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Make em walk, or take the bus if it’s a few miles.
Why doesn't she walk her kids to school?
Walking, biking, public transport, EVs, electric bikes, ride sharing? No no no, that requires personal reflection, effort, and changing my ways.
Why can't the government just prop up my unsustainable environment destroying way of life?
As much as I want to pile on, she's essentially asking whether or not it would be a good idea to switch to an EV, to which I would emphatically say it's a no-brainer. But I still feel it would be better for everyone, if she walked her kids to and from school.
She should just ignore bad governance and pull herself up by her bootstraps, overcome gargantuan geopolitical forces with personal willpower.
This mother should take personal responsibility. Otherwise the rulers would have to rule effectively.
Presumably because she doesn't have four hours to spare
Just checked my non-car options for the school run and looking at 5 hours per day to walk or 2.5 hours on public transport. Not gonna consider biking because I don't want to die (used to cycle commute and had two bad accidents).
Situational awareness always was a problem for you.
Come on don't blame the victim, if you bike or walk you know lots of drivers don't pay attention and some would rather roll on you than wait 3s.
"I normally do about 15 to 20 miles a day". You don't need a car to do that. A bicycle will be just as fast if there is rush hour traffic.
If you live in a city.
Why does it matter? I cycle 16 miles a day through the country. I'm a 58 year old, slightly overweight old fart, by the way. Get an electric bike and it's even easier. It's just stupid spending all that money on a car to do that sort of distance.
That's great. I totally agree that more of us (myself included) could cycle instead of drive a lot more. I think we need serious national investment in making cycle only routes between towns and villages. I think we could use existing bridleways, old unused railways, and similar. Then cycling would be so much safer and probably more direct. But that's beside the point.
I was only trying to point out that it's a lot quicker to drive 15-20 miles on country roads than it is to cycle. Even during rush hour. My commute is 16 miles. It takes me a consistent 30 minutes both ways. I can do it in 25 without speeding when the roads are empty like at 03:00. Google tells me that to cycle the same route it would take 1hr 27min. That would make my timings impossible both in the morning and evening. If I had to do the school run (I sometimes do) then I wouldn't start my day until 10:30. And on the other end of the day I would have similar issues.
Personally I need a vehicle for work anyway because of the things I need to transport. I also think it would feel prohibitive to rent a car to visit friends and family across the country. It may be cheaper overall, but it would undoubtedly be a barrier to have to spend £200 or so every time. There is no realistic public transport option. I have looked.
All of that said. I am not in any way anti-cycling. I genuinely applaud you for deciding to cycle instead of drive. As I said before, more of us most certainly should do the same a lot more often, including me.
You can always find cases where cycling isn't suitable. The point was that the person in the original article could easily cycle, save loads of money, keep fit, and probably only have to leave about 10 minutes earlier. There will be millions of people in the UK in the same position but it's like a massive blind spot in the national psyche.
Don't schoolkids get free bus passes?
Mostly no, there's a distance requirement. Above, they get free bus travel, below not.
Primary schools tend not to be fed by busses, and lots of children need to go to primary school rather than high school.
Wow. I took a bus to school in the first grade, so this is weird for me.
How do they address the issue where it's too far for Timmy to walk by himself? Anything 2 km or higher may not be good for the younger kids.
It's expected that parents drive their children to primary school, or at least to a nearby carpark within walking distance. If you don't live within easy walking distance of a primary school, you just have to have a car or no children.
You could walk or cycle like a normal person. You don't need an emotional support SUV to take the kids to school.
Also the price of fuel is only like 10% or so higher, its not really that much of a difference.
According to this site , in the UK petrol (gasoline) has increased by 20% and in the USA by 35%.
A 50l tank has gone from an average of £57 (£1.15 per litre) to £77 (£1.55 per litre) at today's pricing.
Verifiably false. Misleading. Deeeerp.
Gas prices near me have nearly doubled.
Are you American? Never heard someone here calls it gas and this is a UK community/article.
this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2026
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