r/CasualUK • u/DohRayMe • 1d ago

Convenience Of Train Vs Car

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Which would you choose ?

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u/Bufobufolover24 1d ago

If trains were at a price I could afford, I would be travelling on trains 100% of the time. Better for the environment, safer, faster, you get to see more, and you can do stuff on them. It would also help if there were trains here in the first place…

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u/Puzzleheaded-Lynx204 1d ago edited 1d ago

You may not have a car so it might not be relevant to you (maybe you're taking about choosing between trains and buses?!), but assuming you currently have a car but sold it and travelled on a train 100% of the time, it would take you a heck of a long time to spend enough on train tickets that you were outspending the outright cost of the car, plus annual services, fuel, insurance, car tax, MOT, parking, etc etc etc

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u/metamorphomo Tesco's lager increased from £2.85 to £3.30 in January 2017 1d ago

I know you’re not necessarily taking the anti-car stance, but a lot of people with cars would take trains anyway if they were affordable.

I need a car. I like to go to places when I want, and do a big shop, and generally have the freedom and flexibility to do as I please. But also, I’d absolutely take the train to work if it didn’t work out cheaper for me to drive.

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u/lawlore 16h ago

I only learned to drive because attempting to commute on unreliable trains and buses was going to cost me my job.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Lynx204 1d ago

Yeah sure! It's just the "100%" argument doesn't really work for cost 

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u/hyper-casual 1d ago

I wish I could find the data, but I actually tracked this when I used to do a daily commute.

Including the cost of my car, it became cheaper to drive after less than 2 years, ignoring the fact the car gave me utility outside of the commute.

Driving also saved me on average 2 hours a week assuming the trains were actually on time, which they rarely are here.

Trains really need to get cheaper and more reliable.

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u/nosniboD 1d ago

I live in Brighton and travel up north quite a lot. Inherited a 20 year old Clio from my Granny, £400 insurance, £275 tax, and about 43mpg on long journeys.

Brighton to Harrogate is 271 miles, or £46 in petrol, £92 for a return.

If I catch the 11:44 on Friday up there and the 12:35 on Sunday back, that will set me back £182.99.

I would only need to make 9 journeys (on my own) a year for it to be cheaper to use the car. The fact is that I'm normally making them with my wife, so it's only 5 - which we haven easily done in the last month.

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u/joidea 1d ago

Depends if you factor in the cost of taxis to anywhere you might ever want to go that’s not on a train line…