Cars: Could We Survive Without Them?

I am going to start by saying that I don’t personally drive, but I do make use of cars on a regular basis. So I sit rather much on the fence when it comes to being able to live without or with a car.

Cars are wonderful things, and may people rely on these in order to function on a daily basis. What I am asking you as an avid reader, is could we live without our cars and rely on public transport here in the UK?

In a word, no! (Well that is my opinion at least) The public transport services in the UK lack the regularity to be relied upon for more than the occassional journey. I frequently attempt to travel by public transport, only to be met by nearly consistant delays and cancellations. These frequently make it almost impossible for me to use public transport to get anywhere on a timed basis. So in other words, unless I’m travelling home after work, I couldn’t feasibly use public transport to get anywhere.

So as a nation we are stuck, almost forced into our cars as a result of the lack of investment and as a lack of the ability for the public services to run on time without cancellations or delays.

The worst case I have had on public transport is to get half way to your destination, fairly safe in the knowledge that whilst things might run a little late, you would at least get to where you were going. We came to a stop around half way on the route only to be told that the service was being terminated as a result of a problem further up the route. No alternatives were provided, and for those of us that wanted to make headway further along the route were not presented with any alternatives as to how to get to our destination, merely being sent away with the excuse, “well it’s not our problem I’m afraid”. No refunds were issued and neither was any alternatives provided.

So what do you think? Could we survive without our cars?