When will you give up your car?

[Rodo]

When will I give up my car?


Never.

I always said that, but when my knees were really bad and I was on crutches I changed my mind. I could not see the point of an MOT, tax and insurance for something that was only going to sit at the side of the road. If I could use it for the odd trip now and then fuel would have added to the costs.

TBH living in a city I have not missed it that much. Buses are plentiful and clean, private hire is quite cheap - return to the local supermarket is £6 total - even cheaper if you chum up, and some of them are doing deals for multi pick-ups.

You see I don't live in a city, I live just outside a very small town. There are buses, but they rarely go where I want to go and take hours anyway. From here, I can be in the centre of Preston in 15/20 minutes in the car. By bus it would take me almost an hour, and that doesn't include waiting for the bus. When I go to choir, I would have a long walk to get to the bus stop late at night in a rather dodgy area of Preston - out of the question. My car is very necessary to me and I will continue to drive for as long as I can.

This is why I took the Older Driver's Assessment course recently. I take my final drive in a week's time and, as far as they are concerned, I am OK to carry on driving for a good few years yet.

Cruiser mentioned free rail travel! You are very lucky indeed to have this Cruiser. I remember you mentioning it when we had our Bolton Meets. We have nothing like that in this area, and they even keep threatening to do away with the free bus travel.

[Aggers]

This is a question w have often considered, but we haven't made my minds up yet.

I am assured that I am still a safe and competent driver and, as we have decided
not to have future holidays in Wales again, I can't see that the increased cost of
petrol will make us consider giving up our car

My wife drives occasionally but when I eventually give up, she fancies one of those
new small town cars.

[cromwell]

Good question. My son has been accepted as a relief music teacher by the local music service, so he needs a car. We still run our own, but what with depreciation, insurance etc it isn't cheap.
My mate Bob is a plasterer and travels miles for work - he has to.
This is going to cost him.

[debih]

I would love to use public transport more but firstly it isn't convenient living where we live. Its fine if I'm not going shopping as I am quite happy to wander up the hill as long as I'm not carrying bags.

Secondly I think it is ridiculously expensive. 90p each way for a 12 year old to get to school is daylight robbery.

[Workingman]

Debih, you are hitting the nail on the head.

Those in rural areas need cars, yet they pay the most for fuel. Those of us in cities can often do without a car... and when we do use them the fuel is cheaper. It's the wrong way round.

[Oojamaflip]

When will I give up my car?


Never.

Beat me to it.

Ditto.

[Oojamaflip]

I would love to use public transport more . . .

Public transport here is not convenient and it's expensive, and it's a long walk to the nearest bus stop and back again.

Even IF it was more or less door to door, convenient and cheap, I'd still rather not use it. I don't want to be forced to sit next to a nose picker, or a fidgeter, or a cough and cold, or people who sit so close they may as well be sitting on my knee . . . I like to be able to sing at the top of my voice to my favourite music, or have time in peace in my own space to think or pray, or just 'be'.

[Suff]

When they nail the lid down....

Although I will probably swap four wheels for two in this contract as my car is a fuel guzzler and the traffic is a nightmare.

Perhaps, one day, fuel will become expensive enough for some venture capitalist to want to fund my idea of a 200-400mpg engine. Until then.... We all suffer....

[TheOstrich]

Secondly I think it is ridiculously expensive. 90p each way for a 12 year old to get to school is daylight robbery.

An all-day adult ticket on NXWM, National Express West Midlands, is £3.80. Adult single fares are £2.00 now. If I didn't have the bus pass, I wouldn't use the buses; it would be cheaper to drive into town and pay for parking.

The OAP bus pass currently gives us train travel within the West Midlands, i.e the Wolverhampton to Coventry corridor. I guess that is the sort of "add-on" that we might lose in time, but Cameron and Clegg will take away my bus pass over my dead body .. It's the only bleddy perk I've ever had.

[JoM]

I would love to use public transport more but firstly it isn't convenient living where we live. Its fine if I'm not going shopping as I am quite happy to wander up the hill as long as I'm not carrying bags.

Secondly I think it is ridiculously expensive. 90p each way for a 12 year old to get to school is daylight robbery.

That's cheaper than what my two pay. They have a card which allows them to travel for £1 per journey, without that it would be £1.40 each way for a journey of just over 1 mile. That doesn't take them near to the school, the closest the bus goes is about a mile from there. It costs £20 per week/£80 per month for bus fares. Yes they could walk but school bags are stupidly heavy most days.

Getting the bus for a dentist visit for the two of them last Summer, on a very rainy day, cost just over £16 for the three of us - for a journey which is a total, there and back, of 6 miles