Recession = less cars on the road?

DonDaddyD

Seeing that we are in a recession, fuel costs are rising (again) people are tightening belts - in fact they've sold their belts and replaced them with rope - and can'o'beans are being stockpiled as though they were fine wines.... shouldn't there be generally less traffic and less cars on the road?

I'm not just talking about people buying bikes to try and save money, I mean less vehicles becuase:
(i) People can't afford cars/fuel costs to take them to work.

(ii) People have got jobs to drive to.

However, maybe its all the road works going on in South London but often I feel that there is more traffic and more cars than ever before...

Clever Pun

Nope not seen it... it's 1/2 term

I don't really know anyone personally who's been affected by the whole doom and gloom

roger_merriman

i suspect there is no change, people still need to get to foo but they seem to be holding on to there older cars rather than changing them for new ones.

one of the big costs with cars is the value lost in the car year by year, if one has a older smaller car it can be quite cheap, i'm old enought to get dirt cheap insurance the car is low value and does 40+ mpg though heavy traffic so a car for me is very cheap means of transport. it does depend on who you are as ever for my spread of family and friends it's almost always cheaper faster by car than not. sad really.

rolf_f

My taxi driver reckons it is quieter getting into Leeds since various places shut down. However, as Kirkstall road has always tended to gridlock in the rush hour, the difference is more that the road clogs a bit later and not quite so badly. You'd probably notice it more if you were driving but, on a bike, a mobile obstacle moving at 6 miles an hour is probably not noticeably different to one moving at 3 miles an hour even though the car halved its travel time.

cougie

I think its the half term. Traffic always drops massively then.

Sewinman

I would imagine there would be a slowing of growth in car use, but unlikely to be a reduction.

rolf_f

Sewinman wrote:

I would imagine there would be a slowing of growth in car use, but unlikely to be a reduction.

Why not - we are in recession. No reason for traffic to be expanding when the economy is going the other way; particularly during the rush hour.

always_tyred

I heard (so it must be true) that the fuel spike last year resulted in about a 6% road traffic reduction. It is not inconcevable that this has continued due to the general sense of "it could be me next".

cougie

I'm just looking round the office and about 15% of people are off. I think that would account for the reduction in traffic ?

dirk_van_gently

Sewinman wrote:

I would imagine there would be a slowing of growth in car use, but unlikely to be a reduction.

Makes you wonder why, we as tax payers are expected to invest billions into the car industry. Let nature take it's course.

londonbairn

I convinced a few people to take up cycling as a money saver especially with the C2W scheme, rather than paying a wad for a season ticket, cycle instead!

The 2nd hand car market is an interesting prospect for car buyers, you can pick up decent marques for incredible prices. I don't think traffic has decreased per se though, new car sales are definately down but I think that's because people realise you don't need to spend £30k on a car when you can go buy it nearly new for £15k or something

On my experience, I would say traffic is getting worse in the areas I cycle in, but then this could be because of road works amplifying it (and there are a lot of phantom road works about)

I have a car but never use it really nowadays, I need to get around to getting rid of it.

Gussio

People soon be having to drive twice as fast to get between the two jobs that they have to hold down, just make ends meet. The end of the world is nigh...

edhornby

Sewinman wrote:

I would imagine there would be a slowing of growth in car use, but unlikely to be a reduction.

I agree with this, the losses of jobs won't stop the huge numbers of workers in stable jobs, or people taking their kids to school in the car, once it's ingrained habit those who are feeling the pinch will economise in other areas before tackling the car use

Dirk Van Gently wrote:

Makes you wonder why, we as tax payers are expected to invest billions into the car industry. Let nature take it's course.

although I don't like seeing the nations finances given to an industry I fundamentally disagree with - if wauxhall went to the wall the impact on the areas where there are plants like merseyside, luton would be a very bad thing. I would also prefer to have a manufacturing base in the uk rather than nebulous service industries (just not volume manufactured cars!)

64million dollar question is why the UK let an industry that isn't recession proof have such control over jobs and how do we reduce the dependency in future

Sewinman

Rolf F wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I would imagine there would be a slowing of growth in car use, but unlikely to be a reduction.

Why not - we are in recession. No reason for traffic to be expanding when the economy is going the other way; particularly during the rush hour.

I think car use is pretty inelastic to price/incomes - its become a cultural staple.

DonDaddyD

Sewinman wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I would imagine there would be a slowing of growth in car use, but unlikely to be a reduction.

Why not - we are in recession. No reason for traffic to be expanding when the economy is going the other way; particularly during the rush hour.

I think car use is pretty inelastic to price/incomes - its become a cultural staple.

