I don't think anyone sane would suggest that we could instantly swap the journeys made by personal car one day, with seats on our existing buses, trains and trams the next.
Nor would we expect any other infrastructure development to happen overnight. So lets try and find ways to think about lower impacting travel without turning it into a bash public transport as we know it exercise!
We own a car (that, coincidentally, cost us just £35 to tax for 12 months because its emissions are unbeaten among the diesels of today) and we could live without it, using our bikes or buses and trains for most of our journeys. But we haven't sold our one car yet, despite having discussed the use of hire cars for the few annual car journeys we would still make if we religiously used buses and trains.
The main reason we have a car is that, as a teacher living a few miles from her school, my wife needs some motorised transport on which to carry the mass of books and test papers she routinely brings home to plan lessons with, mark or otherwise work on at home. We'd also not be able to take large items of (usually) garden refuse to be composted or recycled at council facilities if we didn't have our own car. Sure we could hire a van or share with friends, but not every time we wanted to go somewhere.
So, the crux of the matter is that even working in sustainability as I do, and having a well insulated house with low fuel and water bills, the idea of a car-free existence seems restrictive to my wife and I can see her point. We drive approximately 15 miles Monday to Friday, and add another 20 miles at weekends (on average through the year).
Other than the journeys I've described, we make absolutely no local car journeys. I don't think many people can honestly say that. I do wish I could say that (like many of my friends who live and work in London can) we don't need or own a car at all.
MM
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