling up commuting with exercising. Also on another note, isn't exercise meant to be good for the menopause?

What Piebald said.

You seem to get places with several companies doing a similar route and other places with no route. I guess the advantage of it being centrally managed would be that someone could look at a town and put routes in places where they would be useful and try to link amenities.

Getting hit by a motor vehicle because the road you travel isn't safe for cycling doesn't have health benefits.

The health benefits of cycling outweigh the dangers in terms of the burden (or lack of) the nhs. Inactivity is the worlds 4th biggest killer.

Oh, I get plenty of exercise. I walk into town most days and also have a wee job on the side at a farm down the road. Farm work is great exercise and they offer livery. My h just drove my DD's 13-year-old mate back to his home, another farm, because it is blowing a fucking hoolie and lashing sleet. Already saving up for DD's driving lessons, she'll need them, but they get lots of practice driving on the farm.