What would you not be able to do without your car, van, 4x4 or any other motorised vehicle.

[British Red]

That's what I'm talking about. Things can't go on like this indefinitely. One day there will be work, housing, services, etc within reasonable distances for most people. We can't keep on with distance living.

So presumably those places will also be close to sources of food, water & fuel?

 

[ManFriday4]

We need a car, but would be far better off than most in the situation that you describe. We are a good few miles from shops or bus stops but, thankfully, could potter along for a few years without shops if we absolutely had to. In the situation you describe it's the people who get their food from shops week to week that I would feel most sorry for - that stuff would be gone in very short order. Which raises the other question. How long could you last without going to the shops?

We have enough dry/tnned/home preserved food to not go to the shops for 5-6 months possibly longer, plus what is in the garden.

 

[ManFriday4]

It's going to take a lot to change the mindset of many councils to help people reduce car usage.

Actually it's changing the mindset of motorists which will make the difference.

The nearest small shop from me is 300 meters and neighbours drove to it until they put in LTN bollards. Now it's a 1 mile round trip & the people who had to drive making a fuss.

The idea behind 15 minute cities is toreduce traffic on residential roads and to encourage people to walk/cycle. Sadly its been turned into something that it never was.

Me even mentioning 15 minute cities will probably bring out the "triggered" but all I can say is it is entirely about localisation.

Let's consider that a little under 150-200 years ago cities were surrounded by commons on which that cities food was mostly grown, dairy herd, pigs, chicken and geese were raised too. - the working class history of these is of inclosure, removal (often at gunpoint) & confiscation. To force people into factories. The last Enclosure Act was in 1752- leading to rioting and over 100 deaths of commoners by Yeoman, designed to drive people off the land and into factories. It also caused food shortages and a hike in food prices.

 

[ManFriday4]

My Grandfather worked much of his life in a timber yard and relied on Shire horses. They went mechanised in the end but I’d love to be able to do that. I probably have a rose tinted view through.

I have worked with horses hauling timber out of the woods. A team of 2, block & tackle and "slides".

I also have friends who live horse drawn in the west country.

There are still people hauling timber in the Welsh hills, it's still possible to volunteer and work with them.

 

[British Red]

We have enough dry/tnned/home preserved food to not go to the shops for 5-6 months possibly longer, plus what is in the garden.

It's easy enough in an old country place with land for the medium term. I would hate to be in a town a month after the power went off though

 

[Paul_B]

Back to the car situation, we moved to a rural village on a good, branch line. Its only been the last year that it's been difficult using the trains. That's a mix of union activity and staffing issues which only started a little into the strikes. Possibly overtime stopped by management or unions. We can still go without a car and we do to get to work, but we just have to be patient with cancelled / late trains.

Food was mostly delivery but we decided to cut costs and shop at a cheaper supermarket which means using the van. We could get to the town by train then it's a walk uphill to the store. It would need two of us and several bags / rucksacks. I used to do that as a student carrying a rucksack full and 4 or 5 plastic bags full of shopping 4 plus miles home. I certainly felt the weight by the time I got home!

The OP's question never made the distinction between no personal car but any other vehicle such as delivery drivers and no vehicles at all end of modern world sort of scenario or anything between. If the former then no personal vehicle is easy enough. Deliveries done more efficiently as part of a longer route and train is easy and we're pretty much there. End of world's we'll not be so well off. Mind you that's kind of a long way off being possible I reckon.

 

[slowworm]

Actually it's changing the mindset of motorists which will make the difference.

I think you may have missed my point. I agree that many motorists drive far too much but when people start to reduce car usage I think councils need to be there to help. What I and others I know have found is an attitude where they can't comprehend anyone not driving. So the councils are not just encouraging car use but insist on you having one to obtain basic services.

 

[stevec]

I live in an area of a city that is well served with public transport relatively speaking despite all the bus cuts. I generally walk the 2odd miles to work, but can use tram if I need the supermarket is 25minwalk. Annual mileage on car is less than 3k. So more or less yes

 

[TLM]

I live close enough to a fairly big city half a year where public transport works fairly well. I guess I could get by without a car, just and just.

At the cottage no way, can't get there by bus, taxis work but prices are interesting. In the summer I can go to do shopping by boat (rowing) but during the winter that gets a bit difficult. I guess in theory I could ski there but there would be several weeks during the year when that would be suicidal.

 

[slowworm]

When I used to commute to work I used to walk 20 min to the train station, travel for over an hour on the train and then walk 30 mins across London to work. I was quite happy with the walks and even the train apart from having to stand much of the time and the 1 hour journey often taking much longer.

I then moved jobs and moved so I could walk to work, until the company them moved the job 2 hours away. Sometimes we can only do so much as an individual.

Still, now my work colleagues are mostly birds, lizards and various insects, so not all bad!

 

[Paul_B]

I believe the Netherlands in the 60s had a growing number if cars just like the UK with similar infra being built. They however had a national discussion about what they actually wanted and the result was a more human based transportation system. Better public transport, roads built with priority to pedestrians and cyclists, etc. They went in a different direction to the UK and the result imho is a lot better.

At 18i went round Belgium and Holland by train. We got to a place where the route to the main town was kind of a square. The direct route side to the town was cycles only. Cars had to take the other three sides of the square. That made cycles quicker to get to town. More ppl used bikes as a result.

 

[Toddy]

I believe the Netherlands in the 60s had a growing number if cars just like the UK with similar infra being built. They however had a national discussion about what they actually wanted and the result was a more human based transportation system. Better public transport, roads built with priority to pedestrians and cyclists, etc. They went in a different direction to the UK and the result imho is a lot better.

At 18i went round Belgium and Holland by train. We got to a place where the route to the main town was kind of a square. The direct route side to the town was cycles only. Cars had to take the other three sides of the square. That made cycles quicker to get to town. More ppl used bikes as a result.

Is Holland not flat though ?

Where I live is 58m above sea level, yet to get out of the village we go down to 10 and then back up again (river valley). To visit my brother who lives a mile away I have to go down and then back up but to 78m.
Cycling sounds fine, until the reality hits that we live in a rather up and down sort of country. It's like that all around here. Flat is the surface of the loch.....unless it's windy.

 

[ONE]

I drive and shall continue to so.

 

[Ozmundo]

On about people working close to home or not.
A while ago I was working in a place called Maryport, travelling from Carlisle.
On my way to work me and my workmate used to pass two lads from Maryport on their way to a job in Carlisle.
We all worked for the same company...

Waving at two blokes who live in Maryport and were working in Carlisle as we drove from Carlisle to the job at Maryport didn't irritate us at all, no siree.

Pathetic management really should be stomped on, from a great height.

Just had some lads do some scaffolding, they came from two counties away. A colleague of theirs is about a mile away from me he got sent to thier door step on the same day. Pre-booked jobs, not last minute.

 

[Ozmundo]

At the cottage no way, can't get there by bus, taxis work but prices are interesting. In the summer I can go to do shopping by boat (rowing) but during the winter that gets a bit difficult. I guess in theory I could ski there but there would be several weeks during the year when that would be suicidal.

I once had enough snow in England to tryout my homemade snowshoes. Started 4am (I am pretty bad) I think I surprised the Quad bikers coming the other way.

Gave the Guard a laugh when I rolled in. They correctly pointed out that the staff who lived next door would cry off work.