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.

We’ve just got rid of our car.
We live about 3 miles from the city centre and just walk.

Cars are so expensive to run!

Yanbu. Public transport in the UK is used by the poor and the old (who politicians do not care about) its not fit for purpose outside of London and it costs a fucking fortune.

I think London is designed in a way that makes driving more of a hassle and public transport is a lot easier imo. My DF quit driving when he moved to London, it just makes more sense.

I used to live in the city I work in and took the bus to work for a couple of years because parking in the city centre was too much of a nightmare. Now moved away so will be driving again when I return after mat leave, not looking forward to it.

It's cheaper for 2 of us to get a taxi into town and back than get the bus. That's insane.

It depends where you live. People who drive to work in places like London are Muppets.

I love outside London and was planning a trip in December to see a show. It's only 45 minutes into Kings Cross from our local station and a short tube ride at the other end. Unfortunately, for two adults and one child, this journey was going to cost £108 return.

We drove, paid the congestion charge and the cost of parking in central London (behind Tate Modern) and, including petrol, it still cost less than half that, not to mention that when it was rush hour, instead of trying to stop the kids from disappearing in a crush of commuters, we just gazed out of the windows in the traffic and chatted while waiting for the lights to change.

Around my local area, we often use the park and ride to get into our nearest town which is relatively cheap and easy. However, since the time we packed ourselves into the car for an event in town, bought our park and ride tickets and only 20 minutes later discovered that there was a SINGLE bus doing all the round trips that day, we were definitely going to miss the event waiting for it and they refused to issue us a refund as 'there is still a service', we never use it if we actually have anywhere to be!

I want to show my kids that public transport is a more responsible option, but it simple isn't cost-effective or reliable enough to use as an alternative to the car.

But not “having to” walk anywhere all day is awful!
If I need to drive to an out of town client site instead of walk/bus into the city I feel awful. So stiff from sitting all day (I have an office job). Different I guess if you’re on your feet at work all day.

You’re not being unreasonable...I could walk 45mins/get on a bus for 20mins (cost £4 return) to get on a 15 minute train (cost £9) then walk 10 mins at the other end. Cost £13, time taken 45mins-1hr 20, assuming no waiting for buses trains etc. Or it takes 25-35mins and costs me maybe £4 in petrol....yes road tax and insurance on top of that but I need the car for other things anyway so I’d be paying them either way. I live in a large town with good public transport and commute about 12 miles - it must be far worse for those in rural areas!

The only time I use the bus/train is occasionally to go in to town (£4 return on bus is less than 2 hours parking) or if I’m going in to London where parking and congestion charge and traffic mean it’s cheaper and easier to get the train.

My mum was a real environmental activist so I do feel a bit guilty sometimes but public transport is expensive, full of other people, slow and not as convenient as driving.

'Full of other people' - never understood the dislike of other people.

I use public transport for the rare long distance trip that I do on my own but for day to day trips it isn't practical. We live rurally so limited public transport but even if we didn't ds's asd means he wouldn't cope with it.

There is no bus service to my village. No train service unless I commute for 17 miles. Every bugger drives because there is no choice. The bus service was cut and people here without cars lost their jobs because of it. People car share and offer lifts but there's only so much you can do.

Most transport initiatives are so urban centric. People do live in other places!

I'm not in the highlands or far away either. Rural communities are just not served by public transport. We have a school bus, a pensioners hospital and supermarket run bus and that's it. Farmers run minibuses to pick up workers where they can, but lots of farm workers choose to live on site in caravans on shift because transport is impossible.

Impossible for me as I live in the middle of nowhere, no bus service available at all! 😢

@ivykaty44

I never visit a town if I can help it!! However parking is normally ok

I agree there's a long way to go before private car use is rarer than public transport but with congestion it's not ordinary for a car to be quicker and cheaper than commuting into cities.

To get to my office in the city centre is either a 10 minute walk then 15 minute train ride for £3.80 a journey or a 45 minute plus car journey with parking no less than £6 for the day (if you're lucky to get a spot otherwise more like £8). Our office car park is for the elite only with 10 spaces for a building with 3000 employees. It's literally foolish/egotistical for me to drive to work unless there's onward travel to another office required.

