The End

I have been running this blog now for nearly 2 weeks but now it is time to end. I have learnt a lot from this challenge experience.

Going without a car was hard but not unbearable. I do think this experience has changed me and my views.

I do think I will now drive less, for example walking to work I think I will keep up, weather permitting though. I now understand more about the little changes that can be done that saves you money and helps the environment. I think that their is a lot that needs to be done to help our country with car related issues such as congestion. But I do think if enough is done it can be fixed. People do just need to try though.

No change...again.

Today I got the bus again. I only had a £5 note, I figured at this was half the size of my last issues on the bus with notes it would be fine. Surely the bus would have change for £5! But no.

I got on the bus, asked for my ticket, again £1.70 and gave the driver my money. I was met with the same response, sorry but they had no change. Again I was told to just get on the bus and pay when I got off.

Got to my stop, so I went to the driver which he replied ' Oh yeah love, don't worry about that.' So off i got, still a fiver better off.

Bike Pooling

With more than 100,000 active cycling commuters a day, bikes are fast becoming a great alternative to London’s travel problems. So could bike pooling be a healthy and eco friendly way to sort out our roads? People are starting to cycle to work, whether to avoid the hell or commuting or to keep fit.

The previous Mayor of London Ken Livingstone was really positive on the idea of bike pooling. He wanted companies to start up bike pools rather than company cars. Idea is make people healthier and cut down on carbon emissions.

In the past such bike sharing / rental schemes in UK cities have flopped. One scheme for free bike share in Cambridge, for example, foundered when all the bikes were gradually stolen before being repainted and sold.

I think if the government is serious about getting people out of cars and onto bikes they need to improve things for it to be safer for cyclists. For example improving cycle lanes, many roads don't have them, and to drivers cyclists become just a nuisance.

Petrol Panic

It all started around April 18th, unions warned they planned a strike action at the Grangemouth plant over rows over pensions. As news of this got out people were warned not to panic buy. Although plant bosses insisted there wouldn't be a fuel shortage, as long as people stopped panic buying. Yet people still did.


In September 2005 people all over the country starting panic buying petrol, when protesters threatened to blockage oil refineries. People queued for hours and some petrol stations in the West Country and Midlands ran out of petrol. Grangemouth was one of the plants that was included in the plans to barricade. Have you ever panic brought? I never have, but if I was seriously worried I think I would. If I honestly believed that there may be a shortage, of course I would fill my tank up.

People panic on how they will cope without there cars. If one petrol station reports shortages, this then encourages more people to panic buy petrol.

On April 28th, the second day of the Grangemouth strike The Scottish Government revealed that by midday on Saturday, five of the country's 956 filling stations had ran out of fuel, with 70 partly out of fuel. From this you can see just how crazy people get. Why? Would it really kill people if they had couldn't fill there tank up for a few days and had to get the bus?

For My Girlfriend

FMG is an established young driver campaign that runs annually on and particularly around Valentine's Day. It is designed to remind young people of the potentially terrible consequences when things go wrong - by confronting a young male driver with the appalling prospect of killing his girlfriend in a crash while he is driving.

The use of a Valentine Card to convey a road safety message to young people has, at times, proved controversial - but also highly effective. Earlier this year, around Valentine's Day they distributed cards as part of their campaign. The Valentine cards were distributed in schools and colleges, pubs and clubs and other places where young people are found in numbers. The card looks authentic on the outside, but inside it carries the campaign's hard-hitting message.

They also run with posters; one shows a photo of a girl in a body bag with the headline: 'The worst way for a relationship to end?' The other shows a team of fire fighters and paramedics attempting to free a girl from a crashed car with the headline: 'If you don't want to see this many blokes around your girl...take responsibility when driving'.

I love this advertising. Yes it is a bit controversial, but it works. It makes you feel uncomfortable, it makes you think. Advertising like this does work. Last year at my old college, FMG came in and showed as two different advertisements. One was a For My Girlfriend style one, the other way just a plain, slow down one. When asked, everyone thought that the For My Girlfriend one made the biggest impact on them.

Lets hope that advertising like this continues and will make an impact on the number of accidents young people have.

Conjestion Charges

As of October this year the new congestion prices will come in to play. All vehicles emitting more than 225 grams of CO2 per kilometre (g/k), as well as those registered before March 2001, which have engines larger than 3,000cc, will be forced to pay £25 to enter central London between 7am and 6pm Monday to Friday, this included drivers of 4x4's. 30,000 cars drive every day into London, including high-powered sports and some saloons, joining four-wheel drives in the top bracket of charging.

Most cars will continue to pay the current £8 fee, but cars with the lowest carbon dioxide emissions will be able to drive across the capital for free.

The CO2 charge will encourage people to switch to cleaner vehicles or public transport and ensure that those who choose to carry on driving the most polluting vehicles help pay for the environmental damage they cause.

Former Major Ken Livingstone said he hoped the changes would make an impact across the world and encourage other cities to follow suit. These new costs will generate between £30 million to £50 million a year. They say most of this money will be spent on new cycling and walking initiatives.

I understand that £25 is a bit steep, but I do think it is good using the money on cycling and walking initiatives. Maybe something like this needs to be done to force change on us. The only wonder is, how much is 'most' of the money?

Time Is Money

I went to Ashford today, from home this usually takes around 15 - 20 minutes in a car. I got a lift up, which was allowed, with all the pros of car pooling.

Yet my journey home was a nightmare. I got the train home and had to buy a ticket before I was even allowed in the station. My one way ticket, two stops away, cost £5.20! Then my train was delayed for about 45 minutes. Which meant I was sitting outside, getting cold for ages, knowing that if I was in my car I would have been home ages ago.

When the train finally turned up I got it to the central station, then had to wait for a bus. More waiting out in the cold. The bus then cost me a further £1.70.

By the time I had got in, it had taken my just over an hour an half. A journey in a car takes no more than 20 minutes. It also cost me a total of £6.90. I think this is crazy as it would have even cost this much in petrol.

I do think that public transport needs to be improved otherwise people we keep driving, congestion will get worst and we will never get anywhere.