Decongestant

[bigstraight6]

Great news today with the good and sensible peoples of Manchester giving a resounding no to the pointless congestion charge! So it shouldn't be coming to a Town near you soon I make no secret of not liking public transport, but I might be a bit inclined to like it more if it was funded out of my already huge tax bill, was efficient, and cheap. Then I might actually use it!

[pompei]

Hear hear! I was in Manchester a couple of weeks ago, and the Yes camp were looking increasingly desperate then, out on the streets harrassing passers by.Edinburgh blew it out too, so three cheers for democracy

[VWPowered]

my dad lives in mancester said he didnt want it, good on the northerners...

[hotford00]

Whoopeee, as I live in said area . The Manchester Evening news said the other night that less than 38 percent of voting forms had been returned on tuesday and it was supposed to be to close to call, how glad I am that the vote went in favor of common sense. The only worry is what will they come up with next?

[Guest greenvanman]

Whoopeee, as I live in said area . The Manchester Evening news said the other night that less than 38 percent of voting forms had been returned on tuesday and it was supposed to be to close to call, how glad I am that the vote went in favor of common sense. The only worry is what will they come up with next?

Hmmm, well if it's like the Irish referendum on the Lisbon treaty they'll just keep trying the same thing until they get/can fix up the answer they want.

[Pillock]

I actually quite like public transport. It's relaxing to use, gives great opportunities for shite-spotting over fences and, in the case of the train, in back gardens hidden from the road. If I catch the train into town it goes past two different scrap yards, great for sussing out the contents!However, that's only the case when it runs to a decent schedule. I can catch a bus to work, but there's only one an hour and they make it go past the business park (huge place, biggest employers in the region on one site, thousands of workers) at five past the hour. Meaning 99% of people will be at work stupidly early, or slightly late. I only take a car into the city if i have to. Sadly it seems there's never a decent alternative any more So a congestion charge will always get a NO from me.

[Guest]

My feelings on public transport are demonstrated in any thread where I've been without a working car due to breakdowns or lack of MOT or whatever, but to sum up: I consider public transport such a thoroughly depressing experience that I feel obliged to get myself at least over the drink drive limit before attempting to use it, regardless of the time of day. Around the time of the Galant's longest breakdown I was spending as much on ale/whiskey as I was overpriced bus fares. In my case, any public transport tends to be buses and around these parts they are expensive, dirty, cold and packed to the brim with people who make me not only question life, but humanity as a whole. Moon-faced mobile discos disguised as tracksuits, pot-bellied slags with shrieking jam-faced urchins, dreary old people paying with handfuls of shrapnel when you're 12 minutes late already and zany students who don't even need to say anything - you've already decided they need to be disposed of, permanently.So good news about the whole congestion charge thing anyway, it's selfish for me to drive to work alone, but for some people public transport will never be a viable daily option and I wish the powers that be would either acknowledge that and leave me alone or let me work from home so I'm not having to drive around every day. Simple!

[55bloke]

I hate the idea of a congestion charge, purely because of the near certainty that it won't actualy result in better publuc transport! The buses here in Sheffield are frequent and well used, but I still couldn't actually use them to get to and from work at the right times. The trams are fantastic, and cheap too, every city should have them!! I can JUST remember the last ones running in Leeds when I was a kid, bet they really wish they hadn't ripped up the tracks all those years ago now!

[Justin Case]

Well done to the people of Manchester , resisting blackmail is the only way to defeat it.But why do planners always assume either or? Many journeys can be made easier by a combination of means of travel. When I go into the centre of Birmingham, I always go by train, fast, comfortable (except in the rush hour, but then what is) and most important the station is right in the centre. But I only do this because there is an excellent park and ride system from the nearest station. Expand this throughout the country and congestion would really fall, and the extra passengers would make a more frequent rail or bus service cost-effective.

[CortinaDave]

as posted above, they'll just keep asking until they get the answer they want.edinburgh council made us all pay for the no vote a couple of years ago by closing off a shitload of streets and shoehorning traffic along one or two roads rather than the many that are thereThey said it was to improve traffic flow.... how exactly is closing most of the available routes going to IMPROVE traffic???Result is predicatably, frequent gridlock!As for the trams.. its the same story as the railway closures years ago... they're now having to put them all back. Edinburgh tram works currently under way so they can return after they ripped up all the lines in the 50'sWaverley railway through the borders now set to re open in the next few years after they closed it and ripped up the tracks with massive local opposition in 1970Fife coast line looks set to come back as well. Its costing taxpayers £££££ when we had it all there in the first place

[mk2_craig]

I'm sure a lot of the railway closures 40+ years ago were to save the operating/maintenance costs and put the money towards funding motorway building. Now that's gone out of favour the economic case for new/reopened rail lines stacks up again, at the end of the day more rail services = less road/air traffic which seems to make sense to me. Shame the railways over here were gone by the 1930s and there's NO prospect of them coming back

[55bloke]

In my ignorance, I didn't realise there'd ever been railways on the Channel Islands!

