To think it's no wonder people use cars so much?

[Parapapampam]

I work in a large city, always try and commute by train, this week, no strikes past 4 days on this line, my train home has been cancelled every single day, tomorrow there are strikes.

Different excuse every time, driver's seat broken, bad weather, staff shortage, or no reason given at all, the train just disappears off the board as if it never existed.

Tonight, my train, and the three after all cancelled, I imagine the later ones will be too (flooded tracks aren't suddenly going to clear whilst still pissing it down with rain).

So, I'm going to have to fork out £35 on an Uber.

This is not abnormal, happens at least twice a week, and the government wonder why people drive rather than use public transport.

So

YABU - keep using the shit trains, it's better for the environment and you can do work, read a book whilst on the train and don't have to worry about parking

YANBU - Start driving to work clogging up the roads (electric car) but get home before 8pm every night and save the £35 uber fee which is clogging up the roads anyway

Nail on the head there!

Yup, they're certainly a stroppy bunch.

I live inside the M25 - my work is 25
miles away - for me to use public transport it would take me over 2 hours and 3 trains. Instead I just sit on the M25 - annoying but I have no option.

The trains are ridiculously bad. They were deliberately broken by the government to boost the car industry (not a conspiracy theory, actual history) and have been systematically constrained ever since. The whole idea that somehow it's individual choice for us all to buy cars and we can solve it by making individual choices to stop is absolutely crackers and ahistorical.

If the government really wanted us to use trains, it would be possible to get from Leeds to Manchester reliably. It would be possible to get ACROSS Manchester reliably. It isn't. Because the government (successive, all parties) choose that it isn't. How much did they spend on HS2? More than a modern Leeds Manchester line could ever have cost, and it doesn't even go anywhere.

The government is destroying the planet and blaming us the whole time. It's a joke. Like individuals can build an electrified train track by making "better consumer choices". How can you buy something that doesn't exist.

Are there many routes in London where it's only a 2 hourly service (not 2 per hour, one every two hours) and the LAST train of the day is 7-15pm??? That's my son's route home from the Northern city where he works. And no buses or alternative train routes either. If it is cancelled (happens far too often) he's stranded there!

The trains are also immensely uncomfortable compared to those in most countries. They should not be allowed to sell more tickets than they have seats and you should be able to pre-book seats with your tickets. Newer trains seem to have got worse in this regard rather than better even on routes of several hours: new stock that has fewer seats, crammed together, with the expectation that "capacity increase" means people should pay 3-4 times the amount per mile as they do on the continent and be expected to stand for the entire journey as though it was a ten minute tube ride.

Add to this lack of clean toilets, no catering onboard, freezing cold trains etc, no accessibility or accommodations for those with disabilities. Even if they were reliable they still would not be worth considering over a car.

There used to be in many towns and cities, along with there being a World leading train network. Successive governments over many decades scrapped most of it (but they kept the excellent public transport system in London of course!) Now governments blame drivers for driving!

Yanbu. If I was to rely on public transport I’d have to take three buses or two buses and a train to get to work. Travel time around 1.5 hours - it’s 30-40 minutes by car. Travelling home from some of my shifts, there would be no public transport available at all. Buses don’t run beyond 930pm.

I live an hours drive from my Mum's, it's 5.5hrs on public transport. 2 buses and a train, I have to run across town too between stations. Neither of us live in outlandish locations, both locations have a train station.

Several cancelled trains last week resulting in packed trains that did turn up.

No seats, people packed into the hallways so impossible to access the toilets.

Then the appalling anti social behaviour with people’s phones on load speaker, awful “music”, full on loud speaker conversations, the shouting and threatening behaviour, the group of kids throwing bottles, McDonald’s wrappers across groups of people… fucking hideous.

Hate everything about it.

Dark freezing platforms late at night because 3 previous trains cancelled. Waiting, hoping that the next one isn’t otherwise it’s another hours wait.

Apparently a problem with overhead wires meant only the older trains were working that day!

