To think that the price of public transport is just obscene?

[TAFKAtheUrbanDryad]

I've been checking out the bus prices in my local area as my car will have to go into the garage soon to have some work done and I will be without it for a couple of days. To get from where I live to the next town (where Tesco is) will be the best part of £5.00! It's a 20 minute car drive, surely it doesn't cost that much in fuel?

Am I alone in thinking that this isn't the way to encourage people to use their cars less? Why would anyone pay more to use the bus, endure people playing their music on their phones (a pet hate of mine) the rudeness of the drivers, and more inconvenience? Yes, I know it's better for the environment, and perhaps I should want to use the bus for that reason alone, but AIBU to think it should be better value for money?

[Louise2004]

Just a note on comparing costs: while public transport might be cheaper for us when abroad, you have to consider how their prices relate to people from that particular country's/city's average income, cost of fuel etc.

I do agree that the price of public transport in the UK is appalling, also considering the level of service received and general value for money.

YANBU.

[Debs75]

It is hard to be eco when you have a child who can not use public transport. DS loves buses and trains but with his ASD he upsets other passengers, won't sit still and we often have nowhere to put his disabld buggy. We can't use busy interchanges as he gets distressed easiloy and has often run off to look at the trains. When you add to that a travel sick teenager and a baby under 1 it is soooo much easier to use our own car.
London travel might be good but out in the sticks you can be reduced to 2 buses a day and often the rush hour ones are so packed you run the risk of not being able to get on the bus at all.

[Bleh]

YANBU. This is a favourite bugbear of mine. Public transport in this country is horrific and quite frankly, embarassing. The trains are a mess and stupidly expensive. there are some routes that were faster in the Victoria era than they are now.
London transport is better than other places, but, it depends where you live. If you live on or need the Victoria line or Jubilee line any time this August on a weekend, forget about it. They've closed both EVERY weekend in August. The buses are good, I will give them that, but it's not enough. And the transport to and from airports, particularly Stansted, don't get me started. Single to Stansted: £18! The equivalent journey in Geneva (albeit it shorter) CHF 3 (about £1.60), Barcelona, EUR3, Moscow RUB 200 (about £4).

[sweetnitanitro]

Actually I do occasionally use public transport when I go to Cambridge to avoid kamikaze cyclists traffic jams.

[TheDMshouldbeRivened]

no pass for ds1 cos wessex connect doesn't do them. And he wont catch a First Bus because they are so unreliable.
He's asked me to run them to school. I said no cos it'd take over an hour each way (rush hour) so I'd be spending 4 hours a day in the blardy evil-mobile. The car is a WAV for dd's needs.

[TAFKAtheUrbanDryad]

Dh would love to take the Tube to work instead of driving, but it would mean leaving at 7am and not getting back until half 8 at night.

[littlenamelessunrememberedacts]

'public service' and 'private enterprise' DO NOT MIX

that's the problem

[ClaireDeLoon]

It would be a lot cheaper for me to drive to work in London from where I live than to take the train, even including parking (I work in Canary Wharf so wouldn't have to pay congestion charging). Madness.

Mind you I driving for a few weeks (had limited mobility at the time) and it was so incredibly tiring I was glad to switch back to the train and tube.

[TAFKAtheUrbanDryad]

Riven - when I was at college I got a bus pass. Don't they do them anymore?

[TheDMshouldbeRivened]

wish buses were cheaper. ds1 turns 16 this week so to get to college is going to cost him £5.20 a day. Add that to ds2's school bus fare (same bus into town where the school is) and its over £8 a day. They will be going in alternate days i reckon.

[ZephirineDrouhin]

And that, in a nutshell, is why we're all doooomed.

[EyeballsintheSky]

Yep, that's it Peed.

[TAFKAtheUrbanDryad]

I dunno - I think I'd be prepared to pay a little bit extra for public transport for the sake of the planet and all, if it wasn't so bloody inconvenient!!

[ZephirineDrouhin]

YANBU. Public transport is essential and does not work as a profit making enterprise. It needs to be properly subsidised.

