To think people don't use public transport as its so unreliable

[Outandabout43]

Have drove for the last 15 years so not really used public transport, however since moving area and now in walking distance to a train station have started to use this more.

It's actually cheaper to use the train to visit family if it's just myself and DD then it is to drive, and also takes an equal amount if time. Also cheaper to use the train into city centre then to pay for parking.

However, everytime I use the train, the train is either cancelled or delayed meaning we miss the connecting train and have to sit and then wait over an hour which is not fun with a 3 year old. Also nearest bus stop into the city is a 40 minute walk away.

Now I actually prefer public transport to driving, but not so much when an hours journey ends up taking 3.

We are being encouraged to use public transport more, but is there any wonder people don't.

Smelly people are a factor too, and sometimes anti-social behaviour.

We can’t have faster trains because of the type of tracks we have/number of stops. Apparently for the size of country we have loads of stations compared to European places.
i know on the east coast the mainline trains stop at Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, York - I don’t think it’s enough distance inbetween to gain any speed.

YANBU. I prefer getting the train to work as it builds in some extra exercise walking from home to the station then the station to work. However, at least a couple of times a month the train gets cancelled at the last minute and I have to rush back home to drive in. I work somewhere where I have to be there on time to open up.

I've heard that soon you won't be able to buy a train ticket from machines as moving towards digital tickets. At this point I'll stop using trains as I don't want to be faffing with my mobile at the last minute trying to buy a ticket just before the train arrives. No point buying one too far in advance as I can't guarantee the train will get me in on time!

You didn't mention the time aspect before

If the roads aren't safe you're allowed to cycle on the pavement

Or a 20 min bike ride

Have you added in annual car costs to that £100

No, you're not.

Highway Code Rule 64
You MUST NOT cycle on a pavement.

Unless it is a designated shared use path, which will be shown by signs and surface markings. The vast majority of pavements are NOT shared use paths.

a) not according to the Highway Code
b) not everywhere has pavements anyway

Unfortunately, using a bike in our city is a death wish.

Can't ride a standard two wheel non assist bike under current road conditions, or can't ride any type of bike under actual bike friendly conditions (which don't really exist in the uk)?

If we had real bike friendly conditions, almost anyone who could drive could ride a bike, and many people who can't drive could ride bikes.

There needs to be bike paths which are ENTIRELY separate from the roads which are full of dangerous drivers and people distracted by their phones.

We don't have a car and use public transport almost every day, and for holidays. It works fine for us, although we have always made sure that we've chosen our home/school/work so that walking is an option. We've also chosen to live in London where the network is extensive and there are good alternatives if one line is down.

But there are many families we know in London who never use public transport, so reliability is not the only factor. I think people like to be in their own space in their car where they can chat without people overhearing or play music out loud, they don't want to do a bit of extra walking to stations, don't like being close to other people and potentially have to stand, or sit next to a stranger, don't want to carry their belongings and have to sit with it on their lap instead of tucking it in the boot

Yanbu but the main reason is because it stinks of pot and the people round here are rude, dirty, smelly, verbally abusive and/or miserable. Guaranteed to ruin your day.

Good luck finding the billions of pounds that it would cost, not to mention the huge disruption it would cause and the years/decades it would take to go through planning, public consultations, etc.

I live in London where everyone and their uncle is on public transport 😂

I think we have to accept that people in London are very unique compared to the rest of the UK, and seeing as the majority of people don't live in London, it's not a particularly useful thing to mention how London people use public transport more. For a start, we can't afford London style public transport for the rest of the country! Ironically, until the 50s/60s, we had a really comprehensive train network throughout the country - it was massively scrapped or scaled back in most areas, but "strangely" managed to survive pretty unscathed in and around London. Funny that!

This. I’ve used the tube recently and the overground is a pita (and packed) and buses generally are ok (SE London suburbs).

Trains are ok depending on the line, thameslink can be delayed and southeastern certain routes are diabolical especially Eden Park/Elmers End which would put me off moving there. My local station cut out the 8.15am train too. Don’t get me started on fare increases.

I’ve had nigh on 20 years of commuting into central London which is a test in itself.

You know it’s bad when an ex colleague of mine at a huge global engineering firm responsible for building and revamping train stations said he’d claimed approx £200 of refunds for delayed in a month and he was coming from Watford to central London.

It's not really shocking that a city with a pretty dense population of nearly 9 million can sustain a decent public transport system while places a twentieth of the size find it difficult. Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester seem more or less fine too - I don't know Leeds, Sheffield or Bradford.

I'm not denying that access to lucrative sponsorship and a unified NFP system have given London a helping hand, but geography is also doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

I didn't vote because it's neither for me. It's 'what public transport'. No buses or trains.

The trains had a very bad patch in the spring but are now much better. Having been wrestling with car parking apps and huge carpark charges ( plus potential fines for not understanding the app system and potential speed fines) and complicated city centre road systems and gridlock I think trains are much preferable

Town in North Essex. Our bus is once every hour. Ooh apart from the first lockdown when it was once every TWO HOURS How they thought other essential workers were going to get into work fuck knows.

I couldn’t agree more. As I said in my first post here:
I use public transport every day and it is fab in London. The tubes on the lines I use are rarely cancelled and buses are plentiful. It should be like this everywhere

Where I used to live it was so frustrating - I lived in a town that was on the map easy commuting distance of Manchester (about 40 minutes on the train and short walking distance station from my house) but there was only approximately 1 small train an hour and it was often cancelled / bus replacement service. It just became such a ball ache to try to get into Manchester from there and I'd often end up just driving and sitting in awful motorway traffic. If my town had been that close to London rather than Manchester there would be a stream of regular and reliable transport for commuters, but it was in the North so no money I suppose....Don't get me started on HS2.

A train broke down on the only train line in/out of our town at around 7am this morning and there are still no trains running on it. No wonder everyone drives!