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.

@ivykaty44 i have calculated that including all costs, parts, fuel etc that one car costs the equivalent of 20p a mile and the other is 38p a mile

I use the train because I work in Glasgow city centre. Parking is expensive and a nightmare. ScotRail are atrocious, the only dependable thing about them isvtyeirbdault ability to completely fuck up. I have no option though, DH works on a Business Park with no public transport at all. I actually don’t know ho he would get there so had to drive.

Cost is not going to be the only reason. Thinking it is quicker if not is another, and then the often unspoken ones such as people being smelly, fear of strangers' behaviour, cars being warmer, for example.

Buses also need to change dramatically. I feel safe in train stations with plenty of people and police patrolling, but connections for buses can be in the most random location. So you are potentially standing on some isolated corner with a bus that is running extremely late. This has led to me being harassed by mentally ill individuals on more than one occasion. I absolutely refuse to take a bus with connections anymore. A short direct route is tolerable, but connections are too risky.

I don't drive, neither does OH, and we never have so catching two buses/taking longer is totally normal to us.
We also have children, and manage almost everything required of us without too much hassle (apart from everything taking a bit longer).

I use my car for work as I need it to do my job and I work a long way from home. Recently I had a course locally and so looked into getting the bus. It would have been over £4 a day Vs the £2 the parking cost me. No surprise that I drove.

I won't do a 2 bus journey, I agree bus stations attract some scary people. I either don't do the journey or fork out for a taxi

I see there are some fellow travel sickness people here too. I can cope with the bus and tram for short journeys in the summer when it's light and I can see out of the window. But in the winter when they have bright lights on you can only see a reflection in the window, I can't cope as i need to be able to see outside to avoid getting sick.

We live in an area similar to phlebas. I'm already saving up for 13-year-old DD's driving lessons and insurance when she's 17.

YANBU.

You would find it very hard to find employment here if you don't drive. The public transport is sparse and very, very expensive and it's buses.

Saying that, trains are so shockingly expensive in this country even renting a car is often cheaper.

YANBU

I can't drive and I wish I could. Travelling to work adds 90mins (some travel time, some waiting time) each way to each shift and on Sundays it's 2 hours. I freeze my arse off, get soaked if it's raining and sometimes it's a good job I have extra time because I need to make myself presentable because I arrive looking like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards!
I sometimes get a lift to work with someone who does similar shifts in the same town - it's a 15/20 minute drive.
Round here lack of decent public transport does actually impact on what jobs you can take. If you can't drive for any reason like me you're useless and have spent thousands and failed five times it's a nightmare.
If I could drive I absolutely would.

We were car-free for 8 months and it was awful. Horrible bus journey into town that took an extra hour a day, difficult and time-consuming getting enough food shopping, no days out due to the time it took to get anywhere and it was expensive. I grew up without a car and the changes to public transport and the location of shops and work makes life without a car impossible in many areas.

OP I can’t help thinking that you’re talking about public transport as though it’s some new fangled thing.
If people really took into consideration the true expense of running a car, there is no way it compares to public transport in most cases.
Despite —years— decades of trying to encourage alternative transport, it seems that people feel individual car ownership is a greater necessity than it ever has been. I know someone who’s son refuses to go to uni if his car is out of action (when there is a direct bus from where he lives). It’s an extreme case I know but absolutley barking mad!

I used to think that all the motorists clogging up the roads / causing the pollution were BU, but now I'm not so sure.

Of course it’s all the motorists who are clogging up the roads!

We live in a rural area where public transport is virtually non existent, (one bus a week to the local town) so a car is essential. However, we always use public transport when we can for longer trips, even though it means driving to the station and parking. I drive so much, using public transport is a real treat for me - so lovely to travel somewhere and be able to look at the scenery instead of the road.
I am very jealous of retired family members who live in London and get free public transport, I honestly don't think they realise how lucky they are. I just wish we were better served here, but there isn't the population to support it, and that will always be the problem.
However, it isn't always easier to drive. When I visit my family in London I go by train. It takes much the same time as driving (travelling from the west country), especially if you factor in the posibility of motorway jams.
If we had local bus services I would certainly use them.

I don’t drive so have used public transport regularly, but now my children are older I am paying £10 for bus fares to just go to the nearest town when I can wait for DH to drive us when not at work and pay 50p for parking.

In our local area there have recently been big changes to the bus services and many services have been shortened or are no longer running at all.

