Those of you that don't have cars....

[MichaelW2]

Car free or car-lite? If you can arrange work and home to be within cycling distance, th need to own a car diminishes. Cars cost about £1000/year to own, you can use this money to buy a selection of bikes, eg fast ones, pub bikes, all-weather ones, folders. A bike-trailer helps a lot with moving stuff and making big shopping trips.
Car clubs are good for short duration hire. Car rental can be expensive but it comes out of your extra £1000. You can hire the right size and shape for your needs. Many workplaces have special arrangements with their car-lease companies for reduced rates.
Cars have their uses, as do removal vans and passenger airliners.

 

[classic33]

@biking_fox, what do you do if you can't apply for a driving licence?

 

[mjr]

(Before someone suggests it - the council does not allow pedal-powered vehicles into the waste disposal centre!)

Blimey, is that even legal? I would hope that it's politically untenable in most places, as I bike some fair-sized loads into the "household waste recycling centre" both here in Norfolk and previously in North Somerset.

But if you do own a car it is more efficient to use it, rather than paying for it to sit on a driveway!

I'd dispute that in general. There are ranges where it's true (for example, single-person journeys longer than 10 miles but shorter than two hours driving) but I think it's not generally true. There's both the fact that a load of running costs are usage-dependent and that the driver's time isn't free and that driving gives none of the health benefits of cycling. However, most people are so used to just swallowing all those extra costs and keep on sucking the tail pipe of the car in front...

 

[ColinJ]

Blimey, is that even legal? I would hope that it's politically untenable in most places, as I bike some fair-sized loads into the "household waste recycling centre" both here in Norfolk and previously in North Somerset.

I don't know if it is legal.

They definitely have a 'no pedestrians, vehicles only' rule. It depends on whether the workers there classed a bike or other pedal-powered machine as a 'vehicle'. The 'no pedestrians' rule is pretty stupid because everybody has to get out of their vehicles a few metres beyond the gates to dispose of their rubbish.

There is a 6' 2" height restriction - perhaps they are worried about us banging our heads as we go in!

 

[classic33]

Blimey, is that even legal? I would hope that it's politically untenable in most places, as I bike some fair-sized loads into the "household waste recycling centre" both here in Norfolk and previously in North Somerset.

I don't know if it is legal.

They definitely have a 'no pedestrians, vehicles only' rule. It depends on whether the workers there classed a bike or other pedal-powered machine as a 'vehicle'. The 'no pedestrians' rule is pretty stupid because everybody has to get out of their vehicles a few metres beyond the gates to dispose of their rubbish.

There is a 6' 2" height restriction - perhaps they are worried about us banging our heads as we go in!

Reasons for not allowing pedal cycles onto the recycling centres include:
"A pedal cycle is not a legal road vehicle". We are pedestrians!
"Unsafe, onsite working practices", these include the dropping of skips onto people and or their vehicle.
As a pedestrian, no steel shell to save us, we could be injured if one were to fall on top of us! These skips are dragged up/pulled up onto the lorry by a hook and arm.

 

[ColinJ]

Reasons for not allowing pedal cycles onto the recycling centres include:
"A pedal cycle is a legal road vehicle". We are pedestrians!

Did you mean NOT a legal road vehicle?

Reasons for not allowing pedal cycles onto the recycling centres include:
"Unsafe, onsite working practices", these include the dropping of skips onto people and or their vehicle.
As a pedestrian, no steel shell to save us, we could be injured if one were to fall on top of us! These skips are dragged up/pulled up onto the lorry by a hook and arm.

Everybody has to get out of the cars/vans anyway to dump their stuff. The whole thing is bonkers!

 

[classic33]

Did you mean NOT a legal road vehicle?


Everybody has to get out of the cars/vans anyway to dump their stuff. The whole thing is bonkers!

Genuine answers given by the council. And I did miss the word "not" out. Backspaced to far, now corrected, thanks

 

[ColinJ]

Genuine answers given by the council. And I did miss the word "not" out. Backspaced to far, now corrected, thanks
View attachment 124558

Flipping heck - you couldn't make it up!

 

[classic33]

Flipping heck - you couldn't make it up!

No. Even made apply to VOSA, for the registered keeper of a trailer. And got it, much to their suprise.

Same council by the way.

 

[biking_fox]

@biking_fox, what do you do if you can't apply for a driving licence?

Shrug. If you can't then you can't.

Get a passport. Government ID is at times very valuable - mortgages and officialdom in general, and when you do want it, you don't want to be waiting months for it to arrive!
You can't hire care, so you'll be on taxi, when you have to! I have used taxi to get large loads home from BnQ etc. they don't mind.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

Before someone suggests it - the council does not allow pedal-powered vehicles into the waste disposal centre!

That's rubbish (boom boom!)
No, seriously...my nearest "council tip / Veolia Recycling Centre" does allow cycles although I had to email to be sure and I always take a copy of my email that clearly states that my bike and trailer is allowed and is not classed as "on foot" nor does the trailer need the permit that applies to motor vehicles with trailers

 

[Brains]

OP

All down to where you live and your lifestyle
If you live in a large town/City then car free may be the way to go
Live out in the sticks and car driving is not optional

As it appears you have already passed your test (many have not), then no need to buy until you need to (and can afford to do so)

I've had vehicles since i was a teenager, but SWIMBO has never taken the test, we get by.
I have a good friend who passed his test 25 years ago and and not driven since that day.
I've therefore driven him tens of thousands of miles since, which is probably not reasonable.

 

[captain nemo1701]

Although I passed my test in 1981, I have never owned a car. I've now got to the point of driving company vans etc, for the last 20 years or so, if I'm out in traffic then I tend to get all stressed and look jealously at all the cyclists passing me in the bus lane whilst I'm jammed up. I find driving these days to be a hassle and now that I'm office bound most of the time, I am really really enjoying not driving. If I need to get stuff (like a ton of garden compost) I can borrow a van for the weekend. But my main transport is bicycle, bus & good old Shanks' Pony.

I have seen our culture become massively car -dependent over the last 30 years or so, when we had a pro-car Tory government in power for far too long. Policy up to the 90's was cars and roads come first, other forms of transport aren't worth looking at. That's probably why the Tories had trains and buses privatised as the car was considered to be the future. Now, I think the pendulum is beginning to swing the other way to rebalance the system.

I live and work in Bristol (allegedly a cycling city). The local right-wing tabloid rag is anti cycling and perpetually demonises us and gives a voice to the petrolhead mafia whom are constantly complaining that our mayor is anti-car. We've got some new cycling infrastructure and 20 mph speed limits, much to the disgust of some of the aforementioned mafia. But despite all this, I find living car free is worth it for the peace and stress -free life it gives me. My bike is my steed, takes me where I want to be with minimum fuss. Buses are OK and one goes from behind my house to the local train station in 20 mins. I do work with some folk who insist on living out in the countryside and then moan about sitting in jams on the commute into Bristol. Well, if that's their chosen life, they shouldn't whinge about traffic!!.

People should try to go car free and adapt their lifestyle accordingly. When moving home, why not live nearer to your workplace or on a main bus/train route?. It's cheaper and less stress than sitting in jams all the time. Unfortunately, some folk would rather look at it from a driving point of view and plan their life accordingly.

So to the OP, carry on being car free!

 

[MiK1138]

I'm going to ask another question here, for the regular walkers.
How many give a distance, point A to point B, in the time it'd take you to walk it?

yup, not a very acurate 1 though, everywhere is a "10 minute walk" from my house

 

[classic33]

yup, not a very acurate 1 though, everywhere is a "10 minute walk" from my house

How many actually take 10 minutes though?