Planes, Trains and Automobiles

[Frog]

I was reading a post elsewhere in the DHP about travel. I know that I've asked the question before about planes versus boats and which is more efficient. But as I drove home today I had another thought:

Some members have declared that they sold their cars and are now making use of public transport, cycling and walking wherever possible. I can certainly agree with the cycling and walking on earth impact... but is public transport actually better than having your own car?

Unfortunately most public transport infrastructures only mostly get you where you want to be and you will need to finish the route off yourself. By car of course, you can go right to the doorstep.
Public transport doesn't always run 24/7 - which can be annoying if you are delayed past the last bus or train
The buses and trains are run irrespective of how many people actually use them - and by using the system you are effectively justifying the operator to run the service (even if you only went to Aunt Maud's every 6 months). For local trains, they use huge amounts of electricity along the length of the line - and there will always be at least 2 empty sections of track between trains (as a safety buffer).

I agree that there is a need to consider if the journey is really necessary; we should also consider whether we actually need the Land Rover or Bentley to get to the shops - but is it actually better to do away with our private transport?

[Julysea]

It's an interesting question and not as clear-cut as it seems as there are so many variables. If you include the environmental costs of building and dumping different modes of transport, then cars must be the worst as there are so many of them compared to trains and buses and they are bought, exchanged and dumped more often. If you compare carbon emissions, or carbon emissions per passenger per mile, it gets more interesting - here's some interesting and useful sites with so many details I can't reproduce them here:

http://www.carbonindependent.org/sources_bus.htm

http://www.ecotravelling.co.uk/

http://www.seat61.com/CO2flights.htm

Obviously, there are other issues as well as carbon - the health of people for example, which is enhanced by walking and cycling but not by other methods of transport; other pollutants than carbon such as carbon monoxide; the use of fossil fuels in general; the issue of arranging our society so that it is the norm to live in one place and work somewhere completely different; 'love miles' travelling.

It's a complex issue