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Your car will cost less than TJ thinks - it always does.
I would never say that no one needs a car. But having given mine away 3 months ago, I can certainly say that I don't need one. I've used public transport outside peak hours in that time, and it's not so bad. It's incredible that some people think it impossible to return to the situation of the 50's. Anything is possible.
I agree that not running a car can be inconvenient for me, and on a couple of occasions I've used the help of friends to move stuff. I've just learnt to adapt my lifestyle slightly. It is a bit limiting, but it's also very liberating. I'm riding at least 300 miles a month so I'm healthier as well as considerably richer.
Regarding the red diesel comments...
Buses get subsidised fuel. It's normal white diesel, but the bus company either gets it cheap or gets a refund. I'm not sure of the details of how it works, but we have to keep an accurate record of how much goes in the buses and how much goes in the service vans and company cars.
my bus to school is insanely cheap compared to the bus supplied by school. £7 for a weekly ticket on the service bus, £5 A DAY for the school bus.
sod em all, drive your car dude, you know it makes good sence.
A monthly pass for a 2 x 45km commute in France costs my wife 70.20 euros. Half of that is reimbursed by her employer. She has used the car twice in six years.
I used to catch the train from Stafford to Coventry (and back). I only got asked to show my ticket about one day in five so I bought an open return and it worked out very cheap indeed.
Bigjohn - likewise with the wigan->liverpool train, almost never met anyone checking tickets, when one came along almost the entire train bought one on the spot suggesting that I was one of the rare ones buying tickets on the station. Sometimes I had to buy one at the terminating station because there was no-one at the start or on the train and I ended up being accused of purposefully being difficult for wanting to pay by card, at that point I told them where to stick their ticket.
Not to mention the number of colds and illnesses I had increased dramatically when I had to stick to the train, I was pretty startled by it.