Does everyone own a car?

[TarfHead]

.. Apart from yours there have been very few posts by people who use their car(s) when there is a viable alternative ..

Whatever viable means ..

- buy one ticket for one form of public transport (DART) that is not valid for another form (bus)
- wait at a bus-stop for up to 45 minutes for a bus that leaves it's terminus every 15 minutes

That, to me, is not viable.

Also, the 2nd car is becoming more useful as football team taxi. I wouldn't let the mucky urchins near the family car.

 

[Geegee]

Before I go off on one about what I interpret this to mean,

Must have struck a chord there..

So it seems especially weird for a post to appear out of nowhere criticising everyone for selfish decisions

I have every right to criticise anyone who makes selfish decisions which impact negatively on me and my family and you do likewise.

There's always been fatuous references to using a bike/walking that coming from people who actually live in this country is incredible. Is it only where I live, that it rains most of the time, that motor traffic is a hazard to cyclists, that the roads are poor or that have children that need transporting to school etc.

Baloney; this is the stance that most people have as a way of absolving themselves from responsibility. If you really wanted to walk/cycle you could do. I do; and it rains where I live, the motor traffic is a hazard and the roads are poor. Children can transport themselves to school with a bit of training and yes, they may have an accident on the way but then you may have one in your car. Thats life... everything involves an element of risk and by shielding children from normal risks is doing them a huge disservice.

Compared to aircraft cars account for a very small amount of polution and even in California (where else) the local government identified cows as a greater pollutant than cars.

Another abdication of responsibility; you are either part of the problem or part of the solution, no matter how small the amount of damage or good you are doing. There is no opt-out on this one. Happy driving.

 

[ragazza]

The long and short of it, if that for many people in Dublin, there is no reasonable, viable alternative to using a car. The public transport infrastructure isn't sufficient, and isn't reliable enough to depend on.

When I lived in Ireland it would have been impossible for me to live comfortably without a car.
However I now live in continental europe, and am perfectly happy without a car, since there are real alternatives. Where I live, the underground network allows you to go to any part of the city quickly and reliably. The buses are very frequent and run to schedule. My monthly ticket for all buses, underground, surburban trains is less than 40Euro.

However in Dublin, for example going to work, I had the choice of a 40 min car journey, or 1 hr 30min commute on public transport. Its all well and good to say that people should make sacrifices (in my case 50mins of my time twice a day) for the sake of altruism, but that doesnt wash.

When I changed jobs, I was very fortunate to be only 20 mins walk from work, so didnt need my car for my daily commute, but was still invaluable in making longer journeys or for picking up groceries from the shop which was a few km from my house.

When I move back to Dublin, I'll immediately get a car, since I know a real alternative does not exist.

 

[icantbelieve]

Tarfhead, I'm not criticising your use of the car for the purposes you've just outlined, you were the one who said that not using a second car would only slightly make life more difficult. It seems to me that it would make things a lot more difficult, I'm in a similar situation where a second car is becoming necessary and not for commuting to work. At the moment I've managed to get by with 1 car, I get the bus to work, I cycle when staying within my village, when I can I walk my kids to/from school and family events are arranged sequentially so that we go from one to the next. However, as my second child gets older there are more and more occasions where there are events that split the family and overlap on timing meaning that if everyone is to get to everything 2 cars are required. I don't think this is unique to Ireland either, unless you live in a city there is no tranport system in the world that connects all the villages and towns around a city indpendently without everyone having to travel into a city centre hub.
btw you ask what viable means and then use the word correctly 2 lines later!!

Geegee do you really think that kids having an accident on a bike or in a car are anyway comparable or that everyone could walk/cycle everywhere if they really wanted to.
Given that you've quoted an example in your own area of it being possible to get around without a car why don't you do so, then you can exclude your self from the "selfish" majority and become truly altruistic.
"Another abdication of responsibility; you are either part of the problem or part of the solution, no matter how small the amount of damage or good you are doing. There is no opt-out on this one. Happy driving." Another generalised, soppy piece of drivel, you don't have to be one or the other and you certainly don't have responsibility in the absence of choice (realistic choice). Climate change doesn't happen over night, the changes we're seeing have come about on the back of at least 100 years of proper pollution prior to 1990 and even then could simply be due to the earths climate changing occasionally as its always done unless those cows really are the problem as they are one of the few pollutants that have been around that long.
Who'd have thought it, butterflies cause hurricanes and cows cause climate change, is it that the climate change suits the proliferation of butterflies and thus there are more hurricanes hmmm