Unfortunately public transport in the UK also takes you from a location where you are not to a location where you don't want to be at a time that does not suit you. There is NO WAY I could work between three hospitals without a car. And as for train prices (or reliability), let's not go there. Take the bike? Sure, if you want to take your life into your own hands. I come from a country with fairly decent public transport (Holland) and dedicated cycle paths. People will not change their behaviour until viable alternatives are available.
Depends where you live. I work in a relatively new building which has way less parking spaces than employees (before you even consider the students) because of the councils green policy. So i have to take the bus and my 10 minute journey happens to cross all the fare stages so its costs £2 for a single journey. So when the bus is quiet i pay 10p a minute to take the bus which is more expensive than my car. Guess how much a day ticket is? £4! So unless i need to make more than 2 journeys i dont save anything. The problem is we only have one bus operator where i live and they have publicly stated that prices are artificially high here to subsidise routes in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Even if the fares where comparable i still need my car for other reasons so would paying for its upkeep anyway. Public transport in this country is way off of replacing a car. On topic i too feel this idea is deeply flawed.
You hobbled with First? Lothian buses is the main operator here and its both reasonably priced and unsubsidised though that may change with the bloody trams. I say reasonable its a flat rate of £1.20 so that can take you a short walk through to over a 10mile journey but they've put it up twice in the last 5 months so i'm getting a bike instead.
My mum just ordered a new Lexus IS250 we haggled them down as low as possible, then after May 1st said "oh btw, can we get £2k off for our old car as well please?". Poor sods had no choice but to knock another £2k off the already-discounted price! Her old car is an 11-year old Mazda 626, which apparently is only worth around £250, so we've done well there Suman
It's also very flat You do make a valid point though, in the Netherlands the infrastructure is in place for bicycles making it a much more viable option, and the trams in Amsterdam are great €1.60 anywhere in the city and plenty of them.
The problem with the scheme is that those people with cars older than 10 years are either happy with what they have, or can't afford to get a new car. The saving of 2k is not much of an incentive to the contented person, and not a big enough saving (esp compared to 2nd hand cars) for the poorer person. I can't see it stimulating the slowing market too much! I'd much rather the government offered savings to everyone (no matter of car age or if they even owned one) but only on cars which are economical (above a certain MPG and/or below certain CO2 output)... then again I could just be jealous because I want to get a new car later this year but the current one is only 4 years old so no saving for me! Can't really complain about public transport here in London, £1 for the bus no matter how far you're going... £2.20 for tube (zone 1 to 2) at peak times is v quick, frequent & reliable (if a little hot and stuffy). Cycling is a bit risky, but traffic is generally v slow moving so although chances of being hit are high, it's unlikely to be serious. It's also normally quicker than car/bus/tube!
Can't complain about London public transport? Are you sure you're a Londoner? I'm a regular user of everything except the bus - some things, like being bumped around, standing up, in the world's slowest wheeled sardine sauna, are beyond me - and I think you're right about cycling.* I do it whenever I can or the car's not practical, and it's by far the best way of getting around; free, fast, useful - all things that a car and a gym membership are not! *Although having said that I have been backed over by a school-run 4x4. Twice.
