Would you use your car less?

[GutsyShark]

Following on from the people who don’t drive thread (hopefully less ire on this thread, I’ve avoided AIBU for this reason):

If there was regular, reliable public transport in your area would you use it regularly and drive less? Or do you like your car and wouldn’t want to give it up?

Public transport operates at the times you need it to and you wouldn’t need to give up your car altogether, just would you use it less?

I don't drive (disability before anyone piles on) so I have no choice if travelling solo. If it's DH and I we consider cost and ease of journey/parking (I have a horror of that situation where we are driving round in an unfamiliar place and can't find anywhere to park). For longer journeys, the cost of public transport and journey time usually rules it out - e.g. a journey we can do in a 4 hour drive for about £25 in petrol would take six hours by train, involve two changes and cost £150 for two even with advance tickets. Advance tickets are like hen's teeth on one leg of the route and full price tickets would be more like £300.

Sometimes !

we rarely use the car now , husband is a bus driver. , so he gets the bus to and from work mostly (sometimes takes the car when he’s on the last bus )

a side bonus of this is I get a free bus pass . We have a very good/ direct link straight into our nearest town - so I do occasionally use that . Once or twice we have been out for the day and used the bus - also if I go into a close city I use the train , as it’s a nightmare to drive plus parking is ridiculous expensive.

I only use the bus on my day off work , as it takes so bloody long to get anywhere. I have also had a few experiences of people not behaving well on the bus , and it does panic me a bit - I do have a touch of anxiety.

I hope in the future to use it more , I would however hate the idea of not having the car and losing the independence/ security that it gives you .

atm we are in a very lucky situation in that our car isn’t costing us much

insurance is £28 for the month for the both of us
no finance - and it’s not quite old enough to yet be costing lots in repairs
£12 tax

however, when it starts costing money , we might have to reevaluate, as most weeks we drive less then 30 miles

The general public on the whole are foul so despite having a bus stop right outside my flat, I’ve never actually been on the bus. It also doesn’t go anywhere near where I want to go and who can be bothered to go into town to catch another bus to get anywhere useful. The train is marginally better but completely unreliable and expensive.

However I don’t use my car much as I work from home, so it’s generally just going shopping, seeing family and the occasional meet up with friends so I certainly don’t feel guilty about it.

When town was worth visiting we did used to take the bus in rather than trying to find parking. We don’t go to town now though as there’s nothing there.
Most of the places I go wouldn’t connect up to where I live by transport, so I would have to go into town to the bus station to get a transfer. Whereas I could probably drive it in 5-10 minutes.
Theres a big out of town shopping centre near me, decades ago a bus left from very near me. However now because it’s so busy I go to M&S on opening at 8am and am home by 20 past. Even a reliable bus that would take over an hour.

Absolutely but it is actually so shit I am doing the opposite. Considering ditching my travel pass that I use to park and ride for work and driving instead.

I'd love to use the train instead, but it is expensive, infrequent, overcrowded, and slow.

The bus isn't too bad, but it is expensive because I need to get two and one is exempt from the price cap. I still end up with a long walk because the bus station is on the far side of town or have to get three buses.

So it would appear cost is a major concern for most people, it would need to be very cheap so government running the service at a loss which seems unlikely.

I think it must also depend on where you are. I’m in Scotland, a 60 mile round trip commute on the train is £13.25 with a disabled railcard. I don’t think that’s expensive. A taxi would be at least £80. And when I drove it cost me £10 a day in fuel/electricity. Plus the cost of having the car - finance cost, insurance, road tax (although I drive a hybrid it’s over the value where you still pay £600 a year). The train is much cheaper than all of that. Especially if I bought a smaller, more sensible car that was cheaper to run.

Interesting that someone mentioned a limit on buy in advance tickets, as far as I’m aware that’s not a thing on ScotRail. You can buy season tickets, pay in advance tickets, disabled and young people get discounts and if you don’t have to travel at peak times it’s cheaper too. So I think there will be very few people paying full fare.

Also a good point about there not being much in town and city centres worth visiting now. Partly because of online shopping, greedy governments with sky high rates and lots of shops have moved to retail parks.

I have a car but use the bus a lot……but I use the bus for journeys where it wouldn’t be feasible to take the car e.g. I work in a city centre office with only 2 pre-bookable parking spaces or else it would cost about £20 a day to park, so the only option is to walk or use public transport (£2). But if I was going somewhere on the opposite side of town that has parking I’d take the car because it’s generally quicker. I only use trains for longer distance travel where I don’t need a car at my destination.

