Are you driving less?

[mercia]

See answer above

oh thanks
................. in which case, unless my maths is up the creek, you are getting excellent miles per gallon
and doing less than 600 miles per year so your insurance will be low(er) [a win win situation, as they say]

[teamsaint]

due to ever increasing sales area, my mileage is going up and and up !!

However, this is the very reason that box sets of Mahler and Bruckner were invented.

However, its true to say that fewer kids are learning , there has been a huge reduction in the no of tests taken.

[teamsaint]

I will check the mileometer against the registration document and tell you exactly how many miles I've done ....

Add:
MoT Cert 28 Dec (I bought it on 23 Jan) 056941
Today 057334
Mileage 393

If you only do 500 miles a year, surely cheaper , easier, less stress to use a cab when you need?
But I guess you thought of that already !!!

[EdgeleyRob]

I only use the car for work now mainly.
Years ago I would drive all over the country for family holidays and football matches.
Holidays are now taken abroad because of the crap weather here.
The days of driving from Stockport to Torquay and back just to watch football are long gone.

[teamsaint]

I only use the car for work now mainly.
Years ago I would drive all over the country for family holidays and football matches.
Holidays are now taken abroad because of the crap weather here.
The days of driving from Stockport to Torquay and back just to watch football are long gone.

You aren't suggesting that crap weather in the north of England is a recent phenomenon, ER?!

JUST to watch football? Doesn't compute !!

[Petrushka]

I've never driven and never want to as there are enough idiots on the road already without me adding to their number. Moreover, I've been horribly accident-prone since childhood so would have wrapped myself round a tree long ago. In any case the eyesight isn't of the keenest these days.

I commute to work by train (£33.10 for a 7 day season ticket) and that's exorbitant enough for a 25 minute journey.

[AmpH]

I have never driven or owned a car in my life - never had the need or inclination. Friends used to think I was barmy - they don't anymore, as they have to keep spending anything up to £100 just to fill up the tank !

[Richard Tarleton]

I think this thread probably divides roughly into town or city dwellers and country dwellers, see #3. Like gradus I don't have a choice. It would be impossible to get to work or do my job once I was there without a car (as work can be in a number of different locations, some of them remote). The same goes for just about every other aspect of daily life.

Still, work mileage will drop out of the equation next week as I'm retiring

[Anna]

I don't have a car at the moment as it wasn't a requirement for my job, a pool car is available if necessary. I live 2 minutes from the bus stop. Buses are always on time and it's a flat fare of £1.25 return or I can walk into town in 20 minutes. Parking per day costs £3. If needs be a cab back from town costs £3.50-£4.00 (I have had a cab 4 times this year) Economically it makes no sense to tax, insure and MoT a car when it gets so little use. For longer trips that I do to visit siblings (Brighton, Manchester and Co. Durham) the train is quicker, cheaper and of course less stressful than driving.
Of course if I moved somewhere more rural the situation may very well change.

[teamsaint]

I don't have a car at the moment as it wasn't a requirement for my job, a pool car is available if necessary. I live 2 minutes from the bus stop. Buses are always on time and it's a flat fare of £1.25 return or I can walk into town in 20 minutes. Parking per day costs £3. If needs be a cab back from town costs £3.50-£4.00 (I have had a cab 4 times this year) Economically it makes no sense to tax, insure and MoT a car when it gets so little use. For longer trips that I do to visit siblings (Brighton, Manchester and Co. Durham) the train is quicker, cheaper and of course less stressful than driving.
Of course if I moved somewhere more rural the situation may very well change.

With a bit of thought and investment, the situation in some, or many rural areas could be substantially improved. Where I live, 7 miles outside Salisbury, there is a decentish daytime bus service, but nothing after about 6.00 pm or sundays. These blanks must mean that a lot of people keep a car when perhaps with a slightly improved service, they wouldn't need to. A serious effort to reopen or build new railway stations on existing lines might also make a huge difference...especially if integrated with bus services....or flying pig timetables !!
Part of the problem though,i suspect, is that there is little will among the countryside great and good to have good public transport......

Edit...you might also think that actually asking people what services they want might help. .......one of our most popular services, which ran early morning to colleges in winchester was scrapped last year...it used to be full.

[gurnemanz]

When I retired and got a bus pass we got rid of our second car (prompted also by its MOT failure on five grounds). I still do some teaching and the students come to me. My wife uses the car daily for work and I manage fine by bike into town (A Royal one in North Wilts) and bus (three an hour). I can have the car if I need it by dropping her off and picking her up. We use the car for our regular cultural excursions to London. Although the train connection from Swindon to Paddington is pretty good, car is cheaper and more convenient.

[Dave2002]

Although the train connection from Swindon to Paddington is pretty good, car is cheaper and more convenient.

Your wife drives to London evey working day? Long drive. Surely I've misread this.

Mind you, the train would be very expensive - maybe around £1000 per month.

[Serial_Apologist]

A serious effort to reopen or build new railway stations on existing lines might also make a huge difference...especially if integrated with bus services....or flying pig timetables !!

When you say "flying pig timetables" you must be referring to the inability of express trains to leapfrog the slower all-stations stopping services on our still mostly one-up, one-down double track main lines.

The solution isn't of course possible on existing lines; it would require reopening old branch lines combined with building additional fast lines on the trunk routes.

[umslopogaas]

Reopening old branch lines sounds like a nice idea, but I doubt it would be possible. After fifty or so years, that land will have been used for other purposes. For example, where Cranleigh (Surrey) station used to be, there is now a shopping precinct (or was, last time I was there).

Interesting thought. When the railways were built, the population was much lower and presumably the powers that be co-operated in land purchase. Doing it today would be considerably more difficult. Think what would now be involved in driving a railway line into central London.

[gurnemanz]

Your wife drives to London evey working day? Long drive. Surely I've misread this.

Mind you, the train would be very expensive - maybe around £1000 per month.

What i wrote was: "We use the car for our regular cultural excursions to London. Although the train connection from Swindon to Paddington is pretty good, car is cheaper and more convenient." - i.e. evening or weekend outside congestion charge time. My wife works locally. Driving to London daily would be a nightmare.