When will you give up your car?

[Kaz]

Hmmm well never having passed a test I suppose I'm answering this on Mick's behalf really For myself I manage brilliantly walking almost everywhere in this smallish city, catching the bus sometimes and even trains if needs be for longer journeys. Ooj it keeps my immune system healthy Of course I get the best of both worlds as Mick drives us for long journeys......I can use any of the services in the city, all day long, for £3.50 and any of the services between Gloucester and Cheltenham, all day long, for £5. By the time you take parking charges and petrol into consideration that is pretty good....I am gutted they changed the age of bus pass qualification.......before I was only 6 years away from my pass, now it's 12 years

Becky gets a bus to college, like all the other bus services in this city they are plentiful and pretty cheap....

TBH the car can sit on our drive for almost a fortnight sometimes Mick works from home, we live in walking distance from the city centre (about 2 miles) and from my MIL (1 mile) but, and this is a huge but, we need to fetch Harry here every other weekend so would never ever give up our car! The journey to Egham takes just under two hours in the car, it would take more than half a day by train, with the changes involved!

[Paddypix]

I gave up my car years ago but we still keep one. I hate driving and will do anything to avoid it. I wouldn't drive through the city for a hundred pounds and it was a relief when I decided that it was a waste of money to keep two cars at the door when we rarely used them at the same time. Also non driving friends were inclined to use me as a taxi service and I began to resent that a little. Here in Northern Ireland over 60s have free public transport throughout the Province, and over 65s are free throughout the whole of Ireland so our car is used possibly twice a week, once to do the weekly shop and on Sundays when we drive along the coast for a long walk in a country park. We have a bus stop right at our door and the bus leaves me in the city centre so there's no advantage in driving in, finding an expensive parking space and then walking for five or ten minutes to the city centre. The other half will be 73 next week and we might start to think of getting rid of the car altogether. My daughter-in-law who lives almost next door has put us on the insurance for her car so we could use it when we want as she doesn't use it much.

[Workingman]

You know Liz, giving up a car completely has never been easier for many of us in and around cities, and of a certain lifestyle. Even when we want to travel farther afield the one-off cost of a rented car or train fair is still a lot cheaper than the yearly cost of maintaining a ton of plastic and steel on the driveway when it is hardly used.

[Paddypix]

Exactly Frank. If I could only persuade the other half to get rid of the car, we could spend the money in so many other ways to enhance our life. The fact that we would still have access to our dil's car on the odd occasion would make the decision painless, but he is still to be persuaded. I'm working on it

[Rodo]

We are still running two cars! Quite an expense.

[Oojamaflip]

Ooj it keeps my immune system healthy

I'll take your word for it Kaz. We need a vomiting emoticon.

[cruiser2]

We are still running two cars! Quite an expense.

We were running two cars until the end of May last year.Mrs.e's car sat in the garage most of the time. I do most of the driving which is mainly when we go dancing. We are already feeling the benefit as the car tax is cheaper, only one car insurance policy and better fuel consumption.

[Rodo]

Yes those are real benefits. The thing is though that if I gave up my car I would never get to drive because hubby would want to drive all the time. It's bad enough now when we go out together, it's always in his car and he drives. It's so easy to lose confidence if you don't keep up your driving skills.

[Gal]

I don't live in a city, I live in a medium sized village about 6 miles from the city, although bus links to and from said city are frequent, the fares are prohibitive and I am not a fan of public transport for the reasons Ooj gave

For now, I walk to and from work (I work in my home village) so only use the car for pleasure - shopping trips and pickups, and visiting friends/family - it can be sitting in the garage for a week at a time, sometimes more. Because I don't use the car a lot, the hike in petrol won't affect me as much as some, so I won't be giving my car up just yet

[Kaz]

although bus links to and from said city are frequent, the fares are prohibitive and I am not a fan of public transport for the reasons Ooj gave

Well when you can't drive you can't be quite so fussy, and I haven't caught anything fatal yet