Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Travel
How to encourage people to use public transport?
I must be up front and admit that I have not made a lot of use of public transport over the past few years. I use a small family car (under 1500 cc's engine capacity) and it has very low carbon emissions, all of the things that the Government would wish, and therefore I pay a lower rate of road tax for it, and the insurance premiums are comfortable too. However, I will never, never, drive my car with any alcohol inside of me, even as little as one pint of ale.
On Saturday evening I went to a wedding reception at the Whiteleas Social Club, normally I only visit pubs or clubs within walking distance of home, but this was 1.4 miles away, so I decided to take a bus. I didn't have a clue which bus to get, so walked to the West Park and waited for the first bus to come along. It happened to be a lucky choice as it went up Stanhope Road and along Boldon Lane and Whiteleas Way to drop me off opposite Peter Johnson's. The fare was 90p.!! For a measly 1.4 miles!!
Petrol (unleaded) is now about 90p per litre, and my car will drive almost 9 miles for 90p worth of petrol, I was a bit shocked. O.K., so subtract all of the other costs of driving a car (insurance, road tax, MOT, servicing etc.) and I still think I could have drove 5 miles for 90p.
I met someone there who was telling me about the new zone system of charging on the Metro, a three zone ride to Newcastle is now 4.00 return for a daysaver before 9.00a.m., for a mere 13 miles. If, as this person must, you work seven shifts in Newcastle, then it will cost you 28.00 to travel to work. As was pointed out to me, it's almost worth taking the risk of not buying a ticket, if you get caught once a week it will cost you only 20.00 for the "standard charge". Where is the encouragement at these rates?
Just to cap it all off, the taxi fare for the short journey home came to five pounds. How on earth do they expect me to change my ways?
_________________________________________________________________
I must be up front and admit that I have not made a lot of use of public transport over the past few years. I use a small family car (under 1500 cc's engine capacity) and it has very low carbon emissions, all of the things that the Government would wish, and therefore I pay a lower rate of road tax for it, and the insurance premiums are comfortable too. However, I will never, never, drive my car with any alcohol inside of me, even as little as one pint of ale.
On Saturday evening I went to a wedding reception at the Whiteleas Social Club, normally I only visit pubs or clubs within walking distance of home, but this was 1.4 miles away, so I decided to take a bus. I didn't have a clue which bus to get, so walked to the West Park and waited for the first bus to come along. It happened to be a lucky choice as it went up Stanhope Road and along Boldon Lane and Whiteleas Way to drop me off opposite Peter Johnson's. The fare was 90p.!! For a measly 1.4 miles!!
Petrol (unleaded) is now about 90p per litre, and my car will drive almost 9 miles for 90p worth of petrol, I was a bit shocked. O.K., so subtract all of the other costs of driving a car (insurance, road tax, MOT, servicing etc.) and I still think I could have drove 5 miles for 90p.
I met someone there who was telling me about the new zone system of charging on the Metro, a three zone ride to Newcastle is now 4.00 return for a daysaver before 9.00a.m., for a mere 13 miles. If, as this person must, you work seven shifts in Newcastle, then it will cost you 28.00 to travel to work. As was pointed out to me, it's almost worth taking the risk of not buying a ticket, if you get caught once a week it will cost you only 20.00 for the "standard charge". Where is the encouragement at these rates?
Just to cap it all off, the taxi fare for the short journey home came to five pounds. How on earth do they expect me to change my ways?
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