From: ABlainey@aol.com
Date: Tue Feb 11 2003 - 17:58:51 MST
In a message dated 11/02/03 06:58:08 GMT Standard Time,
maxmcorp@worldonline.dk writes:
> >> Mike Lorrey wrote:
> >>
> >>> There is the popular notion that the UN Declaration of Human Rights
> >>> declares a 'right to drive'.
> >>>
> >> Since in most modern city areas it is next to impossible to be
> >> gainfully employed and functional without driving I believe it is a
> >> mistake to consider driving a 'privilege'. It is a near-necessity.
> >> Necessities should not be limited except under severe circumstances. -
> >> samantha
>
>
> Again I will come with a eurochirp here.
>
> One of the things our excessive taxations are used for is an extensive
> public transporation system.
>
> We have subsidided trains and busses galore, so that nobody actually
> needs a car to get around.
>
I disagree. I live less than 100 feet away from a main north/south Train line
in England and just 5 minutes walk from the local station. I live outside the
M25 and can travel to london in about 30 minutes by train. Fantastic!.
However The nearest large town is just 6 miles away and to the west. in order
to get there by train, I have to travel 20 miles south, change lines and then
out to my destination. The train journey takes over 90 minutes. In the car, I
can get there in 10 minutes and the same driven journey by Bus takes around
40 minutes.
The trouble with public transport systems is that they don't get you
where you want to go either quickly enough, Cheaply enough or comfortably
enough. I wouldn't care if the bus journey went via the moon if the journey
met the above three criteria.
In my situation travel by public transport is only an option when
travelling north/south and when I travel to London, 90% of the time I go by
train. East/west journeys are strictly car only.
I came up with an idea a while back when working a fair distance from home.
the reason I was having to travel so far every day was that I couldn't find a
similar job locally. The funny thing was that I knew someone that I used to
work with, who was doing almost an Identical job to me in the town next to
mine. The funnier thing was that the town I travelled to was the town where
he lived.
We passed each other on the same motorway every day as we both fought
our way through traffic.
It doesn't take a genius to see what's wrong with this picture. So It
raises the question. What would happen if a law was passed that meant you
could only work within a certain radius of your home? This is probably a tad
strict, so I thought a better way would be to Tax people on the distance they
travel to work.
I'm not sure whether this would change how far people travel in
general. Common sense says it would, but Then common sense also says that you
pay more in Fuel Tax by travelling further anyway.
As an aside, have you ever tried to get a wheel chair on a bus? It
isn't pretty.
Alex
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Tue Feb 11 2003 - 18:01:33 MST