Could You Live Without A Car?

[SCEtoAUX]

Yes, absolutely. As long as the Mrs can have one I would gladly never leave home.

 

[bluegirl74]

I was wondering exactly this last week when I was paying for the latest service on mine.

Having done some quick maths, I'm reasonably sure that it would be cheaper to use public transport / taxis than pay what I currently do in PCP installments, service and maintenance, tax, insurance, parking and petrol.

As others have said though, it's only now that I think that it would be possible. My children are older and can use public transport (although both drive) and so no longer need taxiing around, I live somewhere with good public transport options (7 minutes to the train, 15 minutes to the tram) and I have a good selection of shops nearby.

I don't need a car for work any more, I barely travel for work anymore now that Teams and Zoom are so commonplace, and most of my friends live close to transport links.

I don't enjoy driving but it is convenient to be able to when I need to.

When this PCP ends, Ias long as Northern Rail is running reliably, I'd be very tempted to not renew and see how I go for a while.

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

I tried going to the game by public transport last night and the answer is ... probably not. The bus got cancelled so I went back home and drove.

 

[Tuearts right boot]

I was wondering exactly this last week when I was paying for the latest service on mine.

Having done some quick maths, I'm reasonably sure that it would be cheaper to use public transport / taxis than pay what I currently do in PCP installments, service and maintenance, tax, insurance, parking and petrol.

As others have said though, it's only now that I think that it would be possible. My children are older and can use public transport (although both drive) and so no longer need taxiing around, I live somewhere with good public transport options (7 minutes to the train, 15 minutes to the tram) and I have a good selection of shops nearby.

I don't need a car for work any more, I barely travel for work anymore now that Teams and Zoom are so commonplace, and most of my friends live close to transport links.

I don't enjoy driving but it is convenient to be able to when I need to.

When this PCP ends, Ias long as Northern Rail is running reliably, I'd be very tempted to not renew and see how I go for a while.

There was a survey done a few years ago and if you live in or close to a city then they say it's far better using public transport and taxis but when the need for distance travel arises then car rental is the answer...so, yes. However it's a different story altogether if you live in the sticks. Since then costs have risen greatly and so seems even more viable.
I thinbk the problem is is that we feel sort of naked and vunerable without the crutch that is the car.

 

[Banshee]

Only learned to drive when I emigrated. Never had the need when I lived in the UK. 5 min walk to my work, 20 mins to my folks, 15 mins to the center of Bury, tram, buses and taxi's everywhere.

Not a chance I'd live without one now. Unless you live downtown of a major city the US is not geared for life without a car. I live in a college town so it's quite well populated. Yet the next town is over 30 miles away and the closest international airport is a 2hr drive. Besides, I love driving.

 

[Saddleworth2]

As per the title: Could you live without a car.

After evaluating our day to day living and how we impact the environment, we both decided to reduce our carbon footprint for the good of our grandchildren and the generations to come.

I just dont know, we seem to lethargically stare out at TV programs concerning global warming, with much to do about nothing, but then expect others to make the important changes on our behalf. Yet with a little planning and forethought, the small steps we take can lead on to giant footsteps etc etc, so we decided to actually Live The Green by 'experiencing' it first hand, before commenting with any authority on the subject manner.

We started initially by separting our trash from bottles, to cans, to card, to paper, reducing our carbons as much as possible. We couldnt eat vegan or vegetarean as this would impact on our quality of living owing to a penchant for chicken kebabs, shep-pie and chops, so we looked for alternative avenues to reduce. I nipped up the loft and re lagged as it quotes a 0.895 tonnes of CO2 saving equivalent, also made checks or thermostasit temperature control to our household.

But what could I do to improve the auntie further? And then it came to me in a flash of light. If we really really cared about the envirement I could make the ultimate sacrife by going car free. I have been driving for 45 years and sort of become accustomed to the conveniance it allows so this would be an immense shift of tack, but after much discussion and deliberation we realised that the 2.04 tommes of co2 reduction x 2 a year was just too good to miss, so I Motorway'd our steed and the journey began.

We have done 40 days and nights now and the going has been fair to middling. Some days were harder than others and fair to say much more planning goes into our day to day ablutions. For food we cancelled Tesco clubcard plus and replaced it with Tesco home delivery for only £1 a week. For our clothing and household items came the internet and Amazon Prime and Debehams online. But that still left commuting our for coffee fixes, day trips to local towns and parks for stimulation. Being cooked up all day offers little remorse to olden sausages who previously had the run of the road.

Traveling about is slightly difficult as we border Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire, so bus passes are an arse to integrate into our new life style. We have our rail cards though, and have had some brilliant trips out to Hebden and Sowerby for absolute pennies, as the saving with a two together can really add up. We also have a family railcard for football so we can take the grandkids to the game, plus our clubcards buy into the rail cards for only a tenner, as opposed to thirty, as they're worth 3x the points.

Our memory skillset hampers us at times, finding we need to concentrate more by planning to actively to make trips work out for us, but disasters have been legion!

After a day out in little Bury we caught the B3 bus back to the Dale, as opposed the 468 that traverses Bamford Fairfield and Bury. The B3 was reccomended by other travellers in the bus queue as a nice alternative to the 468 or 467 via Rooley Moor, so off we travelled, heads down into our mobs to while away the trip. After 30 minutes we hit Heywood and then carved a route through TIn town, which took an absolute age, but brought us out facing back toward Bury, causing a bail out before any more damage was done.

