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

KxMx

MrsE wrote: »

Not all of us can afford to be so choosy about where we work;)

Er excuse me you missed my point! Being restricted to where the bus goes is not a good thing at all and she was certainly not being choosy! :shocked: Choosy suggests choice and she didn't have one- it was bus into town then possibly bus around town if you like.
Had she been a driver she could have looked anywhere to get back into employment sooner. Or perhaps on the £80 odd (JSA + child addition & CB, rent/council tax paid, TC's were for workers at first, even the child element) weekly income we had should have paid for a car and lessons?

It's you who has the luxury of seeking work anywhere since you drive.

As I have said elsewhere on the forum I see now it was a mistake to move there, but nothing I can do about those circumstance now. Living in a town with much better buses there are still restrictions on where she can and can't get to (she's looking for better hours and wages, isn't everyone lol)

When you don't drive that is what life is like. You go where bus goes and nowhere else. You can manage but it's not always easy. We don't have the luxury of our own transport (and growing up you have no idea how many times I heard the dreaded "I don't have any transport").

TooDee

ceridwen wrote: »

Hmmm...I thought I had read somewheres recently that people whose nearest Jobcentre is too far away to sign on at have got some sort of dispensation to sign on by post??? I may be wrong on that - but I think it would be worth checking out whether this is the case. If it is - then I imagine it wouldnt exactly be publicised by the Jobcentre - so it may take some "digging" to find out if there IS such a facility.

Yep, my Dad did that when he got made redundant. He still had to visit the nearest city initially but then could sign on from home.

brighthair

onlyroz wrote: »

Surely, 3 AM is the safest time to ride a bike? Less mad car drivers out there trying to kill you for a start...

true... but I would no way feel safe as a lone female going through a rough area

tooldle

nickyhutch wrote: »

I work for the NHS. My building is falling down (literally) around our ears. We have two toilets and one wash hand basin (for around 30 staff), which is smaller than the ones in school toilets. Showers? Not a chance. A huge great scheme to build lots of super-healthcentres was stared up here a few years ago - we have 2 out of (I think) 33 promised and the funding's been withdrawn now. There is a shower in one of those new buildings, in which probably 200 people work. We've been told our building isn't even on the list for renovations.

In an ideal world - yes, bikes, showers - brilliant. It's far from ideal, though.

Much the same here. I work in a new building, there are about 300 of us working here and only the one shower. Across the campus it is much the same, not all buildings have a shower. Our estates department does however publish a list for the cyclists of where they are, so that people can use the one most convenient for them. I glad that at least you have one, and with the bike scheme in place that should help some people who wish to bike in rather than drive. I think it would be unrealistic to expect numerous showers per 100 staff, especially when you consider how few people have the willingness to travel this way.
I remember in my youth traffic in the town centre coming to a complete standstill when the dockyard hooter went. The number of people on bike that came out of that gate was incredible. The lights would go red but the cyclists kept coming. How things have changed since the late 70's. Very rare to see anyone entering or leaving the work place on a bike.

nickyhutch

The only reason I'd liek a shower at work is so that I could maybe have a run at lunchtime. Having said that, I don't think its for an employer to provide me with that (especially not the NHS, when money should be spent on patient care).

duchy

When I was looking for my current house -although I had a car -I did look for places with good transport links-cars can break down and circumstances can change.

Two years later my car needed replacing and I decided to experiment with doing without a car for a year.....six years later I've still not replaced it. I do now work from home in one job (I didn't at first) but also mystery shop over a very wide area using trains and buses. I walk to my nearest Aldi or Co-op <big one> . My big shops are either free delivery like the Co-op or Sainburys on-line delivery.
My son changed college this year and travels by train and I never ever have to worry about parking tickets.

I suppose I could hire a car if I needed one but so far I've never felt the need. I do use cabs now and again but I spend nothing like I'd spend on petrol, tax and insurance in a year-let alone depreciation.

Works for me -but I completely understand why others would struggle is more remote locations and even though some of my neighbours find the thought of no car unthinkable

pwllbwdr

nickyhutch wrote: »

That makes a change.

Which of the pair of you has made more replies to this thread?

pwllbwdr

... anyway. There are a lot of people posting in this thread who belive, rightly or wrongly that a car is essential to their existence as they know it. Well, that means there will be a lot of very much poorer people as the cost of insurance and fuel get ever higher.

piratefairy

Does that mean the roads will be less crowded too?

NEH

pwllbwdr wrote: »

... anyway. There are a lot of people posting in this thread who belive, rightly or wrongly that a car is essential to their existence as they know it. Well, that means there will be a lot of very much poorer people as the cost of insurance and fuel get ever higher.

Well at the moment a lot of people are in a much poorer state given the current recession so i don't think that's a new thing! lol