living without a car

ocemeer

However i live 25 miles from work so have a motorbike and use that. thought about cycling/running (i said thought....) but can work some really strange hours so not totally practical. Don't use the bike at the weekends, if I need to go into town I either walk 2 miles or catch the bus into the larger towns. Am really enjoying it, it takes some planning to move stuff around and have just had my first internet grocery delivery (it felt like xmas).

Not sure if it will always be practical, have commuted longer on the bike but the wind and rain at the moment can be a little wearing. Envious of those who can run/cycle to work however selfishly would not want to move closer to work as love where I live.

talksalot81

I am getting married next year and have done sums about the viability of cars (we have 2 between us). Of course 1 will definitely go however I fancied getting both out of the way.

Unfortunately I did not get too far. The train into work for both of us was going to cost £2500 a year. Significantly more than the cost of the car (including all running costs) and I hadnt even begun to factor beyond work! So I only wish I could be without the car, but it is just too expensive

tim_n

I agree

I'm currently househunting. The places I've been looking are all based around a mainline direct to London. I could easily get the train to work if required, however it looks increasingly too expensive compared to the cost of a car. I'd love to live green - perhaps I'll start manufacturing biodiesel but until then I'll have to stick with my petrol guzzler (45mpg).

Can't drive a motorcycle - part of the deal for getting a car from the parents was 'never ride a bike'.

On the plus side it'll make it easier to get to my allotment.

jud!th

still good - hiring car over Christmas (think will be too much to post home all presents) for only £91 for the week with Avis code off codes forum and enjoying buses a lot. Now graduating to more two-bus journeys which don't seem as scary as they used to.

The worst thing that's happened is allowing an hour to catch a train, plenty time for the two buses to get me, two children and huge rucksack to station, one bus late, the other ('every few minutes' my a***) never coming, ending up getting a taxi and still missing the train.

Was crying big time and nice gner lady let us get on the next train without having to pay £150 extra.

learning curve... next time we'll just get the taxi to the station.

Judith
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nearlyrich

A friend of mine got rid of his car after a series of vandalism incidents, it was written off by his insurance company, he has a bike and cycles to work, hires a car when he needs one to go to see family etc. He doesn't miss it one bit and it's been about 3 years now.

I do lots of miles for my job and we live in a semi rural area with not much bus activity after 7.30pm but if I was in an area with good public transport and travelling to a fixed point every day I would manage without my car.

Quantum_Paul

I like the idea of living without a car appeals to me - although there is one major draw back - public transport!
I've had so many problems with busses and trains that i'm late or stressed or both.
I know i'm gonna feel bad about damaging the enviroment even more, but i'm at the point where i'm considering getting a car.
My point is, good luck to all of you who are trying to go without, i've tried but for me it just does not seem to be a viable option for meany more.

gromituk

Quantum_Paul wrote:

I've had so many problems with busses and trains that i'm late or stressed or both.
I know i'm gonna feel bad about damaging the enviroment even more, but i'm at the point where i'm considering getting a car.

Prepare to be late or stressed or both whenever you get stuck in a traffic jam then.

caroline1973lefty

had a quick skim and didn't see these references which someone might find helpful:

http://cuttingyourcaruse.co.uk/ £3.99 book for those who want to reduce or even cut out their car use, well regarded book.

campaign for better public transport here:
http://www.transport2000.org.uk/
http://www.est.org.uk/fleet/
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_susttravel/documents/sectionhomepage/dft_susttravel_page.hcsp

seven-day-weekend

When we lived in the Uk we did not really need a car most of the time, in fact I managed without one until I was 42 as I didn't pass my test until then and worked part-time locally, so my husband took the car to work and me and our son managed with walking/public transport.

We lived in a large city in the Midlands, good bus, train and tram routes. However I went back to work full-time when I was 46 and although I could walk to work I needed the car once a week to go out on site visits. My husband had also changed his school and could walk to work. Our son attended the same school that my husband taught at, so he walked too.

So, most of the time our car was sitting in the street collecting dust! But we did need it sometimes - so it was worth keeping.

Our son (nearly 27) who still lives in the UK family home has never learned to drive and goes everywhere by cycle, foot or public transport and the occasional taxi after he has done his big shop.

Unless you need your car for work, you don't really need one in a city.

jud!th

We've done 6 months and it's still good!

I've lost loads of weight - now I'm trying not to lose any more...

Great way to tire out the children without paying to get in to anywhere. I used to take them in the car and pay to do something tiring. Now we just go to the library/post office/market. If we want to tire them out more, we go to a further away library/post office!

The only real down side is that we've exposed ourselves to the germs of Leeds, as contained in the buses of Leeds. So we seem to have had every bug going since September.

So if we're poorly we get buses on journeys we'd usually walk, or use taxis, and when I didn't even feel up to taking them to pre-school and toddler group in a taxi, I asked friends from aforementioned pre-school and toddler group to take them - and they didn't mind at all. Asking for help is not as scary as it seemed. Perhaps if we all asked for help a bit more often... anyway...

We're well in to trains rather than hire car for the trip down south now - lots more to do, eat in restaurant car, don't have to stop for the loo (v. important with small children), people to chat to, no back of car bickering.

And we're planning to go on a camping holiday to western France on gner/eurostar/tgv in the summer, and send our tent etc out ahead of us! We'll let you know how it goes.

The other thing is that if I hadn't walked everywhere this winter, I wouldn't really have realised how much we didn't have a winter, and wouldn't have realised how much I want to not have a car as a (very small) part of combatting climate change.

Judith
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