Christmas travel chaos - time for robots to take over public transport

Participant said:
People are too unreliable and expensive. They want pay rises and stuff.

The only answer to our constant travel problems, mainly from a combination of human stupidity and strikes, is to let the robots in.

Fewer crashes, no unreasonable pay and condition demands, reliable timings, no unions.

I am extremely ******* fed up of these ***** trashing every single peak travel time. We should in the 21st century be able to travel without being at the whim of bloody unions and lazy idiots that didn't do well at school so are striking for more pay.
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In Spain a lot of their trains are 90% if not 100% automated.
We have the technology to make them fully automated, however due to the rmt it is impossible (not exactly sure how but it is)

Wher winwork we were contracted to overhaul train engines for a major northern rail operator, the had to remove CCTV from the train doors to satisfy the RMT because you could technically use the CCTV to remove the requirements for a train guard/conductor.

There was also other bits if electronic safety equipment which would be seen as nice to have rather than essential that had to be removed.

When you also see what these people are earning for the job they are doing it does make one want to call for full 100% automation
 
loftie said:
www.bbc.co.uk

Driverless trains 'poor value' says leaked TfL study

Boris Johnson is calling for driverless trains to be a condition of future funding for TfL
www.bbc.co.uk



So still vulnerable to strikes. Or you're paying more.
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Unfortunately that proposal only looked to be a stepping stone to full automation - removing drivers but still having someone onboard to control the doors.

The article also blasts it as poor value for money because of the supposed £7bn it would cost to only partially convert it. Tfl's current driver bill works out about 1.4bn, so it'll take probably 6-7 years before any actual benefit is realised.

Either way it's a shame, I've visited quite a few capitals and there are a number of driverless/automated trains that seem to work absolutely fine.
 
trains are too expensive to use, a couple of years ago i looked up a train journey it was over £250, much cheaper to take the car and stay in a hotel
coupled with over crowding and reliablitly issues
i really dont think i will be using the train again
maybe robots would be a better solution
 
413x said:
For me it is. I value time more than money. So a car is worth it.

But that is the choice. If you have plenty of time trains probably are OK. If not.. Cars are the reliable option.
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and that's how it should be. Able to choose. A car is perfectly fine if you choose too want to do it. Public transport or private jets no different.

Beans on toast Dave said:
trains are too expensive to use
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I agree with this. They want people to use public transport more often but then don't encourage people to do so by making the prices expensive.
 
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GaryTheSnail said:
and that's how it should be. Able to choose. A car is perfectly fine if you choose too want to do it. Public transport or private jets no different.
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Not really, it should be so that you can choose but that public transport is actually a viable option for people who don't have half their lives to wait standing around on train platforms waiting for another train after the one they wanted to catch is cancelled because a cow sneezed too close to the tracks.
 
Participant said:
If you say wanted to get to Belgium for Christmas with the family, you cannot drive last time I checked. You need public transport unless you are loaded or superman.
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Quite, but as I said, setting off an hour or 2 early for a once-a-year multi-hour trip is fine (and frustrating as it is at the time, a couple of hours delay on a week long trip is pretty negligible)

Having to set off an hour or 2 early every single day on your commute for a 15 minute train journey on the other hand is not really acceptable (in my opinion of course), and if you are late, you certainly ARE going to miss that hour of work (or at least your boss is ;))
 
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Everyone is entitled to strike for more pay or better working conditions, its not just the lazy idiots that didn't do well at school that it can't apply to.
 
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beachBOYken said:
Everyone is entitled to strike for more pay or better working conditions, its not just the lazy idiots that didn't do well at school that it can't apply to.
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I think there's some important people here who press buttons on a keyboard for a living getting inconvenienced though!

Anyway, enjoy...
news.sky.com

Millions set to pay 'brutal' rail fare rise next year

The government said the new 4.9% increase cap is less than this year's- but Labour called it another "brutal bumper rise".
news.sky.com news.sky.com
 
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