public transport

[dmo]

just want your veiws
everyone says leave your car at home use public transport better for the earth etc etc
was going to town yesterday to a workshop with mindees (i'm a childminder) for me on bus it cost £1.10 to town and half fees for children (i had 4 children) so that would be £3.30 there and £3.30 back. decided to go in car which is faster etc car park cost 80p for the 2hrs we were there
and had the conveinents of having car to hand and not waiting for bus

before we moved there was a big to do about using public transpost in this area as everyone left it for work as mainly houses and no shops other than local)...they previosly had one bus every half hour into town centre...they then changed it to one every hour and stopped it half way so you had to swap/wait around for antoher bus??wheres the sense in that???

It is exasperating. If they want to encourage public transit use, they should make it easier and cheaper than using a car, surely?

I don't drive, but tend to bicycle everywhere (with two kids). A friend has a bike that can be used to transport four kids!

I think Public Transport is WAY overpriced. £144 to go from Bracknell to Wales, one way, and £40 in petrol on way back?? About £3 eact to get into town, and about 50p in petrol? purlease! Id go alot moe often if it actually made sense!

while I remember, going to Wales that time I was 39 weeks pregnant and there was no seats and no one offered me one two hours I was standing

I take your point about cost dmo, but if you always used the bus and didn't have a car, you wouldn't have paid for the car itself, tax, petrol, servicing, MOT, insurance etc, so would probably save money in the long run. (NB isn't it cheaper to buy a return than two singles?)

Where we live it's positively more hassle going into town by car than by bus as parking is an utter pain, costs a fortune (£4 for two hours) and the car park is not v conveniently located. So into town we tend to get the bus, but for Tesco, swimming pool etc we drive. But then we did choose our location based on its good transport system - I appreciate not everyone has the choice.

We bike everywhere as its cheap but have to say the public transport in London is very good and quite cheap (well it is once you've figured out which ticket to buy and where from ).

I went the other day to look something up about fares and was amazed at the discounts that are offered which I reckon very few people actually know about.

This reminds me of when DH, DS2 and I decided to go into Newcastle using public transport instead of the car. We had to get the bus first followed by the train. The first bus didn't turn up, the second was 15 minutes late and we just made the train. On the way back, again the train was fine but the bloody bus didn't turn up. In the end my FIL came to pick us up. It cost us about £25 (rather than a fiver in petrol) and needless to say we take the car now.

Quootiepie, that is shocking

We have no car because we cant afford one.But I often walk instead of getting the bus as, by the time you've waited for one that doesn't alreadt have a buggy on, its just as quick walking, and better for you! We do miss the car for tescos though... only so much you can carry with a double buggy, and internet orders are totally unreliable.

like Mrs B, it's often easier for us to take the bus. Stops just by the swimming pool and if we are in town longer than an hour or so parking costs £££.
Bus is fun for little ones too and you can read a book, play Top Trumps etc.
I agree it often seems too expensive but you have to take into account wear and tear on car etc.
We are off to Notts MN meet-up in a min - train a lot easier than finding s/where to park in Nottingham! (which is also a nightmare to drive in).
dmo yr car park is very cheap compareed to here, 2hrs street parking if you can find it is about £3.

got a family railcard which is quite useful only cost £20 for yr
when from Preston to Harragete the other week children were £2.20 return fab
have a car anyway so have to pay mot,tax etc but my point was public transport is so expensive and time consumming (well buses anyway)
on our service in Preston we dont have return tickets for buses

car park is very cheap i agree and its the car park with the main shopping mall underneath it so if its pouring down you can go to town in car and not step outside once
where we live to get to swimming pool you have to catch bus into town and back out again
also nearest library is in town

I think short journeys (say under 30 mins) are doable on public transport. Any longer or having lots of changes (esp diff types so say train, tube, bus etc.) has started to do my head in. I used to be evangelical about using public transport - I'd go everywhere and anywhere but as I've got older, I've started to appreciate the aircon in my car a bit more and the fact that I'm not sitting next to some smelly, ranting lunatic!

(also had a lovely experience on a train recently where someone threw up all over my feet eewww!)

nice

it's true what you say though dmo - because dd is now over 5 and we have to pay for her on the train, it is often cheaper for us to take the car and pay for parking

i do tend to feel that when you have several small children then perhaps it's a sensible time to use a car. at least we end up doing so.

i do get so fed up of waiting for "buggy friendly" buses which turn out to be non buggy friendly. don't really enjoy using the bus or train with buggy and several small children who aren't too safe in traffic. and people glare at you when your baby cries. have had some exceedingly grim teething baby experiences on public transport

am hoping to use public transport much more when dd3 is out of the buggy and walking properly.

For myself and 4 children for the journeys that we normally make it would cost £145 per month. If I added in the running around of the older children then it would be more. At present I am using around £40 in petrol a month. That leaves £105 saving per month. As well as the savings there is also the fact that the car is more convenient and reliable for a lot of journeys.

When you work out car costs per month you have to factor in buying the car , insurance tax etc or it will always be cheaper!

I borrow a car for work (or get a lift) as public transport takes 75 mins rather than 20 driving !

hear hear right on girls
car is so much better but will try to use public transport

actually if I get the bus to work in the morning (very early I know) I leave the house at 10 past 7 and am in work by 7.30, which is maybe 5 mins longer than if I drove. I think that's great (I live about 3.5 miles from work with a 5-min walk each end of the bus trip.).
However I do agree about the cost of bigger kids - dd is 5 now so I have to pay for two of the kids and it can mount up.
We are really lucky to have library and fab park within walking distance.

We don't have a car so have to use public transport. The bus is very expensive, especially if you have a family. A 10 minute bus trip into town costs £1.45 for each adult and £1.10 for children of 5 and above. That's £8 for me, dh and ds1 to go into town and back. If I could afford a car I'd learn to drive.