I thought selling my car was the right thing to do, but part of me wonders why I bothered | Rachel Cooke

I thought selling my car was the right thing to do, but part of me wonders why I bothered | Rachel Cooke

Despite my local council claiming to favour walkers and cyclists, it seems to be actively making my life more difficult

When I sold my car, I didn’t expect a pat on the head; I wore my halo on the inside, and that was enough. But I did assume that those who had encouraged me to do the right thing – among them, my local council, which supposedly favours the walker, the cyclist and the keen user of the bus – wouldn’t now actively seek to make my life more difficult.

Three years later, and part of me wonders why I bothered. Thanks to low traffic schemes, which benefit only select groups of very lucky people, bus journey times are often twice as long as they used to be, cars having been forced on to the main road. Meanwhile, the council has decreed that those who want their garden waste to be collected, as it has been ever since I’ve lived here, must henceforth pay £75 a year for the privilege – and for a service only half as frequent as before.

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