Parking wars outside my house

[steve292]

But what?

If I may I'll answer later. I apologise but something requires my attention.

 

[BoldonLad]

Not sure if the 2000 dead is accurate, or, indeed over what period, but taking each of the points mentioned above:

Below, I use horse drawn transport as a possible "solution", but, my point is, it is current traffic levels which are the main problem, therefore, the method of propulsion makes little difference to the problem.

- This 2000 dead on the roads. If we were to revert to horse drawn transport (sustainable), with todays traffic levels, would the death rate be any lower?

- and many many more injured. If we were to revert to horse drawn transport (sustainable), with todays traffic levels, would the injury rate be any lower?

- however many more harmed by pollution. Again with arose drawn traffic, at current levels, pollution from horse dung, plus, pollution from feed production etc, would that be more "acceptable"?

- the inability of children to play in the street. If traffic levels remain the same, I do not see that the method of propulsion makes much difference?

- the general loss of public amenity from relentless traffic. If traffic levels remain the same, I do not see that the method of propulsion makes much difference?

IMHO opinion, each proposed "solution" has it's drawbacks, so, online shopping, for example, would remove the need to travel to the Hight Street, or out of Town Retail Park, but, we are already bemoaning the impact on the idealised "High Street".

If we were all dependant 100% on Public Transport, what about those who must work on it, how do they get to work, how do we prevent them "holding us to ransom"

Sadly, the solution will effectively be settled by a variation of "market forces", a combination of cost and convenience will interact until individuals each make their own choice as to how (if at all) they travel, and where they work / live.

 

[NorthernDave]

If we were all dependant 100% on Public Transport, what about those who must work on it, how do they get to work, how do we prevent them "holding us to ransom"

Within 10 years (and quite possibly less) "self-driving" autonomous buses and trains will start becoming widely available, and within 15-20 years they'll be the norm so no worrying about drivers getting to work. Same with trucks and taxis.

 

[nickyboy]

Within 10 years (and quite possibly less) "self-driving" autonomous buses and trains will start becoming widely available, and within 15-20 years they'll be the norm so no worrying about drivers getting to work. Same with trucks and taxis.

I suspect, whenever it finally happens, self-driving vehicles will have a huge effect on our society. Contrary to what you say, I could see more personal vehicles. No need to be awake to commute to work, sleep in your vehicle. So you can live much further from work than was previously the case

 

[theclaud]

Below, I use horse drawn transport as a possible "solution"

 

[marinyork]

I suspect, whenever it finally happens, self-driving vehicles will have a huge effect on our society. Contrary to what you say, I could see more personal vehicles. No need to be awake to commute to work, sleep in your vehicle. So you can live much further from work than was previously the case

yeah http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...et-philip-hammond-town-planning-a8119551.html

 

[Milkfloat]

You mean that we have to carry on subsidising those who choose to live in the country and commute into the cities?

I am fairly sure transport spend on cities is far, far higher per head than rural areas.

 

[steve292]

Of course, it is an internet forum, you are not beholden to answer anything.

But..... IMO we require a bit of joined up thinking in regards to putting the means for people and goods to be transported before we force, for want of a better word the car off our road network. For example, making sure that buses run to hospitals, schools, etc irrespective of the route being profitable or not. Trains that run frequently and are of sufficient capacity, both in terms of seats and cargo transport.
Park and ride schemes that are sensible and affordable and enough road policing to remove dangerous users quickly combined with the political will to fully punish those who injure or kill.
The bike is a part of the solution but not all of it.
Just my 2p. worth 1p tomorrow.

 

[steve292]

The first step, which could be done now, is taking public transport back into public ownership.

Quite. If its making a profit for the shareholders it's not public transport, IMO

 

[nickyboy]

I was looking out of my window at my little town and got to wondering what would happen if car use was taxed so that it became significantly more expensive than it is now. It isn't a big town, maybe 30,000 people. But most who work do so outside the town

Train to Manchester is already good and very popular. Anybody working there already takes the train. But there are way more travelling to jobs all over South Manchester, Cheshire, S Yorkshire. There is, at present, no viable public transport network that would meet these needs. Then you get to thinking about how to construct a public transport network that would meet these needs.

