Started writing this in June!
All this week I have given up the car in favour of public transport - buses and trains mainly. I would like to say this was through choice as the 'green agenda', whatever that is, is important to me. However, the reality is that this has been forced on me by my car failing the MOT.
I enjoy travelling by public transport as I don't then have to do battle with the traffic and can catch up on my reading. However, though I live in a town not far from London, we are not well served by public transport. For example, I can catch a bus to the station not far from home. This runs once an hour and I can't buy a return ticket as the buses finish just before I can get back into town! The trains generally run very well but are not cheap. The bus issue is something of a chicken and egg situation. The buses are run by commercial companies and need to have enough customers to make running their buses viable. People, on the other hand, won't use the buses unless they are more frequent and convenient! I guess this requires government intervention where it isn't viable to put on the buses. In defence of the located government here they do support some late evening buses but I doubt they could financially support more at this time.
Now, I still use trains at least once a week but cycle to the station rather than relying in buses!
