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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

352 replies

BogstandardBelle · 08/03/2019 16:20

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.

OP posts:
JustAnotherPoster00 · 10/03/2019 16:14

The public transport debate is always city centric, I live in rural North Wales there is no possible way that you could cater to everyone who needs transport, and the public transport we already have is woeful as it is

SnuggyBuggy · 10/03/2019 16:14

An unlimited ticket could be as cheap as chips but if it doesn't take you where you want to go when you want to go it's as useful as a chocolate teapot

FuzzyPuffling · 10/03/2019 16:17

The village in which I live has four buses a week to three different places. They leave at 10am ish and return at 1pm ish. So ok for a bit of shopping, but no good for working.

If, for example, I wanted to get to my nearest hospital on public transport, it would take me a week to get there (a minimum of three buses which clearly don't connect) and a week to return.

Public transport is great in cities, and useless elsewhere.

inthedistanceIsee · 10/03/2019 16:18

Depends how good the public transport is. I used to live in a city with excellent bus service - it was a LOT easier to get the buses, which were mulitple and frequent and affordable, than drive and spend ages finding somewhere to park and then pay a fortune to park. Bus service was partly publicly owned.

Now I live somewhere with a wholly privately owned bus service which is shit and I never use it and drive everywhere. Can't believe how bad the bus service is here.

PiebaldHamster · 10/03/2019 16:19

Aw, but Fuzzy, you're supposed to cycle along those bendy, 60mph A roads, doncha know! To the hospital.

StrawberrySquash · 10/03/2019 16:24

Of course there will be places where a car is the only sensible option. But there are a lot of places where it depends. And I wish we did more to make public transport a more attractive option.

Thatcher privatised the buses and that has meant that profitable routes get prioritised. That then makes a car more necessary for more people and once you have the car, it's a small cost to pay the petrol for a trip over the ticket cost.

I live in London and love my public transport for many reasons but sometimes I am in a car and can't help thinking, 'This is just so easy!'

ooooohbetty · 10/03/2019 16:27

I takes me 10 minutes to drive to work. If I get the bus it's a 20 min walk to the bus stop. The journey takes half an hour because the bus goes all over the place. The bus is packed, some people have to stand. Then a 10 min walk to work. It's just about bearable on the way in, at night it's not. I just want to get home.

45andahalf · 10/03/2019 16:31

Public transport where I live isn’t completely terrible, but nonetheless it would take 1.5 hours door to door each way for my commute, best case scenario, as opposed to driving in which takes 35-45 minutes, depending on traffic. Plus I pick DS up on the way home, which adds little time on in the car, but would add another half hour and an extra bus journey if I used public transport. It’s a no brainer.

CordeliaEarhart · 10/03/2019 16:57

Where I live it'd be quicker the walk the 4 miles to work than to get the bus. Driving is far more expensive than public transport once you factor in the cost of buying / taxing / insuring / repairing the car as well as petrol. But public transport is seriously inconvenient.

When I worked in a city centre I always got the bus. But unfortunately people want some schools / shops / doctors etc closer to their homes and those places need staff. I guess I could move nearer my workplace but then my rent would go up massively.

LadyDeadpool · 10/03/2019 17:04

I'm in Nottingham our buses run every 10 minutes and go pretty much everywhere it costs £5 for an all day ticket for 2 adults and up to 3 children. It's not just London getting it right. 30 minutes to get from one end of the city to the other via bus or about 20 minutes via the tram at the same cost of £5. Robin Hood day tickets let you use the train/tram and bus for £5 for an adult and £3.50 for under 19's. Cash or card payments and contactless coming this year. I've never been tempted to drive because of how easy it is for us, the cost of running a car and the pollution given out by cars.

greenelephantscarf · 10/03/2019 17:13

up to 4 miles is great cycle distance.
the more people cycle the safer it gets.

PiebaldHamster · 10/03/2019 17:21

Oh, dream on, green, FFS, cycling in sleet on a bendy 60mph A-road is never going to be safe or get safer and it just doesn't work if you have no place at work to get cleaned up or store your cycling gear.

ivykaty44 · 10/03/2019 17:23

It takes me 10 minutes to drive 5 miles without traffic, to work.

It takes me 25 minutes to drive the same route between 8-9am and again at 5:30

If I cycle it takes me 30 minutes

Kazzyhoward · 10/03/2019 17:27

My son has to leave home at 7.15 to get to school on time, which is only 5 miles away! A 15 minute walk to the bus stop at home end and a 15 minute walk from the bus station to the school, combined with a "once per hour" bus service. He's now learning to drive and fully intends to drive to school throughout his upper sixth year from September as he's had enough!

soulrider · 10/03/2019 17:27

I don't think Nottingham does get it right LadyDeadPool, the buses are split between NCT and Trent Barton which means multiple tickets are require for some relatively short journeys.