We walked back to heywood and had a few scoops in the Wetherspoons to replan our route and then boarded a 471 to the Dale, but this time had to stand up all the way as we hit the kids kicking out time from school, the journey to be fair was piss poor and we nearly fainted with heat and entrapment levels. Total jouney back into the hills was a little over 2 hours and we nearly cracked there and then.

We had another Mare today when we came back from our jollies. Getting a taxi would not reduce our carbon footprint, so I planned our route back meticulously, catching a train from the airport with only one stop to get us to the foothills, changing at Salford crescent.

So after getting up at 06:00 for an 11:00 flight back to Manny we set of on our travels. We caught the airport train and was told to change at Salford Crescent for a 10 minute change over for our connection to Victoria, then stay on the train to the Dale, with a 47 minute total journey time. Happy days and far far quicker than a car!

As we got off with our luggage at Salford crescent our eyes lit up as the Northern train pulled in sIde by side for Victoria, so we morphed onto that train like the poltergiest from the film Ghost, settling down and feeling smug as fook that we'd just skimmed 10 minutes off our journey time. Anyway to cut a long story short we landed at Victoria and I rung the daughter for a 15 minute time pick up.

Our Ghost train

As I was reading the tablet I heard the announcemnt the train was now calling at Ashton under line and my ears pricked up. Before I could react the train had set off again and the automated bot said next stop would be Stayley Brige. I pegged it down the train carriage to find the guard who came back to our seats to explain, apparantly we should have waited the 10 minutes I was initially told to wait, as that train went to Victoria and then the Dale.

I had unfortunatly got the earlier train that went to victoria and stayley, so we was now in proper shit street. Mathew our guard was helpful saying he wouldnt charge for our mistake and told us to get off at Staly and then wait 37 minutes to get a train back to Victoria, then another 20 minutes to get back to the Dale. We accepted our fate with much stoicism, but worse was to come.

We heard a racket coming from the wheels or thought we did, and then the emergency stop interacted bringing our train into no mans land. Matty said the driver thought it wasthe pressure valve as fault codes were showing. We rang the daughter and told her to hang fire.

Stranded 2 mile from Staylvegas

After 30 minutes we were told a rescue train was being sent from Trafford to couple us up and push us into Stayley Brige, so we sat patiently waiting to be shunted. Mat said we had now missed the connection back into Manchester, so we asked the daughter to meet us at Stayley in an hour. Being the brilliant chap he was, he brough us some monster munch and yorkie bars left over from a buffet car to ease the grief.

When he dished out his Lucky Bags he told us we wouldnt be able to claim as we were technically traveling illeagle without a valid ticket on a wrong train as our ticket was to elsewhere .. Im really really trying but as these days go bye i'm starting to fookin hate public transport with a vengeance!

So to summerise three hours and twenty minutes from the airport to home loaded up to the bollocks with cases bags and grips and not a single carbon offset acheived, as I had to pump 20 pounds worth of dirty diesal into her fuel tank.

So could you go without a car to save 2.04 carbon tonnes for Earth .. or do you think Gretas a cxxnt?

They tell me electric cars are good.
My youngest just acquired a Tesla. It goes like stink.

In all seriousness Bob, I respect your sacrifice but even if we all follow your praiseworthy lead, hee haw good it will do. Greta's heart is in the right place but macro, global solutions are needed, not micro sacrifices. Get yourself a couple of electric bikes set them on max power and have fun speeding up hill and down dale with the only slightest pedalling action required.

 

[Grassland Blue]

There was a survey done a few years ago and if you live in or close to a city then they say it's far better using public transport and taxis but when the need for distance travel arises then car rental is the answer...so, yes. However it's a different story altogether if you live in the sticks. Since then costs have risen greatly and so seems even more viable.
I thinbk the problem is is that we feel sort of naked and vunerable without the crutch that is the car.

I sort of live in the sticks but it's £2 to get to semi civilisation on the bus.
Now if the railway adopted a similar initiative, that would probably encourage people to leave their cars at home.

 

[PaulPowerScreamer]

Yes, I don't drive.

I took some lessons in my early 20s and again in my early 30s but I never liked it and never went on to have a test. I'm in my 50s now and virtually never interact with cars at all (I got a lift to a funeral in a different part of the country last weekend, that's the only time I've been in a car this year).

What probably makes this easier for me is that I've never even lived with anyone who owns a car, even as a child, which I guess is fairly unusual. Also, while short of being a phobia, I am generally uncomfortable with car travel, feels too enclosed and close to the road compared with a bus. I hate taxis and haven't taken one in nearly 2 years and generally politely decline offers of lifts if there is any public transport option.

 

[m7mcfc]

I had to buy a car in February due to work after spending the previous 5 years working in Mcr City centre and walking to work and back.
£10000 for the car, £650 Insurance £50.00 a week in the tank and all the other things that cost you money due to owning a motor.
My bank account could live without me owning a car.

 

[yankblue]

When I lived on the east coast of the US I didnt have one. Good metro, bus, and rail options.

Now I'm in a car centric city and would love nothing more than to get rid of my car. Nuisance to park and maintain, not to mention all the expenses.