We Are Teesside

If you live within walking or cycling distance of your work, then the choice can be pretty easy (unless it's raining, when a short trip by car can still be tempting), but in an increasingly mobile world and with more of us having to take work where we can find it, the choice comes down to motorised transport no matter what.

So, on Teesside, it comes down to car, train, or bus. Three days, three commutes from my home in Saltburn to work in Middlesbrough to try and compare the three.

I spent a lot of years moving about the country a lot. Every six months to a year, I was in a new place and reliant on new bus services, and it can be a nightmare. I have often wondered why major urban areas like Teesside don't produce something like a Tube map, so you can figure out your bus route.

You can usually figure it out, if you have to make a direct, one-bus route, but if you have to change buses somewhere, the only way to figure out your route is to ask someone who already knows.

DAY ONE: CAR

COST: £2.76

JOURNEY TIME: 20 mins.

DAY TWO: TRAIN

COST: £4.10

JOURNEY TIME: 45 mins.

DAY THREE: BUS

COST: £5.40

JOURNEY TIME: 55 mins.

The cases compared

The table above suggests that, like it or not, public transport does not make economic sense on Teesside.

There is another way to look at this though. If you add the cost of buying, insuring, taxing and maintaining a car in the first place. Suddenly, owning a car makes no economic sense.

Even a 1 litre car like mine costs £120 a year in tax, £180 to insure and maintenance and MOT last year stung me for £235.

The average British car in 2009 is worth £5,582, but the economic situation is causing them to depreciate quickly. Even a conservative estimate of 10% depreciation a year puts your loss just by owning a car at well over £10 a week.

Put it all together and you suddenly find yourself paying an extra £21 a week, just to own a car.

In fact, if you use it right, public transport on Teesside CAN be cheaper than taking your car, but with private transport such an easy option (especially on a cold and windy morning), few motorists are likely to be tempted onto the bus, or the train, unless the case gets far stronger, though the cost of parking all day in our town centres might get some people thinking.