[Closed] Time to ditch the car

3000 miles in two years? Mine only did 500 last year! It is now extremely lucky I didn't sell it before Christmas, as t'other half's car is broken.

I average around 5000 miles/year, but getting rid of the car is absolutely not an option, as most of the places I go have zero public transport, or if there is any, it amounts to two buses a day, and probably entails a mile or so walk to the nearest bus stop.

and probably entails a mile or so walk

Wow, a whole mile. Now that is a long way! 😯

I ditched my car, but we still have a car in the house because the wife has one, so it's not totally the same. Still, she has it most of the time (or times when I want to use it), so similar experience.

Biking wise, it can be tougher getting to places out in the middle of nowhere, but at the same time you come up with more interesting adventures.

It does mean you end up walking more, which is a good thing.

Work out how much your car is costing you a year, then work out how many days you can get a hire car for that money.

Can be quite restrictive, sometimes you just want to go somewhere which is very difficult on public transport, especially at night. Visiting a friend at night, for example.

All depends on you really, but you certainly won't die. If you try it for a year, then you will have saved a years worth of money and then you'll know.

Well i have a bus stop outside my door, buses 2-3 times an hour to the city centre and train from there to most places. There is the occasional car hire of course and not forgetting most places are within cycling distance in the city. Like you've said though its the lat night stuff the odd hours and out of the way places that will cause the most trouble so its going to mean some compromises and no one said it had to be forever of course.

Wow, a whole mile. Now that is a long way!

Yeah, it is, when that's just the walk to the nearest main road from a friend of mine's house, along a road that's barely more than singletrack, has no footpaths, and drops down into a steep valley, with banks either side, and bends either side, meaning it's impossible for drivers to see anyone walking along it. To get to the main road in the other direction is nearly three miles, with similar valleys with blind bends.
These are normal conditions around here, away from towns, and the fact that there is likely to be only two buses a day, and then passengers may well have to pick up a bus after a walk of one or two miles, travel six, seven or eight miles to the nearest large town, probably Chippenham, in order to get another bus to the nearest city, so that means possibly catching the only bus out at maybe 7.30am, and, if your lucky, not getting into Bath until 9.30, Bristol maybe 10.00, if you're really lucky.
A work colleague used to live in Corsham, six miles from Chippenham. He starts work at 6.00am. There's no bus at that time. To get home, he would have to get the small bus from the estate, go into Chippenham town centre, two miles the wrong way, catch another bus which would eventually get into Corsham, but he still would have a walk of nearly a mile to get home, after a journey of well over an hour. To travel six miles.
Is it any wonder people use cars. He used to get a taxi, every day, now he drives, and gets home ten minutes after leaving work.
I'd really like to dump people who say a car isn't necessary into one of the local villages, and force them to rely solely on public transport, see how [i]they[/i] manage. And bikes would not be an option; most people would not, or could not, cycle the distances involved, especially at this time of year.
I walk those lanes, in the dark, and it's pretty hairy, believe me, I wouldn't allow an SO to walk them. Public transport is a townie luxury, denied anyone who lives outside urban areas.

The cost of owning a car to me far out ways the inconvenience of not owning one. Excluding fuel and depreciation my car costs under £1k per year or less than £20 per week to run and that's for a relatively new C Class Mercedes. I own the car outright and fuel is covered by work. I couldn't rely on public transport as it just isn't possible to get to my work places by it.

If you have a family or that's the only car in the household I wouldn't sell.

Nope if i lived in the country it would be a different matter entirely and having seen some of those wiltshire country lanes they are nothing like the fen roads round here but no less deadly for a pedestrian at night. Although the description of buses as a townie luxury 😆

I calculate the cost of running my car at £1200 a year, like the previous poster i own the car outright although its far more modest. So will it mean i save £1200 a year? No probably not, when you include cost of insurance on a cargo bike, parts etc. But it would still be a saving none the less although its not the only reason im thinking of doing it.

I dont have a family so my time is my own so i have a greater degree of flexibility.

Still thinking about this and wondered if anyone else had any input?

is disappointed... thought it was molgrips giving up at last.... 😉

Is there a local car club/car share club (short of community car you pay for and can book etc ) like - http://www.zipcar.co.uk/zipcar-is-here?gclid=CPfA2evTqrwCFVKWtAodATgAMA (*1st google not a recommendation) - so at least you could cost compare

?? is there a dial-a-bus and are you entitled to use it ? (I'm not taking the piss)

when I lived in London I had a motorbike as that could go in house garden - but they have practicality issues - weather/clothes you can/have to wear/carrying stuff.................

They are also starting to do much better leccy bikes now as well - but mainly issues ala motorbike

if you want/need to go where you want when you want (esp out of commute hours) you need private transport. Why not for 1 month refuse to use the car and then make an assessment before selling car ?

I tried it for 9 months a few years ago, when my old car died and I decided to take the opportunity to try a car-free life. A bit of context - I work full-time, live on my own with no kids, a reasonably regular bus service to many places, and a main train line a few miles away.

Overall, I found 'regular' journeys (ie getting to work, shopping etc) fine - I'd either catch the bus or cycle (I did most of my shopping by bike with panniers). Other more ad-hoc journeys were more complicated - not always knowing if there'd be a bus or getting hold of a taxi (I found a smartphone with Internet access for "on the move" info very useful). So most things were possible.

The downsides - some trips were not possible, and car hire to cover these wasn't always reasonable to either plan or pay for. So some things I wasn't able to do, or had to rely on the goodwill of friends with cars to help out. Weather and personal safety (as a woman some night time journeys without a car can be rather unsafe) where an issue, as was managing the impact of illness or minor injury (where driving would have been OK but cycling was hard).

On balance, I gave it a good try but then bought a very fuel efficient, low emission, reliable car. My car running costs are therefore very low, and I continue to only use it occasionally but it's there when I need it.

Thanks towzer i had never thought of the dial a ride, had a quick look and really the standard bus service suits my needs anyway. Car Clubs would be ideal, unfortunately there are none in Peterborough but ive put in requests with zip car etc. Ive done the whole month without the car thing in fact in the summer ive done 3 months without the car and not missed it.

Thank you Sue that was a very enlightening input and yours is very close to what my circumstances would be, i hadn't thought about illness or injury so thank you thats something to take into consideration. Would you mind sharing more those trips you had difficulty with?