What is public transport like where you live ?

London suburb, so really good lots of trains and buses. As DH no longer drives due to eye problems it means that I don't have to be on call all the time! I'm sitting on a train at the moment , going into London.

We don't use public transport but there's a very good bus and train service where we live.

We have a bus that leaves the village once, two days a week and returns later that day. God knows what happens if you miss it! I have visions of people having to camp out in the bus station

*There’s often a lot of moaning about free bus passes for people who could well afford to pay . . .'

I'm sure there is - there are always people who decide what others can afford, aren't there?

Ours is excellent, but I’m in outer SW London. TBH I get a bit peeved if I have to wait more than about 5 minutes for a bus. Spoilt or what?

I use my car an awful lot less now, certainly since I had my bus pass. I dare say many older residents would say the same. There’s often a lot of moaning about free bus passes for people who could well afford to pay, but I’m sure they keep a good many cars off the roads, around here, anyway.

No public transport from our village, if we wanted to get a bus we would have to drive 6 miles away into town, we have to drive everywhere as our village is cut off from Drs, Dentists, Shops, Opticians and Schools.

We live 10 minutes walk to both bus and train station. The train is a little shuttle which takes 3 minutes to the main station. We can use our Senior pass on the train in the West Midlands area. So can travel to Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Coventry etc quite easily.

The buses are regular, every 30 minutes, some even every 10 minutes. So since retiring I use public transport whenever possible.

Non existent although I believe there's one bus which comes through the village once a day on its way to the nearest town and returns less than an hour later which is a fat lot of good ?. Luckily we have a shop which sells basics but a car is a must for a proper shop. Taxis are ridiculously expensive and for many residents, not viable.

Once a day

Very good public transport near me. Not that I need it much. Metro a 5 to 10 minute walk away. Buses into the city (I live right on the edge by fields) or around the suburbs. I assume less buses on Sunday, but the metro is pretty comprehensive.

We are two miles from the nearest bus stop but I haven't a clue where the buses go.....we have lived here for 35 years and both drive. These days we get most things delivered and go away from home less.

You'll go mad I hear you cry but we won't .......if you calculate the true cost of running two cars and a horse box we will use the cash for taxis when we need to go somewhere......and that amount will pay for several a week if we need to!

It's £5 by cab each way to the nearest railway station and town, same to Drs, hospital is £20. If we sold the cars etc now we would have a fund of several thousand in capital to pay for cabs, and without petrol, servicing, tyres, insurance, road tax we would have spare cash for more with no change in our standard of living.

On moving into our present home we checked bus routes,GPS,shops etc preparing for old age/illness especially as I do not drive.
It was fine 2 buses an hour one way to nearest town, hospital and social meets the other only 20 mins to city stores,theatres etc.Both routes ideal for GP local store and small post office
It wasnt too long before it went down to one bus hour and now more recently one bus every other hour going on complete different route not even going into city.
It is a good half hour walk to GPs/local shop,library and a long uphill walk back. They say survey shows no one using the service but for past 18mths people have been home going no where due to Covid and restrictions.
Whilst my husband is able to drive we can manage but I worry for the future.

Time I logged off I think ?

Could be....

MissAdventure

It's very hit and miss because of living on an island.
There can be queues of people waiting, with no idea that there has been an accident off the island which means no buses can get onto the island.

I read that thinking you meant Great Britain and that is why there are such queues of traffic.

Charleygirl5

I live in the London suburbs and my local bus stop is about a 7-minute walk away but the service is excellent as it is en route to Heathrow. When I do take a bus I rarely wait longer than 5 minutes. When I can no longer drive or walk to the bus stop it will be minicabs.

I used to use the train a lot when we lived in outer London.
The bus service was reasonably good too, although sometimes unpredictable.

When the time comes that I won’t be able to drive, there’s a bus into town, and the stop is just a couple of minutes walk from my house. Really, I should be using it more, but I am lazy and use my car instead.

I wonder about the proliferation of TV programmes enticing older people to move to the country
There should be a strapline warning: The house and view may be wonderful but this house will become a prison from which you can't escape

Fairly dire.

The buses in the morning don't go at the right time to get people to work in the nearest city - because there is too much traffic on the roads at that time.
Why is there too much traffic on the roads? Because - yes, you've guessed it!

On buying our home, future needs were taken into consideration, including being on a bus route to town. We congratulated ourselves on this forethought until a year ago when the bus route, leading to shops, chemist, doctor, library etc. was cancelled, just when we moved into the time of life when we might prefer to use it rather than drive.

It's very hit and miss because of living on an island.
There can be queues of people waiting, with no idea that there has been an accident off the island which means no buses can get onto the island.

I live in the London suburbs and my local bus stop is about a 7-minute walk away but the service is excellent as it is en route to Heathrow. When I do take a bus I rarely wait longer than 5 minutes. When I can no longer drive or walk to the bus stop it will be minicabs.

Nearest bus stop is 1/2 hr walk away. One bus a day to nearest town which is 7 miles away. 7:00am.
One bus back from the town 8:00pm
Nearest train station 9 miles away. I’d need two buses to get to the train station.

Nearest village community centre raised funds for an minibus (electric) It’s run by volunteers. ?

I’m in rural mid Cornwall.

Inner London, so obviously plenty of public transport and free for the over-60s, and most under-18s. I love it!

For those who have none or very little, what will you do when you're unable to drive?

Here they are expensive (bus passes are only for those over 66), and fairly regular from town to the nearest city, but there are only circuitous routes from one local town to another. Villages not on the main route are very badly served, too.

I don't drive (although my husband does) and I really wish I had taken yet another test instead of giving up after four. I worked in the city centre until recently, and although I love the town where I live, I do feel a bit constrained by it, and hate relying on lifts.