I used to live in an area with excellent public transport (not uk) . It was cheaper and easier to commute and travel. This is still encouraged / subsidised by the government as they are very "hot" on environmental issues.
When I moved to the UK, I was shocked about the state of the public transport network, or luck of it.
I think I would be lost without my car. I could not afford to do my current job: 40min drive v 2 hours on the bus (no trains!) one way. Cost of monthly bus ticket 120.- V 90.- to run my car (this includes petrol, insurance and monthly service plan ... just need to add 20.- tax for the year ). Yep I have done the figures as I have my car purely for the purpose of going to work... really sad, if you think about the environmental cost.

Cycling/Walking is good for health & have less impact on the environment than driving. Those things matter to me.

It costs 25-30p per mile to move my car from A to B. That's wear & tear & petrol but not depreciation or fixed costs like VED & MOT. So the drive to work is about same as train fare after all.

The main route to drive for me to work, is along a road that is notorious for too fast driving & accidents. It's a faster commute but all stress. So much better to chat on train & enjoy sunrise while cycling for last 3 miles.

People who drive to work in places like London are Muppets.

I drive to work in London. It takes me 60 minutes door to door.

Public transport takes 2.5 hours and costs £25 a day.

Who's the muppet?

The maths more than adds up for me

18 month old car bought 5 years ago - 10,000. Lets say 2000 a year (despite the fact that it's prob still worth 5,000)
Insurance 300 a year, tax 120 a year, servicing/mot/tyres 200 a year. So lets round up to runnning costs of 2700 a year. Petrol costs of about 40 pounds a week - so rounding up again £5000 a year on all car travel.

To do the same journey I was doing to work by train would cost £8,500 a year, a journey that i couldn't do anyway as it requires a car to get to the train station as our local train service doesn't start early enough to make the connection. And my petrol costs include a lot of other incidental journeys.

I should have added as well that as I've never owned a car, I can't compare prices, but I buy a weekly pass at £20, and then any travel outside school for DD is probably £10 a week. So we'd spend £30 a week on travel.
I'm not sure how keeping and running a car would compare to this but from what friends say, possibly a similar cost?

I live in SE London with arguably some of the best public transport options available in the UK but it’s still expensive, over crowded and unreliable compared to driving. It is cheaper and nicer to get to work by driving. Morally I should give up the car but I really resent paying extra for a shitter journey to work.

Ps I don’t even enjoy driving so it’s not even like I’m really attached to my car

I agree 100%. Trains especially are hideously expensive. I work from my office 4 days a week and home for one. My petrol usually costs me about £80 per month, so £100 a month if you take into account wear and tear etc. It takes about 25 minutes and my office has a car park, although you have to be in early to stand a chance, which I tend to be.

The train costs £10 per day for a return, or £180 for a monthly pass. Train station isn’t actually in my town so takes me 10 mins To drive and would have to pay a couple of quid a day to park there too. I have got the train before and they are tiny, and packed with people and never on time. It also takes twice as long because it stops at all the tiny stations, or it involves a change. I arrive at work feeling sweaty and flustered.

In theory I like the idea of a nice quiet direct train journey into work in a clean carriage, where I can sit at a table and get on with some work but it just isn’t reality.

I no this might sound stupid but I don't understand buses. I got on one years ago in town because I felt really ill and couldn't face the walk home.
I new which bus went down my road so I looked at the bus stop saw the bus I needed was due only when it arrived the driver told me I couldn't get on here without being charged for 2 journeys

I ended up walking home with 2 toddlers feeling ill and stupid. Put me off buses for life.

I don't mind walking into the local town it's 10 minutes away. Unless you can park at the supermarket parking is expensive.

Our trains are very good for getting you to major cities quickly and cheaply but they don't run to the retail parks 20 and 40 mins drive away so I don't have any choice but to drive there either.

It used to take me nearly 2 hours to get to work on buses when I was 18. Sometimes I got lucky with shifts and my mum was able to drive me. That took 15 minutes.
So a four hour round journey or a half hour round journey - that sort of difference is why people will not give up their cars. 20 hours commuting over the week or 2.5 hours... hmmm

Looking at use for leisure rather than travel - I live in SE London on a line that goes to the South Coast & takes approx an hour 15 to get there (roughly the same as driving) during the day (after about 10am) these trains are pretty much empty.
The price of an adult ticket to the coast is £27 per adult & about half for kids.
Why on Earth don’t the train company reduce the price of the tickets during the day? If they made adult tickets £7.50 & kids £3.5 they would make a killing during the school holidays & weekends, the number of people at the cheaper rates would more than compensate for the drop in price.