Each time I do this, I come to the conclusion that what actually happens is that people will want to move closer to their jobs and keep using their car or local public transport. But then you get to the nub of the problem. Houses near the jobs or near public transport nodes are limited in supply. So they become much more valuable and shoot up in price. At the same time, the houses in my little town become much less valuable. So those that want to move to be closer to their work can't afford to do so. So people in these small towns are stuck there. No way to move closer to their jobs.

 

[John the Monkey]

Is there not a law against blocking a dropped kerb?

Not sure of the legislation, but our council's parking enforcement will fine any vehicle blocking a dropped kerb in a non-residential area - no observations (to see whether the driver is loading, for example) are needed, and the ticket is issued immediately. They do not routinely enforce against the blocking of dropped kerbs in residential areas, but will do so if asked to by residents. IIRC the offence in the latter case is to block a dropped kerb without the householder's consent.

(I have had cause to look this up, as certain idiots on our street have taken to having their deliveries of building materials made with the delivery truck parked across our drive - no warning of when this will happen, and no seeking of permission or asking whether we would like to move our car off the drive first).

 

[bigjim]

Smaller cars would be a start. Cars are becoming huge with drivers unable to calculate their width hence a lot of close passes. One reason why they have to park on pavements, as they would otherwise block the road. So they block the pavement instead. It would be great if someone could produce a small narrow car. It has been tried with motorbike sort of thing, but badly designed IMO. Public transport is not a very pleasant experience these days. I use the bus and tram quite a lot.

 

[marinyork]

I was looking out of my window at my little town and got to wondering what would happen if car use was taxed so that it became significantly more expensive than it is now. It isn't a big town, maybe 30,000 people. But most who work do so outside the town

Train to Manchester is already good and very popular. Anybody working there already takes the train. But there are way more travelling to jobs all over South Manchester, Cheshire, S Yorkshire. There is, at present, no viable public transport network that would meet these needs. Then you get to thinking about how to construct a public transport network that would meet these needs.

Is where you live typical? I don't think so at all.

A massive jobs hub nearby in one direction. In the other direction people can pop over the pennines and do to the edge of this city, if they do at the right time as they aren't going to be sat in traffic as much as say if they drove from Sheffield to Rotherham (a short distance by comparison). If there were a few small towns in the way, people wouldn't commute all the way over here in such numbers. To me it's very atypical.

 

[marinyork]

Doesn't matter where you live/say you live, it's whether the public transport is adequate, goes where you need it to go and when you need to go there.
Work has become much more 24 hours, in many parts of the country, public transport hasn't. It should be government's responsibility more than being down to the individual which unfairly impacts on poorer people who have fewer choices.

I see the justification of people living in villages or towns all the time. What it is is people who don't want to think about it, so they substitute the question can I get there by not using a car for two much easier questions to answer - can I be arsed? and do I want to?

I worked in a site that ran 24 hours a day, modern employment and all that. Many of the staff lived within a couple of miles of the site. Some maybe 3 miles away. A very similar thing when I was a cleaner at a hospital, a lot of cleaners lived within a mile or two of the place. On two estates around here the buses, which are not regulated got out of fully covering those estates.

Are you seeing what you want to see? I work with a highly mobile workforce similar to yours, who generally travel very large distances and say it's unrealistic (worked with a few that got the train all the way here). They are often shocked when they find the workforce all live very nearby apart from me and one other person who lives 5 and 6.5 miles away.

 

[BoldonLad]

Much has been made of "living near your place of work", or, "living near children's schools".

These two items are not fixed. Children go to different schools at different stages of their education. Jobs are not jobs for life, it may be necessary to change jobs several times in one's "working life". If there are two working partners, then there may be the added problem of having to be near both places or work.

Leaving aside the fact(?) that car owners/users do not pay the full cost of their addiction, it has to be admitted, moving house is a costly exercise.

The current situation may not be far from perfect, but, as with many things in life, there is no "magic bullet" to fix it overnight. It has taken over 200 years to get from a rural economy to where we are now, I doubt it is going to be "fixed" in my lifetime.