My husband on the other hand has free car parking in his office on the outskirts of the city and the drive takes him 20 minutes so the only cost is fuel. Public transport for the same journey would take 90 minutes and cost £10 a day. It's journeys like these that need to be easier/cheaper to get more cars off the road and sadly too little is being done about it.

So true - when George Monbiot or his cronies harp on about using public transport they forget its piecemeal, slow, unreliable and expensive outside of London. It's cheaper for me to drive (solo) to the city centre and park for two hours than catch the bus, for two of us I can park all day for the price of two return bus tickets (plus the last bus goes at 6.30 so best not have evening plans!). We either drive or use Uber these days which is about £1 more each way than a SINGLE bus ticket. It's crazy bus true (plus you have to use cash on the bus!)

I agree. I dislike driving and would love to get public transport to work etc. but it turns a 35 minute drive into a 2-3hr stressful journey with lots of changes between busses/trains.

Absolutely how I feel!

I would love to get the train when we go to visit family but it’s nearly £90 return each!

I can't wait for ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) to start next month to stop some of the lazy polluting fuckers driving all over my city and diminishing my quality and length of life.

How come your cars only cost £2 or so to do a journey?
Are you including all the other running costs?

I've always thought this especially when you have to pay car tax and insurance whether you are driving it or it sits on your drive while you pay to use public transport.

Part of the problem is that outside of London very little of the transport systems are joined up. I can get a train, tram or bus to the city centre but they all have separate tickets - if you want to mix and match, i.e. go to work on the train but come back on the tram it costs twice as much because of the pricing structure.

It depends. I used to get the train into Bath as a few hours parking costs nearly a tenner and it's 15 minutes longer to drive. Now I have a baby in a pram (too small for foldable buggy) I can't be bothered with the inevitable bitching about folding it down from the surly staff on GWR.

YANBU. I live semi rurally so public transport is hit and miss. I used to live in a village that had two buses a WEEK. Monday and Wednesday - left the village at 10.30 and back again at 1.

My mum lives two towns over. It takes about 30-40 mins to drive depending on time of day. It'd take about two hours by public transport so a round trip of four flipping hours with two children and a baby. No thanks.

Aside from the cost, it’s the reliability. I live in the SW and although there’s a commuter line into the nearest big city, it’s so unreliable I don’t use it unless I’m without a car. I tried, but I got sick of having to call nursery from a siding to tell them yet again I was going to be late for pickup (and fined), or on numerous occasions be hanging round for the train only for it to be cancelled 5 mins after it was supposed to arrive, resulting in a panicked phone call to DH to tell him to get a move on as I was going to be an hour late. He did the morning drop offs, because despite it being a commuter line the half hourly services stop at 8 and breakfast club at school doesn’t start til 8. Plus the overcrowding, only sending 2 carriages at peak times (I’ve seen the trains pull away leaving people standing on the platform because there’s physically no room). This was a regular occurrence, at least once a week something would happen making life super awkward. I just don’t bother now like I said.

I was recently on a trip to London (can't comment about other locations) to see a show and I thought if only we had a joined up commuter system that runs as quickly and frequently and reliably as the tube back where I live (in Ireland). I'd definitely move away from the car and on to public transport.

However, I do live in Ireland and while Dublin has the Luas and Dart and a reasonable bus system, it is a far cry from the joined up system that London has (or any other small/medium European cities) and I have no option but to drive. I'd love to be able to rely on a public transport system to get me from A to B sometimes stopping off at C, D or E if I needed to.

I completely agree op.
I am off to birmingham in a few weeks time, thought it might be less stress and nicer by train. So looked at the cost £95!!! Then I have to get to the train station, 2 trains into london to come out again (past near my house) and onto birmingham. So it takes an hour more.
Why, why would i do that?!

We would use the train quite a lot as a family as its nicer to sit and chat, eat play games etc. But not when its more expensive and a pain in the arse!!