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Original poster

Would you give up your car for a day?

66 replies

frankiemum · 26/02/2008 13:45

another interesting programme on tonight involving ethical and environmental issues.
'Woman who stops traffic' it is in 3 parts and involves Kris Murran visiting 3 of Englands most congested towns to try and get people out of their cars for a day..I personally would love to have the nerve to challenge some people round here who drive their children 5 mins down the road to school.

OP posts:
southeastastra · 26/02/2008 13:46

nope, couldn't do job without it

Iklboo · 26/02/2008 13:46

Be a bit blardy difficult for DH - he's a driving instructor

Bimblin · 26/02/2008 13:49

I would if the rubbish public transport here got sorted out

Elf · 26/02/2008 15:15

Definitely. I just wish everyone in the whole country would give up their cars FOREVER and we could all cycle, walk about, have horse and carts maybe.

Life would be simpler and you would live and work more in your own area but wouldn't that be great? More local services would sprout up too.

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 26/02/2008 15:18

I gave mine up recently. We moved to Barcelona for a while so we gave ours to my SIL and when we came back I thought we'd try to do without.

We are doing fine.

Will any of you do 'buy nothing ' day?
It's a nice concept but pretty much impossible unless you turn off your power supplies.

hatrick · 26/02/2008 15:20

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Indith · 26/02/2008 15:22

I tend to walk everywhere anyway. Half the time it is quicker anyway, you have to pay for parking and creche for ds in in the congestion charge zone.

However, dp takes the car to work (another reason I don't use it, I don't have it 99% of the time!) and couldn't really get to work without it. He works near a shopping centre but since the shops only open at 10 there is little transport before then. Plus he would have to walk 45 mins to the train station then get 2 trains!

I'd love a horse and cart though Elf! I always wanted to be like Jill?, (the one who had a beautiful arab horse and lots of adventures on the moors) and ride to school on horseback.

peanutbear · 26/02/2008 15:22

I would do it if I could work out a way to get from DS2 school to DS1 in the 5 minutes gap I have

actually I would do it if even a bus went past the door but it doesnt
My sister has recently moved to London and she only uses hers to come back home of a weekend now

PerkinWarbeck · 26/02/2008 15:22

I gave up my car 3 years ago.
it's not actually that huge a deal. the decision was fairly easy for us, as neither DH nor I can drive to work, as there's no parking available. We hire cars maybe 4 times yearly if we have trips we want to make. As DD grows up and no longer needs travel cot/buggy etc I hope we will only hire cars once in a blue moon.

FairyMum · 26/02/2008 15:23

We don't have a car. Sold ours October and so far I haven't missed it. We live in London and just use public transport. We sometimes hire a car for the weekend if we are going somewhere because it works out cheaper than train fare.

kama · 26/02/2008 15:24

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Bramshott · 26/02/2008 15:25

I would, but for me that would just mean staying in all day (which I often do, rather than going anywhere for the sake of it). We are in a village with no public transport, and 3 miles to town, which I could walk, but not with both DDs in tow.

Actually I don't use my car much in the week now that DD1 goes to school by taxi and DD2's childminder is in the village (I work at home), but it does sometimes bug me that I have to get into the car to go anywhere / do anything.

lailasmum · 26/02/2008 15:26

yes I could, I have only been driving a couple of years and didn't miss not having one day to day before then and didn't have one for about 6 months last year and survived. I would say its easier in some places than others. when I lived in a big town or city an there was fab public transport it was more hassle having a car than not having one but I would say that where I live now is fairly rural and the public transport is dire and it turns what would be a 30 minute pop out to the shops by car into a half day epic adventure by the time my dd has taken an hour to walk to the shops and an hour to walk back plus I end up carrying everything.

The buses are rather erratic and a few times a day at odd times so it makes it hard but it is just about doable, not sure you could use it as a reliable way to get to work though, the bus has driven right past me and not stopped on more than one occasion.

