What with the UK road tax laws hanging in the balance, public transport looks like it may have to be an option, what are peoples oppinions on car sharing?
Either that or we all get a chance to take the small twisty country lanes to work:wink: , and clog them up, rather than using the safer main roads... :roll:

http://www.olympictrans.ru/fun/img/sharkbusda.jpg

In many ways I'm lucky in that my lodger also works at Rolls, as does a friend a couple of miles down the road, so normally I only have to drive one week in three. It can be a complete pain in the butt as it removes all flexibility. I cannot stay late if I want to get something done or leave early if required either.

The money saved of fuel is nice though, as are the bridge toll savings.

Your public transit feeds on passengers for fuel? :o


How cost effective is that? :wink: :cheesy:

I've started car sharing (well, I give someone a lift in - he doesn't have a car). It was costing him £45 a month for the train fare and the average journey time was 25 minutes. Now I give him a lift it's costing him £20 a month and the average journey time is 10 minutes.

Yeah, public transport is just great :roll:

Public transportation suck shere.. creepy people, creepy drivers who can't really drive.. It's great in Rome tho.. Anyhone who's ever been there knows what I'm saying.. Sure it's usually really crowded, but it's an excuse not to pay :cheesy: :nono;

No public transport here.

Either that or we all get a chance to take the small twisty country lanes to work:wink: , and clog them up, rather than using the safer main roads...

This actually happens already where I live. The few main A roads nearby have had the limits reduced to such stupid levels (40mph for miles through open country) that many people now drive down the single track B roads which have a 60 mph limit. Work that one out. :evil:

I would have no problem driving my neighbour to work, or picking up a colleague. But I am not so keen on being a passenger.

The few main A roads nearby have had the limits reduced to such stupid levels (40mph for miles through open country) that many people now drive down the single track B roads which have a 60 mph limit. Work that one out. :evil:

They lowered the limits on motorways so much that they are now lower than normal roads? :o This is fully mental. :roll:

Not motorways (no motorways here either), but A roads, which are main roads between major towns, sometimes with two lanes on each side of the central barrier, which we call dual carriageways. The main A road from London to Lowestoft near here has a limit of 40 mph for several miles - maybe 10?. Then you get dual carriageway, and the limit goes up to 50 mph. Then a 30, then a 40, finally a 60 (but only for 3 or 4 miles). But on the narrow farm roads to get to the main road the limit is 60 mph. It has made the standard of driving much worse as people get frustrated and overtake at dangerous places. It is totally crazy.

The trouble with public transport is the public element I find.

The trouble with public transport is the public element I find.

Quite. I just get a taxi if I am not driving.

David!

The trouble with public transport is the public element I find.

This is an approximate quote of a former employee of a goverment authority dealing with the railways, when asked to visit a site, and use a bus as part of the journey:

"What, you expect me to ride on one of those peasant wagons?!". I don't think he works for them any more :)

Taxi's are a rip off here. It costs $70 to get a limo to the airport and about $120 to get a taxi to the airport.

I strongly distaste public transport, but how come I pay more for public transit than the people that actually use it?? :evil:

What's up with that???!!

And they want to put MORE public transit taxes on downtown parking, AND we already pay some of the highest taxes around, AND the public transit system is in debt!

Transit should be seen as a social service, not a for profit or even break even business. Any revenue offsets the costs. Problem with trasit is no ledger heads ever account for the social costs transit offsets. Despite my love of my 4 cars, I believe less cars = good. We should change our livestyles before mother nature changes them for us (dead)

Here in rurality, riders are conscripted to the mass transit mindset, at the age of kindergarten children. They are forced to ride through the uncomfortable years until they arrive at financial responsibility. They are prohibited from walking more than 200' from their homes, to get to a transit stop. Driver protection clause in the contract.

for me "public transit" conjures up images of overcrowded school buses(those yellow lumbering POS's) full of weirdos,stoners,geeks,sick people...Basiculy,being forced to ride the bus for a year promted me to get off my ar5e and get a licence.

I actually had a really great experience with public transit all last year at Santa Cruz, and hope to enjoy it again this year. Although if you forgot your student ID card they'd make you pay $1.50 each time you got on :evil:.

Around here it's pretty nice to catch the tram or the train, even the bus. http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/splash.php

The trouble with public transport is the public element I find.

YES, i generally found a very high concentration of stupid people on public trans....when i could still use it. BART worked great in the San Francisco/Bay Area but it is the only place i have ever lived and worked that the train was better than driving.

I believe there was a plan to run buses on natural gas in Northern Ireland. Known as FART (Fermanagh and Armagh Regional Transport).

Thank God for my car. I would not want to be using public transporation around here. NYC...that's another thing, I completely relied on the buses or subways every day...and I am telling ya...it wasn't pretty.

What about having mandatory public transport days? Not everyone gets on at once, but say a quarter of the year you have to ride the bus to work or something. It'd leave the roads a lot less clogged.