Would You Stop Driving And Take Public Transit To Save Money?

I don't have a car but my girlfriend used to have one. She sold it when it became very uneconomical to run it. As it stands, public transport is great where we are so we don't need a car. Maybe at some point in the future.

 

I own a car and if I could get to work easily by public transportation I definitely would! But where I live it's quite hard to get to work that way, because it's actually close to work but I would still need 2 buses to get there, and both buses will pass on the bus stop every hour or so! So something that takes me 10 to 15 minutes by car would take me 1 hour by bus... I cannot afford to travel that long.

 

Where I live it is difficult to take public transportation if yo not work a regular schedule. The bus runide from 6am -8pm and not on the weekends. The bus ride in my area cost $1.85 with a transfer good for 2 hours. I think that is expensive, if traffic is bad and you miss your transfer you will need to pay ful fare again.

 

I would switch in a heartbeat if I could actually count on public transportation to be a reasonable option. Where I work I would have to get on the bus, get to the train, and then from the train I have to walk 15 minutes to get to my job. Now this might be an option if it’s nice out, but if it’s raining or snowing, I will look a right mess when I get to work.

 

I have done this since a recent move. Where I live now public transportation runs across 6 or 7 different towns. One in particular is the capitol of my state. If you find parking on the road the meter has a 2 hour limit and the pay to park lots and garages can rack up after a few hours. A few times I have had to venture into the downtown area for business I have opted to leave my car parked and take the bus.

There is something freeing about it too. I actually enjoy it. Even the walking it takes afterwards to get to and from my destinations. You get the opportunity to explore places and see things you would normally just drive by. If I wanted to I could use public transit to get to and from work. I feel fortunate to have the option.

 

I've never actually driven. I've got a driver's license, but will need to brush up on my driving before I get behind the wheel; I know, very embarrassing!

To get back to the question, I doubt I would to be honest. I don't like the inconvenience of public transport. I've done it way too long. Once I get my car, and I will; I'm never going back on public transport. Oh, except when I'm abroad because hiring a car may be more expensive than catching the tube/train/bus/tram. We have no decent public transport to speak of, outside of taxis.

 

I used to do this back when I was living in a city.

The public transport where I used to reside, especially the train system, was quite efficient and downright cheap, so it made perfect sense to utilize it thoroughly.

Also, it allowed me to save a lot of time doing this.

As of now I own a bike since I live in a quaint village where public transport doesn't really exist.

 

I don't drive, but I believe in using public transport for many reasons and not only economical. It is greener and also to enable a public service to be provided, it needs to be used or it gets withdrawn. My parents have a car, but they often get the bus so there is no parking to think about and also they use it to support the route. When people stopped using it the services were scaled back, so they use it to keep it going. It helps the locals who need the route and also gives the driver a job.

 

Public transportation scares me so I would NEVER willingly give up my car for it. I fear that I would get lost, and the couple of times that I did ride the city bus when I was a young child something crazy happened. Someone was cursing and yelling, a lady, who must have been high on something, stripped naked and was trying to sit on peoples laps, a drunk man stood up every time he had to fart. lol There is no way I'm going back to public transportation.

A couple of years ago I remember people going back to public transportation because the gas prices were ridiculously high. I understand doing that to save money but I always said that if things got too bad I would rather get an extra job because riding the bus is not for me.

 

I prefer driving a lot more even if I'm often too lazy to drive, but that's only because public transportation here isn't that good. If we had a better system I'd definitely choose it over driving since it's usually traffic here anyway so it's usually better to just take a train. I don't even mind that it gets very packed during peak hours, I just prefer it if the locations and stations were much better thought out.

 

I definitely would consider it. Right now I use public transport to go to work and when just going out. Though some would think that it is better to have their own ride, it is more ideal for me to use public transport. One reason is that it is cheaper and I could save a lot of money compared to having a car. Having your own car means expenses for gas, maintenance, cleaning, etc. Another reason is the hassle of bringing a car, especially during traffic hours. One thing I don’t like about public transport though is the delay in travel because of stops in picking up passengers. Another is the air pollution in the city that you are exposed to when commuting.

 

I drive our family car. The only reason I think that will lead me to ride a public transport instead of driving our car is if the price of the oil will be rocket high. But now I enjoy driving our car because of privacy and comfort it offers to me plus the fact that we have a low price of oil these days.

 

I live in Rochester New York, and the bus system here is not the greatest in the world, but it's made some improvements and tried really hard, and also they have a new bus terminal station downtown. I have come to rely on the bus system here over the years, and taken many, many, many different rides to different areas of the city for all kinds of occasions. I am trying to get a car on the road that I made a deal for recently, and although it's going to cost me more than taking the bus, I am fine with the additional expense because all of the additional freedom of an automobile that runs. I will be able to take it when I want to and I won't have to stand in line or wait on anybody. There are drawbacks to things in reasons why people do them; I don't think just to save money is a good enough reason (unless you are on a strict budget for more important goals) to deprive yourself of a car in an urban environment. I'm about to be mobile myself.

 

It would entirely depend on where I lived and if it would be convenient for me to do so. In my current situation, no I wouldn't depend on public transportation and simply just can't because all the places I need to go are really spread out from each other. I think that would be the case with most people who have their own car and don't already depend on public transportation.

But if I lived in a big city like San Francisco or NY or if my work, a grocery store, etc were relatively close to my house, then I would consider it absolutely.

 

I like using my car because it saves me time, and time is much more valuable to me than money in many aspects. Also, I like the convenience of being able to get to point A to point B on my schedule, and not having to go by the schedule of public transport.
I don't think that public transportation would save me all that much money. I own my car, so I don't have any car payments, and my insurance isn't that much per month.

 

The public transportation in my area does not really save me money. It is better to take the train to downtown because there is no place to park but the ride can be expensive if you have a family going on the train. Also public transportation does not run on the weekends and late at night in my area.

 

When I lived in England, a lot of people would leave their cars behind and take the train/tram/bus to work, mainly for the convenience and to avoid the traffic. They didn't see it as a money saving exercise at all because public transportsis very expensive in the UK, and goes up every year. So I can believe all the drivers here who echo the same sentiment.

 

I actually have in the past!

Where I once lived, it was much, much cheaper to use public transit. It was so convenient and was faster to travel by bus to get places than it was to get stuck in city traffic in a car, try to find parking, and then walk half a mile to the destination I really wanted to be at.

I much preferred not having a car most times while I lived there.

 

I really do not like owning my own car. It is a hassle for me and so uneconomical: fuel, maintenance, license, license renewal, registration, and all government works. That is just taxing.

I know how it feels to be hit by a car and be a survivor, and I know the feeling of being a patient. I don't want other people to undergo the same thing because of me. My mind is constantly busy with all the planning, so driving a car is simply no-no for me. And I don't even want to hire a driver.

I prefer riding public transport because I just have to pay the fare, sit down, and mentally jot down plans for the day or contemplate on life's biggest issues, or daydream about my Korean rock band bias.