Ageing and living without a car

[Bmblbzzz]

OTOH I recently went to London (from Bristol) for £7.50 return versus ~£90 on the train. So that's about 8% of the train fare. Timewise, train is 1h40, coach was 3h.

[Carlton green]

My neighbours in the 80s had no car, bus into town for shopping and taxi home. I think we get very wrapped up in the convenience of our cars and losing their use is like a 'death' for some it's particularly difficult to see outside of the box.

We have one smallish and expensive supermarket in the Town in which I live and I’ve not come across a Taxi company here to get me roughly a mile home from it. My nearest decent Supermarket is some eight or more miles away along roads that I wouldn’t dare to cycle on. Fortunately there’s a bus but it takes an age to cover that distance and doesn’t run frequently, a Taxi home from the big supermarket would be rather expensive. I guess my best options are either home delivery or to put up with what’s available locally and then shift it home with a trailer or shopping trolley.

As ever YMMV and situations vary.

I find my car a great liberator and am thankful to be (as far as I know) in good health. An older pal lives further out in the countryside and has Parkinson’s disease, his Mrs isn’t so well either; the nearest bus route is a mile’s walk away so they’re dependant on a car. Mostly ‘one’ never thinks of one’s old age and how we’ll live once the mobility we take for granted is taken from us; people contributing to this thread are exceptions to that seemingly near universal mindset.

[pjclinch]

Up here in Scotlandshire we have a fairly new kid on the coach block, Ember (https://www.ember.to/), and they're making travel without a car significantly easier than it was a few years ago. Their route network is expanding all the time, fares are much lower than the trains (and the buses are increasingly going places trains don't), journey times aren't much more and there are two bookable bike spaces on each bus. And once you're 60 they're free.

Everyone I know using them is very impressed with the service. If only that was the rule, and not the exception...

Pete.

[axel_knutt]

Er - has anyone tried WALKING, if distances are short?

Slower, uses more energy than walking and can't carry as much. Why would anyone? It's better by bike!

Cycling can be quicker than walking like cars can be quicker than bikes: when all the friction doesn't make them slower. You don't need to be forced to keep stopping that often to use nearly as much energy either.

[deeferdonk]

My neighbours in the 80s had no car, bus into town for shopping and taxi home. I think we get very wrapped up in the convenience of our cars and losing their use is like a 'death' for some it's particularly difficult to see outside of the box.

We have one smallish and expensive supermarket in the Town in which I live and I’ve not come across a Taxi company here to get me roughly a mile home from it. My nearest decent Supermarket is some eight or more miles away along roads that I wouldn’t dare to cycle on. Fortunately there’s a bus but it takes an age to cover that distance and doesn’t run frequently, a Taxi home from the big supermarket would be rather expensive. I guess my best options are either home delivery or to put up with what’s available locally and then shift it home with a trailer or shopping trolley.

As ever YMMV and situations vary.

I find my car a great liberator and am thankful to be (as far as I know) in good health. An older pal lives further out in the countryside and has Parkinson’s disease, his Mrs isn’t so well either; the nearest bus route is a mile’s walk away so they’re dependant on a car. Mostly ‘one’ never thinks of one’s old age and how we’ll live once the mobility we take for granted is taken from us; people contributing to this thread are exceptions to that seemingly near universal mindset.

Unfortunately, i suppose the obvious (but not psychologically or financially easy for everyone) solution for folks is to recognise they are getting older, cash in their housing and get a bungalow in an area well serviced and connected.

[LittleGreyCat]

I've been reading this thread with interest.

Firstly, I live in a small town close to the bus route and the railway station and there is a large supermarket opposite the station where most food stuffs can be bought.
The main bus goes straight past the hospital (in the next town) when I need to visit, easier and cheaper than parking, which can be a nightmare.
For city breaks we usually go by train because of convenience, and prices are OK with a Senior Citizen Railcard coupled with a bus pass.
However the bus and train routes would dictate our world if we didn't have a car.
Living right on the edge of the countryside where there aren't adequate rural bus services would limit where we could go.
I have no doubt that if we are spared we will have to give up the car eventually when neither of us is fit to drive, but until then a car expands our horizons enormously.
Just for walking, the car gets us to locations too far to walk (for us) but with pleasant and varied walking.

We also have a motor home, and have had some kind of camping device for many decades.
Be it tent, trailer tent, VW camper, motor home, caravan.
So our leisure time is centred around motor vehicles.

I cycle every Wednesday with a U3A group which is spread over a fairly wide geographical area.
Most are centred around one town (not mine) and the other main outlier is on a direct rail line from them.
I am on a branch line so would have to go into a town and change to get out to the furthest point, so impractical in time spent.
I end up driving to the start point with my bike on the back of the car.
I could centre all my cycling where I live, but that would give up the enjoyment of cycling with a group, and also the incentive to get out every Wednesday.

I have always had a car since I passed my test at 17, so driving is a basic part of me.
It will be a wrench when I eventually have to stop.

In summary, I could live without a car but I absolutely do not want to!

Edit: we have the habit of bulk buying staples when they are on offer, then storing them. We also have a large freezer. Bulk buying doesn't map onto public transport (especially for 6 boxes of wine).

[axel_knutt]

We are in a car club and so have access to a car when we need it... but it's a typical Catch 22 variant in that you typically need to be in a town to have enough people to support a car club, i.e. the sort of place you're less likely to need a car.

Pete.

It's a bit late now, but I'd have loved to use a car club, so much so that I emailed one that I saw on TV and asked them when they were coming here.

there are now few coach routes linking places which while they have railway stations are not directly linked to each other by rail.

