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?

But even if you use the village school and go to the village doctors if you need to do anything outside of the village you need a car - particularly if after 5pm or on a Sunday when there are no buses at all.

YANBU.

If fewer people drove, there WOULD be better public transport.

you choose where to live, you choose where to work, you can choose these things mindful of public transport/ walking routes, etc

That rather depends on whether it's affordable to live near where you work though. I moved to be exactly an hour away from both offices I needed to go to. Couldn't do one by public transport and the train wasn't reliable enough to get to the London office. There was nowhere else to live that would have improved that situation, or reduced the need for a car.

and I think for my autistic son. It would have been damaging. It didn’t give him enough time to decompress so he could function.

Again, you are speaking from a place of huge privilege. It’s always easy when you have immense privilege. Unfortunately, it also means you have no clue what life is like for other people.

Not sure what would be worse. That you are a troll who only gets jollies out of being ableist or that you genuinely believe your privilege is available to everyone and live your life in that way.

You are coming across as staggeringly naive OP. You really have no idea about the reality of life for those who have to rely on public transport anywhere that's not a major inner city.

You plan for what you've got.

I never learned to drive. No medical reasons, I just didn't fancy it. I've set my life up not to need a car. I live in a medium size town, 3 different bus routes to the nearest 2 cities and airport, that run 24 hours a day (NOT in London or the south east, shocking I know but it does exist elsewhere). Train station too. Asda and Tesco on my doorstep and other shops, doctor and dentist in walking distance. Hospital accessible by bus. I WFH 3 days a week and get the bus to the office 2 days.

Am a lone parent of a 15yo and never once been in a situation where I've needed my own car in the 15 years he's been alive. School, hobbies, etc all in walking distance or bus routes. And it's given him a lot of independence as I am not available to drive him around he's been using public transport for years and is confident with it. He does want to learn to drive himself though.

I've never wanted to live rurally though, I'm social and like to be out and about to bars, theatre, restaurants etc. I'd live in zone 1 London if I could afford it.

Future generations won't drive because of the damage to the environment - cars are going to become more and more expensive, fewer and fewer and people are going to be more and more aware of the cost in terms of deaths from pollution, global warming, etc, hence why petrol cars are being phased out now, and cities are looking to ban cars from their centres

When i lived in big cities, i was mostly ok with public transport. Though, i will say i didn’t feel safe at 8pm in the dark waiting a bus after work. My friends also got the odd taxi because buses didn’t turn up quite a lot of the time.

I eventually got a car when I was 27 and moved to a smaller town where there were pretty much no buses, and certainly none that stopped near my flat. Again, as a woman, i want to feel safe when i go out in the evenings.

I now live in a big town and have a child. I depend on my car to get my child to nursery. There is a bus that goes there, but it takes 7 times as long to get there, and quite frankly, i don’t have that time to spare when i have to work.

People would be more open to not using cars if public transport was better and people didn’t have jobs occupying most of their day.

It depends where you live, what you do for a living and your general lifestyle, surely?

Neither DH or I could do our jobs without cars.

I think you are being overly optimistic to think that climate change will stop the majority from driving .

No, I wouldn't drive, if I could, because it is so bad for the environment. None of my children drive, for the same reason.

My point is because it was never an option for me, I set up my life without it, and because my children decided it wasn't an option they would be taking, they have set up their lives without it too.

The trouble is, people set up their lives with driving, then say they can't manage without - but they could have managed without if they had set up their lives differently, and chosen jobs and homes with that in mind

I think that would be ok if hardly anyone else drove. I don’t think it’s fair that richer people can drive and poorer people have to breathe in the fumes and put up with traffic noise.

I also don’t think it’s fair for people to be virtually forced to live in a town or city. If cities were quiet, pretty and full of trees then I might consider living in one and walking everywhere.

Do you eat meat and dairy, OP, given you seem so very preoccupied with everyone's potential effect on the planet? Do you have children?

All these people who think they can't do without cars - what happens if you get say, a vertigo attack today, and you licence is suspended tomorrow? It happen to thousands of people - and they then have to cope without driving.

