On the rare occasions I use public transport I remember why I usually don't

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Packed to the gills despite it being very late at night, drunks, no working toilets, filthy, seats too small, migraine inducing lights. Still got half hour to go.

Vive la car

If I had a choice, I wouldn't use it. (can no longer drive for health reasons). Mostly use it to go into London though. I commuted by tube for years. So even when I was driving, there wasn't an alternative for that really.

Absolutely hate it. Particularly late night public transport.

Commuting to work/school is totally different than late tube home though. Take an uber instead on nights out.

Well Im home now and no alternative really as going out in central London and we live 2 hours away, but really quite an intimidating experience with loud drunk groups of young people, not in a 'fun' way, one of the blokes in the group was shouting and saying cunt and fucking this and fucking that and the girls were trying to get him to calm down and then he was going on at them etc etc

But its not even just that, its just unpleasant, even using local buses when we do, they're always full of anti social behaviour.

How is some one going to be persuade me my car is not as good an option?

I caught a local bus the other day due to car issues. Bus was 10 mins late and then went round the world to get to my destination. A car journey of just under 10mins took nearly 30 mins. Thankfully nearly empty bus, everyone behaving! Grateful to have a car!

Edit to say local bus not an alicante bus!🤣🥰

I hate it. If it's the train, someone's always pissed, even at 10 in the morning, wherever you're going to. And buses are just shit, expensive, slow and smelly. Plus the entire journey on either you hear everyone's phone. It's Hades.

Personally (talking about London) I think it's amazing that there's a system which so efficiently transports millions of people every day thus reducing the need for cars. Coming from a rural area I'm especially grateful - my local bus used to be every 2 hours! And then the council cut it further to every 3 hours, none after 3pm. So many young and elderly people were affected by that.

There are occasionally a few loud/drunk people but I've got to say that as someone who gets TFL transport in some shape or form almost every day, and has on more than one occasion stumbled back across the capital via night bus at 3/4am, I've personally encountered very few problems.

I’d rather get a taxi than the bus. I refer to public service buses as ‘Poverty Chariots’. I wouldn’t be seen dead on one!

I have always found public transport in and around London to be the vastly easier option and to be largely a very safe and comfortable experience in the last 25 years of using it, and would much rather use it than a taxi.

And yet in more enlightened countries, public transport is seen as an essential service that is invested in, fit for purpose and hence everyone uses it, so their cities aren't as clogged up with cars like the UK because people feel they no choice but to drive if they want to get anywhere efficiently.

This thread is so weird. I use buses and trains all the time, and they're not smelly and full of drunks.

I'd much rather take public transport than drive.

When you live in London public transport is much quicker than car. A few times relatives insisted on driving or getting a taxi from one side to the other and it was incredibly frustrating crawling in the London traffic compared to zipping across on the tube. You mention no toilets in your post, well cars have no toilets either

So why didn't you take the car then?

YANBU. I commuted for years into London and have been groped, flashed and harassed. People with no respect for others taking phone calls on speaker or playing TikToks out loud for an hour straight. Ridiculous crowds that often leave you without a handlebar for support if you're not tall enough and become unbearable in hot weather. Drunks and drug addicts are commonplace though they didn't usually bother me unless they were loud or pissing themselves on a fast-moving train.

"Poverty chariots"?

🙄

It’s not the transport it’s the people on them. I’m in Kent I was chatting to my sister who still lives in London the other day she was most indignant that she missed her bus and had to wait 8 minutes for the next one.

9/10 trains are fine, I use them a lot. (Headphones on, head down or first class if possible)

There was an article on morning news with some debate about a £1500 fine for those using phones on loudspeakers on public transport but I’ve heard nothing more about this. It’s a good idea but how will it be enforced?

That for me is the big problem, it’s self absorbed, selfish and antisocial. So very very annoying and happens on most train journeys.
In the years I’ve been travelling by train only once has it been challenged by a fellow passenger and the person actually apologised and turned the sound off, it was very civil.

It always amazes me at the people with open cans of lager at 8am on trains. This happens a lot, or the groups of people obviously going to an event with alcohol, maybe it should be banned like smoking on public transport to prevent disturbances and antisocial behaviour.
I wonder if there is any audit data correlating disturbances with alcohol being consumed on public transport.

Britain doesn't invest enough in its transports infrastructure. When you look at countries that do, it's much more efficient and pleasant.

Agree. Theres a highly monetised campaign against our public transport atm from the obvious bods - I hate to say it but I actually feel for Jenrick lately as he looks genuinely sad. I don’t think he thought this where his life would end up, he seems like quite a smart person who has just taken the money, bless him.

Re transport - its not perfect, i would like it to be cleaner, but randomly cleaning a few carriages or shouting at a few kids who jump the barriers isn’t a campaign, and it’s certainly not a vision is it?

Depends where you're going, and at what time. I've been commuting in London by public transport for over 25 years, and although it is busy during rush hour, I'd say antisocial behaviour is very rare on those services. The tube, overground and busses are frequent, and mostly full of regular commuters who know the score and keep their heads down.
But if on a late service coming home after a night out, don't be surprised if others on the train have also been on a night out -which might include drinking.

Agreed on all points.

Driving’s a stress and a hassle into London and you can’t have a glass of wine if it’s a night out.

Mrs Thatcher lives! What a stupid, snobbish thing to say, and how much that reveals about you, not in a good way.

I take the train every day (outskirts of south London, zone 6 to zone 5). It’s really not that bad at all. Though i’d say most stops on the line are quite affluent towns, and everyone is off to work. I took the tram about 6wks ago, from Croydon to Wimbledon, and i’d say my experience was like the one you describe, and it was middle of the day. The bus is similar. So i’ll stick to the trains. I rarely use my car these days, as the train is easy, and cheap. £65 for the month, and I go to the office 5 days a week and could go shopping on the weekend too.

Thameslink's lights are THE WORST! So unnecessary for them to be that bright and harsh.

I couldn't work out why every day after work in the winter months I had a nasty headache by the time I got home ((wiping out my whole evening)

took me ages to put two and two together. I am seriously considering taking a travel eye mask for the commute home later this year because I cannot just take paracetamol every single evening for the months of October to March!

Yanbu

If I have to go into London I catch a train in and then walk. The last time I went on the tube, it was unbearable. Filthy, airless, crammed.

I changed job last year so I don't have to go very often. Now I have a 10 minute rural commute. In the school holidays when I don't need to get ds to the school bus, I can cycle via farm tracks and a tow path.

No fumes, no cars, no noise. Such a relief.