Car dependent? What commute and other journeys do you do?

monument

There seems to be a high level of people on these boards claiming they need their car, ie car dependent.

So, are you car dependent? If so, why? What commute and other journeys do you do?

L1011

I'm a 26 county Field Engineer. Not sure it gets more car dependent than that!

Carawaystick

monument wrote: »

There seems to be a high level of people on these boards claiming they need their car, ie car dependent.

So, are you car dependent? If so, why? What commute and other journeys do you do?

What are your criteria for accepting car dependence?
If you had to walk a km on a road with no path,
If you lived in a town with a public transport service a day each way,
If you worked in a job where your finishing time was variable or unknown - and after the time of the last public transport link home.
If the Public transport journey cost more than than a private car journey.

If the wait was too long for public transport. Define acceptable public transport wait times, transit times etc.

starbelgrade

I live in a small village in Sligo - there's a Bus Eireann bus that passes through the village once a week on a Wednesday at 11am & drops back at 5pm. Otherwise, there's no public transport, so to get anywhere, you need a car.

What really p*sses me off is the amount of taxpayers money spent on subsidising public transport in Dublin & the Green Party & their "anti-car" policies. In my opinion, they are anti-rural.

Gorman is gormless. Move him out of his leafy, greeny suburb to a rural village & let hom cycle 25km to the nearest town & see if he changes his opinion.

Carawaystick

What pisses me off is the amount of money spent on subsidising rural transport. How many people used the rural transport scheme and how much did it cost? How much do people get subsidised to fly from Dublin to Farranfore?

starbelgrade, when you say "subsidising public transport in Dublin" do you mean Dublin City or Dublin County? There're several rural villages in Dublin with no public transport.
By Gorman do you mean Gormley?

starbelgrade

Carawaystick wrote: »

What pisses me off is the amount of money spent on subsidising rural transport. How many people used the rural transport scheme and how much did it cost? How much do people get subsidised to fly from Dublin to Farranfore?

starbelgrade, when you say "subsidising public transport in Dublin" do you mean Dublin City or Dublin County? There're several rural villages in Dublin with no public transport.
By Gorman do you mean Gormley?

I think we should wave a white flag here & say that public subsidising of public transport in Ireland is a complete waste of money as it only benefits the few.

It simply doesn't work - it's inneficient & costly.

And yep - it's Gormley I meant to say.. even closer to the spelling of "gormless".

monument

Carawaystick wrote: »

What are your criteria for accepting car dependence?
If you had to walk a km on a road with no path,
If you lived in a town with a public transport service a day each way,
If you worked in a job where your finishing time was variable or unknown - and after the time of the last public transport link home.
If the Public transport journey cost more than than a private car journey.

If the wait was too long for public transport. Define acceptable public transport wait times, transit times etc.

I'm asking people who think they need a car to define what they think is car dependent.

Wild Bill

"Car dependent" (in Dublin) means not having your home and workplace both positioned beside the DART, on the same Luas line or on the 46a bus corridor.

If, like me, you were depending on the number 44 bus you'd need to be a certified masochist to even consider public transport.

Which is why we have €250,000 double-deckers lumbering around empty for most of the day.

Bother me again with this question when we have bus stops showing the next bus departure in real time; or a fixed time of departure at each stop. I really couldn't care less what time the once-every-hour bus was supposed to leave the City centre or Enniskerry.

I want to know (a) what time it is scheduled to leave my stop; (b) whether it has left the stop before the stated time (common occurrence); (c) is not arriving because the bus and/or driver has broken down; (d) etcetera.

Frankly only someone who enjoys waiting and wondering at bus stops would even consider using one - if they could afford or are old enough to drive a car.

And of course the car doesn't go on strike every time I change the route without consulting it and giving it some extra oil for the inconvenience I'm causing it.

nlgbbbblth

Live in Newbridge, work in Naas. Get Bus Eireann or Dublin Coach to work. Plenty of services all day. My house is a 15 minute walk from the bus stop.

A number of others in the workplace live in Newbridge, Naas or Kilcullen. All drive to work. Parking is free.

Nearest shop is a six minute walk away. Always walk to it. Most other people in my cul de sac drive to it.

Only reason I have a car is because my Dad gave me his. Need to sit the test.

People complain about public transport in this country. Sometimes it leaves a lot to be desired but there are quite a few people who are car dependant and / or lazy

Wild Bill

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

Nearest shop is a six minute walk away. Always walk to it. Most other people in my cul de sac drive to it.

Interesting that; the nearest shop to me is exactly the same distance away. Sometimes I walk, sometimes drive. Why? Not laziness, I regularly walk much further with the dog, who is easily tied to the posts outside the shops. Or I go up rather than get the kids to run up. It's a time thing, not dependency: it takes 10 minutes longer to walk. So if I've nothing on or want a walk I'd walk; it I just want to get milk for the tea I've poured out - drive.

I've thought this before when I noticed that people living as close as 100 m will sometimes drive to the shop!

(I know we aren't hitting the spot with this discussion 'cos clearly this isn't a question of "dependency")

Stark

Wild Bill wrote: »

It's a time thing, not dependency: it takes 10 minutes longer to walk. So if I've nothing on or want a walk I'd walk; it I just want to get milk for the tea I've poured out - drive.

It takes you ten minutes longer to walk a six minute walk? (Please tell me you're not the one doing the loan valuations for NAMA)

For a walk of less than ten minutes, I'd always walk rather than drive as it takes the same length of time by the time I get into the car, get it started, navigated traffic lights, park the car, get out etc. (I've had a few opportunities to time myself against neighbours who left the same time as me in their cars so I knew my timings are right). Not to mention all those short journeys not being the best for the car.

Tech3

monument wrote: »

I'm asking people who think they need a car to define what they think is car dependent.

I'm not car dependent but heck it sure beats the rubbish public transport that we have.

Stark

For me, most of my hobbies take place in the mountains, so the car is needed for getting from Dublin to remote parts of Wicklow if I can't scrounge a lift.

For work or getting to various points within the city, it's a choice between car and bicycle. I wouldn't consider public transport to be an option unless I was heading to the city centre.

Wild Bill

Stark wrote: »

It takes you ten minutes longer to walk a six minute walk?

Ho ho ho. Six minutes to and six minutes back = 12 minutes. Out door, into car, up the road (little traffic and no traffic lights), park outside shop entrance - 2 minutes. So that should be 8 minutes saved, not 10.

More than the difference between cold tea and hot tea.

No contest - car wins hands down.

BigMoose

Rathnew to Sandyford each day. While I leave near Wicklow station the train is crap, rare, expensive and extremely slow. You'd have to be mad to consider it. Then at the other end it's miles away from where I need to be. Even on the days I go to an office near a DART station you'd have to be mad to take the train from Wicklow. It depresses me that even then it's much quicker and more convinient and cheaper to drive to Bray, find somewhere to park and get the DART. While the 133 is regular it has the same problem with not going anywhere near where I need to be in Dublin plus waiting outside in the rain for it doesn't apeal. I really wish I could go by train every day, but it's just not practical for so many reasons.