Just had the strangest conversation with a colleague.

His normal drive to work is an hour long crawl into Nottingham city centre, which often takes longer, especially getting home in the evening, and he hates it.

His car is in for a service today, so he walked to the station, got the train, relaxed for tbe journey in with a coffee, then walked to the office. 55 minutes door to door. A weekly train ticket would cost him £25.

I asked him why he doesn’t do it every day then.

“I just like getting in the car to come to work”

Even though it takes longer, costs more and stresses him out before he gets here.

Takes all sorts… 🙄

Maybe he doesn’t like jostling about with the great unwashed.

One of the reasons I drive instead of use public transport anyhow, but then I don’t get stressed by driving. 🙂

I suspect it’s partly just natural resistance to change, and partly boys and their toys (I assume he has a “nice” car).

But yeah, people do make odd choices don’t they.

He should try mixing it up, eg train in the winter when driving is tougher in the dark and the wet and drive in the summer. I commuted by train for 25 years and don’t miss it at all, I had no choice and it cost £600 a month. Half the time it was standing all the way so not very relaxing but driving wasn’t an option.

He has no issues with the great unwashed, even where he lives, and doesn’t seem overly enamoured of his aging Zafira.

Fear of the new I guess, and there will always be the risk of trains being delayed even longer than traffic.

I call snob. My dad was like that, refused to take public transport. Saw him on a train once his entire life. I don’t think he ever caught the bus that I recall.

(on his way home from court for his second drink driving conviction – I had to pick him up in mother’s car, then take him home, then walk to the station and get the train back to the court to collect his car, but I did get full custody of his car for two years, silver linings)

Cars are an extension of your own private space, you always get a seat for example.

I get the train to work and have done for the last 4.5yrs I very much doubt I’ll be doing so as and when I move on from this job and I’ll miss it. A wee snooze or read on the way home is a bit of treat tbh. I do have the odd grumble but it’s about once a week at most, smelly people for example or the odd nutcase who sings out loud or argues with their partner/children. I used to commute 90miles a day and there was guaranteed to be an arsehole on the road somewhere doing something stupid/dangerous.

I normally cycle into work, but need the van to pick up bike boxes tonight. My 20 minute cycle ride took over an hour by car.
I really, really don’t understand why people insist on using their cars.

Fear of the new I guess, and there will always be the risk of trains being delayed even longer than traffic.

For some reason though if a train’s delayed I shrug my shoulders and don’t get too bothered, if I’m stuck in traffic I can feel my blood pressure rising.

IMO in the main trains are more reliable than cars when it comes to commuting as well. Baring the odd horrendous delay day!

I wonder if psychologically the train is £100/month, whereas the car is “free” in his head?

I really, really don’t understand why people insist on using their cars.

Agreed – I work with plenty of people who live less than 5 miles away yet schlep in by car.

I do enjoy highlighting how I get delayed by having to watch a heron or woodpecker on my ride in through the woods 🙂

TM

depends where you live.

i used to live in auchenblae and commute in to dyce on the train from stonehaven

i rarely had issue in the morning but at night often id find my self having got the train into aberdeen central and going to swap to the next train that the train had been canceled and i had to call for a lift or take the now over full bus into stonehaven – then get another bus from the centre out to the station to pick up my bike and ride home arriving home at about 9pm having left work at 4.

this happened 3 or 4 times before i thought **** this and took the van to the park and ride before moving house closer to work. central london may be a different story.

In my case it’s about being in control of my surroundings.

On a train or a bus I have no control and have to put up with whatever I’m surrounded by.

I my own car I’m in control, and I prefer it. Simple as that.

Always feel relaxed in the car. Hardly ever feel relaxed on public transport.

I really, really don’t understand why people insist on using their cars

25-mile commute from the sticks to a febrile urban hell pit and back is not practical by any other means

I wonder if psychologically the train is £100/month, whereas the car is “free” in his head?

Probably something in that, car expenditure is expected and phased, whilst train tickets are potentially an expensive and otherwise unnecessary purchase, psychologically.

I wonder if psychologically the train is £100/month, whereas the car is “free” in his head?

Big element of this I’d say. He’s paying for it to sit on his drive if he doesn’t use it.

A few years ago I used to hire cars for weekend trips a few times a year, and it puts a price on a trip to Wales that makes you look at it differently than when you have a car sat outside your house. You’re still paying for it but the ‘point of use’ cost is effectively forgotten about.

25-mile commute from the sticks to a febrile urban hell pit and back is not practical by any other means

Sure, for some people. Statistics say most of the people jamming up the roads in cities every morning aren’t doing that though.

Plus, not all non-car journies are quite as ‘good’ as the one mentioned by the OP.

I normally ride in, always the best option. If I need the car it’d be 15mins journey. Bus would consist of 10 mins to busstop, two buses (20 mins each) with a ten min walk in between them (unless I got a third bus…) plus waiting time.

If you ‘need’/pay for a car anywaythen like people say, the car is ‘free’

In a previous job my rather pleasent cycle commute, down a canal towpath, took me 20 minutes. The hellish car journey on the road that ran parallel, took 45 as you crawled along at walking pace. I never, ever took the car. Everybody else in the office would do the 45 minutes car journey, sat in solid traffic

The thing was, they all thought I was the mad one 😯

But you might get wet or sweaty!

