----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Haywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 11:37 AM Subject: Re: [canals-list] Re: Proposed new car tax (OT)
> On 10/02/07, Roger Millin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> > > London we accepted the congestion charge on behalf of all of you >> > because the situation had become intolerable in our city as it will >> > eventually in yours. >> >> Hang on a minute, you accepted it on behalf of all of us???? >> You have the best public transport system in the whole of the UK, >> where you don't need a car in the main, and you accepted what the >> Gruppenfuhrer Livingstone dictated for all of us????? Hhmmm, does not >> compute. You accept what you want for London, the rest of us lesser >> mortals can decide for the impoverished remainder of the UK ;-))) > > > I confess to a little stirring here, for which I hope I shall be > forgiven, it being such an uncharacteristic part of my make up :) > > I'm not unsympathetic to the argument of rural communities. When I was > a kid I lived in a village with three connections an hour, six buses > in total, to Leicester and Loughborough. They're down to one an hour > in each direction now. I guess the only way kids manage to live in the > place is by persuading mum and dad to take them places. > > We HAD to have CC in London because following the Easter 2000 (?) > snarl up where traffic coming off the Euston Rd after the bank holiday > had led to total gridlock, not just in the centre but across great > swathes of the inner suburbs, it became clear that things were getting > critical. Livingstone made congestion charge a main platform of his > transport policy. He was an independent at that stage, remember. > People voted for him, knowing what they were going to get. > > Yes, we got the charge - but we got a fleet of new buses too. And tube > investment on a level we haven't seen this century which the next > generation will benefit from > > I wouldn't advocate charging in towns where there's no congestion > crisis, let alone charging as a matter of course, yet another tax. But > where town centres are dying from congestion, London has proved that > to a point, road charging works. > > BUT - and I say this to you who may be facing it soon where you live - > there HAS to be a quid pro quo. If they're gonna charge you for taking > your car into a town when there's no public transport alternative, > you have to ensure that that money is used to provide one. OK, apart > from one or two conurbations, there's never going to be the > concentration of population outside London to support a tube system > with trains running every couple of minutes or so. But surely a bus > service to a village three times an hour isn't beyond the wit of the > politicians? > > Steve > I live in the centre of Reading, a town with a good transport system. It takes two busses to get me to the hospital. My local Tesco is a walk to the rail station,15 mins, and a bus. No, I am not dragging my shopping home so it would mean a taxi. Tesco is a 5 min drive away. In fact everywhere I want to visit is two busses away. I am denied an oap pass because you have to guarantee to use the busses regularly. They are stopped electronically if they aren't used. I can't really see how public transport outside of London can be changed economically to suit most of the population. Sue nb Nackered Navvy
