Is your listing easy to reach for people who don’t drive?

[Sybe]

Hey everyone,

When going on holiday, getting around can be a challenge on its own, and having public transport available can make this a lot easier for your guests. Of course, some guests prefer to get around by car rather than public transport, and plan their holidays around that mode of transportation (e.g. my parents), or perhaps choose to rent a car on location. Whether you host in a busy centre or off the beaten tracks, guests’ journeys will take very different shapes and forms!

Is your listing easy to reach for people who don’t drive? What other solutions are there for your guests, and do you advertise those or have advice on communicating them?  

Let me know in the comments!

Sybe

[Huma0]

@Sybe 

Yes. Very. I think that's one of the things guests really appreciate about my location. I am 0.3 miles from the underground station, where there are two lines. I'm also only one tube stop from Zone 1 (which is what I'd personally classify as central London) so the journey times to many attractions are really short. There are also lots of buses here, but guests rarely use those as the underground is much faster. I'm also walking distance from several neighbourhoods that are popular with young people, which most of my guests are.

There would really be no point bringing or hiring a car as parking is tricky and really expensive, plus you'd have to pay congestion charge, which is another £15 a day. However, guests do use Uber and similar, especially when travelling to and from the airport. It's not difficult to get here from the airport by public transport, but because my guests are long term, some of them bring a lot of stuff!

I've only had one pair of guests who did not use the public transport at all and got Ubers everywhere. It must have cost them a lot and I have no idea why they didn't try out the tube, but I know in some parts of the USA, people can be suspicious of public transport. Personally, I think the underground is both safe and pretty reliable (except for when there is a strike).

[Sybe]

@Huma0 I would've been very surprised had you said no! The tube is faster, yes, though the bus (£1,50 for a ride I believe) is much cheaper and for tourists I imagine a lot of fun to sit upstairs. 

Perhaps it was suspicion of transport, perhaps a form of vertigo or claustrophobia. I remember trying to change at Bank once but walking underground in a tiny tunnel for at least 10 minutes made me feel somewhat uneasy as well.

[Huma0]

@Sybe 

For sure, if you are claustrophobic, the underground is not the nicest place to be! Some guests do take the bus because they like to sit upstairs and see more of London, but those tend to be tourists and I don't host as many of them since I switched to long term. If you're not in a hurry, the bus is certainly a good option. We have a service here that goes through Westminster, then the West End and ends up in Camden, so it's pretty useful for sightseeing. I think though that being so close to the tube station and having two of the major lines (Northern and Victoria) means the underground becomes the automatic choice for most guests staying here.

As for the young ladies who took Ubers everywhere, they couldn't explain why they hadn't tried the public transport. They just said they had never considered it.

[Monique921]

I would go so far as to say that a large number of Americans have never used public transportation in their lives and would probably have difficulty reading a train/bus map.  Also a lot of people just consider it beneath them, because only people that can't afford to have a car use public transportation. Sad but true.

[Mark116]

Guests who drive almost always end up being problematic.  If you aren't experienced in urban parking...parallel parking, ability to judge the size of the spot, understanding you may have to drive around, paying attention to other signs, not blocking driveways.....then you will be very frustrated when you come to our house.

Our last guests, quite literally, stopped their car in the middle of the street, no attempt at all to pull to the side, opened all the doors and popped the trunk and started unloading.  This then blocked traffic and caused the car(S) behind them to start honking at 10pm at night.  Still, it took them several minutes of being honked at before they finally pulled over and let traffic pass.  As you might imagine, with the stay starting this way, with guests who are this clueless/entitled, their stay was not smooth.

Our listing has a lot of language that is designed to persuade people who aren't used to city driving not to book, but it often still fails and we are stuck with people who send us photos of their parking choice at 2am to see if it is legal or who want to facetime us as they drive around.  We also get a lot of people who never read anything in the listing about parking and then will ask the day before arrival whether there is a parking spot....

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

How frustrating. As you know, I've had problems with guests letting taxis park on my neighbour's drive, but I've never had guests who were stupid enough to bring their own car here. In fact, I've only ever had one guest who had a car with him but he was a local (recently divorced) so already had a parking permit and knew the area inside out.

While some people in the UK are very attached to their cars, especially those who live in more rural areas, it seems to be less of a problem than in the USA.

[Sybe]

@Huma0 @Mark116 The public transport infrastructure in the US, especially in rural areas, is incomparable to European countries where cities are often much closer together. It depends a lot on where you live, though, e.g. the area in the Netherlands where I'm from (Zeeuws-Vlaanderen) is very isolated compared to the rest of the Netherlands and due to a lack of public transport (as this would have to either cross the Western Scheldt or go through Belgium), having a car is almost a prerequisite to live there.

