Do you really need a car?

[6lilpigs]

Sorry bored sat at home so I thought I'd start a thread.

I don't have a car.
I used to have a car.
Q) Do I need a car? A) Well I've managed so far without one so obviously not.

My situation is 5 kids from 1-8, 1 on way, double pushchair and we live in a village on the outskirts of a town. If I can manage on the buses then anyone can surely. But what I have going for me is school is 3 min walk away, I work for hubby from home and obviously I have the internet so can have it all brought to me.

Basically what gets my goat is the biiiiiiiig mamas down the school who park on the double yellows and say well I have to drive I do have 2 kids you know, how would I manage without it.
Well you would and probably alot easier and with a few extra bob in your pocket at the end of it. When I had a car I was always out shopping for nothing, burning fuel at a terrible rate as last car was a double cab truck. Buying useless stuff with a reduced sticker on it so increasing the consumer binge addiction that we have in this country (well at least it keeps some poor kid in a sweat factory in work eek)

Since not having a vehicle (approximately 2 years) I have kept off the pounds despite having v.healthy appetite and do more with the kids instead of putting them in a trolley all day, plus knowing that when the news items showing the devestation in the poor countries due to drought or flooding are not entirely my fault. I have no money to send to help them but at least sticking to the sacred 3 R's I have less guilt.

One more point, if the government want more people on buses they should make public transport free. If I want to pop in to my local town the fare on a Saturday for me and the kids is 9.70 return and thats because 2 of them travel free. The fare each way in a cab is 7.00 and this drops me to my door, the nearest bus stop is about a 6 min walk away and sometimes laden down with bags and tired kids this last 6 min walk uphill even I cant face it so I will take a cab especially if my timing is wrong as my bus is on an hourly service.

Would love your views, are all your journeys really necessary?

[HELLO_KITTY]

we used to have 2 cars but we sold mine when i left work to have dd, so now we share a car, it is essential for work, as these work estates are so far from residential, it would give much more time at home before leaving for work,
i think for me it just releaves stress from my life, i always hated waiting for buses that were late and sometimes never turned up, i hate being late, and people never understand when yo say the bus did not turn up..

i love walking and live fairy central so i do walk as much as i can aside from rainy days, at the moment i drive to school, but we are moving house soon so we will be nearer and able to walk, i dream of walking to school..

[tiger]

Good idea for a thread 5lilpigs. Have a well earned rep point.
I was only thinking last night that many of us don't do enough to protect the environment and I include myself in that.
We share a car now instead of having one each and I try to only go shopping once a week. I often use the bus when I don't have anything heavy or bulky to carry.
It's all very well for governments to talk about cutting carbon emissions within 5 years, but more needs to be done now.

[gwillymsarah]

we have one car but with 4 kids and another one on the way we don't all fit in it.we did think about getting a mpv but they are expensive to buy and run. DH uses the car mostly for work (which would take a maximum of 10 mins to walk) and going the see his mate (again 10 min walk). i don't drive and am happy to catch a bus but that isn't cheep where we live a a return ticket for me and the kids is £13. so i am thinking of learning to drive and getting a small car for myself but i will only be using ti for shopping and taking the kids places as we are in a small town and there are limited outdoor and after school activities, but if i could drive i could take them to more thing instead of them being stuck indoors.
i do know how you feel about the mums using cars to drop the kids off at school they have to park on the yellow lines right outside the school gate so they don't have to walk far making it dangerous for everyone else's kids and don't seem to care. but would properly be the first to complain if someone got hurt.

[tiger]

When my youngest was at primary school, I used to see a mum who lived a couple of hundred yards from the school, pick up her kids by car. None of them had mobility problems. It was a big car so perhaps she wanted to show it off.

[gwillymsarah]

i think if i had a car i would use it more wisely and practically then DH does i think it's just made him lazy.

[Gizmos]

We had two cars, then when I got a job in the town we got rid of one, I left that job and took another - after nine months on the bus and it taking an hour and half to travel 6 miles I bought another, sorry but three hours travelling a day to do 12 miles is not right. More than once the bus would not stop on the main road and half to wait for another half an hour ..

