Public Transport Vs Private

[piggasinnaris]

I live in a part of the UK that can be, lets say, very anti-car. They consistently make driving personal private vehicles worse, without offering a better alternative. I would happily use public transport if it was a better, or even equal option, to my mk3 diesel Leon.

Today I have an appointment at 11:45 about 30 miles away. I live in a semi-rural area but there's a train line (Note: train LINE, not station) about 30 seconds walk away from me. There's a truckload of temporary lights, road closures, and pointless nonsense going on currently so driving is slightly more difficult than it normally would be.

Option A: Train
15 minute drive opposite direction from my house to nearest train station. Where I stay had a station, but Beeching shut it in the 1960s. Trains are once an hour at weekends. With the timings this would mean I'd need to leave my house at no later than 09:40, to get the 10:01 train. Train takes 1hr6min and involves a change. Will get me to the station nearest my destination at around 11:10. A 10 minute walk and I get to my appointment at 11:20.

My appointment is around 30 mins. Return train is again a 10 min walk, and next train is at 12:45. Another hour and changing and drive home gets me back at my front door for about 14:00.

Total journey time: roughly 4 and a half hours, assuming no missed trains, delays or cancellations. Total cost: £10 today, or £16 if it was peak. (And I still need to drive.)

Option B: Drive
Even with the road closures, its about a 45 minute drive direct from my front door to the car park of my appointment. (Would normally be about 35 minutes) And there's free parking at the location. Meaning I can leave at, at worst, 11:00, but in reality more like 10:45. Same thing on the return journey, I just jump in the car as soon as I'm done, 45 mins and I'm home - say back for 13:00.

Total journey time: 2 hours, including road closures and detours. Total cost (calculated) about £6 in diesel. £6 in diesel at 08:15 on a Monday, or £6 of diesel at a weekend. (I know there's insurance, tax, maintenance costs, all that gubbins but i'd be paying that anyway)

Now I know many people will say this is an apples to oranges comparison, but regardless, both options are still fruit. The train is nearly twice as slow, and at worst three times the cost. It's not cheaper, it's not faster, it's not more convenient, and judging by the 40+ year old diesel crap they run on my line, it's certainly not more environmentally friendly either.

Give me a public transport system that has at least one benefit over driving and I'll be there in a heartbeat. Until then, I'll stick to the car.

 

[piggasinnaris]

Oh and, buses aren't an option. There is no bus service where I stay. (Or, rather, there is, but it only goes one route and its the opposite direction of where I need to go.)

 

[Crossthreaded]

I live in the north of a large Scottish city where the bus service is really excellent and quite reasonably priced, although, being now retired I have a free bus pass. If you are needing to travel radially into or out of the city the bus is really hard to beat. The journey times are a bit longer than if I take the car because I have about a 15 minute walk to the bus stop and then there's parking when I get there - which can be expensive and problematic as I don't have a smart phone. I invariably take the bus because it's just less hassle. Try traveling circumferentially around any part of the city and the service is much more sketchy. sometimes it's actually quicker to travel into town and then back out on a different route to get to where you need to be - a bit like riding the spokes of a wheel. Before I retired I took the bus to work most of the time as it cost me nothing. The problem was it took almost twice as long as taking the car. I had to travel right across town from where we live on the north side to work which was on the southern outskirts. Even with the then, new, bus lanes, the bus was slower and I had a considerable walk at the other end to reach work. There were/are two bus routes which took me to the area I needed to be in but neither dropped me on the doorstep. The one I usually took gave me a very pleasant walk through a country park of about 15 to 20 minutes - lovely in summer, nit so much in winter rain and, sometimes, snow.

What about the trains? well I think they are ludicrously expensive for the service they offer. I don't use them locally, not even to visit my, unfortunately now deceased, brother who lived in the heart of the Scottish Border country about an hour's drive away. We have gone on the train down to Devon a few times but I found it a most unpleasant experience with severe overcrowding, people standing with aisles blocked so you couldn't get to the loos - its a whole day journey - and when you did get through the loos were either not in service or people had locked themselves in and were using them as their private carriage and wouldn't come out. Around the midlands overcrowding is so severe you have to endure someone's backside level with your face foe several hours without any respite. We now do the journey - it's visiting close family - in the car which takes about the same time and costs, in fuel, about half what the train fare for the two of us does. Means we also have transport to get around the rural area they live in too. Being quite old and "decrepit" We also worry about stuff like picking up covid on the crowded trains.

I do wish public transport was more pleasant and, more importantly, actually takes you where you need to get to and does it more quickly as I'd really like to be able to ditch the car with all it's expense and inconvenience.

 

[SRGTD]

For what it’s worth, my take on Public v’s Private transport is to use the most appropriate form of transport for the journey you want to make. Like @Crossthreaded I‘m also retired, although I don’t yet have my bus pass - when I get it I’ll certainly make use of it.

I live in a village that’s approximately 7 miles from the nearest city, and when I need to go into the city, I almost always take the bus. The nearest bus stop to my house is about 200 metres away, so it’s really convenient and the buses run every 30 minutes or so. If I walk to a bus stop that’s around a 12-15 minute walk away (as I often do) to get some exercise and contribute towards my daily step count , there’s a bus every 15 minutes into the city. The only time I don’t take the bus into the city is if I know I’ll be buying something that’s too bulky / heavy for me to carry - then I’ll take my car.

I try to avoid driving into the nearby city; the local city council has become very anti-car, and they’ve made multiple changes in the last few years to road layouts and traffic flows and parking is also very expensive. I do have the option of using the park and ride facilities, but that makes little sense for me as it would take as long - if not longer - for me to drive to the park and ride parking facility and then get the park and ride bus into the city centre, and it’s not much cheaper than getting the more convenient bus from my village.

For visiting family, my nearest family members are around 25-30 miles away and when I visit them I use my car. Anything I need to do in my village, if it doesn’t involve me having to transport bulky or heavy objects then I always walk.

As for train travel, I honestly can’t remember the last time I took a train journey. I agree with @Crossthreaded; it’s an expensive way to travel and not a very pleasant experience, so I avoid using the train.

 

[Tell]

We get two buses a day. Village life you need a car.

 

[Seastormer]

My situation is much like Crossthreaded in I too have a free bus pass and use it a lot to go into and about Edinburgh, and the car only comes out for longer trips. I have taken the motorcycle into town sometimes but the city is not even very bike friendly these days, so mostly used for fun days out to the borders etc with my biking mates. I do try to use the bus (or even walk) for shorter trips as the service in my area is pretty good. I keep the car as the buses won't help in an emergency and I do still like to go for a drive now and then, so I think we still need to have public and private transport available. I too have not used a train for years, but if the price was right, wouldn't rule it out in the future

 

[Tell]

Well I had by free pass when living in London so I'd only use the car for shopping, tip runs and going outside of London or radial trips. The rail service did work well. 90 minutes to Heathrow so handy for flying. Country life takes you a day to get to Heathrow by public transport. Ferry a lot quicker.