| Topic: | Re:Re:Pick up and Drop Off Chaos at Ealing Broadway Station | |
| Posted by: | Michael Brandt | |
| Date/Time: | 26/02/10 10:53:00 |
| It's no fun using the car,or a van these days. For at least 15 years it's high costs and parking fines and believe me, it piles on the stress. But for me, being restricted by TfL was the last straw. Reliability was becoming too much of an issue over the last 12 months but getting banned from carrying my equipment after 23 years of doing so. Mad. The car was for many years the liberator of the less well off, opening opportunities outside what was once a restricted domain. But outside of those who need a car to work it has been handed to the better off or those who want to give that appearance. There really is no need for a stick thin 30 something to be driving a huge 4x4 in an urban area. Cars have got larger through the necessity of increased safety but even modern small cars are safer than large 'safe'cars of the past. It's the one issue I think Ken was right about. The taxation class should include 4x4 and justifiable working vehicles. And encourage smaller urban cars including standard sized estates. Certainly, if you work in a fixed place then as long as it is nearby, Public Transport is the best. Key to that is reliability and as comfortable as possible. Ealing's local services are not too bad but the city to Ealing and town to town routes are failing too often. As Londoners we have been lucky for generations because London Buses and tubes have been the world benchmark in quality and comfort. Only noticeable when compared to what was offered outside London and in other countries. But this seems to be on the slide. Comfort is going out the window with many new bus and train designs. With trains the seats are becoming fewer. If you want to get more people out of cars then the bus and tube has to offer at least a close comparison in comfort as a bonus to reliability. TfL have not really grasped this and in fact have let the opposite occur. |