Public Transport!

[FN-GM]

Hi,

 

After a couple of accidents with my car, one involving me backing into another car and then someone hitting my car in the carpark at work (teacher! ) i am now left without one while its in for repair.

 

I decided to have a look at the bus timetable to see what that was like to get me to a few places and maybe to work. I last used a bus 4 years ago, i find that 50% of the routes near many house have been cut. I may as well walk it. The service was rubbish before god knows what it will be like now.

 

Not only that its expensive!

 

And the government encourage us to leave the car at home....

[mac_shinobi]

Hi,

 

After a couple of accidents with my car, one involving me backing into another car and then someone hitting my car in the carpark at work (teacher! ) i am now left without one while its in for repair.

 

I decided to have a look at the bus timetable to see what that was like to get me to a few places and maybe to work. I last used a bus 4 years ago, i find that 50% of the routes near many house have been cut. I may as well walk it. The service was rubbish before god knows what it will be like now.

 

Not only that its expensive!

 

And the government encourage us to leave the car at home....

 

Taxi ?

 

There are some taxi companies out there that are reasonable on price and would be faster then bus but obviously this depends on the distance you are travelling via taxi as this can soon be expensive as well.

 

Car pooling or lift from friends / family ? Assuming they are not working or w/e, bit of fuel money ??

[MK-2]

yep. at my last place (before i passed my test) i had to catch two separate buses and also walk about a mile and half between the buses (each way).

if i had to bus it to my current place id have no hope. buses go to the centre of derby from me but thats about it, i'd then be struggling to get here without another epic walk!

and totally agree on the prices. £2.50 to go about 4 stops here

[LosOjos]

The prices are ridiculous, but a pass saves you a lot of money, even if you just buy them weekly until you have a car again.

 

If I had to pay my way to work and back on public transport, it'd cost me £5 a day (bus & metro day saver), but a pass costs £50 a month... got to be cheaper than petrol, tax, MOT & insurance!

 

But the service is sh*t and if you want to be anywhere in a hurry, you can forget it. Yesterday my bus went the wrong way and I had to get off and help him turn it around. Last thing you want when you're already running late!

[6Foot2]

I have a 12 minute journey by car [on a good day]

 

By bus it is an hour and a half [if make the connection in town!] and it is expensive [nothing new there, covered in earlier posts]

[pcstru]

I may as well walk it.

 

If it's within walking distance why don't you? And if it's within walking distance, it must be easily do-able on a push bike (worth a look at the cycle to work scheme). I'd love to live close enough to be able to leave the car/motorbike at home .

[SteveBentley]

It very much depends where you are. I've found the bus less hassle and cheaper than finding somewhere to park, but I work in a town centre and there's a bus stop almost outside my front door. And if you work for a big organisation which has done some paperwork, you can get a big discount of First bus tickets in some areas.

[mats]

Get a bike (just not a supermarket cheapie!). You will then be able to enjoy riding past the queues of cars in the morning, through the already full carpark to lock it up right by the door. Repeat at 5.

[rad]

My journey according to TFL will take 3 bus' and over an hour in travel time (if they are on time), takes me 10 minutes by car.

Where i used to live was 25 min by car, 45 by bike and about and hour 30 by public transport.

 

so why don't I use the bus, I wonder!

[Gibbo]

40 minutes by car for me but three hours if I use public transport. It starts with a two mile walk to the station, two trains, a bus then a 1/4 mile walk to school.

[K.C.Leblanc]

Hi,

 

After a couple of accidents with my car, one involving me backing into another car and then someone hitting my car in the carpark at work (teacher! ) i am now left without one while its in for repair.

 

If the other driver has taken liability you should be given a courtesy car and it should be equivalent to the car being repaired.

[FN-GM]

The prices are ridiculous, but a pass saves you a lot of money, even if you just buy them weekly until you have a car again.

 

That is something i looked into but in my area they are only good value if you have more than 12 trips a week. Something i wont be doing.

