What is needed to get you out of your cars?

I just enjoy driving.....

I was thinking the other day (this happens)....what taxes will rocket when eventually all cars or nearly all modes of transport go electric.....what will oil companies do? jobs etc? will the govt try and tax electricity....but by then most people will have solar panels and or batteries in house.....

anyway, went a little off thread.

I enjoy driving...
 


Some excellent points and I deffo think reduction is the issue.......If I commuted on bike but then used car to go to Lakes on weekend (engine warm and on long run much more efficient) then Im sure my impact on the environment would be massively reduced.

I guess you also have to factor in the reduced costs of healthcare to a population that is cycling/walking/running to work rather than using cars. Imagine the improvements to the the nations health if most of the population were getting a decent amount of daily exercise.

You've raised some very good points in this thread mate but ultimately the government aren't really interested in those points. The overwhelming concern of government (of any hue to date) is to maximise economic activity and revenue generation. Selling your car and using a bike you already own to get to work costs government revenue in the short term....and that's as far as their outlook stretches most of the time. There's no political will whatsoever to change car culture.
 
Depends on your job and where you live. I couldn't do my job without a car and I'd struggle with buses. My Mam lives six miles away. To get to there I'd need to get bus into Chester, one from Chester to the Galleries and then one to hers. Would take over an hour, but I can get there in 10 minutes in the car!

If I lived in a city, with a job in a fixed place and a good public transport network, I can see it being a possibility but at the moment, I need my car.
 
If i could get a metro to Newcastle at 0245 and one from Newcastle at 0015 i would never use my car to go to work.
 
I didn't drive until I was 32, it didn't really matter until the bairn was born.

Then the amount of stuff you need to carry around, the time it takes to get places, the standing about in the rain waiting for a bus, the lack of services, the lack of routes, all starts to matter.

Much worse where our lass is from like, only a couple of year ago her brother had to catch the one bus a morning to get to work, wait about for hours, then after work catch the only other bus back home. :lol:
 
Big step would for people to stop using thenlm for journeys they could do on foot in under 10 minutes.

My daughter has passed her test in the last year and she has given up walking anywhere.

Most of us will be guilty of it at times
 
I currently drive to work and it takes me 45 minutes, departing at 7.45.

If I switched to public transport, it would take 2 hours, departing at 6.30, and would involve 3 walks totalling 24 minutes; a metro and 2 buses.

No thank you.
 
I have a 50 mile each way trip to the office, takes 40 min each way in the car - trains cheaper at 6quid return but takes 90 min each way and its just not as convenient - so nah I'll stick with the car
 
Big step would for people to stop using thenlm for journeys they could do on foot in under 10 minutes.

My daughter has passed her test in the last year and she has given up walking anywhere.

Most of us will be guilty of it at times

This is it, isn't it. No one is advocating outlawing car use for when it's genuinely the best option, it's about cutting these sort of trips down as close to zero as possible. This is what creates awful air pollution, dangerous streets, poorer places to live.

When you make these trips harder to do by car, and importantly quicker and safe by bicycle or walking you create great places to live and spend time. Do make it happen though people have to make a sacrifice that their car journeys will take a little longer - it's a total nightmare to change people's minds.
 
short of a taxi that does my 18 mile commute for the £3 it costs me in fuel, and gets me door to door then nothing.

The alternative is a ten minute walk to the bus station, then play the lottery of will the bus turns up. Bus to Heworth. Arrive after half an hour of seemingly doing laps of Gateshead. Pray some doyle hasn't tried to nick the overhead powerlines and blow themselves skyhigh. Board the train and stand for the next half hour as it trundles along trying not to impede the metro system. Arrive in Seaham. Walk home for 20 minutes. About an hour and a half and well over £10 normally and thats just one way.
 
My commute driving is 30-45 minutes.

By public transport it’s 90 minutes.

So unless they invent a form of public transport that takes me door to door in the same amount of time, then I’ll continue to drive.
 
Big step would for people to stop using thenlm for journeys they could do on foot in under 10 minutes.

My daughter has passed her test in the last year and she has given up walking anywhere.

Most of us will be guilty of it at times
Can never get my head around folk who would rather jump in the car than walk somewhere that it would take such little time to walk to like. Anything under half an hour and I’ll walk it if possible and I’m pretty lazy.
 
If we had a public transport system as vast as the tube it would be worth considering because sitting in traffic does my head in. But as it happens we don’t and probably never will in our lifetimes, and therefore sitting in traffic is and will remain a better option than the hassle it would involve getting public transport.
 

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