19th February 2007, 05:45 PM
Quite, Dave, I think that is the nub of my rant.
Using the bandwagon of climate change etc. as a blunt instrument to hike taxes up and still seem like the good guys is a pretty transparent ploy. If the intentions were genuine, there would be alternative measures in place, or being put in place but public transport is pretty much a joke. Some (usually profitable!) routes are fine, of course, other journeys less so. Leeds to London by train is great provided you book online in advance and travel after 11-ish, and there's only one of you, for example. But it takes me 90 minutes to get to Leeds from home by train, and 30 by car. Two of us, it becomes cheaper by car.
If the intention is to cut congestion on, well, congested routes, this is a different argument. Would it work, or would it just shove the traffic onto previously tranquil back roads? If it is to apllied to rush hour traffic in certain areas, it seems a pretty iniquitous tax to me. Nobody drives in rush hour traffic because they want to, it's because they need to. Will everyone be able to find an alternative - I doubt it, because if they could, they probably would have.
Freedom of travel is a great democratiser. Having invented it, it's pretty hard to un-invent.
We owe the dead nothing but the truth.
Using the bandwagon of climate change etc. as a blunt instrument to hike taxes up and still seem like the good guys is a pretty transparent ploy. If the intentions were genuine, there would be alternative measures in place, or being put in place but public transport is pretty much a joke. Some (usually profitable!) routes are fine, of course, other journeys less so. Leeds to London by train is great provided you book online in advance and travel after 11-ish, and there's only one of you, for example. But it takes me 90 minutes to get to Leeds from home by train, and 30 by car. Two of us, it becomes cheaper by car.
If the intention is to cut congestion on, well, congested routes, this is a different argument. Would it work, or would it just shove the traffic onto previously tranquil back roads? If it is to apllied to rush hour traffic in certain areas, it seems a pretty iniquitous tax to me. Nobody drives in rush hour traffic because they want to, it's because they need to. Will everyone be able to find an alternative - I doubt it, because if they could, they probably would have.
Freedom of travel is a great democratiser. Having invented it, it's pretty hard to un-invent.
We owe the dead nothing but the truth.