Do you like / love driving a motor vehicle? Vote now please!

[mjr]

I was explicitly ignoring wear on the car - and then allowing for it by using the HMRC figure. But note that the other figures are for a single person, not the 7 I can take in the car.

Yebbut do you actually take 7? That would have some small extra costs too, if only in fuel and stops, while the train figures wouldn't scale up linearly either, due to family and group discounts/tickets.

My time has value, but in either case I'm probably chatting with children/listening to audiobooks.

Isn't that distracted driving?

What's really horrifying is that flying is cheaper (and much faster) than the train...

Yeah, the UK joining in the race to the bottom in air travel is one of the few things more screwed-up than UK policy on individual road transport.

where on earth are your going from and to ? must be Cornwall to Hebrides or there about?

Midlands to Cornwall.

Ah yeah, the Cross-country Route, currently being run bizarrely by Deutsche Bahn. One of the worst for high prices, I think, but a walk-up Off-Peak Single from Wolverhampton to Penzance (edit: for example) is £156.60 but a walk-up Off-Peak Return is only £1 more and some Advance Singles go down as low as £30.20, as you might be able to see near the bottom of http://www.brfares.com/#!fares?orig=WVH&dest=PNZ

[Cyril Haearn]

One could let seats 5-7 to strangers for good money and make a profit

I do remember enjoying driving with children, they slept beautifully all the way home

[[XAP]Bob]

I don’t take seven, I usually take 4.

There is next to no difference in cost between 1 person (attending a funeral) and a full car. Certainly not one I can see.
The train is also significantly less convenient - although that’s acceptable for me, it’s less so for family travel.
I quite like train travel most of the time, but it’s just too expensive...

[pwa]

I don’t take seven, I usually take 4.

There is next to no difference in cost between 1 person (attending a funeral) and a full car. Certainly not one I can see.
The train is also significantly less convenient - although that’s acceptable for me, it’s less so for family travel.
I quite like train travel most of the time, but it’s just too expensive...

And when you don't get a seat train travel can be awful.

[Pastychomper]

I'll grant you comfortable seats (as you can have what you prefer, set how you prefer), disagree about legroom (especially if I'm not in the front seat of the car and the train is reasonably modern) and not repeat the journey cost debate here, but is having more luggage space than what you can practically take on a train* a clear advantage? Most of the time that's just pointless space to be transporting around.

* - I estimate a practical limit as probably two airline-size rolling suitcases per person (one per hand), plus backpack and haversack or tote over the shoulder - that might be over the conditions of carriage limit but I've never seen it enforced unless the passenger is slow or obstructive.

Also, if all passenger seats in a car are occupied, few have enough luggage space to carry that much per person. Plus I like being able to stand up whenever I want/need - can't do that in a car.

I totally agree that the extra space is pointless most of the time, even counter-productive as the shape of a car has a big effect on its efficiency. Maybe I should have listed that as an occasional clear advantage. In my case those occasions include a lot of my long-distance trips, which tend to involve visiting friends or family near the other end of the country and if it's by car then every available space gets filled. I have been on trains where the luggage racks were overflowing, and there are a few threads here about what kind of cycles can be taken on what trains, so that space has its uses.

As for legroom, yes it does depend on the train and the (position in the) car, but I don't usually get to choose what make of train I travel on and most of the non-table seats I've encountered have been a bit too close together for my comfort. The first back-ache I ever had came courtesy of Scotrail's seating. On long journeys I prefer it if the train is crowded because then I can stand/sit in a vestibule without helpful people encouraging me to find a seat.

Having said all that, all other things being equal I would normally choose a 12-hour train journey over a 12-hour car journey.

[ambodach]

Mostly I quite like driving. For me generally I see no other reasonable option. I sometimes have to go Mull to Glasgow return for a 15 minute hospital appointment. This ( except winter) can be done in a day by car. Using public transport would probably take 3 days and mean 2 nights hotel if I could even get a bed in Oban. I also travel to Aberdeen on family business. Car is relatively easy but public transport is rather convoluted and not really practical for me. I usually have my Brompton in the boot so if time allows I can have a quick spin somewhere for some exercise.

[mjr]

[...] and there are a few threads here about what kind of cycles can be taken on what trains, so that space has its uses.

There are also a few threads here about what kind of cycles can be taken on/in what cars too, but mostly we're in vigorous agreement.

As for legroom, yes it does depend on the train and the (position in the) car, but I don't usually get to choose what make of train I travel on and most of the non-table seats I've encountered have been a bit too close together for my comfort. The first back-ache I ever had came courtesy of Scotrail's seating. On long journeys I prefer it if the train is crowded because then I can stand/sit in a vestibule without helpful people encouraging me to find a seat.