I walk on a lunchtime at work when I would sometimes take the car for the mile or so outing. I dont travel excessively and think that my recycling of the work's cans/bottles etc helps to offset some of my emissions ...

[tiger]

I agree Giz, 3 hours a day travelling is too much especially for such a short distance.
I'm lucky with public transport where I live. Just a short distance away, I can get a bus every 10 or 15 minutes. They stop near the train station where there is a train into Manchester hourly during the day or every 20 mins at peak times.

[Maldives]

There is barely a bus service where I work, so I have to have a car... When Hubby got a new job last March I started giving him a lift each day as it was on my route to work, but unfortunately he now works longer hours and its just not practical.. He could take a bus in the morning but then he would be stuck at night.. so yes we need our two cars..

The government do need to do something with public transport, it costs a fortune and if they want people to use it they need to make it more accessible (can't sp)

I recyle so I hope I am helping with my carbon foot print..

[gwillymsarah]

my uncle has 6 kids and has never owened a car, but he lives in london where the public transport is cheeper and more frequent then my little welsh town. if the buses were cheeper to use and went to more places from here i wouldn't even be thinking of learning to drive and getting another car.

[DebbieE]

We have 2 cars - they're essential tho' as OH is a driving instructor & therefore I can't share his as he's nearly always in it! I do try & walk whenever I can to work.

[Gizmos]

I agree Giz, 3 hours a day travelling is too much especially for such a short distance.
I'm lucky with public transport where I live. Just a short distance away, I can get a bus every 10 or 15 minutes. They stop near the train station where there is a train into Manchester hourly during the day or every 20 mins at peak times.

I keep saying that I should walk in the summer as it would be just as quick as when I got the bus, but only when I am on an early start so can get OH to drive me in!

I walked one night from old job to home (same distance) and it didnt take me too long - I was in a foul mood and all the buses were to pot - still got home only half an hour later or so ..

[Filthy Monkey]

We have three cars in London and one in Glasgow. Kirsty uses 'our' car every day, but her car hasn't turned a wheel for almost a year. I use my car in London maybe once or twice a week. To be honest, although Kirsty needs one car for work, she definitely doesn't need the other one, so we should sell it, but just haven't got around to it yet. Public transport in London is excellent and I've started running to and from work anyway, so I suppose I don't really need my car down here, but I only bought it a few months ago and it is such good fun that I don't want to get rid of it... :)

I do, however, need my car in Glasgow as my house is in the country and public transport sucks! I spend the weekends with my girls and they are just hectic, so it wouldn't be practical to have to take the bus everywhere.

[6lilpigs]

i think if i had a car i would use it more wisely and practically then DH does i think it's just made him lazy.

This is the trap. I keep toying with the idea of getting a little run around and just using it when I need to, but I know even if I have to pop to the local shop I will drive, to the Drs at the end of the road practically I will drive. I know I will become reaaaly lazy again.
If, the government would only subsidise public transport in a big way then we could empty some of the roads a bit making those long bus journeys a bit quicker. Incase you havent used the bus for a while even a child fare isnt a half anymore but a 2/3rds.

p.s. any sign of that baby yet gwilly? :)

[littleange_com]

We had 2 cars when we first got together but as I wasn't working mine was just sitting in the garage, Dell was working in chesterfield and was driving back up to Leeds every night and was spending a fortune in fuel in his 1.6 litre saxo, so we sold his car first and bought a 900cc Fiat Seicento lol to save money on running the car up and down the M1 and to save putting all those miles on mine. We then sold my 1.1 litre saxo to pay off some debts.

We now just have the 900cc Fiat, and Dell's bought a 125cc bike to use for work, we don't use the car much, just the odd trip out together and to visit parents etc.

We're in a good location for buses, trains and leeds/bradford airport (if we ever decide to go abroad) train and buses at the bottom of our road - so we occasionally go into leeds on the train, around £3 for us both.

[Mamzie]

I used to love to walk, but am now unable to walk far due to back and hip problems. We have 2 cars, an estate for dh that we use for moving everything in including manure for the garden... and a small car for me and the kids.

