Another example of drivers just not getting it

[Drago]

Those are most excellent benefits. Coincidentally they also apply to cycling, so if the public wouldn't mind funding my N+1 habit I'd be most grateful.

 

[screenman]

Those are most excellent benefits. Coincidentally they also apply to cycling, so if the public wouldn't mind funding my N+1 habit I'd be most grateful.

Not sure if Sustrans has any subsidies, if they do I am grateful.

 

[Drago]

It's attitudes like that that led to public transport being privatised, so now it costs a lot more for a family to use public transport than it does to use their own car. It's not going well - you may have noticed.

asking a question is now "an attitude"?

So perhaps you could answer the question? Considering that cycling brings much the same benefits, then why is cycle use not being championed for subsidising from the public purse? Surely that's a perfectly reasonable question?

 

[mcshroom]

Same here, but not everyone can cycle, especially not the distances that public transport often covers. Comparing the two buses are actually slightly more space efficient than bikes and don't need parking (though they're higher emission, noisier and do cause more road damage).

If your employer decides to play ball, then Cycle to Work is basically a subsidy on an n+1 habit though (or at least, that is how many people use it - I've got one bike through the scheme which is used for commuting).

 

[Drago]

Buses are only more space efficient than bikes when filled with a reasonable number of passengers.

I've nothing against public subsidy with respect to an efficient public transport service. I just don't think that it is a special case and other forms of sustainable transport should also benefit in the same way, with a proportionate cost benefit per passenger, which is on going in the same manner.

Lord knows what form it would take or how it would be administered but I'm sure its not beyond the wit of man to think of something.

 

[BrynCP]

I dislike the buses because I find the experience poor, still use them though.

Dirty and broken seats, cold buses, mouldy window seals etc. These are in the bus companies' controls.

Then there are buses that don't turn up or turn up late, this could be in their control (sometimes they just pull a bus as they don't have the staff or the buses) or could be traffic related.

Then there are things in the council's control, such as the shoddy state of bus shelters.

The one here is broken, no roof, hasn't had one since March: I reported it in March and then again in December, copied in all the responsible councillors, not had a single response to the (early) December report. The March one told me they would review it but it wasn't a funding priority: funny though they're installing bus lane cameras after running a trial, my argument to them was surely you need to make it more comfortable for people to get on the bus before giving over a lane to empty (exaggeration) buses!
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When going to work, there is no contest between my car and the bus. My car costs more.

Today, in Hull, there were no buses. Hull City were playing at home, which is just outside the city centre, and many shops were open. So in the car it is!

 

[screenman]

You can get subsidised training, still looking for more.

What other types of transport would you suggest need subsidising. I can only think of 3 bikes, buses, trains.

Sustrans have given us a nice elevated exposed 10 mile cycle track from my village to out skirts of Lincoln to which I am grateful for, the bus service is not good at all, and the train station went along with many others.

I must admit I am very dependant on the car.

 

[Accy cyclist]

A bit off topic but it's about lazy drivers who wont walk. I was in the local cemetery on Tuesday when i saw two old dodderers actually driving down a narrow path in between the graves to get right up to a grave. The car was wider than the path so it left deep tread marks along the way.

 

[screenman]

Bryn, you missed fleas off of your list, a major problem on buses, just ask the guys who have to return the seats after they get vandalised daily, yes daily.

As for the bus stops, maybe they cannot keep up with the many that are being damaged. Now who to blame for that, well the people who do the damage, not the people who fix it.

Now these people who do the damage they are members of the general public, hold on, but so am I.

Must admit the only time I use a bus is the fantastic park and rides available in some cities.

 

[KneesUp]

asking a question is now "an attitude"?

Considering that cycling brings much the same benefits, then why is cycle use not being championed for subsidising from the public purse? Surely that's a perfectly reasonable question?

My five year old daughter cannot ride a bike without stabilizers. My wife will not ride on the road since she was knocked off some years ago. Also, the last time I used the train it was because I needed to do a 100 mile round trip over the Pennines with said five-year old. I think even if she could ride without stabilizers it might have been a bit much for her on her single-speed. As a family we've just come back from Edinburgh, and visited Glasgow - all perfectly do-able via the train, but a three day trip to Edinburgh from Sheffield is not something we could do on bikes even if DD could ride that far and we could find an off-road route for the OH, because I'd have to carry all the luggage.

There are other reasons people cannot cycle but can use the bus too, such as age and disability.

Also, cycling is basically free apart from the bike. How would you suggest subsidising it? Tax incentives to get people to commute? Yep - we have that already - you can get a tax-free bike and you can claim mileage for some journeys. There are also schemes where you can get cheap bikes such as this one: http://sheffieldcycleboost.org/bike-loans/

So, in summary - the benefits of public transport are more universally accessible, and applicable to more journey types. And cycling is subsidised.

 

[screenman]

A bit off topic but it's about lazy drivers who wont walk. I was in the local cemetery on Tuesday when i saw two old dodderers actually driving down a narrow path in between the graves to get right up to a grave. The car was wider than the path so it left deep tread marks along the way.

Lazy or disabled?

 

[Accy cyclist]

Lazy or disabled?

Both got out the car without a problem so not disabled. Dementia maybe?

 

[Ganymede]

A bit off topic but it's about lazy drivers who wont walk. I was in the local cemetery on Tuesday when i saw two old dodderers actually driving down a narrow path in between the graves to get right up to a grave. The car was wider than the path so it left deep tread marks along the way.

Slightly surprised that the path wasn't wide enough. In my all too recent experience, the hearse has to be able to get round to graves in the most distant bits of the graveyard. I do see completely able-bodied people driving their cars fairly short distances to graves though.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

The government will never champion cycling because there's no money in it for them.

 

[glenn forger]

Private motoring receives by far the largest subsidy- that's why motoring costs have fallen as public transport costs rise. Average family saloon receives a subsidy of around £1000 a year. Drivers are the most subsidised road user, freight haulage drivers the most among them.

Estimating whether a bus for two adults and two children is cheaper than the car is not straightforward- allow for the cost of the car, maintenance, insurance, MOT, VED, depreciation, fuel, servicing etc etc