Trying to go 'green' and travel by rail:

hamster":zy3le82w said:

Ziggy":zy3le82w said:

According to my quick calculations, my car costs me around about 11p a mile...

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Short of buying a £600 diesel fiesta, driving it into the ground and not servicing or taxing it I don't know how you can do it!

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£300(!) diesel Caddy (mk1 Golf pickup) that appreciates rather than depreciates (although I didn't factor that in). Serviced myself (trade cards are a bonus too) but certainly not run into the ground.

My car cost me 31.8p per mile last year.

2/3 of that cost is not really per mile, it's the cost of ownership.

11p is really pushing it - you'd need an old worthless car that didn't break down and was still frugal.

retrojon":3evqoed4 said:

11p is really pushing it - you'd need an old

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Yep!

worthless

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Well it's certainly not depreciating any more, so I'll class that as a yes too!

car that didn't break down

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Not a hint of trouble... cross everything, touch wood etc etc.
Either way, it's a hell of a lot more reliable than a train!

and was still frugal.

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I've not managed to beat 60mpg yet, but I always get at least 55. Cheaper in the summer when the veg oil comes out!

I think it also depends whether you enjoy driving...


I know Im not a fan of sitting on trains....

I used to enjoy driving but nowadays the roads are so congested I don't really see the point. Rail is still awful - nowhere to wait etc and yes it amazes me that it's £70+ return to London from Hampshire.

That said the trains are a lot better than in the past. The stations just need a massive upgrade now.

And flying's just ghastly...long waits, nasty low-cost airlines treating you like convicted offenders etc.

Very few 'green' measures are actually cheaper than their less eco friendly alternatives..

Russell":zqjjzvfj said:

Very few 'green' measures are actually cheaper than their less eco friendly alternatives..

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On the face of it I agree, but it all depends on how you define the 'expense' of the non-green option. :?

ive given up driving to work now, partly cos its knackering my car doing 300miles a week and partly cos i'm slowly 'opting out' of regular stuff. i now get the train...
it costs £9.20 a day (about the same as the petrol i was using)
i can drink as much as i like the night before and not worry about being over the limit in the moring
it's quicker than driving for my journey
i dont have to park a mile away from work and then walk, the station is opposite the shop i work in
i can ride the mile to and from exeter st davids/my flat on my retro carlton road bike
i can sleep or read mbuk on the train for an hour
i feel good that i'm not one of the hundreds of people queueing in traffic, on their own in a car for an hour going into torbay each morning
if i'm awake, the scenery along the coast from dawlish warren to teignmouth is amazing

so for me at least the train is by far the best option

cherrybomb":21c4lln9 said:

Russell":21c4lln9 said:

Very few 'green' measures are actually cheaper than their less eco friendly alternatives..

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On the face of it I agree, but it all depends on how you define the 'expense' of the non-green option. :?

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Exactly - because you aren't paying the true cost of your pollution in a car. It's the same as fly-tipping instead of proper waste disposal.

Dirtjumper, you've made a very good point - trains are great if there's a station near where you a)live and b)need to get to.

A train journey for me isn't too bad now as I live a 10min walk from a station but when I lived out in the sticks it was a ten minute drive to a station that got one train every half hour, which generally meant you had to make numerous changes to get to where you wanted to got to.

Public transport is shite in this country, I'd use a car to get anywhere in this country, the only exception being central london which is just utterly ridiculous.