The UK has a lot of affordable train services and if you wish to travel further, coaches become a cheap alternative. 

[Huma0]

@Sybe @Mark116 

Yes, I have often heard that about the US, but I've also noticed a lot of American guests seem suspicious of public transport/alternatives to driving where they are available. It might be because they are not so reliable, take too long or perhaps people feel they aren't safe.

Quite a few years back, some friends and I were planning a 'road trip' in California, but decided to do it by train instead as it seemed less stressful and was cheap. We never went because one of the group didn't get her visa in time. Another time, I looked into getting the train from Toronto to NYC. I heard that the route, especially as you approach NYC, was very scenic. Again, that trip never happened. Of course, I am not talking about very rural or remote areas, but whenever I've mentioned these plans to an American guest, they look at me in horror!

My aunt went to stay in Florida (can't remember the exact location) to visit her son who was living their at the time. Although it was a nice neighbourhood, she said she was the only one walking on the street and that people were literally leaning out of their cars staring at her as if she was a lunatic.

Of course, I have also hosted American guests who do use public transport at home, but it seems like they are the minority.

@Sybe Like you say, it does depend on where you live and it's not just the USA that maybe has less transport options. One of my long term guests had decided to spend her summer (three months off from university) in a village in the middle of nowhere in Wales. I pointed out to her that it might not be the best plan seeing as she wouldn't have a car and the village didn't even have a corner shop. She had not done her research. There was only one bus that went there, not three times a day, but three times a week!

[Ted307]

@Sybe  @Huma0 

When visitors come to Arizona, they land at the Phoenix airport. Terrible public transportation even to get somewhere in Phoenix! 😞

We are minimum of 2 hours on the freeway from the airport, most people rent a car. Some relatives have wanted us to pick them up at the airport, which is at least 5 hours out of our day there and back, not including stopping for lunch! Older people are terrified to drive here, so we picked them up.

Our guests all drive here from Phoenix in their own cars. One of our selling points is the large parking area right in front of our bunkhouse. We have had guests who drive here from California.

If I had a guest from Europe, who did not want to rent a car, I would advise them to get the Airport Shuttle from PHX to Prescott, which would drop them off here. Cost about $20. They could walk everywhere in our little town since we are 1.5 miles from the Square downtown. There are lots of bicycle riders here, and shops to rent a bicycle, too. As much as I love to drive, I do not drive as much since moving here.

[Helen427]

Thanks @Sybe I've had guests who both drive and don't drive for whatever reason.

I am very fortunate to be close to both trains and buses and Motorway access, and also have off street parking - all of which have been an attraction to stay in my home.

It's important for me also to be accessible to public transport - when the buses aren't cancelled of course!!

[M199]

@Sybe 

LOL, great question.

For us,  it's a 5 km drive off the highway to a long dead end  road with 15  side lanes.  Quiet, private, no local public transit, only two cab companies.  Though centrally located, everything is between a 30 to 60 minute drive.  To get from the Toronto area is a 4 hour drive.  Most people from Toronto do not have cars because of a good public transportation system.  We find that a fair number will rent a car. 

Although we note that a vehicle is needed, in the listing, most guests understand the travel time.  Luckily, that's what we are used to in Canada. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Sybe we are about 2 miles from the nearest shop, probably further to the nearest bus stop and if you found it there is likely to be only 1 bus per day. We make it clear in our listing that a car is essential and were horrified when a guest turned up planning to walk places! Thankfully she had properly researched the location and her planned walks were well within her capabilities.

[Debra300]

@Sybe,

Atlanta metro is a driving area, public transportation is sparse.  Our apartments are not accessible easily without a vehicle.  A car isn't a necessity to stay at our St. Lucia guesthouse,  but many guests are from flatlands in developed countries, and are not accustomed to walking on hills or the lack of sidewalks on main roads.  Nowadays, I just grin when people make comments about these things, because I no longer ask them if they read the listing description or any travel blogs about the island.

[Helen3]

Hi @Sybe 

Guests who come to stay with me in Bristol really appreciate the great public transport links where I live. I have a bus stop three minutes walk away with four buses going into the city centre (10 mins). I have a train station an 8 minute walk away and it's a 25 minute walk into the city centre.

We also have the Bristol/Bath railway path five minutes away which people can use as a cycle path from Bristol to Bath.

Even those who come by car normally use public transport options because they are so convenient and of course city centre parking is so expensive.