Isn't culture limited by region, age and other such demographics.

In some circles a car is a statement of wealth and achievement.

In others its a means to an end and not necessarily needed.

rolf_f

edhornby wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I would imagine there would be a slowing of growth in car use, but unlikely to be a reduction.

I agree with this, the losses of jobs won't stop the huge numbers of workers in stable jobs, or people taking their kids to school in the car, once it's ingrained habit those who are feeling the pinch will economise in other areas before tackling the car use

But this doesn't make any sense! The people in stable jobs will keep driving but, if more people are out of work, those people won't be driving to work anymore (unless they are trying to con their other half into thinking they still have a job ). The only way you'd get actual growth in car useage during a recession is if population growth is exceeding the rate of growth in job losses; I don't think that that is the case at the moment.

Yes, even out of work people might still use their cars for shopping etc, but they are hardly likely to choose to head out at 8 am and join the queues in to town if they don't have to!

nation

DonDaddyD wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I would imagine there would be a slowing of growth in car use, but unlikely to be a reduction.

Why not - we are in recession. No reason for traffic to be expanding when the economy is going the other way; particularly during the rush hour.

I think car use is pretty inelastic to price/incomes - its become a cultural staple.

Isn't culture limited by region, age and other such demographics.

In some circles a car is a statement of wealth and achievement.

In others its a means to an end and not necessarily needed.

I think in general people don't tend to automatically think of reducing their car use as a means to economise. They'll do things like shop at Lidl instead of Tesco, have a night in instead of a night out, etc. Some of them, when they come to replace their car, will buy something smaller/more economical, but that's about as far as it goes.

It is a source of constant amazement to most of the people I work with that I don't own a car. It just doesn't occur to them that there are other ways of getting about.

Sewinman

DonDaddyD wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I would imagine there would be a slowing of growth in car use, but unlikely to be a reduction.

Why not - we are in recession. No reason for traffic to be expanding when the economy is going the other way; particularly during the rush hour.

I think car use is pretty inelastic to price/incomes - its become a cultural staple.

Isn't culture limited by region, age and other such demographics.

In some circles a car is a statement of wealth and achievement.

In others its a means to an end and not necessarily needed.

I would have thought a means to an end is more necessary than a statement of wealth. I am probably wrong, but car use has been rising steadily for decades and getting a lot cheaper too (even if people think otherwise). I doubt whether recession will really change that much.

rolf_f

Sewinman wrote:

I would have thought a means to an end is more necessary than a statement of wealth. I am probably wrong, but car use has been rising steadily for decades and getting a lot cheaper too (even if people think otherwise). I doubt whether recession will really change that much.

I see where you are coming from but I think the point is that whilst car use has been rising for decades so has the economy (for the most part). There are certainly areas where the rise has been less easy to understand - when I went to University, not many had cars and most of those that did had heaps. Nowadays, new Mini Coopers seem to be common student transport. No doubt there are other similar cases but, in terms of rush hour traffic, it must be proportional to the number of people in work - and that number is reducing.

andy83

i have noticed in birmingham there are less cars in the morning now and not just cos of half term, although it helps. #doesnt seem to be that many in the rush hour either although i have the great pleasure of working 12.5 hour shifts so dont travel back same time as everyone else.

one thing i have noticed though is there seems to be a lot more idiots on the roads lately, turning and looking at me shaking there head cos they couldnt overtake me (even if im on a bloody bend)

people who i know use public transport say its getting busier but also the fact a lot of people have lost jobs means there is less people commuting

the one thing i like about working bank holidays is there aint no traffic

nwallace

Rolf F wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I would imagine there would be a slowing of growth in car use, but unlikely to be a reduction.

Why not - we are in recession. No reason for traffic to be expanding when the economy is going the other way; particularly during the rush hour.

Ha, up here the local bus companies are curtailing services.
Now if I'm not cycling and want to work past half 5 the only option will be the private motorised carriage, or a 2.5 hour wait for the bus at 8.

wreckedmyklein

I use my car less since the petrol price hike last summer. But I quite like it when the roads are busy as it makes my comparative speed even quicker.

I just hope that I can keep my job, so I can keep buying more and more bike related things

Rockbuddy

Can't say there are less cars around Cardiff (apart from this week which I am enjoying ). IMO there are more, especially in bad weather people tend to be out in force in their boxes. This may just be through my cyclist's eyes though, there's always too many motorists out on the roads

cjcp

No hint of a recession-induced traffic volume on my route. Half term this week - bliss!

CiB

No. Recession = fewer cars on the road. There. I've said it. Sorry, but...