What I would like is for more cars to fit 3 full sized child car seats/ 3 adults in the back seat, rather than needing to get an mpv again just to fit everyones seats in, if we had more children.

[gwillymsarah]

This is the trap. I keep toying with the idea of getting a little run around and just using it when I need to, but I know even if I have to pop to the local shop I will drive, to the Drs at the end of the road practically I will drive. I know I will become reaaaly lazy again.
If, the government would only subsidise public transport in a big way then we could empty some of the roads a bit making those long bus journeys a bit quicker. Incase you havent used the bus for a while even a child fare isnt a half anymore but a 2/3rds.

p.s. any sign of that baby yet gwilly? :)

i would like to think a car won't make me lazy as dh rearly gets on my nerves driving everywhere and i like walking and often turn down the offer of a lift if i can walk ( except for the last few weeks when i'm taking every offer going as walking to the end of the street makes me need the wc :D ). and no signs yet :(

[Jules_2005]

.

What I would like is for more cars to fit 3 full sized child car seats/ 3 adults in the back seat, rather than needing to get an mpv again just to fit everyones seats in, if we had more children.

I'll second that, we have an MPV as we have 3 kids in child seats. I can just about squeeze them all into the back of Dad's Vectra but I can't buckle them up safely as I can't see or reach any of the buckles.

[6lilpigs]

I think there is a definate gap in the market by the sounds of it for the wider vehicle, especially with the new car seat law. Of course it would have to be a hybrid, slightley wider than usual with extra side impact strength, a good sized boot and even have pull down kids seats incorperated. Any one any good at design? We could call it the Ford Family PTS.

Even if they could build in seat belt height adjusters like some cars have for adults but make them go lower for the children in the back.

[Mamzie]

Its just sooo annoying, even with just the 2 car seats in the back, then the middle seat then becomes virtually impossible to use if you are bigger than a size 12.. So a car that should be easily capable of carrying 5 can only fit 4 in.

[ploverpalace]

We only have 1 car. DH bikes to work but a 40 min each way walk to school, 3 times a day is too much for me (so it has to be a 5 min car drive). I work in the evenings too, so its not safe to walk. My area is fairly rural, and the public transport system is terrible:mad:

[Freckles]

This is a really interesting topic - just seen it, sorry!
I've been thinking about getting rid of my car in Sept, dd starts school then and so i no longer have to drive her to pre-school. School is a 5 min walk for us.
I only passed my test 2 yrs ago, but before that i used to walk everywhere and was so much fitter than i am now.
I really wouldn't need my car come sept, i only work when dh is home so i can use his company car then, and the only other thing i would use the car for is needless shopping, so getting rid of it would save me money all round!
But i do feel i would lose some of my independance by getting rid of it. It's hard to decide whether to keep it or not!

[Bargainz]

We sold his old banger 5 years ago, and put the money towards the wedding. We both worked shifts then for the same company, and it was a challenge (work was about 3 miles away, but along a busy dual carriageway with no footpaths). If DHB was on earlies he would be up at 5.15am, finish at 2pm; I would get the bus in for late shift, and he would come and pick me up at 11pm - needless to say it was knackering. No bus would get us in for earlies or back from late shift so returns were out of the question (no service on Sunday).
Then I changed jobs and suddenly had to drive 50 miles each way for 6 weeks. We had to get me another car. He still works shifts at the same place, and I work in a little village with one bus a day. I often have large boxes of books to take home, and back again. The bus service is okay, but the timetable is very weird. Just after we got married I worked in the town centre for 9 months. 3 times in that short period the bus was late or didn't turn up and I was docked pay and arrived at work very stressed.

[Ladyshopper]

I would love to be able to use public transport to get to work, but unfortunately its rubbish in the village I live in. I have no choice other than to have a car. :(

[Tabby]

I grew up as one of six kids in a family with no car. We walked everywhere and we were very fit slim kids. I still walk as much as possible and make the kids walk too although we do have two cars. If it takes more than an hour to walk, I'll drive.
The only exception to my rule has been driving four miles to do dog walking for an elderly couple. They are now moving a long way away and I won't see them or the dog any more.:( I may rethink having a car as I don't really need it any more. I may well buy a new bike instead!