Going carless

Hi all. I'm a long time lurker and occasional poster. I'm a darksider by inclination, but
also have 'dale for playing in the dirt. Just thought I'd mention that as way of intro

Anyway, for reasons of conscince and finance I'm consdiring going carless. Can the panel
comment on the practicalities or such for a family with teenagers. We live in a country
town (woodbridge) and I work from home, but my wife works Ipswich (8 miles away) and she
is less inclined to ride her bike.

Thanks in Advance

Paul

paul wrote:
Hi all. I'm a long time lurker and occasional poster. I'm a darksider by inclination, but
also have 'dale for playing in the dirt. Just thought I'd mention that as way of intro

Anyway, for reasons of conscince and finance I'm consdiring going carless. Can the panel
comment on the practicalities or such for a family with teenagers. We live in a country
town (woodbridge) and I work from home, but my wife works Ipswich (8 miles away) and she
is less inclined to ride her bike.

Without having a commitment on both sides it becomes hard to do. She
will be the one most put out if she has to forgo what she is used to
for transport etc.

You could start by working out all the costs to run the car vs
alternatives, investigate other forms of transport (possibly a moped or
electric bike) and so on. The teens will just ahve to learn to live
with it - good for them to learn how to find and use appropriate
resources.

...d

paul wrote:

Anyway, for reasons of conscince and finance I'm consdiring going carless. Can the panel
comment on the practicalities or such for a family with teenagers. We live in a country
town (woodbridge) and I work from home, but my wife works Ipswich (8 miles away) and she
is less inclined to ride her bike.

Depends not only on Who and Where, but What you use the car for. Roos
and I don't use our car /much/, but when we do it will quite possibly be
to drive a couple of 16' kayaks somewhere remote at short notice. At
the time of writing I can't see a good way to do that without a car, so
we keep a car.

So make a list of hwat you use it for, and work out to what extent there
are alternatives.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

paul wrote:
Anyway, for reasons of conscince and finance I'm consdiring going carless. Can the panel
comment on the practicalities or such for a family with teenagers. We live in a country
town (woodbridge) and I work from home, but my wife works Ipswich (8 miles away) and s


I presume you run only one car at present or the obvious step would be
to go to only one car.

For a one car family the thing would be to try and reduce as much car
use as possible. This has the benefit of trying the carfree lifestyle
without incurring the costs that would be involved in selling the car
then having to replace it if things did't work out..
A thought is that if running a newish car then depreciation is a
major cost. But if most journeys are by cycle then running an older car
is more feasiible as it is not so much of a problem if the car is off
the road for a few days.
For me the main practical consideration if going carless would be
how close I was to my food shopping as I wouldn't fancy lugging
groceries for 5 and distance on a regular basis. Not that it couldn't
be done. There are cycle trailers available which could carry the load.
Fo you the main question is your wife willing o commute 8 miles on a
bike or is the public transport good enough to replace the car for this
commute if she is not going to cycle.
Iain.

"David Martin" writes:

Without having a commitment on both sides it becomes hard to do. She
will be the one most put out if she has to forgo what she is used to
for transport etc.

You could start by working out all the costs to run the car vs
alternatives, investigate other forms of transport (possibly a moped or
electric bike) and so on. The teens will just ahve to learn to live
with it - good for them to learn how to find and use appropriate
resources.

And when you've worked out all the costs you can see that you can spend
some of what you save on making life easier. My carless parents would
occasionally take a taxi if they had to go somewhere early or remote and
busses weren't available or not convenient.

Roos

paul wrote:

Hi all. I'm a long time lurker and occasional poster. I'm a darksider by inclination, but
also have 'dale for playing in the dirt. Just thought I'd mention that as way of intro

Anyway, for reasons of conscince and finance I'm consdiring going carless. Can the panel
comment on the practicalities or such for a family with teenagers. We live in a country
town (woodbridge) and I work from home, but my wife works Ipswich (8 miles away) and she
is less inclined to ride her bike.

This is excellent to hear.
We became car-free about 17 years ago when my wife's car broke down, and we've never looked
back.

We too live in a semi-rural location and have 3 teenagers (+ 1 younger), all of whom are at
different schools - 8 miles east, 12 miles west, 12 miles south and 300 metres away.

The sums were done, and whilst we found that we would be several thousand pounds better off,
the best effect was the reduction in stresses associated with car-ownership. Our lifestyle
has improved enormously and our children have benefitted by growing up as balanced
independent youngsters. My eldest daughter, now 18 and looking to go to Uni next year has no
intentions of falling into the car-trap, and all of them are quite happy to travel around
under their own steam.

The increasing anti-social aspects of private motoring are now something that we are pleased
not to be a part of. Car dependency is a scourge of today's society from which many people
seem unable or unwilling to escape. Anyone who drives becomes part of the problem of
creating health problems, polluting our environment and increasing congestion. Even cutting
down a little helps but regretably few do so.

Internet shopping has been a boon and home deliveries are made full use of. As much local
produce is bought as is possible - I can't remember when I last went into a supermarket to
do a 'Big Shop'.
Instead of always thinking 'car', we look at the best option for the journey, be it walk,
cycle, bus, train, taxi or a mix of any of them. It can take some planning, but this soon
becomes second nature and it is rare that a journey cannot be undertaken - less than a
handful since the car went to the scrap heap.

Go for it - you will not regret it.

John B

Roos Eisma wrote:

"David Martin" writes:

Without having a commitment on both sides it becomes hard to do. She
will be the one most put out if she has to forgo what she is used to
for transport etc.

You could start by working out all the costs to run the car vs
alternatives, investigate other forms of transport (possibly a moped or
electric bike) and so on. The teens will just ahve to learn to live
with it - good for them to learn how to find and use appropriate
resources.

And when you've worked out all the costs you can see that you can spend
some of what you save on making life easier. My carless parents would
occasionally take a taxi if they had to go somewhere early or remote and
busses weren't available or not convenient.

This is what we do. when working out the sums we calculated we could afford
a taxi to almost anywhere we would need to go to at least four times a
week. In effect we rarely need to do so - perhaps once a month - thus
saving quite a few shedfulls, but the option is always there.

John B

John B wrote:

Anyone who drives becomes part of the problem of
creating health problems, polluting our environment and increasing
congestion.

Even taxi drivers? ;-)

wrote:
For me the main practical consideration if going carless would be
how close I was to my food shopping as I wouldn't fancy lugging
groceries for 5 and distance on a regular basis.


For the last 15 years I have not had access to a car. My wife and I
share the shopping as appropriate to whatever else we need to do that
day. Because of the location of suitable shops, rather than doing one
weekly shop, we will do two or three smaller shops each week.

By the way, in addition to ne exhaust pollution this is better for the
environment, as we get as much as possible with absolutely minimum
packaging, as it's less to carry home and our panniers can carry more!

PhilD

--

wrote:
For me the main practical consideration if going carless would be
how close I was to my food shopping as I wouldn't fancy lugging
groceries for 5 and distance on a regular basis. Not that it couldn't
be done.

....nor would it necessarily need to be done if your local supermarket
is online.

Fo you the main question is your wife willing o commute 8 miles on a
bike or is the public transport good enough to replace the car for this
commute if she is not going to cycle.

Maybe get her to try it once a week to start off, see how she gets on,
taking bus or taxi on the other days - she might find that she's soon
willingly cycling two or three times a week...

It might help if you use some of the money you save on the car to buy
her a Really Nice Bike and All The Gear - cycling can be a pleasure
even in the cold, dark and rain if you are suitably equipped.

d.