I used to use PT all the time, or walk.
Now I mostly walk or drive, because people are becoming more and more horrible (also potentially I am becoming less tolerant). I am sick of having to share my space with people who smell, letchy men, dogs (am allergic), dogs who smell (that's all dogs, ime; slobbery dogs, selfish people who would rather put their bags or feet on the seat than let someone else sit down, lurching buses so you are in danger of falling over, etc. The seats are also filthy.
My car is clean, and smells nice.
They'd need to make it WAY more affordable than it is for me to tolerate the above, and clamp down on anti-social behaviour, and, ban dogs. Dogs didn't used to be on PT much at all, pretty much only guide dogs - now they are everywhere. No thanks.

If the government didn't privatise it, it would be much cheaper. Sadly, they are creaming off all the profits and making us pay for the privilege.

It’s nationalised up here. Although even before that, other than the Glasgow to Edinburgh line every other route in Scotland was loss making and subsidised by the government anyway.

I’d definitely use it for work, but I live in a suburban area where the buses are once an hour, stop at every hole in the hedge, and finish at 2.30. I’d have to coordinate times as I’d need two buses to get to work rather than my current 15 minute car journey.

No I have a special needs child so between him and d siblings the bus would be a nightmare

I wish I did use public transport more often than I do but the comfort and convenience of a car is too tempting. Also, owning a car takes a big chunk of my income so I can't always afford to spend £££ on public transport. It would be great if public transport was better and attitudes towards it were more positive.

I would use my car less if my kids were able to use public transport to get to school!

It would save 40+ miles per day of driving.

We live rurally, and the kids are at schools/catch bus to school from nearest town (6 miles). Unfortunately despite being closest town, the schools aren't catchment (my choice) and so there's no school bus from our village.

If I want to go into Sheffield I use a mixture - 25 minute drive to park and ride, then the tram.

No, I get travel sick on public transport and I am ASD which means (in my case) I'm extra sensitive to smells (like strong perfumes which give me migraines) and noises.

I'm also extremely tight on time (pressures of work & family life) and need to get places when I need to and the shortest time possible which I can door to door using my car.

For example it's 15 mins drive to my child's daily childcare. I WFH. So I lose 15 mins x 4 per day. (1 hour travel)

Using the local (frequent) bus service I'd have to allow 30 mins x 4 per weekday (2 hours travel)

That 1 hour I can get the majority of my household tasks done for the day, and not feel unsettled/sick from being on public transport. So much cheaper as well. I can do jobs like pop to the garden centre/post office/pharmacy/supermarket on my way home without adding to my journey/waiting time or costs.
I can go out wearing whatever because I can heat my car and I'm not waiting outside.

Literally everything is so much easier. I'm not sure I would have had a child if I didn't have a car, I couldn't cope with the loss of time spent on public transport, I can barely cope as it is!

But that's only going to work. What about leisure, shopping, visiting friends and family, going on holiday?

If I go out for the day at the weekend, I'll go for a walk, go somewhere else for lunch, perhaps pop into a retail park, go and visit friends/family, then I have a class I attend, so that's around 5 different places I visit all over the city/county, which would be impossible on public transport.

Plus most people aren't entitled to railcards if they're not young, old, a family or disabled. So their train costs are higher. Plus you have to plan to use specific trains to use advance tickets and decide what time you're going to go somewhere weeks in advance. You can't change your plans without losing money.

I would use public transport if it gave me anywhere near the freedom that my car gives me. But it doesn't.

No,

Car all the way. I literally have no public transport that goes past my house - and it a minumum 45 minute walk to the closes bus stop. then the buses only come every 30 minutes (if you are lucky - which is rare - in actuality its probably more like 1/90 mins) then its only a 20 minute journey to the center of town (in a car) the bus takes well over an hour - without traffic.
they finish at 7pm, which when i was on close in retail - we shut at 6- was close to impossible, especially if the last bus didnt run. I'd then have to spend 20£ on a taxi.
there are many areas in my town that now dont have a bus service that goes direct from my town to the location - which they did when i was a teenager - You used to be able to get from my village direct to the train station and the hospital and to the collage. Now you get to the center of town, then walk to the trainstation and the collage. there is a bus to the hospital though.

the trains are stupidly expensive, and for the last 3 years have been unreliable. It used to be great, and when i was at uni was my prefered method of transport.

