Prices gone mad

Reminds me of V for Vendetta!
These ****s in governemnt are as clueless as they come!
Eco do-gooders are idiots, period!

I agree with the public beheadings of government ministers.....its the future! :)
 
This government has been fantastic at taxing things where people have no choice but to pay, and then packaging it up as something supposedly beneficial.

The one that annoys me the most is plane travel, this year was the first time that taxes on flights to see my wifes family in the states have been higher than the cost of the actual ticket. With all the rises in tax and fuel surcharges in the last couple of years it now means we both can't afford to go, meaning i'm stuck here to kill myself with my own cooking whilst she laps it up in 30 degrees of Arizona sunshine :(

From the noises coming out of the government this year it looks as if they'll go up even more for 'green' purposes.
 
WillyNelson said:
If it were worth the investment, ie if people were actually going to use it, there could be a complete overhall of public transfer strategy where pricing, reliability & quality of service are all addressed. I'm not advocating the replecement of cars all together, just their substitution with an alternative where you can.
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How do you propose to address the above? Fund it by force (through taxation) rather than by usage perhaps? Why should I be forced to pay for a service that I have no control over? Why should public transport be free from market influence and competative pressure?

Public transport has to compete with cars to get people out of them, forcing drivers to pay for it to prove a point is no way of convincing them.

Many people can't use alternative means to get to work so they drive, I've no problem with that. Some people could train/bus/cycle/walk to work but they don't. Yet they still complain that petrol pricing is punitive & tax is too expensive. Going to Sainsbury's is easier in the car but going into town to get the papers and a new shirt, you could do that on the bus or walk it if you're close enough.
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I could, but it's cheaper to take the car. Shifting the cost to Tax doesn't counter this either.

Those are the two main problems. Cars are very convenient but we should make an effort to use and rely on them less. And some people just plain old don't care.
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There's making an effort and cutting off your nose to spite your face. You're asking me to abandon my car for something that's more expensive, more inconvient and far less pleasant, and proposing to force me to pay for it through tax funded subsidies and investment.

Why not try and achieve a public transport system that people want to use in preference to the car?
 
WillyNelson said:
Bus, train, walk?

If more people used public transport it'd be cheaper and there'd be a better service.
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Not everyone can use public transport, or would want to for that matter.
Public transportation works great in a city like London, where it is easier to get the tube/bus/taxi or walk. But we live in the country, there is no way we could get about, go to work, do shopping etc, by public transport. I need a car to get to work, a car to go to the supermarket and to visit relatives & friends.

Plus, who would want to get on a bus these days :eek:
 
indeed, the public transport in this country is dire!

In Gothenburg (Sweden) there are trams every 10 mins during the day up till about 9pm, then every 30 mins till about midnight, then every hour till about 6am. You can get right across town for about £1, unlimited changes within 1hr 30mins, and this includes bus/train/tram/ferry.

Hell, I could get on a bus at one end of town all the way to an island off the coast for about £1 and it wouldn't take more than an hour!
 
RDM said:
So your solution to the problem is start work later?
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Not at all, I was merely answering your comment that people do use public transport but it's prohibitively busy. That is as mybe but it's empty for most of the day yet the roads are still full.
 
My daily drive to work costs me between £25 and £35/week on petrol.

So here is a break down of costs annually:

Car Tax: £115
Insurance: £1087
Mot: £45
Petrol: £1530
Parking: £100

Journey time: 34-44 minutes

Total: £2877/year is the cost of running my car - not counting part costs. That is a lot for me as I only earn 4 figures.

In context, travelling by train and bus would cost the following:

Train/Bus Fare: £2138

Journey time: 60-90 minutes.

That is a lot less than going by car, but it means almost always being late, having to pay peak rate, waiting in the cold weather and not having independence.

The train and bus are also packed liked sardines in a tin so although it costs me more to travel my my own personal transport, the advantage of having this 'luxury' and the premium it costs are sticking with me.

If the transport system bucked up their ideas, made improvements to the service and didn't delay things so much as well as reducing the cost for me, then I would use it.

However, this has not appeared to be the case and whilst the prices are going up with the train employees constant (seemingly) strike action the service seems to be going out.

I would like to also point out that as it gets more expensive to live in England, more and more companies seem to want to take strike action and then everything has to go up to pay for this. Most noticeable in the recent Lecturer/University staff picket lines and the train staff and Royal Mail strikes.

It is a vicious circle. England is over-populated, over-taxed and not structured well enough. The government spending is not helping matters either, and neither is the amount of stress the immigrant problem is causing to medical, emergency and other businesses.

So I am planning to move away from England, in the next few years. Whilst I may just be regurgitating what the media has been saying, no one can deny that England needs to be run a lot better.

I feel most sorry for those who are billed and taxed to their eyeballs;

Council Tax;
Mortgage;
Rent;
Congestion Charges;
London Green Charges;
Parking;
Income Tax;
Gas/Electric Bills;

etc.

David
 
Even if everyone could change to use public transport, do you really think it would be able to handle the increase?

Not a chance, it can barely handle the amount of people that use it now.
 
J.T said:
Even if everyone could change to use public transport, do you really think it would be able to handle the increase?

Not a chance, it can barly handle the amount of people that use it now.
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That is exactly my problem with the public transport.

Even if they added more trains and more staff, the increased fare charges will cripple most peoples pockets.

I do not live in London and thankfully don't have to commute that far but an oyster card is what - £25/week or something? To be used within London or something. That is only £100/month but I could see that going up quite significantly with more trains added to the fleet and more staff added.

David
 
Well, here in Manchester (not sure if Tefal knows this)...

GMPTE is investing over £600 million on expanding the Metrolink network and making major improvements to the existing system. It is building new Metrolink lines to Oldham and Rochdale, Droylsden in Tameside, and Chorlton in South Manchester...

The entire Bury line was renewed, a new city line might be brought in and new trams at the end of 08 :)

We are doing alright tbh.
 
Thorpy said:
Well, here in Manchester (not sure if Tefal knows this)...

GMPTE is investing over £600 million on expanding the Metrolink network and making major improvements to the existing system. It is building new Metrolink lines to Oldham and Rochdale, Droylsden in Tameside, and Chorlton in South Manchester...

The entire Bury line was renewed, a new city line might be brought in and new trams at the end of 08 :)

We are doing alright tbh.
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nah didn't know that I mainly only use buses up an down Oxford road, to get from halls to centre on nights out.

Generally walk otherwise. Where does the metro link actually go at the mo, as i hear about it but know nothing of it?
 
Bury-Manchester
Altringham-Manchester
Eccles-Manchester

Currently 3 lines that ALL meet in the centre (Piccadilly Gardens and Piccadilly Station)

tram_networkmap.gif
 
CDj-Rossi said:
Why the hell is Bolton not on the new proposals?
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Simply because, we have decent train lines from Bolton.

Also, a bolton line would somehow have to branch off from the Radcliffe or Bury terminal and Bury is a dead end.
 
k.Jacko said:
Reminds me of V for Vendetta!
These ****s in governemnt are as clueless as they come!
Eco do-gooders are idiots, period!

I agree with the public beheadings of government ministers.....its the future! :)
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Actually I believe it is you that is the idiot.

Also people can post in here all the like stating their situation and how using public transport is completely infeasible for them which is fair enough, the idea isn't to get every single person in the country on public transport. It's just the fact is many people do drive when public transport is feasible alternative, we've just all got into the habit of being able to go where we want when we want, which at the end of the day is a luxury that wasn't always so!
 
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