(21 Feb 2020, 4:47 pm)WheelBus1986 wrote There is a bus 30 seconds from my front door right to the Metrocentre. Because i own a car, it is not economical for me to get a bus as i simply dont spend £5.30 on fuel there and back, if i am with my partner then £10.60 is far too much!
The operators need to keep hold of people before they get a car at a young age, as no one is really going to spend on both, if you already have that outgoing of finance/insurance/tax, fuel is much cheaper than a bus ticket.
When you add it all up, if i currently could get a bus to work, i would get rid of the car it would save me £200+ a month.
When i start at GNE we are going straight down to 1 car. It makes zero sense to have 2 when i do not need it for work. Even if i had to pay for the bus i would still get rid as its not economical to pay for both.
For me, it makes no financial sense to drive, I live in Bishop Auckland, but regularly travel up to Newcastle, that return journey in a car averaging 38mpg (which is what our car gets) would cost about £9.50. I pay £95 a month for my All Zone ticket, so I only need to go to Newcastle and back 10 times in a month to break even. And that's before I take in to account the cost of insurance, which for a person my age would be in the hundreds a month, then there's the cost of a car, tax etc. Sure, it would be more convenient to drive, but for me it's not worth it. Plus, I have family at both ends if I need to get somewhere that's not on a bus route!
I have a bus stop 30 seconds from my door to Newcastle, but it stops running at 6pm. If I want to travel later than that I have to get an Arriva bus to Bishop for £1.40 then use my GNE pass. Even taking that in to account, it's still miles cheaper to get the bus!
Plus, I could be paying only £68 a month as I'm under 25, but I'll happily pay the extra to use The Key over using the app!