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?

Want to know how many busses a week go from my local bus stop? None.
I'd need to walk for half an hour to get to the nearest operational route.
Want to know how many busses ran when we moved here a year ago? Several an hour.

How can you plan your life around public transport that then gets axed at a weeks notice?

Japanese women have big problems getting touched up on public transport, not to mention getting seagulled.

People don't have to own a car, but I strongly think that everyone that can learn to drive, SHOULD learn to drive. You never know when a situation will arise that public transport or cabs or family favours (my biggest bug bear) can't cater for: out of hours jobs such as midwives, nurses, porters, train drivers and bus drivers (they need to get home too!), delivery drivers, emergency staff, coastguard etc etc. Also - if you or your kids need medical treatments appointments that are impossible or expensive to get to without personal transport.

None of the grown up men in my family drive yet they all EXPECT to be helped with lifts to and from bloody everywhere. It really pi$$es me off.

Learn to drive. You don't have to get a car but if circumstances arise then you can get one and stop heavily relying on other people to switch their lives around to accommodate your short sighted life choices.

Before anyone asks - of course I say no, but often when it's kids that need help to appointments, football matches etc its very very hard to say no. Grrrrrrrr.

I meant to add, OP, if berating people on the internet is your preferred form of activism your time would be far better spent going after the people who spout conspiracy theories about 15 minute cities. There is some serious misinformation going on there and I genuinely believe challenging those comments so that others are less likely to fall down that particular rabbit hole is really important work right now. If people are going to get out of their cars we need options.

Goodness op you’re so very angry. Are you like this in real life. Lashing out angrily at motorists and their needless luxury choices in your eyes? Furious as you see people whizzing past you as you wait for the bus in the rain? Or dragging your shopping home in the snow or 30 degree heat?

you must know folks aren’t going to pack in their cars due to your angry ranting on line?

I sold my car in April as I no longer need one as I work from home and we have very good buses. Trains too. Ds goes by bus to his job. I am not encouraging him to learn either.

I didn’t pass until I was 40. I massively regret not passing earlier. The HOURS I wasted on public transport to do journeys that now take a few minutes. The massive ball ache of trying to get DD to parties or activities.
DH was also in hospital and I literally would have only been able to see him on weekends because of visiting hours and travelling to get back for school pick ups.

I have a friend who has just passed aged nearly 60. He loves camping and has spent decades carting tents on trains and buses and he finally decided it was enough and learned to drive, he said the world has opened up to him, even just the places he can go camping now.

Another judgemental, self-righteous 'green'. Most people simply cannot 'set up' their lives according to others' demands andthere will come a time when someone demands you give up something you're not prepared to.

Live and let live; if you want to cut carbon from car-use, trams & railways will make a significant contribution. Green-powered cars will make more. Shunning or banning or picking fights with car-owners won't do anything, nor will shutting down our roads (in the name of Boris' walking, wheeling & cycling agenda).

Environment or not, most people will never choose to make their lives worse, and for many, many people, not having a car would make life worse (myself included). It makes far more sense working to make cars more environmentally friendly, and making those cheaper and easier to use than the alternatives, alongside improving public transport infrastructure - otherwise, people won't choose to make a change.

I do think in future there will be far fewer cars.A good thing too.

The invention of the internal combustion engine was the single biggest leveller and a factor in true freedom for the masses. And by far the most liberating thing a woman can ever own.

OP have you considered people like parents with pushchairs and people in wheelchairs? Nowhere near enough space for everyone on the buses if lots of people gave up cars.

Your proposal isn’t going to work without major improvements in public transport

I love visiting Holland. Excellent public transport, cycle lanes etc. My friend's hire a car if they need one for the day.

This actually reads like you think the whole world is the uk or even England. And have no concept there is a whole wide world out there. What about Egypt. Or turkey or France. Know what’s happening there?

of course future generations will drive. Don’t be so ridiculous. Next you will be wanting to send kids back down the chimneys

The government needs to prioritise everyone having access to affordable public transport options with well thought out connections for it to work out that it becomes a default option.

My teen has been using buses to get to work. On a weekday she can get a 7am bus, wait in town for 45min and be at work 2mins late for 8.30am. Car drive is 20mins so we leave at 8.10 if I can take her.

