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Does anyone do lift sharing at all? Or any other ideas of cheap transport?
I am finding advance train tickets less and less bargaineous, the lift-shares I have looked at won't cost much less than the train once you'v factored in transport at the end(s), bus connections make them unfeasible.
I'm a bit wary of splitting the train journey in case of delays.
Cycle? works for me 🙂Or any other ideas of cheap transport?
Not lift shared myself but did manage a lift sharing scheme for a while. If you can find someone to share with then it can work great and save a fair amount of money. Good way to make new friends or business contacts too if you're that way inclined.
The main issue I found when running a scheme is people can be a little put off offering regular lifts by the rare 'what if' scenarios e.g. what if I have to go shopping on the way home, what if I have to leave early, so are more reluctant to offer lifts. Works better (if an employers internal scheme) if people work regular hours rather than shifts/flexi.
For wider schemes, check out Liftshare or Bla Bla Car though be aware that people sign up for these things and then don't always bother to reply! When I broke my collarbone a few years ago and couldn't ride to work, there were some people near me advertising lifts but they never replied to my requests annoyingly!
If you can sort out an informal arrangement with more than one person to give you some options if someone does have something crop up, then you won't be left stranded. Some employers will offer an emergency taxi home if needed - does your employer run a scheme.
I've shared with a variety of colleagues from the same place of work. It's saved loads of cash (~£10/day) for me and on the day's I'm not driving I get a bit of a snooze in the car.
It's a bit of a pain if the person you're sharing with gets stuck working late and you've got no choice but to wait.
Does make it nice when it is just you in the car and you get a bit of peace rather than someone bending your ear about one issue or another. grr, wish I lived closer to work
Never had any luck with bla bla car, my commutes aren't unusual (currently Reading into West London, so 1000's of people on the train do it), but never had a single message!
buy a car! they're pretty cheap and have the benefit of taking you exactly where you ant to go and you can carry all manner of things with you.
buy a car! they're pretty cheap and have the benefit of taking you exactly where you ant to go and you can carry all manner of things with you.
I have a car, but it ain't cheap!
Excluding the actual 'buy a car bit'
Service £50/year on the driveway
MOT £50
Tyres average £130/year
Insurance £350
Tax £200
Petrol currently £200/month
+ occasional but certain costs like major services, brakes, exhausts, say £200/year
£3380/year! Before you've even covered buying a car! I really don't understand why so many people own so many of them.
"[i][b]£3380/year[/b]! Before you've even covered buying a car! I really don't understand why so many people own so many of them.[/i]"
But that's mostly your £200/month of petrol. The two vehicles I own that I don't use much cost me <£1k pa each and as hobbies go, that's relatively cheap (they're both old enough that depreciation is negligible, before anyone brings that up).
Congrats on the job, btw !
owning and running a car is cheap relative to taking public transport everywhere.
I should have said, this is for the odd weekend a decent distance away (Edinburgh to Oxford on this occasion).
Yes I could drive! Trying to avoid that though.
£3380/year!
Sounds cheap vs pretending to get on with someone you're sharing car with and having to put up with all the stuff above (working late/leaving early/stopping at the shops etc etc etc)
But that's mostly your £200/month of petrol. The two vehicles I own that I don't use much cost me <£1k pa each and as hobbies go, that's relatively cheap (they're both old enough that depreciation is negligible, before anyone brings that up).
True, but that still means it costs ~£1k just sat on the drive.
Congrats on the job, btw !
Cheers, the commutes (as noted) is a killer though!
27miles by bike or 31 by motorway (m4/m25 so it's an hour).