This is a good point and I’m a non driver. I used to live in Seoul, and have visited Japan and the transport in both place there was so cheap efficient and peaceful, especially Seoul.

I simply dread getting on buses and even trains in the UK sometimes. People treat them like it’s their own front room with no consideration to others. Feet/ pets on the seats, playing music on speakerphone..drunken and sometimes even abusive behaviour late at night.

OP, I’m a non driver and I get what you mean that’s it’s possible but quite honestly I wish I did drive! I get a glimpse of life with a car when I visit somebody and a family member or friend takes me on a road trip to see somewhere that would have been so much more difficult to see without a car.

And if people live somewhere with poor public transport it’s not east to say “we are cash strapped this year let’s uproot ourselves to do away with the car” . Relocation is not always cheap or easy for a variety of reasons.

Thankfully for me I live 5 minutes from a train station in the centre of my town and WFH so on a day to day basis it doesn’t affect me as I can walk everywhere and take the train to the nearest city when I’m going out, but a car would be nice for weekends!

They need to improve public transport first before expecting people, especially families with children to go car-free.

The problem is that “setting up your life” in itself costs money.

An awful lot of people need to live with a parent until they move out. If where their parent lives is not in easy access to jobs then they’re out of luck if they can’t drive.

I remember before I learnt to drive, some fifteen years ago. Getting to work involved three different buses. Getting back involved three different buses. Not only did it take over an hour each way (for a journey for which the drive would have been around 25 minutes) but each bus was owned by a different company so there was no getting a day pass to reduce costs; it cost a fortune. And this wasn’t for an exceptionally great job; it was a call centre job. I would have loved to move out closer t work but I couldn’t afford it - I was spending a small fortune on transport!

Once I finally passed my test (it took a while, I was a terrified learner due to a serious family accident as a kid) the pathway to better jobs not on public transport opened up. I could afford to get to them so I made more money so I could move out. Now I’m privileged enough to have a mostly wfh job. But I had to learn to drive first.

Well, quite. I live in the countryside and therefore drive. My friends who live in London do not drive.
These are not unusual choices.
Not sure what point you are making?

I'd lose my job. And then my home when I couldn't pay the mortgage.

Kent

Are you saying that everyone should live in the city?

Public transport even in semi rural areas is a nightmare, my car broke down and I was looking at booking train tickets for me and 2 children from Shrewsbury to Ipswich to visit family. It would have taken 11 hours one way and cost almost double what I spend on fuel, there is a bus from our village to Shrewsbury but there isn't one in the opposite direction past 2pm so we would have had to get a taxi back, or get FIL to do 3 x 30 mile round trips in his van

How do you get a week's Aldi shop home on the bus alone? Or does it become a family outing costing twice as much in bus fare? Or do you go multiple times a week? Our buses are once an hour if each one runs on time and they don't skip a service, that's 2-3 hours out of my (self employed) working day, there's no regular evening bus service. We have a village shop, but you won't be eating a huge variety if you only shop there! I can't get along with online shopping, I need to walk the shop to be reminded of what I buy every week, and lockdown proved that if everyone did their shopping online it becomes an issue getting deliveries for those who need to shop online. We have a Morrisons daily a 3 minute drive away which has more options, but it would be at least a 30 min walk along a NSL A road with no footpaths, and it's bloody expensive! I couldn't afford to do a full weeks shop in there (even if I got rid of the car)

A focus on rural and semi rural public transport options is needed before people outside of cities/big towns can realistically reduce car use

Where I live, having good public transport li ks significantly increases house prices so that would need balancing. Also my work is in a small village with limited links. Further to that in a teacher and I really wouldn't fancy lugging a heavy set of 30 exercise books home on the busnto mark then back again the next morning, also getting on a bus that students get on would be a nightmare so for me a car is pretty necessary

If we all relied on cycling and public transport, the economy would crash.

I don't have a car and don't live in a city. Plenty of towns have some sort of public transport.