Sundays she can't get to work via public transport. Some days she only works 8.30 -1. So that is 4 buses and £8 in transport for her £5ish an hour job. Takes as long to get there and back as it does to work. Yes she is looking for other work options but still needs more than one bus for many places from here.

Buses here are unreliable - often late or don't turn up. Finish at 5pm from one town and 6pm from the other so no option to do evening or night work via public transport. Not everyone in the country can live in a town or city or wants to. So rural public transport needs to be improved for that to become the default.

If people drive, it's unlikely that losing the car is up for discussion. Because in many cases, that would mean a house move! You are fortunate to have been able to set your life up like that. Not everyone can. I absolutely could not.

Tell you what OP, you give me the money and I'll move to nearer my work...it'll cost £275k for a 2 bed house as there are no 1 bed houses or flats for sale nearby. Also if you could get the buses to run before 7am and after 10pm that would be great as then I could get to/finish work and not use my car anymore, oh and if you don't mind could you also pay for the taxi to get FiL to his many appointments as he's 80 now and walking the 22 miles to the nearest general hospital might be a bit much for him. Or better yet....why don't I just carry on using my car and save you the money?

An SUV is never needed, for at least 99% of those who have one. To say so is misusing the English language.

You are allowed to get up ten minutes earlier and walk with your child to school instead of driving half a mile there and half a mile back.

OP is correct I think, for a large number of people.

I'm disabled. My life is hard enough without being stuck at home for the rest of my life. It's all good and well saying use public transport but if you can't physically get to it, and I can only use trains, it's not much help. I could never manage a bus ride and a taxi is out of the question both mentally and financially. So I shall keep the car and continue my very limited life as is. Thanks.

Some of us want to enjoy life. You know, visit family and friends, go to places.
I don't care if I have a rickety old banger but I need and want a car.

It's also a necessity. I had to take ds an hour away away once to get some urgent treatment that didn't class as an emergency but couldn't wait until morning.
A taxi would have cost money I don't have.
When fil was in hospital dying, we could visit and take mil to visit him daily. The hospital is 40 mins away. Again, taxis every day was unaffordable.

I live rurally. I'm on the outskirts of a market town that has about 6000 residents. There is a bus to the nearest city about every 2.5 hours, the first at 7am the last at 9.30pm. There are 2 buses on a Sunday. To get anywhere else requires multiple changes. To put it in context, a 20-minute car journey to a neighbouring town takes about 2.5hrs on a bus due to poor connection times. There are no taxi services (disappeared during Covid and never returned).

I would love love love to use public transport. It's just woefully inadequate. I am mindful of the environment though and refuse to drive any journey under 2 miles.

I guess I could move apart from the fact that buying a house in our nearest city which has good schools and transportation links etc would probably cost double what my current house is worth, so for many people would be prohibitive.

Also, history has shown us that the flocking of people to cities contributes massively to the breakdown of communities and the economy in rural areas, and increases 'ghettoisation' in cities where those who can't afford the 'nice' well-connected areas end up living in sub-standard, over-crowded accommodation.

We do actually need people to live and work in rural and semi-rural settings for a whole host of reasons. If we want them to use cars less while doing so (and I support this aim) then the government has to invest more in public transport, starting with the understanding that initially it cannot be run for profit and therefore needs heavy subsidy until tipping point is reached (if ever).

I'm all for teleportation personally.

I did manage to spend a large chunk of my adult life not having a car but getting one when I moved here (and discovering how tricky public transport was here) we got a car. It was a life changer and I still don't know how I managed so long without one. I would have to have my whole life in walking distance now to gonback to having no car.

My 17yo just passed her test and got a car because of how tricky it is here.

You will never roll back car use in the Uk now. It’s too culturally entrenched. The best you can hope for is that you roll back ownership and reduce use in combination with a transition to electric vehicles and clean electricity.

problem is however frequent and convenient public transport is it’s still going to be full of selfish twats eating burgers and gawping at tiktok without headphones. So yes, until we introduce a 24/7 surveillance driven social credit system overseen by the AI overlords it’s not gonna work. 🤣

I should add it’s not just culturally entrenched, it’s entrenched by infrastructure. There is no city/town other than London which is dense enough to justify a transport system’s like london’s, which is the only city where arguably not having a car isn’t a huge inconvenience.

How would there?