Getting Around (2)

Yesterday, I wrote how after nearly a quarter of a century of working in Bristol City centre, I've not only changed careers, but changed location as well. And it's brought me bumping up against the issue that is transport in the UK.

There are six ways of getting around in the UK, excluding boat, since most rivers aren’t open to the general populace. They are:

1. Walking

2. Cycling

3. Car

4. Bus

5. Train

6. Plane

It could be argued that apart from the UK capitals and a few other high-traffic routes, travel by air in the UK is as much a no-no as by boat, but I’ll leave it in for the time being. And to keep things simple, we’ll just talk about going to work.

Walking is good for up to a two mile radius as far as I’m concerned, and is really only viable when the weather’s good and I’m feeling fit. The radius may be larger for cycling, but the same issues apply – and in addition our office culture doesn’t cope well with co-workers who have taken vigorous exercise without showering afterwards, and very few of our offices provide shower facilities.

Which leaves cars, buses, trains and planes.

Assuming that you only use your car to go to and from work – if you have a car, you tend to use it and the cost per mile goes down, but humour me—here in the UK, petrol (gas) is about £1.05 per litre, or about £4.75 a gallon. So if a car does 25 miles per gallon, and you live 5 miles from work, you use 0.4 gallons per day, which is about £1.90. You also need to factor in road tax –say £150—and insurance –say £300.

So your car costs you £300 + £150 + £475 (if you work 250 days per year) = £925, or at 10 miles per day, £0.37 per mile. That ignores parking charges of course, although many drivers in Bristol park up outside the centre itself and walk the last mile, but also ignores people driving outside of work and bringing down the average cost.

Tomorrow I’ll examine some of the costs being charged per mile by our transport providers.