Will you ditch the car to use the tram?

[holymoses 10]

I walk out the front door and get in to my car, I have my own seat, that is there for me any time I want it, without fear of having to stand or squeeze at the side of a other person of onerous personal hygine.

 

I start the car, select the desired temperature and music genre to suit myself, the ride is smooth and comfortabe, even if there are traffic jams and delays, I have a selection of chewing gum or boiled sweet to hand, plus the option of switching radio station, mp3 or cd.

 

The car takes me A to B to my destination, with any diversion I fancy, plus any stop I deem so fit to stop at.

 

On reaching my destination, I park up and the car will be there on my return, without waiting ages or the sinking feeling of thinking just missed it.

 

There are no timetables with my car and I decide when the last service is and at what time the first service is in the morning.

 

The nearest tramstop to home is a 10 minutes walk up hill, and the nearest stop to work is 25 minute walk away, so unless I move nearer to the stops and gain the rumbling noises and floor shaking associated with living at the side of the tram route, I can say without any shadow of doubt the tram is not for me.

[Resident 1,199]

Even now some areas of Sheffield are poorly covered by public transport and in some cases no service after a certain time . For an example say someone starts work in the very early hours there might be no service at that time so a car is a must have. The tram while good does not cover all Sheffield at present as many threads on here have shown many would like it to cover more areas like the North and South Sheffield but some would object to it over the time it took to laying down the track . Some people would never give up there beloved car or need a car. For a disabled persons point of view the tram is the best of the lot for access. Buses are hard going plus when I have had to use a First bus many look like skips on wheels. If there was no tram many disabled would still use there cars. I think at the end of the day it comes down to cost and what people like.

 

Agreed. There's also the issue that in the areas where First deem that you don't need a bus every 5 secs that you get one, maybe 2 an hour which rarely turn up on time if at all. If it does turn up then it's likely to break down en route.

Complaining to First is a joke too. I've lost count the number of times I've complained and be LIED to by the customer service representatives.

[MrMoran 10]

public transport is too costly....£3.90 for a day saver....

 

It also has too many undesirables on it who stink the tram/bus out.

Chavs listening to their "music"

Arsy conductors on the tram.

Miserable drivers on the bus.

Its not called the peasant wagon for nothing.

Give me my car any day of the week.

[geared 321]

I'd happily ditch my car if the tram went even remotely near my house or place of work.

 

But it doesn't, and they're not doing anything about extending it.

[Cyclone 10]

Compared to the cost of owning and maintaining a car, plus fuel and parking charges, the tram wins hands down.

 

I work in the city centre, the missus outside the city. We used to run two cars, we now have one car and I get the tram into work. £13 pw to get to work and back every day is a snip and saves us all the expense of running a second car, amounting to thousands of pounds per year.

 

Which might be a valid argument if you only needed to drive to the city centre. But if you need a car to do other things, then you may as well use the car instead of the tram in a lot of cases since the incremental cost isn't that much.

 

Personally when I happen to be working in Sheffield city centre I cycle, I wouldn't drive though, tram would be the second choice.

 

Working in Leeds right now though, it's a 40 - 50 minute drive, or > 1:30hrs by tram and train, no competition really!

[Flying Duck 10]

If I could take my bike on the tram then I'd seriously consider getting rid of my car and commuting by bike/tram, but the only bikes they allow on are folding bikes which I'm not a fan of.

[Penistone999 10]

Where the tram and buses fail is that they dont run a door to door service , unlike my motor. Until the day comes when they do run such a service i will continue using the old Range Rover.

[PaliRichard 10]

The only way I'd ditch the car is if I genuinely couldn't afford to run it.

 

I couldn't catch the tram to any of my two places of work if I wanted to because it simply doesn't cover those areas.

 

The buses in Sheffield are rubbish. I have never been able to get a good bus service to my main place of work no matter where I lived.

 

The thing I don't understand is that other places in the UK have excellent transport links, Sheffield seems one on its own for poor bus routes and service.

 

If public transport improved I would have no qualms whatsoever about using it, I'm not a car snob but short of using shanks taxi I'm stuck.

[maccapacca 10]

If I was working in the city centre and lived on a tram route then id definitely use it. I hate driving in traffic especially on the way home. The joy of going to the pub from work without stressing about being over the limit would outweigh the dfisadvantages on their own. Where all forms of pubnlic transport fall down is getting from one suburb of a city to another.

[LeMaquis 10]

......the tram does obviusly have its floors at peak times of delays.....

 

Do travellers fall through onto the tracks at other times?

[Eater Sundae 12]

I own a car just so I can go visit friends around the country and such. On the basis that I own a car for this purpose, I can't afford to get the tram to work, it is much cheaper to drive.

 

We are basically the same.

 

Once you have bought a car and are paying for depreciation, insurance, "tax" etc, then you might as well use it, as the marginal cost of any journey will be less than the cost of the equivalent public transport.

 

IMO, the only way to change this would be to go back to the system (in Sheffield) where the buses are heavily subsidised and paid for out of general or local taxation, such that the marginal cost (ie the bus/tram ticket) is very cheap, or even free. ie we treat it like other general services, such as street cleaning, street lights, public parks, NHS etc. If the bus/tram were free at the point of use, more people would use it. Even those who stick to their cars would benefit, as traffic jams would reduce.

[Happ Hazzard 10]

Buses and trams should be free at point of use. Trains should be much cheaper.