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Was just back of fag packeting this. Well, back of antihistamine box anyway.
We pay about £1k per year for insurance, MOT, etc for our car. That figure excludes fuel. Works out at £2.70-ish per day just to have the car parked up and road legal.
A 1 day travel card for zones 1 to 6 is £18.10.
How far can I drive my car for £18.10? By my calculation, based on its city fuel efficiency, about 120 to 150 miles miles.
I mean, I do most city travel by bike but thats not the point I'm trying to make.
If you take into account the cheap finance deals available on cars, its far cheaper to buy a car and drive than get public transport in London even if you include your monthly repayments for the car in the calculation I reckon.
Stonehedge
I recently was gifted a car by my grandmother who stopped driving. I was astounded how cheap it was to get it insured, taxed and run. I know taxation often isn't the best way to prevent driving and will disproportionately hurt the poor, but last week we had the decision wether to drive or get the train to York. Four days in advance, the train was TWICE the price of the petrol for driving. It takes a lot to make that decision to get the train, even though I like to think of myself and environmentally minded (though I'm probably not).
IMO unless public transport is significanty cheaper than taking a car, no ammount of LTNs will get people out of cars.