Anyone have a baby/toddler but no car?

[Marcos56]

I don't drive and just wondered if anyone's in this situation, and if they manage ok?

My eldest is 13 and we’ve never had a car (but live in London). Everyone appears to have survived so far!

A friend drove us home from hospital when the eldest was born - would still def get a car seat to use in taxis, rental cars etc.

It depends where you live.

When DD1 was born, the village we lived in had a reasonable size shop, we had stuff like cafes, woods and a toddler group in walking distance... and I managed fine with no car.

When DHs job moved somewhere with no shop and 3 buses a day, it was more tricky. I didn't fully appreciate what I missed until I got my driving licence

You know where you live and how accessible things are.

I'd get a buggy with a lot of storage underneath and that is easy to fold one-handed for public transport

I'm not sure if they allow you to take a baby out of hospital without a car seat?

This is a mumsnet line with no basis, it isn't a real rule.

Kids are older now but did the baby/toddler years in London with no car and it wasn’t a problem. We had a buggy that could be used from newborn that would easily fit on a bus, and a 4 year gap so DS1 was confident on his scooter by the time DS2 was born. Obviously London is the easiest place to rely on public transport!

We have a family car but I dont drive and am a SAHM on the edge of a town. Buses are once an hour into town which I've found manageable but end up at places quite early because of bus times.

We dont have a much of a nap/meal time routine which I think helps with managing public transport too (e.g lunch can be between 11.30am-1pm depending on what were doing and bus times) but still can be tricky trying to fit in food/naps/transport time. I've never used a pram, only use carriers which means I've never had to worry about space on a bus.

It is frustrating that there are certain lovely places I can't get too (or it takes way too long to get there), and I feel guilty about time spend travelling (anywhere not in the town centre takes 45min+ to get too, even if only a 10 minute drive away). My toddler does absolutely love buses now though, which is lovely that he has that familiarity with public transport.

I only have one 1.5 year old, I imagine with more than one child it gets more tricky too

I don't have a car and have an 18 month old, never been an issue at all. We live in zone 2 London with great public transport and I can take my toddler pretty much anywhere we want. Most places there is no parking and/or awful traffic anyway. If we need, I just take black cabs as don't even need to fold the buggy up.

I have 3 kids. Twins in a pram and a tiny 4 year old who struggles to keep up.
We walk or get public transport. Invested in a Lascal buggy board for eldest and it was the best decision I made

Everyone saying they did it and it was fine then adding that they live in London … to be honest in most places it would be quite difficult. I’m not saying impossible and I’m not saying that you NEED a car, but it wouldn’t be quite as easy outside of London.

Very far outside London, not in a city, and it’s easy.

Cities other than London exist

Don’t make such a ridiculous statement. It’s London, poverty, then the highlands.

Managed ok with one. Got a car when we had two.

Nonsense. I'm not in London, or a city even. Its perfectly doable.

Of course, but public transport in London is pretty widely acknowledged to be very effective to the point where I believe it is easier to not have a car.

I am about twenty five minutes away from a city, admittedly one on the smaller scale (it has a cathedral so is a city) but to access baby and toddler groups I’d have to get a bus into the city and then a bus to the group then the same again back. It isn’t unmanageable especially with a non mobile baby but I think it could be difficult with a toddler.

I’m not saying it isn’t doable @MillicentTrilbyHiggins , I actually said the opposite

But I am broadly speaking in favour of life being as easy as possible, especially with little children, and I would personally be considering that having a car / learning to drive might be advantageous for the OP in the future. She may not want to or be able to which is fair enough and as you say, it’s doable, you manage.

Walk with buggy or bike with a seat or trailer. Get good waterproofs and crack on.When I had my 2nd everyone said I would HAVE to buy a car. Didn't pay any attention, and I have happily cycled with them for a decade now.

It was at my hospital, in London, the only place in the world.

And FYI I am not in London, but I do live in a smallish town.

Not me personally but SIL hasn't passed her test. My BIL works away Monday-Friday (about a 4-5hr commute) so she's on her own with preschooler (almost 4) and baby (10.5 months). She stays home with baby most of the time and the eldest is with a family member/nursery through the week. She relies on lifts if she needs to go somewhere and can't walk. We live in a town so there are buses.

Why would you need a carseat to bring a baby out of the hospital if you aren't travelling in a car?
So their policy is to just force you to remain in the hospital indefinitely if you don't purchase a carseat you don't need?

Feel free to share this hospital policy. Otherwise I'm going to assume its BS.

I can drive but don't have a car by choice as don't really need one. Live nowhere near London, town in Scotland but get about just fine. I'm a 10 min walk / 2 mins by bus from the town centre. Manchester City centre you will manage just fine!

depends where you live. I know plenty of parents in London who don’t have a car. Can see it would be harder in a rural location.

We have a car but use it so infrequently that we’re contemplating selling it. Kids are 2 and 6 and in London it’s easier to get around on the bus/tube with the odd taxi and not worry about parking or traffic (buses and taxis using bus lanes save so much time versus your own car!). I know the answers here are disproportionately from Londoners but unsurprising as it is the biggest city by a considerable margin and the points being made translate well to any other city with decent public transport e.g. Manchester.

I also think the car seat hospital thing is myth people like to band around on here. I pushed mine out in the pram and no one questioned it. And our baby car seat is a fixed convertible one anyway that doesn’t leave the car so even if they’d asked, they wouldn’t have been able to see it!

I live in Manchester with a baby and no car! It's a bit more annoying than when I lived in London with our first baby and no car, because there are some places that are just impossible to get to by public transport, but I can live without going to Dunham Massey. I have found it useful to have a car seat anyway for when people visit with a car / I go to visit others, but it's not used in my day to day life.