Going carless?

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Jdsk
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Re: Going carless?

Post by Jdsk »

Mick F wrote:986 trips in a year?
We own a car, and have done since I passed my test in 1971.
Never used a car three times a day!

And that's why it's so important to base plans on data rather than anecdote or personal preference.

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Mick F
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Re: Going carless?

Post by Mick F »

I can understand that driving to work and back is probably counted as two trips ........... which seems daft IMHO.
I can understand that a single trip in a car with two people in it is effectively two trips ........... which also sounds daft.

............ but 986 trips a year means that the car has been taken from home three times a day, every single day seven days a week .......... unless a family of four going to the shops, then back home, counts as eight trips. :roll:
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thirdcrank
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Re: Going carless?

Post by thirdcrank »

IMO a lot of this is based on quite personal value-judgments. eg Given the choice, I'd invariably go by bus rather than car, largely so somebody else's ticker is getting all the adrenaline surge and somebody else's bodywork is risking all the scrapes. But there are so many things which limit that choice, the most obvious being no bus service. I've had some bad experiences but not many. In the days of Leeds City Transport they used to employ some awkward conductors; I once got on a bus for a fairly long ride after a late shift and realised too late that the seat I had picked was saturated with urine; a bus service home from Huddersfield timetabled at under an hour took four (mix-up over drivers.)

And so on.

Even if you try to do it entirely with arithmetic, other things creep in. eg When I started work on rotating shifts, a bus passing the end of the street at 0520 ish stopped outside my workplace at 0540 just in time for parade at 0545. There was a bus available at 2210 after a 2200 finish and more till after 2300 if needed. Not long after I'd moved elsewhere the early bus was cancelled. Had we remained there, the need to get to work for 0545 seven days in every 28 would have distorted the equation.

So, I think and hope that the experiences of others prompt a bit of thought about what's involved.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Going carless?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

I started the engine, drove 300 km, had a break, started the engine, drove 200 km
Two trips, 500 km

Drove to work, went home for lunch, home after, 8 km each way
Four trips, 32 km
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Jdsk
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Re: Going carless?

Post by Jdsk »

Mick F wrote:I can understand that driving to work and back is probably counted as two trips ........... which seems daft IMHO.
I can understand that a single trip in a car with two people in it is effectively two trips ........... which also sounds daft.

............ but 986 trips a year means that the car has been taken from home three times a day, every single day seven days a week .......... unless a family of four going to the shops, then back home, counts as eight trips.

That statistic is "trips per person per year". For some purposes that isn't daft. It would give you the seating capacity needed to replace private car journeys with public transport, for example.

But it doesn't necessarily mean "taken from home three times a day". Once to work, once from work, and one other trip somewhere and back would give 4 per working day even with only one vehicle occupant.

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squeaker
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Re: Going carless?

Post by squeaker »

Mick F wrote:986 trips in a year?
We own a car, and have done since I passed my test in 1971.
Never used a car three times a day! :shock:

That 986 includes walking... 61% of the 986 were private motorised transport (page 2).
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Carlton green
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Re: Going carless?

Post by Carlton green »

Jdsk wrote:
Mick F wrote:I can understand that driving to work and back is probably counted as two trips ........... which seems daft IMHO.
I can understand that a single trip in a car with two people in it is effectively two trips ........... which also sounds daft.

............ but 986 trips a year means that the car has been taken from home three times a day, every single day seven days a week .......... unless a family of four going to the shops, then back home, counts as eight trips.

That statistic is "trips per person per year". For some purposes that isn't daft. It would give you the seating capacity needed to replace private car journeys with public transport, for example.

But it doesn't necessarily mean "taken from home three times a day". Once to work, once from work, and one other trip somewhere and back would give 4 per working day even with only one vehicle occupant.

Jonathan


I follow the trips counting and it is entirely logical once it is looked at in public transport terms. The term trips is not that helpful because public transport operators almost certainly will be thinking in terms of distinct legs of A to B journeys (which is what their immediate provision is) as a trip rather than the individual who’ll probably be thinking in terms of return (A to B to A) journeys as a trip.

As is not that unusual the same word can mean different things to different people. I have a friend who speaks American English, conversations often have a friendly “err wait, what do you mean by that?” in them.
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axel_knutt
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Re: Going carless?

Post by axel_knutt »

Syd wrote: 7 Dec 2020, 6:41pmThe Enterprise Car Club is one example. They have a number of ‘hubs’ which are areas where the cars are parked up.
Just been looking at those, strangely, they have this town listed but no cars here. The nearest is 13 miles away.
I was disappointed to see there's a £7/month membership, which seems to undermine the pay for what you use principle, especially when having inactive members incurs little cost.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Going carless?

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Mick F wrote: 11 Dec 2020, 4:56pm I can understand that driving to work and back is probably counted as two trips ........... which seems daft IMHO.
I can understand that a single trip in a car with two people in it is effectively two trips ........... which also sounds daft.

............ but 986 trips a year means that the car has been taken from home three times a day, every single day seven days a week .......... unless a family of four going to the shops, then back home, counts as eight trips. :roll:
Quite easy to rack up trips
- take kids to school
- go to shop
- go to work
- collect child
Arrive back home

Is that one, two or four journeys)

Then have two kids who have activities at either end of town in the evening…
Possibly a parent with a meeting of some sort as well…

Very easy to do more than three journeys in a day.
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slowster
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Re: Going carless?

Post by slowster »

axel_knutt wrote: 26 Oct 2021, 12:11pm I was disappointed to see there's a £7/month membership, which seems to undermine the pay for what you use principle, especially when having inactive members incurs little cost.
Car clubs will typically have a ratio of around 10-20 members to each car. Those members' fees and usage payments have to fund the cost of the vehicles and the running of the club.

A low monthly fee which attracts lots of people to join who do not very often use the service, is likely to result in demand far outstripping supply at certain times of the year, e.g. many members all wanting a car during the summer holiday period and during school holidays generally.
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mjr
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Re: Going carless?

Post by mjr »

axel_knutt wrote: 26 Oct 2021, 12:11pm
Syd wrote: 7 Dec 2020, 6:41pmThe Enterprise Car Club is one example. They have a number of ‘hubs’ which are areas where the cars are parked up.
Just been looking at those, strangely, they have this town listed but no cars here. The nearest is 13 miles away.
Similar here. They listed Lynn on a map but their nearest car then was Dereham, a good 3h folding bike cycling away. I've not checked for changes in a few months.
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pete75
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Re: Going carless?

Post by pete75 »

Mick F wrote: 11 Dec 2020, 3:32pm 986 trips in a year?
We own a car, and have done since I passed my test in 1971.
Never used a car three times a day! :shock:
If you look at the figures for those 986 trips they include car, walking, bus, train and cycling. I'd guess they have driving to a car park followed by walking to a destination as two trips and another two for the return journey.
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