But I’d still love to have Rob tackle it anew; he has a skill. I just have this fantasy of finding a path for neighbors to share this resource – that doesn’t include a profit for some corporation. Risky, troublesome, time consuming- sure. But done Transitionwise- it might actually be a force to bring neighbors closer. At least in my dreams.

I have since moved to rural Aberdeenshire, 5 miles from the local market town of Turriff. Its a low rainfall area here which makes things alot easier. I use supermarket home delivery (free with orders over £25), there is a fishmonger who tours the lanes, and a basic bus service for when I can’t be bothered to cycle. I have a bike trailer which takes up to 100kg for building materials and sacks of spuds. Builders merchants deliver big stuff which saves my backbone. If I want to pick up someone from the bus stop (2 miles) I take my brompton folder in the trailer to the stop, and we can cycle home together, or we we can walk with their luggage in the trailer. We’ve no kids to deal with. I have a friend who uses his tandem to pick up and drop off kids.

Max

Rob- you have been exceptionally successful in formulating the Transition Movement- in figuring out how to get people to do difficult things together. Exceptionally. Really. Nobelish.

NOW- here is another right-in-front of you and highly significant task.

Figure out- from scratch, please- how you could share the ownership and use of a vehicle with some of your neighbors in your cul-de-sac.

Easy? Heck no. But if anybody could do it- that would be you. And what a fantastic example and model that would be.

Everybody else here- chime in, and let’s get him to do this. Heck he’s got all that spare time, from not owning a car, right?

One hint to start with- you probably couldn’t share a pre-existing car- too many ownership feelings. More likely; make the agreement, then buy the car together. I think.

Like the “mollycule theory” in Flann O’Brien’s “The Dalkey Archive”, I think the bumpy Dublin roads have facilitated an exchange of molecules between me and my bike so that it’s practically family at this stage and it remains the fastest, cheapest, friendliest and most sustainable way around the city.

But hats off to anyone with a family who, especially in the countryside, decides to go car free.

As for travelling by the charity of other car users – that’s a fair exchange for reducing their carbon footprint

M

I was a car obsessive when I was in my teens and completed an OND in Automobile Engineering in 1980. However, after a life changing holiday in 1985 I became much less enamoured of cars and by 2003 personal efforts to reduce my CO2 meant that for me it had to go. I held on, loosening my grip for a while but it was carrying two bags of HEAVY shopping from my local store that kept the car outside the house. Then one day I found the solution – a shopping trolley. Not a square tartan one of course, but a super chic French brightly coloured trolley. Sorted, and the car was gone.

I live in Brighton and can’t imagine why most people here would need a car – there are such good bus and train links and good (but nowhere near good enough) cycling facilities. I’ve toyed with joining a car club but still never find that I need one enough to even do that.

Now I tend to see a car as a bottomless financial pit into which you throw money and as a side-effect it carries you around. I’m sure in time the adaption will become easier – after all it’s invariably the mental readjustment that’s the most difficult part.

My local shops and facilities are adequate and in walking distance. I also have access to a small town centre and shops from work and pass through the city centre twice a day. I could join the local car club for big items. My big challenge is the tonne of CO2 the commuting generates.

I travel successfully to visit people around the country by public transport, but there are some areas where this is difficult.

The first hurdle is my hosts’ lack of knowledge. For example, the small market town I visited recently is served by four buses a day that link with the West Coast main rail line but my host had no idea even though the bus-stop could be seen from the front door.

The second problem is the paucity of transport outside major cities and towns. When I travel to Totnes I can get to the nearest town by bus in the daytime on weekdays, but I am still nearly 5 miles from my family, along very tight, windy and sometimes steep country roads. I could not get the bike from the train to the local town on the bus even if I had one. There is one bus a week from the town which stops half a mile from their home.

Another more local rural family member is more accessible but since the revised European legislation last year, I have to leave her by 4.20pm as the later bus home has been withdrawn. However the adjecent dale has no bus service unless one of the local children is of secondary school age.

Tesco’s home delivery (with free vouchers) can take care of bulk shopping for those living in these areas, but they may have no shop within 5 miles from which to buy perishable goods.

A visit to the doctor by bus means finding somewhere to go whilst they wait for the bus back in two/three hours time, and another visit of equal length two days later to pick up the prescription. Not fun if you are poorly and the weather is bad.

There are usually no other kids with whom the parents can share drop-offs and pick-ups if their teenager is going to a party or the youth-club, or attends an out of school activity and no public transport option either.

In those areas where public tranport exists, early and late buses are often timed for secondary school children and cease to operate in school holidays, making it impossible to manage without access to a car part of the year.

We rely on people in these areas to grow much of our food but make it practically impossible for them to live there without a car.

While this wasn’t part of a Transition Initiative, it was definitely influenced by this website.