Giving up motorised transport in favour of biking it everywhere

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briantrumpet

Legendary Member
Location
Devon & Die
Just bought advance train tickets to Bangor, North Wales for a November break. Fares a lot more reasonable with a railcard. For any UK holiday we always look for places we can easily get to by train and bus. But also have walking / hill walking / coastal walking on the door step.

Still have old car, but when it dies; I think that will be it for cars.

I'm probably the same re my car. It's actually really expensive per mile now, as the fixed costs (insurance, MOT, 'road tax', etc) remain the same despite it being parked up 99.9% of the year.

Turning 60 and getting a railcard is quite a game-changer for perception of train affordability, and is partly behind my changing to train-only to get to the French place, as the Exeter-Paddington trains are now only about £40 buying in advance, and if I can get Eurostar for under £60 and a TGV for about £50, it's a no-brainer to avoid the M5, Bristol Airport and EasyJet.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Location
The Urban Fringe
I do have the C70 as a sunny day toy for pub runs, car shows, etc, over the summer, and that does 100-200 miles a year. Some years it doesnt come out at all, and may not emerge in 2027 as there are a few jobs I want to do.

And I have the campervan for holidays. I no longer go abroad, and Mrs D and I have vowed never to fly again, so the van gets me about for camping holidays. Maybe 1500-2500 miles a year. In an emergency ill press it into service, such as when Geddy needed the emergency vets earlier this year, but otherwise its a holiday tool.

For daily mileage, getting from A to B for the mundane and routine, the sort of use that the typical motorist drives a car for 8000-12000 miles a year I rely on my feet or a bicycle. At 58 I feel no need to change that. Indeed, just the opposite - when it comes to one's physical abilities Im very much of the "use it or lose it" camp, so the more I ever feel like giving in and buying a car the more I become determined to not do so.

Mrs D is a different kettle of aquatic life. She's a decade younger than me and still has a job, and is a walking stick/wheelchair user. In order to maintain any semblance of independence she has little choice but to use her car, a Volvo EX40 Redharge Twin Performance, but I don't use it. Even if I wanted to it,wouldn't be at home when I needed it.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
It is only looking back at where my parents worked that I realise how close to their places to work they were. Everything seemed a long way away as a kid, but their commutes were never greater than 3-4 miles. In comparison my cycle commutes were 11-14 miles each way. A commute of 3-4 miles is perfect by bike, and even fine walking. Yet the masses will drive that distance and less.

It's very different now. My mum worked locally, and my dad was usually only a few miles away - furthest was about 10 miles. Very much different for us, where I've worked for some time 20-30 miles away, and only more recently has it been 10 miles which is ideal for a daily bike commute without.

Must say, the 'van' is very expensive to run in terms of road tax and insurance - about £1000 as it's a high rate road tax vehicle for a couple more years, that's 20p per mile as it only does 5,000 miles. It's a reason I take very little notice of fuel costs, other than knowing it's over £100 to fill up before the van goes on a trip. The positive side, it the van hardly moves, other than taking us somewhere 'nice'.
 

briantrumpet

Legendary Member
Location
Devon & Die
The problem is that having bought into the notion that cars are the answer, people base major life choices around them. Several years ago I proposed a walking bus solution for the local primary school, involving a walk of about 200m from the local rugby club car park, to avoid the twice-a-day chaos of little & big people and cars mixing en masse on wholly inappropriate roads. One Facebook response was that her twice daily routine was to drop one child at this school, another at another (private) school in Exeter, and then drive onto work (and the whole thing in reverse at the end of the day). Five days a week. And apparently no other solution was practical. The extra 10 minutes for a walking bus was out of the question. That told me.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Location
The Urban Fringe
The problem is that having bought into the notion that cars are the answer, people base major life choices around them.

Exactly my argument. No one pops out of the womb "needing" a car. Their life and lifestyle  choices are what directs them to own one.

Its surprising how many on even this enlightened forum dont get that.

As a parish councillor I proposed a walking bus for a local primary school (catchment radius about 450 metres) as a solution to the ridiculous parking problems, but the utterly ridiculous and facile arguments, many from the school itself (Mrs D is very senior in a local multi-school education trust and laughed at some of the codswallop the school themselves trotted out) we just gave up. We were clearly trying to shovel the brown stuff against the tide if even the people who would most benefit were putting illusory obstacles in the way of such a sensible and cost free proposal.
 
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Elybazza61

Legendary Member
Exactly my argument. No one pops out of the womb "needing" a car. Their life and lifestyle  choices are what directs them to own one.

Its surprising how many on even this enlightened forum dont get that.

As a parish councillor I proposed a walking bus for a local primary school (catchment radius about 450 metres) as a solution to the ridiculous parking problems, but the utterly ridiculous and facile arguments, many from the school itself (Mrs D is very senior in a local multi-school education trust and laughed at some of the codswallop the school themselves trotted out) we just gave up. We were clearly trying to shovel the brown stuff against the tide if even the people who would most benefit were putting illusory obstacles in the way of such a sensible and cost free proposal.

