[Closed] Good News For Car Owners

Hardly a surprise given those are figures for 2020 – 21 when the vast majority of people were working from home. I started commuting permanently again in Feb 2021 and the trains were still very quiet but by the summer they were busier and now they are pretty well much back to pre-pandemic levels (albeit with fewer trains on the line I use).

How is that good news or a reason not to feel guilty about using your car? Seems like the complete opposite to me. If you'd taken the train, you would have reduced CO2 emitted by 121 g/km and improved the CO2 per passenger of the trains.....

Even during that stage of the pandemic... jumping on a train added not one jot to the CO2 output... where as using your car instead (which I did) obviously did... so yes, choosing the car in that period should make you feel guilty (which I did) in terms of emissions, even if doing so did reducing mixing as we were asked to do.

How is that good news or a reason not to feel guilty about using your car? Seems like the complete opposite to me. If you’d taken the train, you would have reduced CO2 emitted by 121 g/km and improved the CO2 per passenger of the trains…..

And there's that too 😂

Yeah, there's a bit of a maths/statistics fail there, heheh.

A train can carry say 200 people? a car maybe one or two normally, if we are talking about the work commute.

It amazes me the logic people use to justify themselves that driving their car isn't bad for the future of the human race. As pointed out above, taking the train means a reduction of co2 per person of the train, and not putting out the co2 of your car journey.
Likewise, driving your mum to work and letting her do her knitting in the car while you work, rather than letting her sit at home knitting, might well reduce your co2 using your logic - but doesn't actually.
Thats just covering co2 of the journey - never mind manufacture, wear, fuel transportation, particulates. etc. which are caused by the car journey.
Then there's the noise and danger to others...

I took the train to Manchester peak pandemic and I was the only person on it, like the whole train. Normally packed. Ticket inspector stopped for a chat.

Totally irrelevant to topic, but it is stw.

Rail travel was at 88% of pre-Covid demand on our main operator in South Yorkshire at the end of last week. And weekend leisure travel is at between 110% and 120%.

Granted, business and commuter travel remains down in the 50% but trains are undoubtedly busy again, albeit with a very different distribution of demand.

I’m hopeful that in reasonably short time we will be at least back to where we started and hopefully with the right policies (locally and nationally) people will drive less, walk and cycle more and use public transport where it’s a reasonable option.

I use the train a lot when I’m in the UK, used it a fair bit in April and May. It was busy, standing room only on some trains. (London to Liverpool, Milton Keynes to Liverpool twice)

But all of the journeys were on time. The cost is a bit much and I can see why some folk would rather drive.

Not adding to the conversation in terms of the environment impact, just saying trains appear to be busy and running well….but expensive. Probably over twice the price of fuel but that does exclude the cost of car ownership.

My Skoda Superb claims to be 121 g/km, but is essentially a Volkswagen, so emits 5-6* what is “claimed”

FTFY.

I find a lot of trains outrageously expensive. Was looking at a job in London where I’d have to commute there once per week from Bristol. In the end I didn’t get it (came 2nd) - but I’d have had to budget about £11.5k per year for peak rail travel just once per week. Mental. Potentially messing about splitting journeys might have made it cheaper but life is too short.

On the flip side some short journeys are not bad value - I can drive to Keynsham 5 mins from my house and hop on a train to Bristol temple meads for £5.20 return. Takes 6 mins into Bristol.

So cheaper than driving and parking, and quicker than any other method. Way better than the bus. In nice weather if I don’t needed to be suited and booted I tend to use the Voi scooters or cycle though.

I would love to use the train more.

But I simply cannot bring myself to choose a mode of transportation that is significantly more expensive, much less convenient and quite a bit slower than my car. Not talking mi or differences here either. Double the cost to take the train 220 miles to see my dad, and takes about two more hours door to door (unless I drive for an hour to an east coast main line station). I don’t live in the sticks either, just outside Nottingham.

If the costs were not so disparate I would probably do it sometimes.

I drive 15 miles to work, takes about 20-25 minutes in the morning. I leave home about 5.55-6.00am for 6.20-25 clock-in.

To get there by train, I’d have to walk to the station, about 20-25 minutes, catch a train to Bath, about ten minutes, wait to catch a train to Westbury, about another twenty-five - thirty minutes travel time, then walk another half a mile or so from the station to work, about another ten-fifteen minutes.
I’d need to get up around 4am, and I wouldn’t get home until roughly 8.30 at night, as I finish at 6.30pm.

Simply not realistic adding maybe four hours to a twelve hour working day. A bus would take at least as long, if not longer.

And no, I’m not cycling 15 miles to work, it would still take me over an hour, and at my age, not going to happen!

Different circumstances though isn’t it? I live quite close to a station, I can walk, ride, drive there and back depending on what I’ve got on on that particular day and the season ticket is £1,400 for a 30 min each way commute. Yes, it’s ****ing annoying some days with delays but it’s better all ways up than the 1 hr each way drive that would cost significantly more in fuel then there’s the £20+ per day parking cost (Leeds city centre).

I used the train a couple of weeks ago to get back to my starting point after a few days walking. It was £26 for a 30min journey and I had to sit on the floor outside the toilet. This was mid afternoon on a Monday and I had to wait at the station for an hour and a half for the train.

It would have been quicker and cheaper for my partner to come and get me.

Yeah, there’s a bit of a maths/statistics fail there, heheh.

Well, only if the trains continue with the same scheduling as pre-pandemic. If there was sustained lower demand, they could put on fewer trains and overall we'd presumably see the per-passenger levels go back to the pre-pandemic levels.

I suspect there's a bigger overlap between train commuters and WFHers than would be expected by chance (9-5 office jobs that can be more flexible?). So perhaps the trains will never return to pre-pandemic levels at commute times. Whilst people might accept going on trains in general, the idea of going on a packed commuter train does not appeal while Covid is definitely still a thing.

If there was sustained lower demand, they could put on fewer trains and overall we’d presumably see the per-passenger levels go back to the pre-pandemic levels.

That's exactly what has happened on my commute (York > Harrogate > Leeds line). Northern Rail have pretty much halved the service at commuting times.

I would love to use the train more.

Same here. I much prefer to stare out the window while someone else does all the work.

I just wish the whole experience was less British. Paying a fortune to be herded around like cattle while taking 3 or 4 times longer to get anywhere. If I could pay a fair price and get a seat I'd use it much more often.

It doesn't always take 3 times longer. Depends where you are going.

I'd happily use the train to commute from Northampton to Milton Keynes for my two days in the office if it wasn't something like £18 a day. I am very glad I have the option to cycle, especially when the weather is decent like it was yesterday and today.

I travel two days a week on the train into the city. The additional cost of driving into the city is the only thing that makes me do this. I detest public transport.

Often the train company are sending a two car train when four cars would be needed to seat everyone, it would be nice if they were clean too.