What would your life change if you had to get rid of your car/could no longer drive

[Netcurtainnelly]

Do you ever worry about this?
How would it change your life tomorrow?
Which things would not be possible anymore?

Bath, Exeter, Taunton, Lincoln, St Davids, Harrogate, Aberystwyth, Norwich

Those outside London, Birmingham and the M62 cities
really have no idea how bad public transport is after Austerity, Brexit and Covid

a bus per hour is the norm
and it may not go to where you need

I live 4 miles from the nearest train station despite living in a city

Couldn't go to work
Couldn't take my children to school
Couldn't go to the shops
Couldn't have days out

Nothing, really. We live in a semi-rural area.

I wished we could go on our bikes but it's a pipe dream.

I wouldn’t be able to do my job, so would probably also have to sell my house.

Zero change at all. I've never driven so purposefully chose to live somewhere walkable. Everything I need is within a 2 mile radius.
TBH I've only sat in a car twice in the last year!😄

Fantastic for you. That's great. Also handy that you don't have to get to work! (And back!)

Many people would NOT be the same or feel the same if they lived rurally - with NO PUBLIC TRANSPORT - and had no car, You have public transport, so you are clearly not in the same situation as people without it anyway. A bus every 2 hours from my little rural village to the town 4 miles away, would be a dream come true. As @RampantIvy said you have the luxury of public transport, so of course you're OK with no car. 🙄

Not for many people.

I think mine might actually be better, I am on a low income and my car costs me a lot of money, I can cycle a lot and live in a city, but getting rid of it would be a massive step, I need to look into the cost of occasional car rental/ car pools for holidays/ when I am doing DIY

Those outside London, Birmingham and the M62 cities
really have no idea how bad public transport is after Austerity, Brexit and Covid
a bus per hour is the norm
and it may not go to where you need

I don't live in London, Birmingham or M62 cities

and the public transport is 3 buses an hour, a train 3 per hour

I've just looked at Harrogate and here are 44 trains a day to York and 45 trains per day to Leeds and buses every 30 minutes during the day time

I wouldn’t be able to escape the overcrowded dump of a town in which I live. Being able to escape into the countryside (or the bits that haven’t been covered in houses yet) keeps me sane.

From the whole of Harrogate ?

I live in a city with 11 train stations, but its a 4 mile walk to my nearest one

3 buses an hour - to where ?

Do you have any idea how different it is in cities with franchised transport

Buses and trains are hourly where I live but get cancelled regularly, so then it becomes two hourly. Also, they only go to the towns at either end. If you want to go to another village it is into town then out again.

In the towns What about in the more rural areas?

I would have a problem as there is no public transport on my road and the nearest shops are 4 miles away . I have no interest in walking or cycling everywhere

Suburban and small cities - would really struggle
which small cities would be places where people struggle? can you give an example?

rural areas don't come under the umbrella of cities or suburbs

I had to give up my licence for a year after a seizure, which was caused by a brain tumour. Luckily it was benign and removed without any major lasting impact but not being able to drive for a year has led to me not really driving much at all now that I have my licence again. I lived in London at the time and am now in a town just outside with lots of shops and amenities within walking distance and good train links to the city for work so I can easily manage without, but I’d struggle if I wanted to live somewhere even slightly further from a station.

I was under the impression you lived in a rural area? not in a city

I don't live in a city

Gosh. It would be awful, as I currently do the school run (school.and my work are in the nearest city - about 30.mins away). I also prefer driving to the supermarket over home deliveries and like the freedom of having a car. My parents are also 1.5 hours away, so it's handy to be able to pop and see them. All of this would be possible on public transport, but not easy. It would be expensive and inconvenient - and the last bus home is 11pm, so no more.late nights out on town without the huge expense of a taxi home.

It would be a problem getting to work as its 22km away and the only bus stops several km away, so not impossible but would make my days very long. Though maybe I'd be able to get a lift with someone else from work.

DD would still be able to get to her volleyball training as we rely on lifts for that anyway, and DS's extra curriculars are technically in walking distance (though walking 5k each way carrying ice hockey gear is a bit much) but wouldn't be able to take him to games, would have to rely on other parents to take him.

Everything else I could manage without a car, just like I managed all the years I didn't drive, would just be harder work and more annoying, but I'd be in a lot better shape!

We have a station in our village.
One platform, single track, which is a problem because if there is a delay it has a knock on effect on other trains.

I was diagnosed with epilepsy 2 years ago. Out of the blue.
The worst part of this, to me, is no longer being able to drive.
I didn't give it a thought before. I had been driving for over 30 years. Driven all over the country and abroad without a second thought.
My lack of independence has been very hard to accept.

It would be a bit annoying but we’d manage. We deliberately chose to live in a town centre so we don’t have to drive much.

I had asked the question below,

Suburban and small cities - would really struggle
which small cities would be places where people struggle? can you give an example?

And people have answered you.