Car drivers might start to lose weight!

[Davidc]

This confused.com article amused me.

Link

If correct it has to be a strong indicator that the car is still king and will be for a long time to come.

 

[tyred]

Oh but they must.

How else can they take little Billy and Jamima to the school 700 yards away if they don't have a Range Rover to keep them nice and safe.

 

[Night Train]

Hardly surprising as for many people once they are in the car use trap it is very difficult to for them to see how to get back out of it.
The car then becomes a demanding money pit that seems more and more essential just to keep the money coming in.

There have been enough 'Anyone managed to go car free?' threads on CC to show that it isn't always an easy option for cyclists, never mind non cyclists.

I can cut down my food bills more easily then I can cut down my car bills.

 

[Sandra6]

There was a programme on telly the other night about the rising cost of living, and apparently food is the first thing people cut down on. Other costs are perceived as fixed, whereas food costs can be reduced most easily.
When our 8 seater was getting pricey for MOT's and servicing etc we considered being car free. Living a mile from the city centre, good bus and rail links, both cyclists, it should be perfectly possible, but what if a child is stuck somewhere and needs collecting at midnight? Or rings you from A&E at 2am? So we downsized considerably but still have a car on the road -and food on the table.

 

[Paulus]

but what if a child is stuck somewhere and needs collecting at midnight? Or rings you from A&E at 2am? So we downsized considerably but still have a car on the road -and food on the table.

On the rare occasions that this may happen, there are always taxis, far cheaper than owning a car as you only pay when you want one. Unless of course you live in the middle of nowhere, then you would probably have a vehicle of some sort anyway.

 

[marinyork]

On the rare occasions that this may happen, there are always taxis, far cheaper than owning a car as you only pay when you want one. Unless of course you live in the middle of nowhere, then you would probably have a vehicle of some sort anyway.

I quite agree, but it's quite interesting that in 2012, it's the first year the Joseph Rowntree's MIS report has flagged up owning a car due to worries about rising public transport prices. The first year this has ever happened.

One apparent exception to this is the inclusion in 2012 of a (second-hand) car for families with children, a distinct change from previous years where groups agreed public transport and taxis would meet transport needs. However, the perception of the groups held this year (borne out by independent research by government departments) is that public transport fares are rising and services are being reduced to the point where buses are no longer considered sufficiently flexible, affordable and available to meet the needs of parents and children to access work and leisure opportunities. Rather than increase the budget to include enough taxi fares to compensate for the decline in services, parents reached the conclusion, after much discussion, that it would be more cost-effective to own a second-hand car. Offset against the rise in fares, for a couple with two children this adds less than £30 to the weekly budget.

 

[Archie_tect]

Thanks for posting the link Marinyork... I'd not seen that before... makes disturbing reading.

 

[theclaud]

Illich for Beginners:

Perhaps Messrs Numbaz would like to update his calculations for 2012:

The model American male devotes more than 1,600 hours a year to his car. He sits in it while it goes and while it stands idling. He parks it and searches for it. He earns the money to put down on it and to meet the monthly installments. He works to pay for gasoline, tolls, insurance, taxes, and tickets. He spends four of his sixteen waking hours on the road or gathering his resources for it. And this figure does not take into account the time consumed by other activities dictated by transport: time spent in hospitals, traffic courts, and garages; time spent watching automobile commercials or attending consumer education meetings to improve the quality of the next buy. The model American puts in 1,600 hours to get 7,500 miles: less than five miles per hour.

 

[dellzeqq]

by way of a contrast...54,000 cars for about 270,000 people
http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/5756

car ownership is down in Southwark which stretches from close-packed streets in the north to leafy suburbs in the south.

I read that very passage from Ivan Illich in 1972, and it's stayed with me all my life. There's never been a day when I wanted to own a car.

 

[Red Light]

it should be perfectly possible, but what if a child is stuck somewhere and needs collecting at midnight? Or rings you from A&E at 2am?

Taxis or http://www.whipcar.com/. Far far cheaper overall than running a car yourself for those rare emergencies even if the particular journey is more expensive.

 

[marinyork]

Thanks for posting the link Marinyork... I'd not seen that before... makes disturbing reading.

The forum didn't discuss Rowntree this year, it has done previous years.

It's also quite interesting that they are quite honest to say it actually adds to the weekly budget (by quite a bit), but they still want it adding anyway.

 

[Archie_tect]

Never thought about it before but everyone on my street could run a car and pay for it between us.... brilliant! There are enough retired people on the street who would love to be the driver during the day for hospitalappointemnst and the like all accessible from a mobile call.... we could run it from an on-line diary for bookings!

 

[dellzeqq]

Never thought about it before but everyone on my street could run a car and pay for it between us.... brilliant! There are enough retired people on the street who would love to be the driver during the day for hospitalappointemnst and the like all accessible from a mobile call.... we could run it from an on-line diary for bookings!

Susie has put a friend from a couple of miles away on her insurance for £15 for six months . I'd tell you the name of the insurance company, but that would be giving her age away and I'd have to kill you after.

Anyway - he's had it all this week so that he can ferry his partner around - she's unwell. So... Susie's fifteen year old car is now looking after two households, still doing only 3,000 miles a year and costing next to nothing to run.

 

[Archie_tect]

We lucky to live close enough to everything to walk except a hospital!
... well when I say lucky, that's way we moved here so luck had nothing to do with it!!

 

[Davidc]

If I didn't need my car for making money (aka working) I wouldn't run it.

It does get used for other things, and having an ageing mother 150 miles away it's good for peace of mind, but I'm acutely aware that if business use didn't pay all the fixed costs and servicing then it would be a very expensive luxury.

I posted the article because it struck me as illustrating how so many people view a car as a life necessity, which in nearly all cases it isn't.