Longer journeys are more likely to offer a choice of train types and a few of them have high benches in the vestibule, but it doesn't seem that awful to decline the encouragement. I sometimes stand around if I've been sat all day anyway and don't often get any comment on the London lines but I guess that's that London for you

[Cyril Haearn]

I don't mind standing at all in the tram or on short journies
Maybe long-distance trains could have standing areas with rails to lean on, like football terraces
Main thing is, one must be able to look out of the windows

Standing on trains, are we cyclists normal? I hope I am not normal at least

Energy consumption is quoted for trains/buses etc, but what occupancy % is used? Travelling alone on a 100.00% full train can be unpleasant unless one is in a good mood and gets talking to an interesting stranger in the next seat

[gaz]

Do you love driving?

Yes, it has to be done.

That option doesn't make sense.

It does make sense when considered aolong the lines of "I love driving so much that I just have to do it", a bit like some form of seemingly benevolent addiciton.

I selected "I hate driving but have to do it". It would be more accurate to say that "I dislike driving and tend to reserve it for occasions when it is a significantly easier option than the alternatives".

[[XAP]Bob]

Having said all that, all other things being equal I would normally choose a 12-hour train journey over a 12-hour car journey.

I almost certainly would - but it's rare that a 12 hour car journey is equivalent to a 12 hour train journey.
Let alone the other 'all other things'.

I'd go for a slightly slower, but more reliable, journey time if the value was reasonable.
I'd even pay slightly more, for a slower journey, if the journey was reliable, at a reasonable time, and I had a decent chance of a seat...

[Cyril Haearn]

Do you love driving?

Yes, it has to be done.

That option doesn't make sense.

It does make sense when considered aolong the lines of "I love driving so much that I just have to do it", a bit like some form of seemingly benevolent addiciton.

I selected "I hate driving but have to do it". It would be more accurate to say that "I dislike driving and tend to reserve it for occasions when it is a significantly easier option than the alternatives".

"Yes, it has to be done" .. I used to use that phrase for going to the dentist or getting up very early

I did spend some time dreaming up the answers but I like to have alternative facts, suggestions, criticism. Maybe I should have offered "like" as well as "love". The good thing about these polls compared to political ones is: one may comment too, +33

I just changed the title

[PH]

I love it, already looking forward to the next time, probably late Feb or early March. I'll have a car for a long weekend, or possibly even a week, a chance to do those few things in my life that are not so easy without, take a less able friend out for the day, take some stuff to the tip and some gratuitous driving around just for the fun of it.
I have sympathy for those who have no choice but to drive all the time, that was my position for a decade or so, that life and work situation would have been impossible without doing so, I didn't enjoy many of the 20,000 miles a year.
I also have some sympathy for those so brainwashed that they think they have to drive everywhere and haven't considered there are alternatives. I've also spent some years in that position, simply couldn't imagine life without a car, until circumstances deprived me of one and I discovered I didn't miss it.

[pwa]

I love it, already looking forward to the next time, probably late Feb or early March. I'll have a car for a long weekend, or possibly even a week, a chance to do those few things in my life that are not so easy without, take a less able friend out for the day, take some stuff to the tip and some gratuitous driving around just for the fun of it.
I have sympathy for those who have no choice but to drive all the time, that was my position for a decade or so, that life and work situation would have been impossible without doing so, I didn't enjoy many of the 20,000 miles a year.
I also have some sympathy for those so brainwashed that they think they have to drive everywhere and haven't considered there are alternatives. I've also spent some years in that position, simply couldn't imagine life without a car, until circumstances deprived me of one and I discovered I didn't miss it.

I didn't enjoy the four trips I did by car yesterday, all essential with no practical alternative. Ferrying my Mum to hospital to visit my Dad, taxi service for my daughter who was working as an "extra" for a film production in a location not easily reached by other means. Could have got her a taxi for that, but that would have cost much more and still put a car on the roads. So lots of tedious miles for me.

[Cyril Haearn]

What about riding in a vehicle as a passenger, does anyone like or dislike that?

[Cunobelin]

I don’t take seven, I usually take 4.

There is next to no difference in cost between 1 person (attending a funeral) and a full car. Certainly not one I can see.
The train is also significantly less convenient - although that’s acceptable for me, it’s less so for family travel.
I quite like train travel most of the time, but it’s just too expensive...

And when you don't get a seat train travel can be awful.

Looking at the suggestions of multiple occupancy there are all sorts of safety rules where you carry passengers for profit.

You can only carry seven people in a 7 seater car. Buses, airlines and almost every other transport mode has limitations, yetteh Rail operators are allowed to cram people in like sardines.

Personally I would love to see a regulation where they only allow a set number of people standing on the top rain.

That way the ATOCs could be forced to up their game and provide enough trains