Driving

[TW]Fox;14740164 said:
I'll use trains quite a bit, especially for trips to London. But sometimes it just doesn't work. My door to my girlfriends door is either:

1.5 mile walk
4 mile bus ride
5 hour train journey with a change in Newport Wales (!?)
5 mile bus ride

Alternatively I can get into my 5 Series, set the climate control to my desired temperature, select my favourite playlist on my ipod and set off. 2 and a half hours later I'm there.


edit: nvm.. I read that as 1.5m walk, or a bus, etc.

Still, sounds like you need a GF that lives nearer though. :p
 
[TW]Fox;14740164 said:
I'll use trains quite a bit, especially for trips to London. But sometimes it just doesn't work. My door to my girlfriends door is either:

1.5 mile walk
4 mile bus ride
5 hour train journey with a change in Newport Wales (!?)
5 mile bus ride

Alternatively I can get into my 5 Series, set the climate control to my desired temperature, select my favourite playlist on my ipod and set off. 2 and a half hours later I'm there.



You just need the right car. I am never 'knackered' after a long journey.

Yeah, sometimes a train isn't practical, but a lot of the time, especially travelling from big town/scity to city it is. :)

That doesn’t matter as they will find their way to this thread. ;)

Yeah, but there will be other normal drivers as well.:p
 
I have been on a bus once in 6 years, the one time was because I did not want to leave my car in a multi after having an operation that left me unable to drive it home.

Not being able to drive would make me feel like a 5 year old dependent on other people and services.
 
Must admit I took a long time to fully "learn" to drive - I learned when I was 17 on my dads clapped out C reg Fiesta 1.1, which fired on 3 cylinders when cold :o

Never had enough money to pay for the tests back then, so eventually when I finished Uni and had a job I passed my theory in 2006 then got lessons in late 2006 and passed Feb 2007.

Always disliked the lessons, felt really tired after them holding my concentration for so long - made driving really unenjoyable, but I was trying to get out of a few small bad habits that I'd picked up driving on Provisional license under g/f's instruction.

To Op - Stick with it, you'll find it worthwhile when you do get a car - Even if you dont love driving, the convenience is still unbeatable.
 
I hate driving, but that's probably due to my hate for the multitude of cretins on the road who drive like retards, or people who buy expensive shiny cars, but can't be bothered to do simple things like indicate.

But given the choice, I'd taking driving over public transport any day.
 
Yeah, sometimes a train isn't practical, but a lot of the time, especially travelling from big town/scity to city it is. :)

Trains are awful, if there are 3 of you or more, it is cheaper to get a taxi from Bristol to London at short notice.

The worst form of public transport are buses. I can take a 30 minute cycle, a 20 minute drive, or a 20 minute walk + 50 minute bus journey which costs me about 4x as much money than the petrol to drive there myself. What a joke!
 
[TW]Fox;14740221 said:
But then you've got the problem of... what do you do when you get to the other end?

I have this problem a lot with trains (and buses)...everyone says they are great...they aren't.

I live 45miles from Exeter, 45miles from Plymouth...alongside the A30 basically...which is fine but it means the nearest train station is Exeter (straight up A30, Plym is cross country, takes longer) and is a ~45min drive. Then I can get a train to wherever I want to go, normally involving many changes.

I can't get a bus as the nearest stop to my house is ~6miles away so still need to drive/be driven to the bus, then sit on the bus for about 1hr 30mins being uncomfortable etc. The buses only run once or twice a day to Exeter as well, so it's even harder to get there at a sensible time for trains.

If I want to go into the local towns ~10miles away then I have to drive, as again, no buses run from/to my village.

The only time I've found public transport to be of any real use is when I was living in Reading and commuting to Guildford every day. I'd get on the bus in Reading, be at the station about 15mins later, on the train almost straight away, into Guildford 45mins later and into work 10mins later after a walk...and it cost me ~£240pm for bus and train.
Doing it in the car would take just as long, if not longer, due to traffic and would cost me more in fuel and maintenance.

If you're in a major town/city then public transport is ok, but if you're venturing out into villages and small towns it's quite frankly useless.

I much prefer driving anyway as I've always loved cars etc. from a young age. :)
 
to me driving is a need not a pleasure ,having said that i will be doing my usuall 375 ml trip down to Cornwall on fri and i enjoy that ,but dont enjoy the way back in the same way
 
I just drove round the ring of kerry and loved it.

Going into work at 8 miles per hour having to change gears 80-90 times in a 15 KM journey I totally hate.
 
[TW]Fox;14740056 said:
The feeling is mutual I can assure you. You don't need to be a 'toff' to find that a bus offers a poor level of service.



Buses are good value if you live in an area with a PTE/Metro type system.

Here, a return into town is £3 and requires a 1.5 mile walk to the bus stop.

Petrol in a 3 litre car is £2, parking is free.

Yea, I think I'll take the bus. Not.

What about insurance, road tax, mot?

You only pay a fix rate for the bus fare so comparing a bus fare to a tank of petrol is invalid.
 
What about insurance, road tax, mot?

I've already paid for my insurance and my road tax - I have to pay for these whether I use my car once a year or every day. They are fixed costs.

MOT is 25 quid a year. It is not expensive.

You only pay a fix rate for the bus fare so comparing a bus fare to a tank of petrol is invalid.

I'm comparing the direct costs of that one journey - if I chose to go to town tommorrow, the only costs are either a bus fare of £3 or 10 miles @ 21mpg = circa £2 (+20p contribution towards servicing/tyres/repairs).
 
8pm set off ,tends to have settled down by then or sometimes go in the early hours of the morning ,its those 50mph roadwork zones on the motorway that wind me up, anyway i will have a week in the Atlantic to chill out

Ah that's ok then, just so many people head down 12pm - 6pm and expect it to be empty. :p
 
What about insurance, road tax, mot?

You only pay a fix rate for the bus fare so comparing a bus fare to a tank of petrol is invalid.

Monthly fare card - £45, £540 a year.
Car is £1,200 a year petrol, £500 insurance and £200 servicing.

Then again, if you didn't get a fare card and paid for each bus ride it would be £1,887.60, so if you don't often catch a bus I could understand why you'd think it's expensive (because it is).

Obviously if you didn't have a car you'd have a travel pass and it costs less, but for me saving £1,300 a year isn't worth losing several hours of every day in waiting around or walking in the rain. It isn't cheap if you lose half your free time to it.
 
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