Are we being forced to go electric?

[pawl]

If you had any sense - you'll book ahead and arrange a fee first. You'd not do it on the spur of the moment.

The point is - having a private car isn't the only way to live. I'll bet most of us had a lot less access to cars in our parents time. Life went on. People got around.

Back then there used to be good local bus services and loca rail services The only place I can get to from my village is Leicester If I want to visit the out of town shopping complex would mean a bus out of Leicester
Hinckley or Coalville which we visited for the the weekly shop has no direct service.
We have solved the problem by using Tesco home deliveries.On line cycle stores for parts and consumables .Amazon for clothing ,paint etc etc So have reduced my car usage considerably also my spending in the local community I suppose I can now be criticised for not supporting local shops we don’t have

The car has only been used for various hospital visits to the three Leicester hospitals for various cancer treatments and follow up. Scan results Mrs p was given the option of hospital visit or a telephone consultations She chose telephone.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Back in the 50s buses and trains were indeed a viable means of transport. You could get a bus from our house into town for 2d (remember them?), and parking was 6d, but only if you couldn't park on the street, which most did, for free. The relative cost of owning a car to go shopping was much more then than now in terms of income. Only the well off could buy a car.

As fewer people can afford to drive in the future I'd hope the cost and frequency of public transport will again make it viable choices for many. I've been retired 15 years, but in my working life I lived in a village and always needed a car or motorbike to get to work, until in my last two jobs, cycling became a viable choice.

Unfortunately successive governments have gone out of their way to sell of all these public services to their rich pals. So now these services need to turn a profit .
My experience of transport services in Spain and France is that it’s all quite joined up and cheap.
I agree with the message coming through in some of these posts , the reliance on cars needs to reduce however to do that I’m not sure, other than banning them from town/city centres .

Just as a side not my middle son has just got some seasonal work , however he is on a 50 mile round trip approximately . About 35/40 min car travel each way. Public transport would take him , double that nearly each way .
Got to be able to travel to where the work these days.

 

[All uphill]

We've been telling our neighbours that we won't be replacing our old car; we'll rely on walking, cycling and the occasional hire car. It will be a relief to be free of all the headaches involved in car ownership when we already drive it less than we cycle.

I'm loving the looks of pity from neighbours who cannot imagine going without a car unless absolutely penniless. One person responded with anger - he has just bought a new hybrid for his 3000 miles per year.

The point I'm trying to make is that car ownership has become the default, even for people living in congested small towns.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Very true, we went down to one car about 12 yrs ago . My cycle commute took of from then. It was a way to save money ( spent it on bike parts ) . It was hard at times , used the train quite a bit . So I could get back sharpish for school pick ups etc . Wife finished uni started up her own business, we had lots more money. Inevitable that we needed another car , to ferry kids to clubs etc . It made things easier but it also brought along hassles. I’d give up all my cars if it was doable but it’s just impossible at the moment . Wife needs a car for business , however an EV would work for that. I don’t strictly need a car to get to work but I can’t also rely on cycling alone especially in winter. As bridge gets closed a lot.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Congested by that very car ownership.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Just another thought, you know if the trains ran earlier in the morning ,I would be tempted to more by that ? Don’t know why we can’t have a 24hr service ?

 

[BrumJim]

Just another thought, you know if the trains ran earlier in the morning ,I would be tempted to more by that ? Don’t know why we can’t have a 24hr service ?

Maintenance.

 

[cougie uk]

Personally, I think car ownership is here to stay, simply because of the freedom it gives you. Many may cut down to just one car and the method of propulsion will be electric or hydrogen. Motoring is massive business so the country cannot afford to lose it.
Public transport is just not happening as it prices itself out in the UK. Unless it becomes more affordable and concentrates on providing a service rather than money driven, it won't happen.

It's getting a bit rubbish though isn't it ? Congested roads. Nowhere to park ? Driving isn't as much fun as it used to be. It's definitely on the wane.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Congested by that very car ownership.

Yep. In 1960 there were about 5 million cars on UK roads, now it's around 36.5 million. That's just unsustainable in terms of road space that has to be allocated (or stolen from peds and cyclists), pollution and road deaths.

 

[cougie uk]

Unfortunately successive governments have gone out of their way to sell of all these public services to their rich pals. So now these services need to turn a profit .
My experience of transport services in Spain and France is that it’s all quite joined up and cheap.
I agree with the message coming through in some of these posts , the reliance on cars needs to reduce however to do that I’m not sure, other than banning them from town/city centres .

Just as a side not my middle son has just got some seasonal work , however he is on a 50 mile round trip approximately . About 35/40 min car travel each way. Public transport would take him , double that nearly each way .
Got to be able to travel to where the work these days.

50 miles a day ? Has he worked out how much that's costing him ?

Let's hope business becomes more local after Covid. Silly traveling into a city to do something you can do at your kitchen table.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Unfortunately successive governments have gone out of their way to sell of all these public services to their rich pals. So now these services need to turn a profit .
My experience of transport services in Spain and France is that it’s all quite joined up and cheap.
I agree with the message coming through in some of these posts , the reliance on cars needs to reduce however to do that I’m not sure, other than banning them from town/city centres .

Just as a side not my middle son has just got some seasonal work , however he is on a 50 mile round trip approximately . About 35/40 min car travel each way. Public transport would take him , double that nearly each way .
Got to be able to travel to where the work these days.

For rerasons I won't go into here I've had to swap I lot of tourneys onto the bus, i don't want to but I've had to, what I'm finding is most journeys are taking twice as long compared to the car, something that takes half an hourt in the car will take an hour on the bus, we're also very retricted in where we can go, a lot of places we'd go in the car we can't get to by bus. We were car free up until 2012 and managed OK, but now we've got used to the convenience of the car we would be reluctant to go back to being car free, but that is the problem with trying to get people to move away from their cars.

 

[All uphill]

It's getting a bit rubbish though isn't it ? Congested roads. Nowhere to park ? Driving isn't as much fun as it used to be. It's definitely on the wane.

It dawned on me about 20 years ago that I no longer enjoyed driving. I'm ashamed to say that I still wanted a shiny car (often a Saab) as some kind of identity thing.

 

[BrumJim]

It's getting a bit rubbish though isn't it ? Congested roads. Nowhere to park ? Driving isn't as much fun as it used to be. It's definitely on the wane.

I'd like to agree. However I have been to far too many places where city congestion is worse than the UK, and people still chose private transport over public.

 

[Chap sur le velo]

I was reading about a tipping point allowing Governments to ban things. E.g. when I was growing up Smokers were very vociferous about their right to smoke and they weren't going to have it taken away. Smokers were often seen as fun loving types and associated with entertainment, seduction and yes even sportsmen were often seen having a drag.
Meanwhile a large proportion of the population gave the habit up and moved to the anti smoking side and the government were able to impose a ban in public places with little real opposition, something that surprised me at the time. Of course it seems perfectly sane today but I recall not predicting that even though I've never been a smoker.

The numbers of Electric and Hybrid cars grow every year. And a bit like the anti smokers the owners are often evangelical about it. (EG Tesla cars are both one of the least reliable vehicles on the road, and the most popular brand with their owners!). When the moment is right a law can be passed that looks surprisingly draconian to some of us today. But I'm sure we will look back and wonder what took so long?

 

[Cycleops]

Considering that personal motorised transport has only been available for the great unwashed for about the last hundred years it's a amazing that so many now find it indispensable. What did people do before when travel was much more arduous?
Now there are very good fast transport links, apart maybe for some rural areas and home grocery delivery is available. Plus there's Uber.