If petrol was €2 a litre, would you ditch the car?

Company car - so, no.

My job is physically impossible to do without one and I've unlimited personal use of it as part of my contract too.

Was in the paper recently that people have cut down on their driving a lot due to the price of fuel. So it's already happening.

When we leave the Euro in August 2012 I will worry about it as inflation will be massive, before then as I keep my job I couldn't give a flying fcuk and when we hit that date all my cash will be in sterling or euro so it won't bother me as much as the half wits who think we are invincible.

yer man! wrote: »

Just wondering if the price of fuel got to €2 a litre, would you get the bus/train/cycle/walk instead? with more passengers on public transport it would be able to develop and actually be usable. would you agree?

As MYOB's post illustrates,there will always be a number of car users who for various reasons will NOT give up it's use.

However,what I feel is rapidly developing here is a forced return to perhaps 1970's car ownership/usership figures.

We are,very shortly now,going to see a rebalancing of the Motor Taxation system due,it is said,to too many people opting for new,fuel efficient and low emission vehicles and therefore depriving the Authorities of cash-flow.

Road Tolling is being expanded and subject to increases.

Fuel costs are highly volatile with no Government committment to reducing it's tax-take.

Insurance premia are also on an upward track,as will be the cost of NCT and Driver Licencing.

All taken to gether this means the cost of accquiring,owning and maintaining a private car is approaching a level which is unsustainable to people in a situation where household incomes are falling rapidly.

What should be worrying people is the apparent Government Policy to allow Public Transport to stagnate and even retreat from current levels......The country really does need to accept and plan for a totally different dynamic in how it moves around.....chances of that...?...... Zero..?? :rolleyes:

vibe666 wrote: »

saywhatnow? when did this happen?

i wouldn't worry too much about that tho, the world is going to end anyway (again) in december 2012 isn't it?

I apologise for documenting my trips to the future but at some stages I feel I must inform the others .

yer man! wrote: »

Just wondering if the price of fuel got to €2 a litre, would you get the bus/train/cycle/walk instead? with more passengers on public transport it would be able to develop and actually be usable. would you agree?

Less car use, more demand for busses, better bus service... the cycle continues.

parsi wrote: »

Unlike a lot of the regular posters in this forum I don't have a free travel pass from social welfare so I would still use the car but would try and balance it.

For example if we (as a family) took the bus to town it would cost around 6.40 each way. If we drive to the park and ride it'll cost €5 plus petrol (around 2km in total).

The nub of the question......That price differential does not equate in any way,shape or form,to an effective means of attracting users to the Public Bus Service.

That €6.40 figure would need to be reduced by at least 25% if the thing is to stack-up at all.

The major problem now is that nobody,NTA included,appears to have the remotest appreciation of what can be achieved with a little inventive appreciation of the abilities of the Bus Service.

Instead,as Private Motoring costs escalate rapidly,the only NTA response has been to sanction significant Fare increases even to pre-paid tickets and then to accept cost-cutting service reductions in tandem.... is there any logic on display here...?

If this lack of policy is maintained,the old photographs of hordes of Dubliners in top-coats pedalling furiously across O Connell Bridge on an All-Steel Raleigh will assume relevance once again....except this time the poor buggers will have cycled in from Drogheda,Gorey or Portlaoise.......:)

I've seen a statistic somewhere, that an average Irish car drives twice mileage per year comparing to a continental european car and 50% more miles to UK car. Irish drive around the clock like crazy. Where are are you always driving to, I wonder?:eek:

Would still stick with car.

2.0L Petrol. Currently put €80-85 in every 2 weeks, so only approx €175 per month @ 1.50-155 per litre. Would only be approx €240 at 2.00 per litre which is still cheap to me.

Car takes 20-25 mins at 8.30-9.00am. Would have to take 2 buses with trip in and out of Dublin City Centre which would prob take 1 hr to 1 hr 30 mins. That's up to 2 hrs extra per day wasted which is of greater value to me.

Wife in similar position travel wise but her 1.1l only uses €40-45 every 2 weeks so she would stick with it too.

Will be interesting to see how the welfare classes adopt to higher petrol prices. 10 years or so ago cheap cars with cheap petrol opened up private transport to all. That's why public transport is struggling today. Could see a big shift back to it.

Also, suspect some B CO2 cars at high end of band (such as BMW 320d/520d and Audi A4/A6 2.0tdi) could see a 100% increase in motor tax in next budget from €156 to €300.

End of the day people look at it from a value to them perspective.