You might be being a bit unreasonable about the rudeness of bus drivers though.

Disagree about cheapness of London transport. A return journey on the tube from Zone 3 to central London (maybe 5 or 6 miles) costs £5.40 with an Oyster card or £8 without.

[sweetnitanitro]

YANBU. Public transport (outside of London) is expensive and slow. It would take me over 3 hours and cost me £5 to get to Tesco, do my weekly shop and get home again on the bus. In my car I can do the whole lot quite easily in less than an hour.

[PeedOffWithNits]

eyeballs, so stuff the future of the planet then eh, so long as you get to keep your car and not use public transport

[Overmydeadbody]

YANBU

Bus fares here are extortionate, cheapest fare is £1.70 single Kids over 5 don't go free either, and the kid's fare s more thanm half the adults'.

As for trains, it's a bloody rip off.

[EyeballsintheSky]

I have been without my car for a month, thanks to DH knackering his and pinching mine to take to work. I was reduced to public transport into London every day. It cost more than the car, took longer and, in this weather, was thoroughly unpleasant. Today I have my car back and I am bloody delighted. No power on earth will make me give it up for public transport again.

[TheDMshouldbeRivened]

the buses here are always packed so the price rises aren't lack of interest.
We used to be car-free but lack of low floor buses and endless squabbbles with pushchair mothers made me get a motability car for dd and her wheelchair last year. I hate cars and hate driving but there's no real choice.

[SomeGuy]

public transport is fairly cheap in London because of the subsidies. But go out of London and you go from £1 for a bus fare to about £3. Which is a rip-off.

I think there are a few other councils that heavily subsidise public transport. I know Leeds used to, but it seems the fares have risen dramatically there.

[SomeGuy]

well if it was, then people wouldn't get a job would they?

JSA is very meagre, but there is income support, which can provide enough to live on, because there are many levels of it - you get more if you have kids, more if they are disabled, etc. Although I think Child Tax Credit has effectively replaced it - it's only used for assessing Housing/Council Tax Benefit levels.

This is of course why people say 'she's getting knocked up so she can get a council flat and benefits', because the gap between what you can get as a single person (£50/week) and a single mother (about £200/week is vast.

Sickness benefit was I think made higher than unemployment benefit in the 1970s. The result was much lower unemployment figures, but large numbers of people on 'disability' instead, because you don't need to go and jump through hoops at the jobcentre each week, and because the level of benefits is so much higher. Unemployment is probably now at its highest level ever, though employment is not, because far more women are in the job market now that weren't in the 1950s.

[TAFKAtheUrbanDryad]

Hmm, that's true Peed....chicken/egg though, isn't it? And of course it means inconveniencing oneself for the amount of time that it would take to make things better - of course with no actual guarantee that things would get better!

Riven - First have lost a lot of contracts in my parents' town. They are utterly appalling, I'm surprised they're still going. Well, I'm not, but I wish I was.

[PeedOffWithNits]

some people CHOOSE to use the bus all the time, or have NO choice BUT to use it therefore they can purchase season ticket/monthly pass etc, making it cheaper

it is not just about your petrol money, but tax, insurance, purchase of car itself and maintenance. some people chose bus even IF more expensive and less convenient than running a car just because it is greener. fact.

it is the same as anything else. If DEMAND went up then the prices could go down, because they are not running the buses round half empty. the traffic would flow quicker because of the fewer cars on the road. there would be more incentive for councils to have bus lanes etc

and as for rude bus drivers, there are rude people in every walk of life, and many passengers are downright ignorant too!

[TheDMshouldbeRivened]

yanbu but if they were subsidised (which I think they would be) the car only majority would all be whinging about their taxes. Again.

DLA is for the extras your disabilty costs, and believe me, impairments lead to far greater costs.

First Bus (motto: First the Worst) have just put up bus fares AGAIN in this city.

[LaurieFairyCake]

LOl at someguy , neatly summed up.

while I'm sure that's true it's still shit if you're single and living in a bedsit - you can't afford heating on £45 a week but I'm sure it's possible on £120.

I think JSA and income support should be about providing enough to sustain life on.