[Guest]

The trams are fantastic, and cheap too, every city should have them!! I can JUST remember the last ones running in Leeds when I was a kid, bet they really wish they hadn't ripped up the tracks all those years ago now!

What's funny is how even a lot of smaller cities had trams too. Wakefield, Dewsbury and Ossett also used to have them from the early 1900s. Not sure when they got rid of them (1950s, 60s?) and there doesn't seem to be much information on the Internet, found a book about them though. Might get that for Christmas just out curiousity, the idea of Wakefield having trams fascinated me as a kid, but the only information I've ever had on them were a few grainy 1930s photographs and grandparents memories.

[Richard]

As for the trams.. its the same story as the railway closures years ago... they're now having to put them all back. Edinburgh tram works currently under way so they can return after they ripped up all the lines in the 50'sWaverley railway through the borders now set to re open in the next few years after they closed it and ripped up the tracks with massive local opposition in 1970Fife coast line looks set to come back as well. Its costing taxpayers £££££ when we had it all there in the first place

Fife Coast line is coming back? Which bits? It was only recently I learned that the Minister who hired Beeching and rubber-stamped his recommendations owned a road construction company.

[RedSparrow]

In my case, any public transport tends to be buses and around these parts they are expensive, dirty, cold and packed to the brim with people who make me not only question life, but humanity as a whole. Moon-faced mobile discos disguised as tracksuits, pot-bellied slags with shrieking jam-faced urchins, dreary old people paying with handfuls of shrapnel when you're 12 minutes late already and zany students who don't even need to say anything - you've already decided they need to be disposed of, permanently.

I agree totally. I have no problem with public transport, but I can't stand the mouth breathers that are always on trains and buses. Last time I used a bus I left it in a rage having listened to chavs playing nausiating hip hop out load on their phones and talking about how much dole money they get (or which I give them every month as I am one of the mugs who works for a living).I left the bus ranting like Hitler about exterminating people etc etc!

[CortinaDave]

Fife coast line only coming back as far as Leven, since the track is still there. They ran freight along the line until sometime in the 90's I think.

 

Even Cameron Bridge station is still there... and it was closed in the 60's!

 

They say it's going to cost £55 million... why? just do a bit of weeding and plonk a couple of bus shelters on the old platforms, job done.

 

 

There was talk as well of re opening the line from leuchars to St Andrews, although thats still being talked about whereas the leven bit is a goer apparently

[55bloke]

Ha ha, yup, biggest problem with public transport is, it's full of the public!! But, when did the vast majority of "the public" become so bloody objectionable? I though it was a generation thing- you know, Grumpy Old Man Syndrome- but relieved to learn that the younger members of this forum feel the same!

[Richard]

Ah, I did know about that one. I thought they might have been talking about taking it further. I can see it going well over £55m if it goes ahead. I've walked the section from Leven to Cameron a couple of times and it's in very poor condition, and a lot more overgrown than when your photo was taken. They will have to replace virtually every sleeper and put fencing up along most of the length. Then of course they will have to build a glass monstrosity of a station at Leven.I don't know who can afford to commute by train though. A few years ago I got a job in Dundee and looked into commuting by train. Just getting to Dundee station was going to cost nearly double the cost of going by car, and I would still have to get a bus in Dundee.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I love travelling on trains, however I despise the UK rail network with its shockingly expensive tickets and disjointed 'that ticket is valuable on a brand X train but not a brand Y train' structure. I thikn its probably the thing that gets me the maddest about UK life. The trains are a fuggin disgrace!

[Richard]

I though it was a generation thing- you know, Grumpy Old Man Syndrome- but relieved to learn that the younger members of this forum feel the same!

I think you'll find the younger members here are premature Grumpy Old Men, as at least one of the older members was

[CortinaDave]

Yep I work in Dundee as well.. more's the pity.. I HATE Dundee! The A92 does my head in because of its single carraigeway winding-ness full of agricultural vehicles and Nissan "35mph is the national speed limit" Micra drivers.I'd prefer to get the train, but it worked out way more expensive than even taking my 2.8 Capri to work every day.. plus I finish work at 7pm and there's not a train to take me home until 9.30 so its no go.Girlfriend gets cheap fares as she has a young persons railcard, but as I am too old for one of those, I fall into the neither young or old enough to qualify for any railcard sectorwhy cant they do "ordinary bloke railcard"????

[Guest]

I've had to fill in a few similar questionaires for my employer, the last one I had was anonymous and provided loads of places to state "why not", something I used to its full advantage.Mainly that in the "any other comments" box I wrote a rant along the lines of "I drive my thirsty polluting car to work on my own, no amount of badgering is going to make me change my selfish ways and inconvenience myself, although maybe I should ride the gravy train to work like your pointless department does". JUSTICE.