car guilt!

[hayley]

Hi,

Not sure this fits into this forum but its worth a shot.

One of the only greenish things i've been proud of is not being a driver. I have always walked, cycled or gotten public transport everywhere or occassionally blagged lifts from others going in the same direction. At 29 I am totally sick of it and giving in to the car thing. I'm learning to drive and intending to buy a car when i pass.

I feel pretty shitty about this but needs must. I live in Northampton and have taken a job from January in Bedford. I was going to take 2 hour bus journeys to work till i passed my test but stagecoach has kindly cancelled the only bus that would get me to the town on time. Instead i will now have to get two trains at a ridiculously high price to get there and will have a really long day.

This is kind of two problems one is how i get out of the train thing in the short term, two is how i ease my conciensce about running a car when i pass. Does anyone know if there is a site or anything where you can find out who's driving where - like car share or petrol share schemes?? Was thinking how good it would be if short term i could find someone who drives to bedford and wanted help with petrol money and in the long term i would feel better about driving to work if there was a way to find someone else making the same journey and do alternate weeks of driving or something.

Does anyone know of any website or notice board or whatever that does this kind of thing? Noone at my new job drives from northampton. Also any tips on how to not to end up being someone who drives everywhere? Also thought i'd pass on information that i heard - apparently soon you will no longer be able to buy unleaded petrol but will have to buy an additive and add it to your petrol yourself and it wont' be sold at petrol stations. This was news to me - not sure how its going to work and whether its going to be complicated - if anyone has information on this i'd love to hear it.

Ok thanks for reading and hi xx :D

[Andy Hamilton]

Hello Hayley hows you?

I have put up two articles on the same sort of lines, one about alternative transport and one about alternative fuels to petrol.

have a look at http://www.selfsufficientish.com/car.htm

and http://www.selfsufficientish.com/Transport.htm

there are a few links to other sites if you can't find what you are looking for on there.

[Leedarkwood]

Hi Andy
Noticed on your link to your information on using veg oil as an alternative to commercial fuel, that you dont mention that using this is legal as long as you pay 22p (or there abouts) per litre to the vat man! You have to produce a form for the police saying you have declared this and paid it. I can't myself work out how they would know how many litres of oil you had put in the tank but that is another story. Biofuel is also legal in any stationary engine without a vat payment, so you could use it to power a generator to charge an electric car! Some diesel engines work just fine on raw veg oil, I had a peugoet estate that did, but in cold weather it could be a slow starter. Once had to pour hot water over my fuel pump. You can get a heater cable that runs along your fuel pipe to keep this from happening. It depends on what kind of fuel pump you have. You get more mile per gallon from veg oil as well. If you try using used oil, it can smell of whatever it has been used for, i.e. fish and chips. I used new oil from morrisons, cheapest in town at that point. If you have a source of used oil, then you can turn it into a diesel clone by a process similar to soap making. Paying the vat on new oil still makes for a good saving, if you get the oil at a good price.
Most small holders need to run a vehicle, as moving heavy loads happen on a frequent basis, animal feed, hay etc. In an ideal world vehicle use could be shared more, we have a car share scheme here, but no-one seems to want to run a van share scheme!

Lee

[judyofthewoods]

You can try these sites for information
www.transport2000.org.uk

for lift sharing
www.freewheelers.co.uk

for info on biodiesel and other alternative fuels this American forum
www.green-trust.org/forum

and another alternative a Honda 90 cub or Yamaha80 Townmate, though not recomended if you travel more than 10 miles or in very heavy rush hour trafic, but very reliable. Have a look at my site http://www.judyofthewoods.com/services.html

yet another alternative is to get another job or move. Consider the time you have to travel even in a car, the time you have to work just to go to work. You can expect a car to cost you £1000 pa. An old banger needing constant repairs, or a newer one with higher depriciation. If you comute far, it would probably be more.

[Dave]

Hello Hayley, I seem to remember trying to get to a Festival in Fishguard with you and Tref years ago and ending up spending a night at my Gran's, a night at Tref's mates house near Bath then a couple of nights in Iona's place near Bridgend. If we'd have had a car rather than hitched we'd have driven straight there and back and not had quite the holiday we did.

Anyway I know your predicament I'm still holding off learning but finding it harder and harder to cope without a car on this Island with it's backwards transport policy. I've sometimes used www.liftshare.com - It's got over 65000 members so it should help you out. Otherwise www.carpool.co.uk. See you soon - Dave

[Andy Hamilton]

Well cheers people looks like I will have to update the two web pages I mentioned with your info.

lee - I did know about the 22p to the tax man, I think my mind must have gone blank when writting the article. Good point about the charging of an electric car, seems pretty cheeky I like it.

Dave you said you sometimes use liftshare can you use when you have not go t a car then? Hardly seems like liftshare if you are not sharing

Judy - I saw the amount of stuff that you move on your honda, wow must really push it to the limits.

[judyofthewoods]

Andy, that particular load I would not repeat. It was both bulky AND heavy. Can deal with one or the other, not both. Took over an hour for the 5 mile journey. The bike had no problem with the weight (I have had a passanger on there who weighed 200lbs. on a 20 mile trip, no sweat), but the load was very wobbely and I had to go soo slow and keep checking. And then there is a 1-in-2 hill/S-bend to negotiate! For any large, bulky loads I get it delivered, even if I have to pay extra, or I hire someone with a truck or car. For those once-in-a-blue-moon occasions I can't justify a car. Ah, forgot the 100lbs of fleeces that I took to a mill to scour, about 40 miles away. The fuzz stopped me 1 mile out of my valey, just said 'mind how you go, make sure you have lights on the trailer next time' and back at the station the others probably said 'do you remember that bike on TV with the ladder...?' That infamous clip, who hasn't seen it?!

[Dave]

Andy - Of course you can use it if you haven't got a car who do you think the drivers are sharing with? - People offer lifts and people accept them and you can ask for lifts.