That's true and often happens on the East coast main line with electric issues as the older trains are diiesl locos - a handful of the new azuma a bi mode so can also switch to diesel when overhead wires have an outage, but these are carefully diagrammed as they serve the part of Scotland north of Edinburgh where there are no overhead wires.

It takes me an hour and a quarter to drive to work so I'd love to get the train and sit there with a book. But by the time I pay thirty quid for train fare, a tenner on station parking, change twice oh and it takes two hours and there a half hour walk at the end - can't do it. I hate driving though.

I carry heavy bags, have to drop primary school child to school and start work at 9.30
Journey time in car is 25 minutes, bit longer if traffic is heavier. Train is 1hr 27mins.

I absolutely wanted not to depend on a car but our trains round here are so unreliable that it forced me to learn to drive. It's so frustrating as we are a really built up area so it doesn't make sense that public transport is so bad

My job role covers a large distance with different areas daily and carrying kit so no chance of using public transport. I was however on a training course many years ago in Birmingham and decided to get the train. Great getting there, but when leaving they’d cancelled all the trains. Had to then attempt along with 30 others to check back into our hotel until the following morning. First and last train ride for commute.

We had to get a new car due to Ulez and unfortunately we picked the wrong car and it’s had a ton of problems and we haven’t had it for the last 4 weeks.
we live in outer London and it’s been a nightmare. I have to take 2 buses and a train to work which takes 1.5hrs to get to work. In the car 30mins. To get the kids to clubs 2 buses and about an 50mins a to an hour, usually 20mins in the car. It’s cold it’s smelly and dirty. Never knowing when the bus is coming as the app stops working. I can’t wait to get my car back. If this is what it’s like in outer London I’d hate to see how people manage in rural areas. Public transport is fine here if you’re going into London but going sideways it’s a nightmare. Viva la car 🚗

i don’t have a car and mostly have a within walking distance existence. I need to get public transport to take DS swimming each week though. The bus drivers have been on strike for months so I keep having to get Ubers.

Even before the strike, I had to get an Uber at least once a month because the bus simply didn’t turn up as timetabled.

i live in a city. Public transport here is terrible. Especially if you want to do anything other than going direct to the centre. I dread to think what it’s like rurally.

My son is the same though he learned to drive in sixth form,he didn't have a car at uni and thought he'd be fine when he moved to a northern city for his first proper job as flat was on a bus route straight into town. He's been there 3 months and had just bought a car. He was constantly late for work despite leaving his flat at 7.30 and work is only 2 miles away! Bus should be every 20 minutes but they just don't turn up. If one goes awol he can wait for the next and still make it on time but if the next doesn't turn up either then he's late. Happens 2 or 3 times a week. (And no, because of a medical condition he can't cycle or walk it, hence getting a flat on a regular bus route, or so he thought).

@InefficientProcess

I dread to think what it’s like rurally.

People learn to drive when they're 17 - it's the norm in smaller towns and rural areas.

I live in a village, I drive but I use the train to London for work. Every single week there's some delay, some issue. The trains are often dirty with broken seats and overcrowded.
Our bus service is awful, non existent so you have no choice but to drive to our local town for shopping or take a train to one further away (no trains go to our local town!) teenagers and the elderly are totally cut off.
The whole system is run for such little money put back into it and if I could drive into London and park I probably would

This.

When it costs 50% more to travel by public transport which is throughly unreliable, why would you?

And you see a lot of much older drivers on the roads rurally.

It's shockingly bad these days and I have no sympathy with striking ASLEF

I wfh but DC have the choice of an hour plus walk to school/college, a 1.5hr bus journey which needs two buses and costs £4 a day or a lift from me which takes less than ten minutes.

YANBU. I live in the South West and the 4 of us are going to London for a few days after Christmas. If we all go on train it will cost over £500.

If we drive and park it will cost us just over £100.

Ridiculous!! I would happily use the trains if they were affordable. They manage it in other countries.