To say car ownership shouldn't be seen as the default

[Sidslaw]

several posts on here about financial problems, all claiming the car is "needed" and not up for discussion

People tend to set up their lives with the assumption that they will drive - surely with the climate in the stat it is in it should now be the other way around? People to set up their lives with the assumption that they will not drive, as the default.

I don't drive, I am dyspraxic, so can't and always knew I wouldn't, and it has never been an issue, as I have chosen the places I live and the jobs I do on that basis. I use public transport, walking, cycling, taxis. I have raised my family as a single mother like this, and my children ( not dyspraxic) have grown up to set up their lives the same.

There is always going to be people who rightly or wrongly think they are an exception, but surely the default should be, don't own a car, don't drive?

Having read all the posts, I smell a rat. Student, journo, troll?

But you have the right when you are getting a taxi?

By that thinking there should be no public transport at all. While it pollutes less, it’s not pollution free.

God no way in hell I'd ever live in a city.

I'm much happier poor in the countryside.

I'll do my very best to make sure my dds can drive. If they end up city dwellers and don't need cars fine but I believe its important to have the option which in my view important in the whole "setting up your life" thing.

Do enlighten me. The schemes I'm working on currently are 1. 85 miles from my house. It is a motorway, for which there is no public transport, 2. 240 miles from my house, on a development which isn't developed yet. The nearest rail station is about 8 miles away.

1. 55 miles away, in the city centre of a neighbouring city. It takes me 50 minutes to drive, or 3hrs on public transport.

yes I know I will get flak! People don't like it when someone points out their luxury decisions are destroying the planet and killing children, and they can do without it with a bit more planning and energy!

Doesn't change the facts though

I was brought up in a tiny rural Yorkshire village, the buses were fine. The buses in many rural area are very good, but not all of them. One of the worst I have personally experienced is Devon, for example - so I know it can be bad, but it doesn't have to be

some people live in rural areas because that is all they can afford. they cant afford to live in towns. they also choose a rural area if they want to be near family and a support network. but rural areas are a massive challenge for public transport. not only frequency of buses but the times of the last bus and actually getting to the bus stop which in my case is down an unlit lane with no pavements. Sorry OP but you do come across as the sort of person who has only ever lived in a town and would also tell us all to cycle - which is great if you arent old, disabled or with small children.

This isnt about personal freedoms its about being young enough and fit enough to walk or cycle if you can and also having access to good public transport. perhaps rather than writing this you might want to try walking a mile in someone elses shoes to see what its like being old, disabled, needing family around you to support you etc. Its not about exception, its about necessity. Lucky for you you arent in that camp yet. but you might be one day and look back on this post and realise how incredibly naive it was.

Really it is time people demanded a proper public transport system, especially considering climate change and pollution in general

What, because you sell a luxury commodity that damages the environment and kills children with pollution, I am being U to be against it!? That makes no sense

There are places in the countryside where the public transport is very good - you don't have to live in a city

No one in my grandparents generation drove!

Both of my grandfathers, rural dwellers, rode motorcycles with side cars. A number of great uncles drove trucks for work. They were all born at the end of the 19th century.

It all starts with town planners, out of town everything (retail parks, office parks, industrial parks, hospitals, centralised facilities) makes it very difficult to live and work without a car.

In many areas small village schools closed years ago kids buses to the nearby town. Now those villages are becoming large suburbs of the town and hundreds of kids are being bussed.
Which is fine for normal Mon-Fri but not good for any meetings, after school stuff, collecting sick children.

And not everyone can living in the town centre without building being 10 miles high.

We'll we'd all be living in large cities then wouldn't we and be a huge drain on resources in other ways.

I live in a Yorkshire rural age. Public transport is not good. My best friend who also lives in the village has to travel almost 4 hours a day to work. She rarely saw her kids. She could only, physically, do it because her mum had the kids. And she did do it.

Her mum died so could no longer look after the kids and wrap around care finished before she could get there.

Theres no jobs on the village so it was learn to drive or quit work. How would she afford to live?

Didn't you start this same thread a couple of weeks ago? Someone did. They were also pushing the same ridiculous notion that the entire population had to live in cities and were equally blinkered to the flaws of that plan...

This was how I smugly thought until I had a child with complex medical needs requiring hospital trips that involved multiple bus connections...

Nah, I’m good with my car thanks. Don’t use it that often but it’s useful to have when I need it. I can drive to my mum’s in 10 minutes but if I go by bus it’s two changes and a 45 minute journey. Last few times I’ve had the misfortune to go anywhere on the train they’ve been cancelled or delayed so a relatively quick and easy trip ends up taking hours. Plus I actually quite like driving in my car by myself with my music on.,

Okay, I’ll bite.

When I’m on a shift with the community nursing team, how should I get between patients and transport the masses of stuff I need to go about my day if not by car?

to be honest, I don't think I have seen worse behaviour from public transport users than I have from car drivers, and bad behaviour from car drivers kills hundreds of times more people than bad behaviour from bus passengers,

I don't think that argument holds any water.

If you live anywhere other than a big city then it is needed.

Agree. We don’t have good public transport because everyone has a car. My MIL grew up near us, used to cycle to college daily over a distance most people would think appalling nowadays. They also had a much better bus service!

"Do enlighten me."

As I said, I plan for it using walking, cycling, public transport and car clubs. It's easy enough to combine any number of modes of transport to get anywhere I need to be. It often works out shorter time wise too as I'm not driving the entire journey.

Car ownership is not the same as non car use.

These discussions always seem to come down to because I need to drive somewhere, I’ll drive everywhere everytime. It’s like always wearing wellies because it might rain one day.

The majority of people could cut down on their car dependency. They might even enjoy it. It’s very liberating being able to whizz round town without having to contend with traffic jams.

no, it just takes an adjustment of expectations that is all. Non of my children baulked at getting home at 7, it was their life, it was normal for them

'But this is what I mean by setting up your life though, you choose to live somewhere where you depend on driving, or you choose to live somewhere where you don't.'

@Sidslaw

Setting yourself up though isn't that simple when in the majority of cases living in the centre of a city is MUCH more expensive than owning a cheap runaround car.

Moot point.