Should I take the bus to work?

JDMYOFAN

I have a fun little car, a 106 GTi, which isn't too great on the fuel side of things. £10 get's me around 100 miles (driving economically) and I'm averaging 250 a week (£25).

I'm currently driving 45 miles of 'A' roads daily to get to work and back. This takes about 40-45mins each way. Involves a lot of blind bends, speed bumps, pot holes (avoided), speed cameras (all but one avoided) and hills.

I'm thinking about starting to take the bus and keeping my GTi as a weekend car.

Now also taking into account running costs, what would my best option be?

* Bus everyday
* Bus somedays
* Carry on driving

* The bus is, as I recall, £7.20 for a day return or £25.20 for a 7-day ticket (though will only use for 5 days, but still saves me £9.80 purchasing daily tickets.
* Petrol at the current rate costs about £5.00 per day
* By not driving a french car daily, the french parts are less likely to wear & tear
* Tyres will be used less and servicing will be less frequent.
* As well as that, the car will hold it's value better
* Insurance should see a large drop

It works out an extra hour and a bit travelling each day, is THAT worth it?

If anyone has suggestions for other ways to pay for tickets (freedom day passes etc) that would be cool The company is FIRST (south west). I see they do a day ticket for £3, but that only lets you go within about 10miles.

anewman

My opinion... I voted carry on driving.

With low mileage your car would actually benefit from servicing as regular as you do with the 250 miles a week. If something's going to wear and tear it will anyway eventually. Tyres also die from age and it's recommended not to use tyres older than 6 years old. I also doubt insurance will drop that much if you tell them you drive 10,000 miles a year less. Your fuel efficiency doesn't sound all that bad to me.

Plus, do you really want to stand in the rain waiting for a bus that turns up late, is damp and smelly and full of annoying chavs playing crap music on their mobile phone speakers? Plus an extra hour, ouch. All for pretty much the same price as driving (as most of the costs of the car you'd be paying anyway).

And not forgetting you can take the route home you want, and for example go to a supermarket on the way home etc.

If you know someone who works where you work and lives near you, you could save money by car sharing.

Voyager2002

Give the bus a try.

If it is unpunctual and uncomfortable, then go back to driving (and write to the bus company and tell them why). However, if you can use the time on the bus doing something you enjoy (learning a language by listening to audio tapes; listening to a talking book or podcast of your favourite radio programmes; reading if that doesn't make you feel ill) then it would be an improvement in your lifestyle. And remember that fuel is only one component of the cost of driving an extra mile, so you would benefit financially from using the weekly ticket.

Personally, I would move either my job or my home.

anewman

Voyager2002 wrote: »

And remember that fuel is only one component of the cost of driving an extra mile, so you would benefit financially from using the weekly ticket.

Depending on how old the car is, the biggest extra per mile cost on top of petrol is probably depreciation.

AdrianHi

I think at £7.20 a day the bus will save money. My 28 miles a day equates to about £19.50 considering the pence per mile costs of the car, but do fewer miles and pence per mile goes up.
Then I think what's the point in having a car if you don't use it and if you do below average miles your car depreciates not much less than average miles plus you start servicing the car because of time rather than miles, and the car becomes less value for money all round.

May be the way to go is use the bus some of the time, may be whole weeks at a time, perhaps more in winter when the weathers bad and the drive less fun and then use the car the rest of the time.
I've quite liked periods of commuting by train in the past, means I get time to catch up on reading.