Stimpy wrote...

"JNugent" wrote:

wrote:

But none of this is novel - it has been argued over many times here.

You could even take a taxi...

It would be a horrendous journey.

About the same as the car, but less stressful because you wouldn't be
driving

A 10 year old Nissan Bluebird with plastic seat covers or a Metrocab flat
out at 50mph less stressful than driving a modern, fast, comfortable car -
no chance!!

This is a matter of opinion.

How do you do your weekly shopping then? 4 people in a house can total
20
bags - wouldnt like to carry them 5 miles home. Wouldn't like to carry
them on the bus either!

Well, Tuesday I cycled into the nearest town with a trailer and brought
back
about 30kg of goods. We also use the local shops for fresh produce - we
have a
good local butcher and greengrocer, and we make a lot of use of internet
shopping, using two main suppliers who have proved to be very reliable.
I also ride up to an organic farm about two miles north of here that has a
farm
shop and another farm supplies eggs etc. I can get the latter within
walking
distance but its a pleasant trip;-)

Fair enough. Internet shopping is becoming a much better way to shop anyway
these days, and I'm sure the cycle ride with the trailer does you good. A
helluva lot more good than lardy-arsed me in my car! Actually, the other
day in London, on Leadenhall Street, I saw a pedal-operated vehicle whereby
the operator laid back a bit (making the pedalling easier), and had plenty
of storage in the back. It had DHL plastered all over it. What an
excellent idea, I thought. Around town that is most definitely quicker than
any car. If I could get from Slough (where the courier company I work for
is based) into the centre of London in around an hour and a half I
definitely wouldn't bother using a car/van for work, but I suspect it would
take much nearer 2-2.5 hours. And most of the time I can easily get in or
out in an hour (thanks to the very handy route through Lambeth/Blackfriars
instead of using the horribly congested Victoria Embankment).

Peter

On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 19:57:44 +0000 (UTC), "kedron"
wrote:

Yep. You can go to Brussels, at mostly 180mph, in a
comfortable seat, for £75 -- and that would be a return fare.

You can. You can also go from Manchester to London and back for
little more than 20 quid. Both fares have in common that they are
quota-controlled and heavily restricted.

The full-fare, non-quota-controlled[1] standard return on E* is, IIRC,
well over 200 quid.

[1] Almost... because E* don't allow standing passengers, you have a
greater chance of being refused travel on a given train than on a
"normal" rail service where you can crush-load.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
is a valid email address, but is sent to /dev/null.
Try my first name at the above domain instead if you want to e-mail me.

In
Neil Williams wrote:

Yep. You can go to Brussels, at mostly 180mph, in a
comfortable seat, for £75 -- and that would be a return fare.

You can. You can also go from Manchester to London and back for
little more than 20 quid. Both fares have in common that they are
quota-controlled and heavily restricted.

I use the Eurostar all the time, those fares are not heavily restricted,
if you book just a little in advance.

The full-fare, non-quota-controlled[1] standard return on E* is, IIRC,
well over 200 quid.

Yeah, and all that makes £175 to Manchester a really good deal -- my ass.

If I ever run a railway line up the garden path, you can be my first customer.

--
kedron

JohnB wrote:

snip

Well, Tuesday I cycled into the nearest town with a trailer and brought back
about 30kg of goods.

Anyone who is allready a bit 'Bikey', I can't recommend these trailers
enough. You can buy one for about 30 odd quid and it transforms the
cycle from a means of personal transport to a load carrying vehicle.

I use mine about once a month and I reckon its paid for itself in Taxi
fares twice over.

Just my tuppence worth.

On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 23:23:55 +0000 (UTC), "kedron"
wrote:

Yeah, and all that makes £175 to Manchester a really good deal -- my ass.

Where did I say that? What I did say only goes to prove they're not
the only ones at it.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
is a valid email address, but is sent to /dev/null.
Try my first name at the above domain instead if you want to e-mail me.

On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 23:23:55 +0000 (UTC), "kedron"
wrote:


In
Neil Williams wrote:

Yep. You can go to Brussels, at mostly 180mph, in a
comfortable seat, for £75 -- and that would be a return fare.

You can. You can also go from Manchester to London and back for
little more than 20 quid. Both fares have in common that they are
quota-controlled and heavily restricted.

I use the Eurostar all the time, those fares are not heavily restricted,
if you book just a little in advance.


They're not turn up and go fares, are they, though?


Rob.
--
rob at robertwoolley dot co dot uk

In
Robert Woolley wrote:

You can. You can also go from Manchester to London and back for
little more than 20 quid. Both fares have in common that they are
quota-controlled and heavily restricted.

I use the Eurostar all the time, those fares are not heavily restricted,
if you book just a little in advance.


They're not turn up and go fares, are they, though?

Correct.

The basic point is that the fare is cheap. If people were offered a 180mph
train with a guaranteed seat to Manchester, booking (just a little) in advance
would be no problem.

UK public transport fares are already high relative to salaries, at least
compared to other countries, and especially compared to the level of service
provided.

--
kedron

"Jeff Lewis UK" wrote in message
om...
How about spending some of the money that is currently being extorted
from car drivers on something completely radical like building new
underground roads similar to the ones in Bruges Belgium.

We are constantly being stuffed for more any more cash to subsidize
harebrained council schemes none of which improve our lives at all.

Surely if engineers 120 years ago can build the London underground
railway system, we in the 21st century can build
an underground road system.

For those that have not visited Bruges, let me describe a car journey
to that city.

We arrived on the Sea Cat (The Vomit Comet) at Ostend and drive 13
miles to Bruges where you are directed down a tunnel some miles out
of the city. After driving some distance underground, you are directed
into giant car parks and take the lift back to daylight, where you
arrive in the middle of a huge town square with Bars and restaurants
around the edge, and the latest shops within a short walk.
No Stress at all.

Compare this with a trip to London where parking meters earn more that
a worker's minimum hourly wage and everything is designed to give the
maximum stress and the minimum value.

We need some new thinking on this. Public transport is not the answer,
and not everyone can cycle to work.

Jeff

Its a case of would it be justified and the answer is no, you cannot have
underground systems everywhere, they are only econmic in cities.

As for the crap roads well thank Mrs Thatcher for the years of
underinvestment. The current government is spending loads on improvement but
it will take toime to sort out all the problems she created when giving the
yuppies tax breaks in the "good ol 1980s!"

As for the crap roads well thank Mrs Thatcher for the years of
underinvestment. The current government is spending loads on
improvement but it will take toime to sort out all the problems
she created when giving the yuppies tax breaks in the "good
ol 1980s!"

Ey? The 1980's saw the building of most of the M25, as well as several other
major schemes.

Since Labour came to power, what have we got? Nothing for 5 years, and now
paltry 1-lane widening schemes to bits of road here and there.