What are your views on your local public transport?
Yesterday I decided to do the "good" thing and use public transport but almost had to go back for my car as the bus was over 15 minutes late and I had a train to catch! It took an hour and a half to do a journey which would have taken around 30 minutes in the car!
I used to use public transport to get to work - the buses were supposed to run every 15 minutes but on one occassion it was 45 minutes before three buses showed up together! After that I cycled and could get to work faster than I would have had I taken the bus!
Is it any wonder people aren't using public transport (in particular buses)? It is far from a convenient and reliable service. Our local bus service barely even runs at the same time as the trains, sometimes it is an hour wait for a bus home from the train station - and that's only as long as the bus is on time!
I think it is high time something was done to improve public transport - it is all very well asking people to use it but when it is as unreliable as it is, it is far from providing a good, useable service. I wouldn't trust the bus to get me to work (not that is an option) or to an appointment.
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
I have to admit that passenger transport is quite good here! So I am lucky, I know, as when I use it down where my extended family live, its poor, thats being kind! But its not Public and has not been so for many years. Lets not forget who ran down these public services and carved them up for profit in the first place. Back then they used the media to rubbish them and declared how things would be much better their way. Well here we are living it and soon it seems we may be putting them back in control of Government. I say we get what we deserve!!!
John :-)
For viewing or photography right place right time is everything. I'd rather be in the right place with poor kit than have the best kit and be in the wrong place.
Hear hear!
Make the boy interested in natural history if you can; it is better than games [Robert Falcon Scott]
Hi John,
To be honest I used the trains to commute to London way before they were privatised and it was just as bad back then. We were made promises and were lulled into a false belief that it would be much better when it changed and it never did. Just held to ransom to make them more profit and still provide an abysmal service. Whether it will ever change I don't know but I'm really glad I'm out of it now.
Regards
Kerry
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kezmo6310/
Unknown said: I used the trains to commute to London way before they were privatised and it was just as bad back then. We were made promises and were lulled into a false belief that it would be much better when it changed and it never did. Whether it will ever change I don't know but I'm really glad I'm out of it now.
I used the trains to commute to London way before they were privatised and it was just as bad back then. We were made promises and were lulled into a false belief that it would be much better when it changed and it never did. Whether it will ever change I don't know but I'm really glad I'm out of it now.
So what makes us so different from our continental buddies when it comes to running a transport system? They seem to be able to do it
S
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I use a car to get to work as it would take around 3 or 4 buses and between 1 - 2 hours to do a 20 min journey door to door in a car (plus I wouldn't get to see my beloved hares!!!!).
Seymouraves - I really don't know the answer to that! When we lived in France, trains were quick, easy and cheap to use! On a short trip to Italy a few years ago, again I found the train service to be reliable, cheap and easy!!
When I lived in Kent, before I could drive, I used to come to Shropshire by train to visit my parents and that would be quite costly and would involve usually at least 3 trains (sometimes the next one would be missed as it either left early or the one I was on was late - or both!!) and an underground stint (which I HATED) in London. It was such a hassle with the luggage! It was bliss when I learnt to drive! Even with the M25 to contend with!! Now I've moved to Shropshire, I still drive to Kent to see friends and family as again, they are all spread out and it would be a logisitical nightmare trying to get to each (especially as some are very rural!!).
Having said that, I bought the most economical car I could afford (Modus ecodiesel - £35 road tax bracket) and only use it for journeys beyond walking distance.
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
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Try using public transport in the wilds of Devon. Our nearest bus stop is two miles away, it has one bus a day, so if you went somewhere you couldn’t get back.
If we go to our nearest town to catch a bus we have to make the round trip in under three hours because none of the car parks within walking distance of the buses allow you to park for more than three hours.
Build it and they will come.
Hello.Where I live, public transport to and from either the centre of Glasgow or Cumbernauld is okay. However services to many areas could be lot better. I can't drive, so unless my father happens to be going the same route I'm totally reliant on public transport. With all the accounts of how public transport is much more efficeint, cost effective, and cleaner in the continant and is state funded; makes it obvious that public transport should be state funded in Britain.Paul.
Warning! This post contains atrocious spelling, and terrible grammar. Approach with extreme edginess.
seymouraves said: I used the trains to commute to London way before they were privatised and it was just as bad back then. We were made promises and were lulled into a false belief that it would be much better when it changed and it never did. Whether it will ever change I don't know but I'm really glad I'm out of it now.
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Investment in short! If we chose to spend the public purse on any and everything except the public, then we end up here. Thatcher came to power on the back of two sayings, 'we promise to spend less of your money on you' and 'whatever the market will stand' We the public enjoyed that sudden spring in the market and now it seems thats what we crave most 'money'! The truth is we will only ever get paid enough to make us keep working, its just numbers before quality. The current government was too afraid to rock that boat and try to guide us back to a service based society where quality of life comes first! You get what you pay for in this life, we get Duck houses, Moats, second House, Quangos and the like and others get better services.
Oops back on that box again! John :-)
*gives H McH a pat on the back while helping him down from the soapbox* :-D
On a more positive note, I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate a particular bus service in the Brighton area, called The Big Lemon (yes, really). They run their buses on recycled cooking oil, which they get from chippies and bakeries after they've finished with it (so there's no fossil fuels and no rainforest being cut down for biofuels). Genius. Many of their passengers are students so they have updates on Facebook if a bus is late, I think these come straight to your mobile phone if you have a modern one so you'd know before you go to the bus stop. They do lots of things for the community like supporting a community garden and letting charities book their buses really cheaply. And it's all run by lovely people. Have a look at www.thebiglemon.co.uk
Love it.