Anyone chosen to go car less?

1finny

1finny

Well-known member
Thinking of ditching the car early next year when I don’t need one for work.
There will no doubt be times throughout the year I will need to hire a car to get to difficult to access locations - but on a climate/cost basis it feels like it will work.

Just wondering if anyone else has done this?
 
My son spent a year and a half relying on buses and metros to get to work and his experience was poor to horrendous.
He now has a company car and gets to work in a fraction of the time and is always on time.
 
I'm still working so it's not an option at the moment, but we've given up using trains at the moment as they're just too unreliable, so I can't see this being something I'd consider.
 
1finny said:
Thinking of ditching the car early next year when I don’t need one for work.
There will no doubt be times throughout the year I will need to hire a car to get to difficult to access locations - but on a climate/cost basis it feels like it will work.

Just wondering if anyone else has done this?
Click to expand...
It depends on where you live. I do a school run so use the car for that but I'm handy for regular buses so use them frequently. I've found that by the time I drive, park and walk the bus will have me there in a similar time but with no cost due to the bus pass.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
It depends on where you live. I do a school run so use the car for that but I'm handy for regular buses so use them frequently. I've found that by the time I drive, park and walk the bus will have me there in a similar time but with no cost due to the bus pass.
Click to expand...
Live in a small city centre which gives us pretty much everything we need within walking distance.
Kids live in London and we have direct trains.
Can easily get buses to the coast.
Can get trains to airports if we decide to go abroad.

Will clearly have to change some life-style choices unless we hire a car occasionally.
 
Definitely depends where you live. When I lived and worked in central London having a car would have been idiotic; probably worse now.
Public transport in Teesside is hopeless. I could jog to Yarm, from where I live, faster than getting a bus there - and it’s over five miles away.
 
Cardiffdaffs said:
We went 6 months last year without a car and was perfectly good - you then start, particularly in Winter, to miss it. Inconvenient for not taking trips to the refuse tip, evening trips to see people etc. Have to add the rider here we live in an area in Herts with good public transport.
Click to expand...

That’s helpful. My thinking is I get rid in April and see how it goes.
I do see winter being a tricky period but locally, at least, it won’t be an issue.

Worse case - we try and it doesn’t work for us.
 
I did it when I first moved to London. Didn't need a car at all for years. I only got one back when I started consulting and needed to move around the country with more flexibility. It's easily doable if you live in a city with good public transport
 
Seems like it would be incredibly restrictive. There are so many things I do that aren't on a bus/train route. I've had a fairly quiet week this week but there are at least 4 things I have done which I wouldn't have been able to do, or wouldn't be cost effective to do, without a car. I went to a friend's house last night and he lives about an hour's drive away. I went to a farm/shop in the middle of nowhere. I play 5a side on an evening which is 20 mins away and nowhere near public transport (and there's none that even guess from my town to that one directly). Those 3 journeys along would've been about £250 in taxi fares.

I haven't even counted all the things that we definitely need the car for because of the kids. There would be no way to get to all the clubs and classes in time relying on public transport. I went into the office on Friday and I can usually get a train but there were strikes on so all trains were cancelled.
 
My Mrs got rid of her car quite a few years ago now, with climate change being a big factor for her. The same weekend we sold her car, next door took delivery of a new Q7 and has since had about 4 more massive cars and now also have a Tesla. It's almost pointless taking climate change into consideration.
 
When I first moved to Leeds about 6 years ago the car I had was written off and couldn’t afford to replace it. Think I lasted about 6 months without a car getting buses and trains before I couldn’t take the late over crowded often cancelled buses and trains before getting a new car.
 
Tryasize10 said:
My Mrs got rid of her car quite a few years ago now, with climate change being a big factor for her. The same weekend we sold her car, next door took delivery of a new Q7 and has since had about 4 more massive cars and now also have a Tesla. It's almost pointless taking climate change into consideration.
Click to expand...
Greta would be proud at least.
 
I had to suspend my licence on medical grounds. I got told at first that it would be for 6 months, then it changed a few weeks later to a year. It’s now been 3 years due to various issues. I was honestly shocked at how much I needed a car. Teesside has terrible travel links so getting the 6am bus in the freezing cold to change at the bus station is just exhausting. Its the freedom of it as well. The weird thing is I only passed my test when I was 29 so I went years without a car. I'd genrally walk more than get public transport, even quite long journeys, so maybe the only issues are the public transport of teesside and work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top