Our next-door neighbours parents ferry their two kids to school every day in the car, now to be fair the youngest does go to a junior school in a nearby village but the eldest girl is now at the main comprehensive that is at best a 10 minute walk ; the real killer is that they don't go together, the girl goes first and then the youngest boy goes later :wacko:.

Oh and he'll park on the road outside the house when he comes back from dropping the eldest before the mother goes to work and then will come back out to put the car on the drive :blink:.
 

Dogtrousers

Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
I've lost my driving mojo. I now find driving terribly stressful and I worry endlessly (literally lose sleep) if I have a big drive coming up.

Nothing logical about it. I'm not worrying about anything in particular.

Since we got the OP railcards we go pretty much everywhere by train now, which just gives me less practice and makes it worse.
 

briantrumpet

Legendary Member
Location
Devon & Die
I've lost my driving mojo. I now find driving terribly stressful and I worry endlessly (literally lose sleep) if I have a big drive coming up.

Nothing logical about it. I'm not worrying about anything in particular.

Since we got the OP railcards we go pretty much everywhere by train now, which just gives me less practice and makes it worse.

My concern is that I'm actually losing driving skill by being out of practice. Seems that cars go faster than bikes and being bigger and heavier can do a lot more damage. Yeah, so let's make cars bigger, heavier, faster, and with worse visibility. That should fix it.

At least in my Almera I feel a little vulnerable.
 

All uphill

Still rolling along
Location
Somerset
I've lost my driving mojo. I now find driving terribly stressful and I worry endlessly (literally lose sleep) if I have a big drive coming up.

Nothing logical about it. I'm not worrying about anything in particular.

Since we got the OP railcards we go pretty much everywhere by train now, which just gives me less practice and makes it worse.

I recognise that.

After years of driving lots of miles for work what had been a pleasure turned into anxiety. I had seen a few collisions and started to realise that I was taking that risk, with my life and other people's, every time I drove.

Now I only walk, cycle or train and feel much better. Now I only risk my life, and I'm ok about that.
 

briantrumpet

Legendary Member
Location
Devon & Die
I recognise that.

After years of driving lots of miles for work what had been a pleasure turned into anxiety. I had seen a few collisions and started to realise that I was taking that risk, with my life and other people's, every time I drove.

Now I only walk, cycle or train and feel much better. Now I only risk my life, and I'm ok about that.

I think it's a function of getting older that we mostly get more risk averse: we've seen what can (and does go wrong), and that becomes part of our effort to stay alive and out of pain (physical and mental). As you say, at least with cycling and walking, the risk is mostly to ourselves, and that makes the risk less consequential in many ways.

One thing that I *definitely* feel safer doing here on a bike is riding along narrow balcony roads: on a bike you've got a lot more width to play with, and two wheels don't need to be close to a dangerous edge. Also you can jettison a bike if it all goes horribly wrong, unlike trying to get out of a two-tonne metal box.

Even with Armco, roads like this scare the pants off me in a car, but on a bike... pfft.

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Pat "5mph"

A kilogrammicaly challenged woman
Moderator
Location
Glasgow
Now I only walk, cycle or train and feel much better. Now I only risk my life, and I'm ok about that.
This is the reason why, after passing my driving test about 30 years ago, I only drove for a few months then I gave it up.
I feel my road concentration is not good enough in a car.
Strangely enough, I'm very road aware on my bike.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
How many cars could take a washing machine in the back?

Took the old non working one one down tothe recycling centre(waste transfer station), then onto the shop to pick it's replacement up.
Neither those at the recycling centre or the shop were willing to believe it could be done by pedal cycle. No rush either way, so able to take it at a nice relaxed speed.
Saving money on the collecting the old one, and the delivery of the new one.
 

iandg

Squire
Not exactly. We live 10 miles from town. I had a Combo van, my wife a car. The van needed about £2k to get through an MOT. I scrapped it and put the money towards an e-bike. I use the e-bike for my utility trips and if the weather's bad jump on the bus - I'm on a the main bus route between Carlisle and Dumfries with a bus every hour. saved by being a 1 car household but I still find it too easy to jump in the car when it is on the drive.
 

Alex321

Guru
Location
South Wales
How many cars could take a washing machine in the back?

All the "main" cars I've ever owned. One of the main criteria when I was looking to replace the Insignia estate with an EV was that it must have at least close to the same load capacity (The Enyaq actually has slightly more).

I have several times over the years taken delivery of a new washing machine/tumble dryer/dishwasher from the shop using my car to get it home. But my main car has always been an estate car, apart from once when we bought a VW Santana saloon. Lasted 6 months before we decided we really couldn't manage without the load carrying space and sold it to get an estate.
 
How many cars could take a washing machine in the back?

Took the old non working one one down tothe recycling centre(waste transfer station), then onto the shop to pick it's replacement up.
Neither those at the recycling centre or the shop were willing to believe it could be done by pedal cycle. No rush either way, so able to take it at a nice relaxed speed.
Saving money on the collecting the old one, and the delivery of the new one.

By trailer, or rucksack?
 
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