The robin hood network despite it's advertising as train, bus and tram only allows you to take the tram from Hucknall and not the train.

And eejits manage to take out the tram network by driving into the bridges fairly regularly!

grumiosmum · 10/03/2019 17:27

I live in a a rural area and almost always choose to travel by train to the 2 nearest cities or London. Although i do drive to the station as bus would take a lot longer & is unpredictable when you're trying to get a specific train.

Hate driving in cities, traffic is bad and it's hard & expensive to park

The only exception is if I'm going out in the evening & there isn't a convenient train home.

If public transport would better, I would definitely use it more.

adaline · 10/03/2019 17:28

the more people cycle the safer it gets.

Yeah, cycling in the driving rain, in the pitch black, on a twisty, hilly NSL a-road is really going to become safer if more people do it, isn't it? Hmm

Cycling is viable in SOME situations. So many posts on here are city-centric and have no real idea about what rural living is like. There is no way I could cycle to work. It's 24 miles, up and down numerous hills and on an NSL route with no cycle lanes or lights! It's not safe or viable or even practical. In winter it would be an absolute death wish to cycle those routes, even if you did have the time, energy or fitness to do so on a daily basis.

BikeRunSki · 10/03/2019 17:35

There used to be a bus that went from my village, to the city where I dork in slightly longer that it took to drive, and cost less than parking. Thrn 2 things happened

  • massive investment in the section of motorway I use, making it “smart”, took 20 mins of my journey to work, making it about 45 mins.
  • the bus route was cut. The public transport alternatives for getting to work now all take upwards of 2 hours.

I’d love to sit on a bus and read in the mornings, but I value the extra 2.5 hours free time that driving gives me. Sorry.

Kazzyhoward · 10/03/2019 17:43

Home to work by car - 28 minutes.

Home to work by public transport (bus and train) - 1hr 40mins

Guess which I use!

Brilliantidiot · 10/03/2019 17:58

the more people cycle the safer it gets.

Yeah, cycling in the driving rain, in the pitch black, on a twisty, hilly NSL a-road is really going to become safer if more people do it, isn't it? hmm

That'd be me cycling too @adaline, north East coast as well so it can be great one minute and raining sideways the next. All the roads between here work are 60mph, unlit and most don't have lights except in the villages. Twisty and hilly. I would also almost permanently be doing it in the dark at least the evening trip and definitely in the winter, because I work nights.
Not safe at all and I wouldn't like to think anyone was doing it. I don't drive so have to take the useless and expensive busses and work around them, often waiting over an hour at a bus stop if one just doesn't arrive, laying out £12 for a taxi if the bus to work doesn't appear. If I had another choice, I'd be using it!
The state of the public transport here I really can't blame anyone for not using it if they can avoid it, the only time it's a choice is when it's the only choice.

ivykaty44 · 10/03/2019 18:05

It’s not right for every situation, but electric bikes take the strain out of hills and make life easier after a long day. For many an electric bike could be a solution for trips under 5 miles on some roads

FuzzyPuffling · 10/03/2019 18:08

Aw, but Fuzzy, you're supposed to cycle along those bendy, 60mph A roads, doncha know! To the hospital
:)

Oooh yeah, I know, but it is 7 miles along very hilly roads to get to the nearest A road and then a further 40 miles to the hospital. And the reason I need to go to the hospital is cos I am, you know, ill.

adaline · 10/03/2019 18:13

Yep @Brilliantidiot I'm in Cumbria and we have the same issue here. Changeable weather, stupid hills and roads that often have no markings whatsoever!

PiebaldHamster · 10/03/2019 18:18

Electric bikes! PMSL! Those cost more than a lot of cars. Hilarious! Great on those bendy national speed limit A-roads in Winter with sleet coming down, too. Haahaaa! A bike with an upfront cost of at least £400-£500. Yep, that's a real alternative.

KatyMac · 10/03/2019 18:46

My electric bike works for me now I live in a town - when I lived in the country I would rarely have used it

I rode to work (when I had a job) to the doctors and to the hospital (whcih worked until they gave me an unscheduled biopsy then DH had to come & get me) & to get my weekly shop

But it wouldn't be easy if I had kids to get places or if I were more disabled than I am

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