 

If it's within walking distance why don't you? And if it's within walking distance, it must be easily do-able on a push bike (worth a look at the cycle to work scheme). I'd love to live close enough to be able to leave the car/motorbike at home

 

Its about 4 miles, i wouldnt like to walk it in the rain

 

If the other driver has taken liability you should be given a courtesy car and it should be equivalent to the car being repaired.

 

Its a friend of mine who is skint so i didnt want to really.

 

Today i tapped my mum up for a lift

[sted]

Its about 4 miles, i wouldnt like to walk it in the rain

 

car when its wet bike when dry?

[FN-GM]

Its about 4 miles, i wouldnt like to walk it in the rain

 

car when its wet bike when dry?

 

Well thats the point my car is in the garage, i do try to walk when it is dry though.

[K.C.Leblanc]

Its a friend of mine who is skint so i didnt want to really.

 

Today i tapped my mum up for a lift

 

Unless he's paying for the repairs out of his own pocket it won't make any difference, his insurers should pick up the cost.

[FN-GM]

Unless he's paying for the repairs out of his own pocket it won't make any difference, his insurers should pick up the cost.

 

She is paying out of her own pocket. As its cheaper than paying the excess

[BenABF]

When my car was broken I ended up using a train in the morning and cycling the 10 miles home. I start at 8 and finish at 4, The train in the morning was fine as it got me to the town I work in by half 7 and with a 2 mile cycle to work in plenty of time, but the only train in the evening didn't leave till gone 7pm. This is why public transport doesn't work. I had contemplated cycling to work too but don't fancy turning up all hot and sweaty.

[witch]

Public transport would work if it WAS public and not private...

There are many places in the world where public transport is subsidised by the government and does not make a profit so it is cheaper and also reliable. Buses/trams/trains etc all have timetables which interlink.

But of course our public transport was sold off..(but that's another discussion

[SteveT]

what are these buses you speak of??

[K.C.Leblanc]

Buses/trams/trains etc all have timetables which interlink.

But of course our public transport was sold off..(but that's another discussion

 

This a big part of the problem. I needed to get from Gloucestershire to Devon. From my local station it would have taken well over 5 hours, however there's another station 7 miles away that's on a different line which would have reduced the journey time by two hours. Only problem being is the only bus that would have got me there in time arrived two hours too early.

 

One thing that people often don't remember is Dr Beeching was a big advocate a better integrated transport system and in many cases he recommended the close of rail services part of his reasoning is buses could deliver the same level of service for less and with more flexibility.

Edited May 18, 2011 by K.C.Leblanc

[pshuttle]

I live in a village North West of Preston. I work in Chorley. To use a bus for me is totally unrealistic. The cost is exceptional, the travel time would be ridiculous and the only one bus per two hours through the village is simply pathetic.

 

But I WOULD use it if the facility was realistic.

[BenABF]

But I WOULD use it if the facility was realistic.

 

I think this would be the case with alot of people, I've yet to come across anyone who actually is served adequately by public transport outside of London.

[36Degrees]

And the government encourage us to leave the car at home....

 

They say they want you to leave the car at home when they are raising "green taxes" but the simple fact is that motorists are a cash cow so they can't afford people to do so. As others have said, public transport outside of London is a joke. Travel by car can be safer, more convenient, cheaper, cleaner, quicker, etc.

[Hecate]

When comparing costs most people considerably underestimate the cost of using a car. The AA figure for a low cost car averaging 10,000 miles per year is around 45p per mile which makes my daily 12 mile round trip £5.40. For me there is no public transport alternative and cycling, for me, isn't a practical alternative.

[TechMonkey]

If I lived in London or even lived in the main town here I would do public transport. Where I am it just doesn't work. A 20-30 min journey in a car takes 45-75 minutes on trains and buses. Dependant on connecting, multiple delays the train seems to have, whether the bus driver is annoyed or not and if the rail crossing is working or not. Also the timings of both make it tricky unless I walk at at exactly the same time each day. Where I often try and finish bits of or help out it got I was getting home at stupid times. With my car or motorbike I just leave when I want and little variation on my time.