Car v public transport

[diamond lil]

Spent 40 years in all, living remote or off a bus route. Now we could manage fine without the car, bus services here excellent and free bus pass. But husband would be lost without the loves of his life - car & bike!

[jansman]

We live in a ( now) semi rural area. The bus service is very good. We are drifting towards one car now ,as Mrs J walks to work ,and I am starting to look locally. We have to keep money coming in ,especially as the ‘pension’ I was told was a good idea in the 80’s ,is now a joke - but I won’t dwell on that. As we are now,we have an excellent Tesco delivery ( lots of other brands too!), solid fuel can be delivered to us,and frankly,we buy a lot of stuff online instead of going into town.

As vehicle fuels increase in price, the above will be our way forward over time. It’s rather an irony that our village seems it will go back to the way it was when I was born in the early 60’s !

[grenfell]

Nice to hear some have a decent bus service , round by us it has gotten worse. I live in South Staffs in what has been dubbed a dormitory town meaning the residents just sleep here but travel for work and most everything else. We have a Morrisons , a sport centre , a handful of pubs but precious little else especially in the way of shops. The bus service isn't too bad during the weekday but the last bus service has been getting earlier and earlier. There are less buses at the weekend. My daughter works around 6 miles away. Getting there by bus in the week is straightforward but if she had to use the bus on Saturday it would involve a trip to a different town , changing buses and something like a nearly 2 hour journey. On sunday there are no buses. As it is she is learning to drive so one of us will go with her in the car , drop her off and pick her up later. Also as she works until 8 o'clock we're happier using the car.
Though I have to use a van for work I'm generally in favour of public transport and do use it .

[Frnc]

Where my mum lives is bonkers. Had to go there for my dad's funeral last week. It's a tiny village about 15 miles from Taunton, the nearest train station. Train gets in at 15.15. Bus leaves 5 minutes earlier. Then the schools come out, not sure what time the 6th form college finishes. Next bus isn't for two hours, bang in the middle of rush hour! It's the most stupid timing you could imagine. Taxi quoted at £70.

[Vitamin c]

I think most of us agree that things must change , how that looks well I'm sure we will have different views.
But if we are going to swap over from car to public transport their needs to be public transport my options are none whatsoever without car I would be stuck .
I think the next thing is to get into these big mega city's the great and the good have been informing us of over the last few years .
How that happens or if we get a choice we will have to see.

[rik_uk3]

Public transport here in South Wales is a joke and after 18:00 the already poor bus service gets even worse.

I'm using a car less and less, I pay for Asda and Tesco home deliveries which is about £15 for both which covers all my grocery needs (and free Iceland deliveries) so all our car is used for is taking the wife to and from work or driving over to our son or daughters and the occasional weekend break; when we go out for a meal we use a taxi.

To be honest, for us a car is now becoming an indulgence rather than a need.

[Evergog]

Public transport by us is pretty non existent so no real option. We do use the bikes for round the village, but we live on top of a bloody big hill so you have allow quite a bit of time to get back up it!

[Mad Scientist]

Fractured my wrist in October so no driving for a while. Bus service isn’t bad you can get to most places eventually if you’ve got all day. They are every half an hour now so anywhere on the other side of town takes two buses one to get to town and the next to go to work/ visiting etc. A journey that would be about 20 minutes in the car is about 45 mins on the bus plus walking. Thank goodness we taught our daughter to drive, she drove me in my car with a provisional license and on my insurance . A few lifts from hubby Some trips were a taxi £15 each way. My brother doesn’t drive nor do a couple of my friends. Soooo glad to be back behind the wheel.

[elliott92]

A vehicle gives a hell of a lot freedom and maneuverability. That's priceless

[Frnc]

I'm lucky to live near the tram, which has about 8 different lines now. But some places require a bus, and the buses are still slow and unreliable. In a year or two they will all be under local authority control, so hopefully will be better. The tram is great. Taxis are pretty expensive and not always reliable.