You don't have to live in the deepest countryside to need a car!

Kimberley82

I couldnt run my life with out a car. I dont have enough hour in the day as it is with out having to walk/get buses.

TooDee

I've never driven, live in the country. I live about a ten minute walk from a shop and pub and 15 minutes from the bus stop to the city that takes an hour. It takes me over and hour to get to and from work but its worth every second when I get home to my blissful countryside home. Everyone says when i have kids I'll need to learn to drive but i don't see it.
I do have people I can call on in emergency's and theres always taxis. I've got all manner of stuff home without a car including a christmas tree that took me over an hour to get home from the garden center about half an hour walk away.
I guess it depends whats important to you and what you can afford. Its £60 a month for my bus pass I'm sure I couldn't run a car for that where I live.

ceridwen

Kimberley82 wrote: »

I couldnt run my life with out a car. I dont have enough hour in the day as it is with out having to walk/get buses.

Actually you probably would "have enough hours in the day" if time wasnt allowed for watching tv/shopping as a pastime/errr...being on a computer/etc/etc.

It might be interesting to sit down and keep a timetable for a week and I expect it would reveal quite a few "spare" hours - which, with a little rearrangement, could be used for walking/getting buses.

nickyhutch

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Sometimes you have to think laterally though.

I used to work on a split site college and could be on different sites morning and afternoon. If time was short I'd get a mini cab across town which colleagues thought was really extravagant. The cabs actually cost far less than running a car, which didn't strike people as extravagant at all!

Some people have a very blinkered viewpoint.

If GobbledyGook's job is anything like mine (sounds the same), then it wouldn't be practical, or even allowed. My contract says I have to have the use of a car because I'm out and about a fair bit. Using your taxi scenario, I'd still have the bus/train problem getting to and from work, and I wouldn't have a car to use for the other stuff I use it for - visiting isolated relatives/stepkids, going to the gym, going out for the day, going away for the weekend, going on hoilday.........

MrsE_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

But the point is that you wouldn't have chosen to live in your village if you didn't run a car.

I could have, but I wouldn't have the ease of a car.
It makes my life easier & it saves me time.
I would still work for the same employer, but I wouldn't have been able to apply for promotion as you need to be able to travel.

nickyhutch

ceridwen wrote: »

Actually you probably would "have enough hours in the day" if time wasnt allowed for watching tv/shopping as a pastime/errr...being on a computer/etc/etc.

It might be interesting to sit down and keep a timetable for a week and I expect it would reveal quite a few "spare" hours - which, with a little rearrangement, could be used for walking/getting buses.

How rude. Maybe she doesn't WANT to use them sitting on the bus or walking up hill and down dale in the cold/rain/dark. If I went to work on the bus/train I would have to set off at stupid o'clock and wouldn't get home til ridiculous o'clock. That would cut into time with my DH and son - I'd rather run a car and give myself more time with my family.

TooDee

My area manager doesn't drive, he gets trains to all his meetings in the whole of the south west and sometimes round the rest of the country too. Works for him.

MrsE_2

TooDee wrote: »

My area manager doesn't drive, he gets trains to all his meetings in the whole of the south west and sometimes round the rest of the country too. Works for him.

If you live near a train station I guess it could work.

I don't...

Kimberley82

ceridwen wrote: »

Actually you probably would "have enough hours in the day" if time wasnt allowed for watching tv/shopping as a pastime/errr...being on a computer/etc/etc.

It might be interesting to sit down and keep a timetable for a week and I expect it would reveal quite a few "spare" hours - which, with a little rearrangement, could be used for walking/getting buses.

oh if only i had time for things like shopping etc

onlyroz

Humphrey10 wrote: »

On a train I can work, read, listen to music, watch films, play games. It's relaxing, and safe.

Relaxing and safe, eh? I've spent the last week getting the train into London each day, because I've been doing training courses. In the whole week (8 journeys) I only got a seat once. The rest of the time I had to stand for the whole 45 minute journey. And once in London I braved the Waterloo-and-City line, which was like being carolled like cattle into a pen. After that I took my bike with me, so that I could cycle into the city from Waterloo station.

I was talking to some other fellow commuters once I'd made it into London - and they think that the government are actively trying to discourage people from taking the train - by (e.g.) raising fares, removing standard-class carriages etc etc. So they don't want us to drive and they don't want us to get the train. What do they actually want us to do? Soon we'll all be forced onto Boris's bicycles, or we'll have to work remotely.

Speaking of remote working - there are many people who could do their jobs perfectly well from home - e.g. most people who work in IT. However, many employers are resistant to this even though it makes good economic and environmental sense. But if the cost of fuel, and house prices in the south, continue their upward trend then I think companies will be forced to rethink their policy about remote workers.