I used to rail commute into London.

Much less stressful than driving obvs, but being at the mercy of First Capital Connect’s pisspoor services wasn’t exactly a laugh-a-minute.

Then there was the daily sardine bundle onto the Tube. Well grim.

25-mile commute from the sticks to a febrile urban hell pit and back is not practical by any other means

Without a car you wouldn’t do that journey though.

In my case it’s about being in control of my surroundings.

If you’re stuck in traffic, you’re not in control of your surroundings.

Without a car you wouldn’t do that journey though.

Quite. I was faced with that prospect the last time I changed jobs – I chose to move house instead. I now have a very pleasant 10 minute cycle along the river path.

As a single car family, every now and again I have to relinquish control of the car keys and get the train in to work.

To be honest I love it, much prefer seeing the countryside going by whilst sitting back and relaxing rather than dealing with the A14.

If it wasn’t £14.40 for a return I’d do it alot more. 45mins by car 30mins by train.

I know the economics probably work out to cheaper to not have the car and have a season ticket – but we do need a car as in the middle of nowhere.

I only live 2.5 miles from my office, and there are several people who live between me and the office that drive in, and still takes them longer, madness I tell you, utter madness.

These are the same people who’s heads nearly explode when I tell them I often take the long way home on purpose because the ride home isn’t long enough.

Often I can get a nice ride in the sunshine by the river or by the sea before my colleagues have made it home.

Without a car you wouldn’t do that journey though

It’s my choice which is why I insist on using my car

Statistics say most of the people jamming up the roads in cities every morning aren’t doing that though

*most people* I agree. Surprising though how many people make the same journey in the same general direction then we all go our own separate ways. All part of the commute to the smoke and back

is the train actually reliable?
what happens if you miss it?

Many times I’d like to use public transport but it never seems to run on time, or when needed or have a backup.

These days my commute is from the bedroom to the spare room though

It’s my choice which is why I insist on using my car

“Choice” is the key word. Many people forget that when they complain that there’s no public transport, or it’s too far to cycle.

I agree with him. I always prefer to drive, but I don’t have a commute, I work from home, and visit London twice a week. I drive to London and get the tube in.

Reasons; I enjoy the freedom and space, and should bad stuff happen I have options. I’ve had my fill of franticly finding taxis, getting on buses, or getting a hotel thanks to train issues.

Personally I think that’s the main driver (scuse pun) for people preferring to drive, not laziness, just freedom and space.

I’m a 30 minute journey from the station, it’s then a 45 minute journey, then a 10 minute wait, then a 20 minute bus ride for me. Or an hour and a bit in the car.

The train’s far more expensive now too

Personally I think that’s the main driver (scuse pun) for people preferring to drive, not laziness, just freedom and space.

I’ve always thought being stuck in commuting gridlock to be the opposite of freedom, but each to their own.

I enjoy traveling by train, the last time I did the bloke I sat next to got up and moved away as soon as another seat was free because I kept talking to him 😀

I was really quite proud of that 🙂

It’s a funny sort of freedom.

“If I can just afford to buy, insure, tax and fuel this car I can go and sit in a traffic jam on the way to another 12hr shift to pay for it.”

The marketing for cars sells people this:

In reality they get something closer to this:

I would love not to commute in the car but I have a 75 mile a day commute, 55 mins in the car each way or 1 hr 40 to drive to the station, take 2 trains and then a bus. I have cycled it a few times but it takes too long and is not a nice journey traffic wise.

Although a long commute, it means I get to live in the countryside with beautiful surroundings, reasonable property prices and good schools for by kids.

We have 2 cars, but I still cycle. 8 miles each way, hardly a tour stage each day!

It takes about 30-35 minutes, ironically depending on the traffic.

I drove once. Took me over an hour & that was considered normal by other people I work with.

I couldn’t do that every day.

We have a train station in the village so I commute by train, the wife could and occasionally does, it’s about 90 minutes in the car and about the same via train and taxi, or a little longer by train and bus, she gets travel sick on the bus so that option is ruled out.
Cost wise, petrol is £20 for a return trip, train £17, then either taxi £8 each way or bus £3 each way.
Due to her shift times she would get to work around 45 minutes early and then have a 50 minute wait at the station on the way home so the whole journey takes longer than driving.

If you ‘need’/pay for a car anyway then like people say, the car is ‘free’

+1, I managed about 2 years after graduating without a car. Then bought an old MG more as a toy than a car, but I did end up using it for jounreys that I’d otherwise have cycled as it was nice to to arrive sweaty, late due to punctures, muddy, etc.

Eventualy crumbled properly and got a proper car a couple of years later, partly because I wanted to actualy do stuff at the eweekend beyond ride the local trails. The incramental cost of a commute is about £2/day in petrol, which is from a tank I paid for 2-3 weeks ago, so it does get used a bit to often for that!

In my case it’s about being in control of my surroundings.

On a train or a bus I have no control and have to put up with whatever I’m surrounded by.

Exactly this. Two reasons…

Security: You get crazy drunks on buses and trains. Unruly kids. Drug addicts. Etc. OK, the vast majority are mostly pleasant people, but when you get in the car, you’re protected. Safe from the outside world. It is one of the great appeals of the car.

Convenience: You have absolute control over your destination and you can change it at any time. Need to pop to the shop…you’re there.