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Ha! '91 Mk1 Golf cabriolet
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Ok, lets have a look at replicating my day using public transport.
To make it fairer I'll omit giving my girlfriend a lift to work, and stopping to have lunch next to a field because it was sunny.
So- meeting is at 1pm, lets work out how to get there:
07.25 I walk to the bus stop at Friern Road, get on the 63.
At Elephant I get on the Bakerloo line and take that to Paddington.
I then grab a coffee and jump on the train, arriving in Cardiff with one change at Bristol Temple Meads.
It's 11.43 so I can grab some lunch and stroll to the Industrial estate where the client has their office.
Meeting over- it's twenty past two, next train is 14.55, which if I grab a taxi I can make.
This gets me back into Paddington at 17.06 where I retrace my earlier route to East Dulwich.
I've spent £7.20 on a travelcard, £183 on my train ticket, and £9 on the cab from the clients office to Cardiff Central Station.
I left the house at just past seven and got back at half six, for a total cost of £199.20.
In comparison I actually got in the car at twenty past eight, gave my girlfriend a lift to work, and got home at half five, having spent £50.
In my view driving won that match.
You need to factor in cost of buying the car, the amount it's depreciated since you've bought it, the cost of tyres, servicing, petrol and vehicle excise duty too. That'll take you a lot closer to the public transport cost.
Of course the environmental impacts aren't costed in at all.
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buy cheap car, take trip, sell car, and it still end up being cheaper than train.
wait...surely.....
buy cheap car. take trip. forget car. forget what mouth shape to make to say 'car'. laugh about forgetting mouth shapes. ponder what it means to have a mouth. get metallic taste in mouth. look at veins in hands. put Pink Floyd/Hawkwind on.
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Including gettting too and from the station at either end?
folding bike there, or walking-its free.
Easily is never true with the train, I like traveling long distance by train but it is never easy to make it cheaper, unless you're booking weeks in advance.
accepted, but if you have a meeting it can be booked in advance by Tiffany in reception. No doubt you need to be dedicated to get into training it everywhere,
and every journey needs taking into account. It makes me weep how the fares system fucks everyone in the ass to the benefit of the fat cats. -
folding bike there, or walking-its free.
accepted,
Maybe if you're close to the station
but if you have a meeting it can be booked in advance by Tiffany in reception. No doubt you need to be dedicated to get into training it everywhere,
and every journey needs taking into account. It makes me weep how the fares system fucks everyone in the ass to the benefit of the fat cats.Depends how far in advance your meeting is does it not?
Don't get me wrong as I said I like trains for long journeys but their potential for car replacement is massively over stated. They can be good for commuting to work if you work in a town center, good for center to center travel in many cases but they are not a car replacement they are just another form of transport and for some journeys they are better but for many they are not. and frequently more expensive.Better jobs?
better paid jobs.
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yes Tommy, fair points.
there are questions now as to the utility of this high speed rail network proposal too,
linking cities only, cutting out all the intermediate stops.
I dont know, the whole transport network of this country is creaking like a dried out bottom bracket, ready to sieze up at any moment.
perhaps Sustrans should relinquish all the routes and turn them back into local transport? (joke) sometimes laugh at the way that the demise of medium distance rail routes led in part to the creation of the National Cycle Network.....
whatever way you look at it its difficult, and the ministry for transport is about the least sexy role to be in Government, if they try and make major changes no benefit is seen for a decade, ministers seem to change by the month,
so now we have the most ostensibly promising one for ages, (Adonis) and... he and his ambitions may be doomed when the new lot get in anyway. hey ho.
Sadiq Khan is on the right track too in London.one certainty:- your journeys by bike are exactly, perfectly, efficient and time predictable. enjoy the ride.
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Ok, lets have a look at replicating my day using public transport.
To make it fairer I'll omit giving my girlfriend a lift to work, and stopping to have lunch next to a field because it was sunny.
So- meeting is at 1pm, lets work out how to get there:
07.25 I walk to the bus stop at Friern Road, get on the 63.
At Elephant I get on the Bakerloo line and take that to Paddington.
I then grab a coffee and jump on the train, arriving in Cardiff with one change at Bristol Temple Meads.
It's 11.43 so I can grab some lunch and stroll to the Industrial estate where the client has their office.
Meeting over- it's twenty past two, next train is 14.55, which if I grab a taxi I can make.
This gets me back into Paddington at 17.06 where I retrace my earlier route to East Dulwich.
I've spent £7.20 on a travelcard, £183 on my train ticket, and £9 on the cab from the clients office to Cardiff Central Station.
I left the house at just past seven and got back at half six, for a total cost of £199.20.
In comparison I actually got in the car at twenty past eight, gave my girlfriend a lift to work, and got home at half five, having spent £50.
In my view driving won that match.
Not really. I would spend the time on the train working which, at the cost of my time, would pay back the difference between your £200 and £50 more than once. Plus, you haven't factored in all your car costs, as andyp points out - and add insurance to the list.
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Yep there was a good mini doc on radio 4 a few weeks ago making just that point. I'm unsure of this high speed London Brum link too, I feel it just may increase the Londonisasion of England and to a certain extent the UK. If I where Transport secretary I think I'd go with,
Reducing the need to travel, less people traveling 50 + miles into London / M25 area for work every day (other cities too London is just the obvious example).
Discourage out of town office parks found in many medium and small towns where the only practical way to arrive at these places is by driving as public transport involves a trip into the town center and another out to the park.
Improve cycling numbers
Tax on car park spaces.
Park and ride centers.
Express buses.
Double decker trains (very expensive though due to the required engineering).
I really like the idea of road pricing as for me it solves the issue not of making owning a car expensive but making inappropriate use expensive however the idea of being tracked terrifying considering the privacy issue so that's out of the window.
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AndyP and Markyboy- of course there are further costs, I'm not being entirely serious.
However my taking the car has saved them approx £100 vs. them buying a non-advance train ticket, such is the company mileage rate.
Entertainingly the car is appreciating at the moment, so the cost of servicing, tyres and so forth are being offset somewhat.
Also my insurance for the car is less than for the bikes.
I could work on the train it is true, that's one thing I cannot do whilst in the car.
However taking the train would impact on my "car dancing" time, and also my "dreadful sing-a-long" time, which I think we can all agree would be a terrible shame.
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you can't master bate on the train either, the people opposite get all shouty.
Dammit
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andy.w
Pistanator
andyp
EB
mr_tom
Platini
EEI
TheBrick(Tommy)
Markyboy-
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How can people afford cars?
Posted by
@VeeVee
I'm getting rid of my car - piece of shit. Cost me £600 getting it fixed since Jan and I've used it about 3 times. Not to mention the £56 a month insurance, TAX & MOT of £160 due at the end of April :-(