(05 Aug 2017, 7:56 pm)citaro5284 wrote But who wants to drive a Toyota Aygo
Tell me about it, a while ago I was given a Hyundai i10 for the day while my car was in for recall work. It was like Hyundai had gone out of their way to make it purposely bad. Still, better than being a passenger on many buses on the road.
(05 Aug 2017, 7:57 pm)Andreos1 wrote My car is paid off now. Has been a few years.
Even with the insurance, tax and repairs/servicing it is cheaper than using public transport.
The bizarre sight of petrol prices dropping and bus fares increasing, just makes it even cheaper.
I use car leasing as an example just because I've been looking at it lately. But for personal use, leasing is a stupid idea. Of course owning your car outright makes it even cheaper!
(05 Aug 2017, 7:58 pm)Dan wrote For the journeys I undertake, I would need a monthly/annual Go North East 3+ zone ticket. An annual ticket, if my memory serves me correctly, is around the £1,000 mark. Probably a little bit more expensive now, given the price increase not so long ago. The cost of this ticket is cheaper than what I pay to insure my car alone, without even considering any extra costs such as petrol, tax and repairs/servicing.
I bought my car outright so don't have to worry about monthly repayments, but I spend at least £40/week (£160/month) on petrol. That covers my journeys to and from work, a small amount of mileage associated with my job, and a small amount of personal mileage outside of work. Just shy of £2,000 in petrol, over the course of the year.
Thankfully my place of work has a car park for staff - not everyone is so lucky - but if I worked in a busy City Centre, there's a chance I'd also have to pay to park, which would be another cost that I'd face.
Someone in a similar position to me would save a lot of money travelling by bus (appreciating that my age and choice of car plays a big part in the costs I face as someone who travels by car).
I'm not so sure that petrol prices are still dropping? There was a big drop towards the end of 2014/start of 2015, but the price of petrol has steadily climbed again since then. It fluctuates a fair bit, but for every month this year, the average price of petrol has been higher than it was in 2016?
Source: https://www.petrolprices.com/the-price-of-fuel.html
For anyone under 21 (not sure if this applies to you), public transport almost certainly will be cheaper. I purchased my first car 3 years after I passed my test, as between my Arriva Teen Card & GNE Get Around, there was enough incentive for me not to drive.
I was challenging the assumption driving is more expensive than taking the bus. If we take a median of circumstance (age, milage, access to parking etc) and then the bare-bones cost of no-frills motoring - it works out about the same cost. That's before we factor in the 'added-value' of having a car - freedom, access to more employment & leisure opportunities and the fact I've just drove to the shop to buy some beer to have with my take-away. Couldn't do that on the bus.