If there was better access to reliable public transport then I think most people could do without a car but there just isn't so not everyone can no matter how ideal it would be to live in a car free world.

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 26/02/2008 15:27

I just think if ore people actually used their local bus and train services they would get better.

In London we are well served but it's shocking when I visit friends in other cities and the buses finish at 11pm, or local trains only run every hour. It makes no sense at all.

dosydot · 26/02/2008 15:28

I only use it about once a week anyway.

JingleyJen · 26/02/2008 15:30

Yes - I have started to agree to Dh having my car 2 days a week so that he doesn't have to fire up his car.

School is only a mile away and for 2 days a week there is no requirement for me to leave the village.

Can't do it every day though as alot of the activities that DS2 and I do whilst DS1 is at nursery school are out of the village.

peachygirl · 26/02/2008 15:36

Yes and frequently do when I am on my days off or at the weekend

redwino · 27/02/2008 11:05

It seems to me that those of you who do not have a car or use it only occasionally are all living in towns or cities that actually have public transport.
In rural area we have far less options so not using our cars is much harder.
Having said that I am making a huge effort this year to use mine less and try to have car free days as often as possible (which is only about once every 2-3 weeks). However i do try not to 'waste ' a car journey and try to get the shopping done when taking the children to school etc.
If local authorities provided reasonably priced school transport foe ALL children, not just those over 3 miles away from school, this would have a big impact on car useage.

chopster · 27/02/2008 11:17

Nope.

I watched that, and thought it was really quite funny how she was so agravated about it all. I also would have liked to see if there were any long term effects of her campeign. I really didn't buy the arguement that if people tried it once they would like it.

I walk to school sometimes, and nearly always regret it. It might only be a bit of rain but I don't like getting wet. ds1 has sn and ends up howling because he finds walking hard or throwing things at cars, or I have to stick him in the buggy. The twins don't want to sit in and keep running off. They keep digging up the road and I can't get the buggy through. Mums in 4x4s park on the pavement where there is pavement, then near the school there is no pavement. Walkign to school, quite frankly is crap!

We did a thing, WOW (walk on wednesdays). If the kids walked to school for a term on weds they got free swimming at the local pool for a session. Was a great idea, nearly everyone walked and I wasn't stuck in traffic in my car.

Bramshott · 27/02/2008 11:19

Yes definitely RedWino - we get free transport and it's great, but I think the mileages it's based on are out of date - there is no way a child of 8 is going to walk 3 miles to school and 3 miles back in this day and age, and there doesn't seem to be the option of having transport and paying for it.

needmorecoffee · 27/02/2008 11:23

I gave up my car for years but after 4 years of struggling with severely disabled child and her blardy wheelchair I gave in and got a motability car last week.
Disabled poeple neeed cars, the rest are just wimps.

needmorecoffee · 27/02/2008 11:26

were kids in the past just fitter and stronger then? If I could walk 3 miles at 8, why can't a modern 8yo?

LazyLinePainterJane · 27/02/2008 11:28

Well, I have been recently taking DS out on trains and buses as he's started a little obsession with them. DH and I share a car and he has it most days.

What has surprised me is how bleeding expensive it is. We live just outside the Centro zone so no all encompassing tickets for us. £1.65 each way to the train station and £4.20 to Birmingham (15 minute journey)! DS enjoyed it so while the novelty lasts that is fine, but it is far too expensive to use regularly.

Bramshott · 27/02/2008 11:34

INMC - To some extent yes, we all walk less these days (kids included), so our stamina is less. But I think also our expectations are higher - 50 years ago kids would probably have walked 3 miles or more to school, but they possibly wouldn't have been in any fit state to learn when they got there, which wouldn't have bothered the powers that be because they were being educated to a basic level in order to be farm labourers anyway.

Bramshott · 27/02/2008 11:36

There is also more traffic these days and it's less safe to walk where there are no pavements.