General Discussion
Dawlish to Exeter commuting
I have a job lined up in Exeter city centre and am planning to rent in Dawlish. Have been doing my budget for travel from Dawlish to Exeter and I am aware:
1. A monthly season ticket by train will cost £88.
2. It is 13 miles to drive from EX7 to Exeter St Thomas (and attempt to park in some of the back streets round there)
Having not driven for 10 years whilst having relied on London Transport, I am not sure of the petrol costs for 13 x 2 (26 miles a day) x 5 days a week = 130 miles .... x 0.14 p a mile (?) ..... £18 a week in petrol .....?
I realise that it might be wiser to stick to the economy of the train for the first few months, but ultimately I will need to get a car for weekend shopping / visiting family. (My family live in Dorset not on an easy public transport route from Exeter.)
QUESTION: Do any of you drive / commute to Exeter? How much would the petrol cost (in say an economical small car, like a Ford Ka or Vauxhall Corsa)?
(I realise there are other costs in running a car including MOT, servicing, repairs and insurance but those costs I would have to absorb anyway if I am going to have a car to visit family etc.)
Have you also considered car pooling? There must be others doing the daily exeter run, who wouldn't mind lowering their costs
Devon County Car share >
http://www.devon.gov.uk/car_sharing.htm
Devon rail card costs £10 and you get a third off all Devon travel.. fare to Exeter £2.50 per day. £12.50 for 5 days.
Someone told me you have to allow 30p a mile to run a car .. I dont have a clue!. If this is so, then 26 miles is £7.80 per day to drive to Exeter ..as you say you have to park ...not to mention buying the car!!!
In terms of just fuel costs it depends on the mpg you get out of a Ka and of course the price of petrol.
At £1.34 a litre which is £6.09 per gallon (4.546 litres to a gallon), to go 130 miles would cost:
130 / 40mpg = 3.25 gallons * £6.09 = £19.79 (40mpg)
130 / 50mpg = 2.6 gallons * £6.09 = £15.83 (50mpg)
Etc.
So your £18 sounds about right. Fuel consumption depends on how you drive. If you accelerate hard, brake hard and leave the car in low gear you will use more fuel.
Thanks for the hints about car pooling and the link to the Devon car sharing scheme. I think my safest bet is to stick to the train until I am sure I need a car and then see if I can find somebody to car share with to bring down the costs.
If I just kept the car for weekend driving (friends, family and shopping) my mileage would be less than 40 miles a week and cost me less than £10 a week in petrol and probably £15 a week total costs.
Do most of you who have responded drive / have cars as standard for social use?
(I am kinda thinking it is "normal" for people over 25 years of age and certainly at my age of 44 it is a bit "unusual" to be a non driver reliant on lifts with other people all the time -- when it comes to family outings etc.)
I think if you are happy to use the train in the long run it will be cheaper fuel/insurance/road tax taken into consideration. Could you not hire a car for when visiting family? If you are living in town centre there are several shops, also there is a town bus service which goes to Sainsburys