Cost analysis is
car total cost including fuel/ month £600
Public transport:
Work:
Monday AM (to be at work for 9am: walk 45 mintues to bus stop with all bags, Bus to Town - 1 hr if running, then walk to trainstation - 30 minutes. Train 1 Hometown to closest transport hub to work - 1.20 minutes (at that time of the morning £90) then Train 2 from city A to town B- 30 minutes - £6 each way, Train 3 to work town C, 15 minutes £3.50 each way / Walk 20 minues with all bags to office - total travel time 4.5 hours : Cost for a monday journey up to work: £102.50.
Monday Work - digs: 20 minute walk to trainstation with bags, tain C-B / Train B-A, 3 minute walk to house: cost £9.50
Work Tuesday to Friday
3 minute walk to trainstation / train one - A-B- 20 minutes - £5/eachway / train 2 B-C £3.50 eachway / walk 20 minutes from train to work / Repeat for the way home: Cost per day £20. (total cost tuesday - thursday £80)

Friday - repeat weekday travel am and pm. train from Main City to hometown - £90 / arives to late for bus - so £35 taxi total cost friday £145

Overall cost per week on public transport: £327.50 plus multiple hours travel.
Cost per month : £1310 (with my rail card - which expires in june - an ive aged out of another one untill i retire at that point - so the prices will go up by a 3rd.

So compare car payment, tax, insurance and fuel for £600 ish a month vs over £1000 a month for public transport and what wins out?

Again I think this is area specific. I don’t think there are any limits about advance tickets in ScotRail trains. You can buy 12 singles on advance for 1/3 off, use within 8 weeks.

And weekends I think are all off peak.

I have no insight into trains in other parts of the country.

I live in London so do have access to excellent public transport, and get it free due to my age.

I always use public transport unless there is a really good reason not too: expecting to come home after the last train / transporting something I can’t carry / an east-west journey with awkward connections that would take ages.

My car is for camping, days out to places without public transport , contents of a flat to or from DC’s uni etc.

I do use the car for visiting family in an isolated area, but I have two trips coming up booked on the Rail Sale.

One of the things that puts me off regional / suburban / rural areas is the total dependence on a car. And the mindset that sometimes goes with it.

I'd give my car up entirely if I could make all my journeys on public transport in a reasonable time frame.

Unfortunately we have a bus that comes every two hours and none of the times align for someone doing a 9-5. And the times don't align well for just popping into town either. The service stops running at 6pm. And that service only works to go to two towns we're halfway between. The other towns near us are either much longer journeys by bus (1hr7 vs 15 minute drive) or there just isn't a link at all.

No, I’ve done my time on public transport. Tube into London occasionally if we both want to have a few drinks, but even that is rare. DH usually drives.

Not for work because it's very rural and would be impossible to reach by public transport.

No I wouldn’t. Mainly because public transport can never replace the freedom that a car gives you.

I have to drop my children off to school on the way to work which is in another town when I’m not wfh. If I used public transport to do that I wouldn’t get to work at a decent time. I would have to catch a bus to take the children to school and then catch another one to get to work. There aren’t enough bus stops or enough busses or enough bus times to make it feasible.

I also have past experience of using public transport before I had children and it was awful for various reasons. I used to catch the train to a city 19 miles away. Quite often if the train was running late, it wouldn’t stop at our station and would just carry on and we would have to wait over an hour for the next one. Often in freezing conditions. I remember being stranded in a freezing cold station when it snowed at the end of the working day because loads of trains had been cancelled due to snow. There was no room in the waiting room so I had to sit for our outside.

I remember being lucky to squeeze onto a packed train on a boiling hot day on the way home from work because there weren’t enough carriages on the train. We were squeezed on like sardines and I was stood in between 2 carriages with nothing to hold onto. It didn’t stop at my station and I had to phone my husband who had to drive 12 miles to come and collect me.

I have been pestered by a drunk man on the train and there were times when I felt vulnerable when I had to wait in the dark for connecting trains.

Im never giving up my car. And I don’t see why we are being put under so much pressure to do so when there are countries that are much bigger and more polluting than ours who aren’t doing anything about climate change.

Where I live we are very badly served by buses into the 3 towns which are within 3 miles of my village, so I drive. I always said I'd get an ebike and cycle, because it's an easy cycle in all 3 directions (although no bike lane, so not actually that safe)... But then I got an electric car, and there seems no point in getting an ebike now! I feel no guilt all about driving to town in it.

And no - I'm not going to cycle it on a normal bike - in the vast majority of instances, I don't want to arrive all sweaty, and I don't have the time it takes to do the journey both ways. ebike would be slower than the car, but much faster than cycling, so it seemed a good compromise at the time. There are also big hills - no issue on an ebike, but grim on a normal bike.