I once needed to get from Barnstaple to Taunton and was struck by how long winded it looked going all the way down to Exeter and back by train, so I got the bus "direct". How I regretted that, it took five never ending hours touring every village in the West Country compared with about two by train, and to make matters worse it was baking hot, and all my food and water were in the rucksack in the luggage compartment under the bus. At 3pm I was still sat on Taunton station waiting for a train home, with another four hour train journey still to go, having left a B&B in Bideford at 9am.

My outbound journey a week earlier had been more pleasant: rail to Taunton, bus to Bishops Lydeard, then the steam train on the preservation line to Minehead. (I see there are now serious proposals to reopen the line from BL to Taunton.)

[Bmblbzzz]

Unfortunately, i suppose the obvious (but not psychologically or financially easy for everyone) solution for folks is to recognise they are getting older, cash in their housing and get a bungalow in an area well serviced and connected.

As we are in an era where both healthy lifespan and home ownership are declining, this will become increasingly difficult for more and more people.

[LittleGreyCat]

Unfortunately, i suppose the obvious (but not psychologically or financially easy for everyone) solution for folks is to recognise they are getting older, cash in their housing and get a bungalow in an area well serviced and connected.

As we are in an era where both healthy lifespan and home ownership are declining, this will become increasingly difficult for more and more people.

We downsized before we had to, and modified and extended our 3 bedroom semi to be workable as a bungalow.
Lounge becomes bedroom.
New kitchen/diner/living area provides plenty of living space.
Downstairs wet room designed to be wheelchair friendly.

Bungalows around here cost the same as a 3/4 bedroom detached house.
Because people down sizing have the money from the house sale and a limited market to buy into.

Moral - move before you have to, whilst you still have the energy to do it.

[jgurney]

I once needed to get from Barnstaple to Taunton and was struck by how long winded it looked going all the way down to Exeter and back by train, so I got the bus "direct". How I regretted that, it took five never ending hours touring every village in the West Country compared with about two by train

Ouch! Oddly, today that is one of the few routes where coaches are a good option. National Express do Barnstable to Taunton in 1h40m, but only run 3 journeys per day. There is no longer a direct Barnstable - Taunton bus route: it would have to be done by changing at South Moulton and Tiverton, and might still take about 5 hours including waits at the changing points (or in summer via changes at Lynmouth and Minehead, but the very pretty Lynmouth-Minehead bus service is summer only).

[jgurney]

OTOH I recently went to London (from Bristol) for £7.50 return versus ~£90 on the train. So that's about 8% of the train fare. Timewise, train is 1h40, coach was 3h.

Yes, Bristol - London is one route where coach still does compete well with rail, due to fast and frequent coach journeys, unusually low coach fares and unusually high rail fares.

[Carlton green]

Unfortunately, i suppose the obvious (but not psychologically or financially easy for everyone) solution for folks is to recognise they are getting older, cash in their housing and get a bungalow in an area well serviced and connected.

As we are in an era where both healthy lifespan and home ownership are declining, this will become increasingly difficult for more and more people.

We downsized before we had to, and modified and extended our 3 bedroom semi to be workable as a bungalow.
Lounge becomes bedroom.
New kitchen/diner/living area provides plenty of living space.
Downstairs wet room designed to be wheelchair friendly.

Bungalows around here cost the same as a 3/4 bedroom detached house.
Because people down sizing have the money from the house sale and a limited market to buy into.

Moral - move before you have to, whilst you still have the energy to do it.

Not everyone can move home / relocate, many people haven’t the finances to allow it and finding alternative rented accommodation has never been easy.

I think that some people do alter their current homes to support limited mobility living. Bungalows are in short supply and they typically are premium priced - I hope to eventually have one, but we don’t always get what we’d like. The idea of modifying a house to - if it is eventually needed - support single level living appeals to me; alternatively my in-laws had a stair lift installed and it gave them good service. I suspect that multiple answers to the same issue (limited mobility in old age) can prove roughly equally useful.

As in earlier posts on this thread it’s all about thinking ahead and preparing for a time when we can’t drive and are generally limited in what our remaining health will allow us to do.

[jimlews]

I urge any urbanite not to move to the country because doing so artificially distorts the rural housing market and makes it unaffordable for local folk and especially the young trying to get started on the housing ladder, to buy. There are villages in Wales where many houses are empty for most of the year; they are holiday cottages occupied for maybe one month in twelve. Rural communities are being destroyed as a result. Many incomers have scant regard for local tradition,in my experience. To cite just one example, I have heard a Black Country friend complain that the Welsh are "rude and inconsiderate" because they speak Welsh in their local shops and cannot be understood!

[al_yrpal]

One attraction when we bought this old pile was that it had a steep extra long 18 step staircase. We loved many other features too but the idea of a constantly challenging staircase and a large garden appealed because it would prevent us atrophying.
We had seen so many folk getting bungalowed and fading away after losing strength and mobility. We reasoned that if the stairs proved too much we could get a stairlift and if the garden proved too much we could get a gardener but still enjoy the garden. We have just started with a gardener with a few days to get outstanding tasks done and its now settled down to one morning a fortnight which is affordable.

So, we have a different approach to the old age problem and have yet to reach the stage when the car has to go.

Al

[toontra]

My mother used the stairs (no stairlift but added second bannister rail) until her death aged 101. She was very much of the "use it or loose it" school (as well as being rather stubborn ). In latter years it was a protracted event with stops along the way.

I appreciate she was a bit of an outlier and not many are that lucky.