living without a car

Daisies

Well, I just worked out that it costs me £1.64 every day to tax, insure and MOT my car. That's not including maintenance costs, depreciation or petrol. If I didn't work in such out-of-the-way locations I'd get rid of it asap!

faerie_girl

We travel by bus to work. It should be 15 mins down the motorway but because we dont drive it takes almost two hours on the bus with a change over and costs £4 for a day saver. It can be inconvient if we want to nip anywhere. A 30 - 50 min journey to the main shopping town in the area costs £2.20 one way.
If more people used public transport i would suspect it would be cheaper.

Daisies

Another thing to factor in with not having a car is that you have to plan things much more (or at least I did!). So I planned meals much more carefully, and planned journeys out so that things could be combined into one journey. It meant that I was only buying what I really needed at the supermarket, especially as I had to fit it onto my bike to get home again. I find now, with a car, it's very easy to spend more money simply because you've got a car you can load full of shopping.

chezmonster

I love the fact that I can now kill more time during the day with the children. A trip to town used to take an hour or so but now I can really drag it out , we go to town on the bus have a look round then get on a bus to come home or go where ever else we can get o with the bus day ticket and then come back in time for tea. Leaving the children with less time to watch TV and me not having them sulk because I've said no more TV. It's a win win situation.

Chollita

I live in a major Spanish city, and transport is laughably cheap (presumably subsidised) - if you buy a pass, a single trip works out at around 50p. A 100 mile round trip out of town by train cost around £6. As I live in the centre, I can walk a lot as well.

If only they'd ban cars here, it would be an even more pleasant place to live ...

ceridwen

Thought for the day - has everyone read the newspaper article on positive benefits of cutting back on car usage in:

http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/

its in the 17 September entry - click on "Globe and Mail" link.

economiser

I guess most of the folks contributing here live in town. Out in the sticks there is no alternative to the car. No public transport worth speaking of and narrow lanes too dangerous to cycle or walk on.

custardy

my cars engine died andf since moneys tight ive had no car for a few months now.
TBH in edinburgh we have a great bus service.i can get into work for 4am no problems.during the day its no more than a 10 minute wait between buses.
i do miss the car for shopping runs and collecting the odd large items but get by fine

gromituk

economiser wrote: »

Out in the sticks there is no alternative to the car. No public transport worth speaking of and narrow lanes too dangerous to cycle or walk on.

So get a moped that does 150mpg, then. And I'm doubtful about the dangers of cycling. Just make sure you are extremely visible and you cycle assertively.

lil_me

gromituk wrote: »

So get a moped that does 150mpg, then. And I'm doubtful about the dangers of cycling. Just make sure you are extremely visible and you cycle assertively.

Obviously haven't tried to ride a bicycle near where I live to towns then, countryside is fine, loads of lanes, but none take you into town. My partner got knocked off his motorbike (125) more than anything else on these roads that's with a high vis jacket on!! There was 6 accidents over the summer here with people on bikes on the back lanes. Oh you must also ride an all terrain bike, no good with a road bike where we are.

I suppose it takes 'living' somewhere and 'experiencing' it before you can comment appropriately.

My partner would be unemployed if he didn't drive anyway, one of those things when you drive a taxi for a living :rolleyes:

I am however downsizing next week, my 4.0 Jeep goes in part ex for a 1.6 because winters seem to be improving here, watch us get snowed in now I've said that.