Anyone chosen to go car less?

I live in Richmond, or the outskirts down a lane.
We have 2 four wheel drive cars primarily because of where our house is.
Without them we really would be snookered.

Getting to the match would be a massive chore on the bus and impossible to get home from night matches.
I am carer for my Dad who lives a two mile walk away.
Our bins are not collected from our house and kept an awkward walk away.

It is our choice to live rurally and even just outside our rural town.
If we were happy to spend literally all of our lives in Richmond, we would not need the cars. But we are not and the public transport options are simply non existent.

I'd like to get my wife to consider us dropping to one car. I think we can do it, but she fears I will dominate it and leave her stuck.

If we lived in a major city that had a metro/tube/tram system then I could be persuaded.
 
Malaguena said:
One person's dreadful attitude is another person's realism
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You make a good point which, I think, most of us will relate to.
The conundrum is the old adage - ‘for things to change, I must change’…. pointing elsewhere certainly achieves little.

The history books give us hope from The Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Suffragettes and latterly Martha’s rule.

It’s easy to dismiss but I try and live my life based on possibility and,…if enough of us care we can make a difference.

You never know eh?
 
Chutney said:
Are there any car share type schemes in operation where you live? Could be a handy backup for when you do really need to drive somewhere.
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Funnily enough, checked that today - unfortunately not but there could be progress over the coming years. You never know
 
Bit if negativity around some stark realism on this threat, which isn't a real surprise.

The thing is, individually is extremely hard to make a difference. My example is simplistic but all too true and is on repeat over and over in every village, town and city in this country. A house down the road from me has 5 cars outside it.

It has to be a collective, not down to individuals or all I am doing is off setting the carbon footprint of the bloke next door or down the street.
 
go-nads! said:
Unfortunately, if you are employed on Teesside or have a reason to travel on a regular basis with timelines it just about impossible to live without a car sadly.

The public transport options are woeful.
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That depends on your home and workplace locations. Many people use the bus to get to work on a daily basis without a problem.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
That depends on your home and workplace locations. Many people use the bus to get to work on a daily basis without a problem.
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Very few use public transport where I work. The few that do are repeatedly late and are stuck waiting for connections.

Teesside is just not invested enough to make public transport viable for most. Plus even if you do use it, it's not that cost effective either because to go any distance you have to use different carriers.

For example, one of the girls who is frequently late in (at least once a week). To get from Norton to Redcar has to get two buses or bus and train. Missing connections, cancelled services and it takes her three to four times as long as a car journey would take.

If you have kids and a busy life, it's just impossible to do without. There may be times you can use public transport, but I would say for most on Teesside this would be for some journeys.

You only have to look at Ingleby Barwick. One of the biggest housing estates in Europe and the options for buses is just miserable.
 
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?
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If you live around Teesside or North Yorkshire it's almost impossible
 
Only did one month entirely without a car but gave up the second car 12 years ago, in that time have lived in four different places with varying qualities of public transport and can count on the fingers of one hand the times we've really needed it, despite having three kids and all the running around that entails.

Then again while we live in a small town I've always lived within a couple of miles of a station and happy to cycle to there for work even in the winter, and we insist on the kids walking the 30 mins to school unless there's a thunderstorm. It's definitely become easier now shopping can be done online in most cases, but does depend a lot on work/home location. A good test might be to try not using the car for a week or two and see how much hassle it is.
 
To sum up, as stated, in London 100%. Elsewhere it's very difficult to impossible depending on location, unless you're JackG. :cool:

What we can all do is cut down on unnecessary car journeys and use alternatives that are available when possible. I spent 20 years in York and used a vehicle to get to work less than a handful of times, not only because it was the thing to do, but because I enjoyed my alternative which was the bike. Rain, hail, sleet or snow it was never as much trouble as sitting for ages in traffic or on a steamed-up bus.

I had a van because it was used for delivering hire bikes, so naturally it got used for occasional trips out and heavy shops, but sometimes went unused for a couple of weeks. Not that I stayed in, but used the train for weekend trips to Halifax, Leeds, Bradford and Manchester for instance, again showing the importance of location.
 
When I’m in Aberdeen I don’t take the car with me. It’s trains and buses the whole time. Although not ideal, I don’t miss not having the car with me.
 
RedAsABeetroot said:
In the Teesside area?
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Yes of course. I didn't drive until I was in my 30's, retired now but a lot of my working life was in Teesside. If you work in the town centres you're usually near a pretty quick bus service. I used to be able to get the bus into the office in Yarm, now it's two buses to do the same route. My sister in law has always used the bus to get to work, she lives in Boro and works in Stockton

Privatisation has made things a lot worse since I was travelling to work by bus in this country, no need to mention which governments have decimated public transport, we all know who they were.

I've used public transport for work in Norway, Holland, Switzerland and Ireland. It was impossible in USA, which says it all about the way this country has headed.

It's much easier to jump in the car, no doubt about that, but with transport apps it's not always quicker, particularly if only one bus is required.
 
Came back to the UK June to September this year for family business and usually hire a car, This time as I was 66 I got my free bus pass and used that to travel most of the time . Had may days in Newcastle, Durham and even got to Whitby for a couple of days .... got to a couple of the home matches as well ....found them 90% reliable. No issues with ASB and overall relaxing
 
1finny said:
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.
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Ive thought about this too and wondered if it made economic sense to hire one when needed or even a longer term hire through winter
 
I went carless for about 2 years when I worked away in Aberdeen. I used to train backwards and forwards to Aberdeen which was roughly the same cost as the petrol at the time. Maybe 10-20 quid more on the train.
I had a work's pool vehicle in Aberdeen when I needed one.

I only came home every second weekend and if I knew I was going to need a car I would hire one on the Friday from Aberdeen, use it travel back and for the weekend and then return it to Aberdeen on the Monday. Car hire then was quite a lot cheaper than it is now. It would generally only cost 80-100 quid for the weekend hire and they would often give me free upgrades as I got to know the lasses on the hire desk. I just to ring them before and they would tell me which economy category to book that they didn't have in stock and then they would give me a premium free upgrade.

I quite enjoyed driving different cars and not having the hassle of keeping a car.
 
Wiseman_Vaughn said:
Ive thought about this too and wondered if it made economic sense to hire one when needed or even a longer term hire through winter
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That got me curious so have had a look.
I can hire a car for the month of Jan for £500. Can also get a day rate of£82 in Jan.

The average cost of owning a car (everything included) in UK is, apparently, £3500 o_O
 
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