Everywhere I go in the world, there are traffic jams. People who work in cities and even small towns have the drudgery of getting from where they live to where they work and then back again. Not only is it tiring on the individual but it's costly to both the individual and of course ultimately the world.
It seems to me that it's absolutely madness that we waste so much time and so much energy when the solution is obvious! Now don't get worried. I'm not in favour of banning the car. Far from it. The car is a wonderful invention that helps us out and really improves our quality of life in all areas - except for many many people - the commute!
Last year (2009) there was a big get together of the major world powers because "We only have 7 years to save the world" before we are irrevocably in the doo doo. The result of this was... absolutely nothing and now everyone seems to have forgotten about the sayers of doom. Seems our politicians don't give a damn.
Well, they can't make international agreements - but why can't they clean up there own backyards? I ask how much it would cost to make public transport free - or ultra-low cost for all.
You may say that public transport is rubbish. It's slow, awkward, smelly, and involves a lot of waiting about.... and I agree. I NEVER use public transport unless I have to. The main reason is my car is generally quicker and cheaper.
At the moment there is no carrot and stick incentives to using public transport. It's more like big stick "once I've bought a car it's cheaper to use a car than public transport" and little stick "Driving in rush hour traffic is slow and frustrating".
However if everyone started using it, public transport would be get a lot more focus and would naturally become better. We'd need more buses and trains running more often with better organisation to make sure connections between different modes of transport were more efficient.
When you look at how much money is spent on the car (www.thegreencarwebsite.co.uk indicate that the UK government wastes £1 billion a year on road projects which aren’t solving people’s transport problems) I'm sure that making transport free or very cheap wouldn't actually cost our govenment's that much money. Road repairs should reduce, traffic accidents should reduce, motoring offences should reduce, road rage should reduce, pollution should reduce. Also people might be less stressed, community spirit might return and we might all end up talking to each other rather than locking ourselves in our own little boxes.... and on a really plus side, we might just save the world from the worst that global warming will do to us. Perhaps we'd need to be taxed a little more, but the money we'd save from paying fuel - and fuel tax would probably more than compensate us for that.
There are basically 10 nations in the world chucking out 60% of the worlds C02. These are the biggest and generally richest countries, who's governments can afford to go to war at the drop of a hat (or the drop of a barrel of oil), and who could easily afford to provide decent low cost transport to all.
Does anyone share my views and has free public transport ever been tried before? Well the answer is yes and yes. It took me quite a while seaching around the web to find similar views:
The Scottish Socialist Party
Members of the Safe Speed forum
Free Public Transit
Another blog that shares the same views as me but is better written is Wiganshale's Blog in which the subject of elderly and disabled people is also raised. It is a crime that in some areas, public transport is almost non-existent which means that many non-drivers are almost imprisoned in their local area.
Call me mad... but if we don't have an incentive to use PT we are doomed! Make it really cheap and we'll use it - we really will.
It seems to me that it's absolutely madness that we waste so much time and so much energy when the solution is obvious! Now don't get worried. I'm not in favour of banning the car. Far from it. The car is a wonderful invention that helps us out and really improves our quality of life in all areas - except for many many people - the commute!
Last year (2009) there was a big get together of the major world powers because "We only have 7 years to save the world" before we are irrevocably in the doo doo. The result of this was... absolutely nothing and now everyone seems to have forgotten about the sayers of doom. Seems our politicians don't give a damn.
Well, they can't make international agreements - but why can't they clean up there own backyards? I ask how much it would cost to make public transport free - or ultra-low cost for all.
You may say that public transport is rubbish. It's slow, awkward, smelly, and involves a lot of waiting about.... and I agree. I NEVER use public transport unless I have to. The main reason is my car is generally quicker and cheaper.
At the moment there is no carrot and stick incentives to using public transport. It's more like big stick "once I've bought a car it's cheaper to use a car than public transport" and little stick "Driving in rush hour traffic is slow and frustrating".
However if everyone started using it, public transport would be get a lot more focus and would naturally become better. We'd need more buses and trains running more often with better organisation to make sure connections between different modes of transport were more efficient.
When you look at how much money is spent on the car (www.thegreencarwebsite.co.uk indicate that the UK government wastes £1 billion a year on road projects which aren’t solving people’s transport problems) I'm sure that making transport free or very cheap wouldn't actually cost our govenment's that much money. Road repairs should reduce, traffic accidents should reduce, motoring offences should reduce, road rage should reduce, pollution should reduce. Also people might be less stressed, community spirit might return and we might all end up talking to each other rather than locking ourselves in our own little boxes.... and on a really plus side, we might just save the world from the worst that global warming will do to us. Perhaps we'd need to be taxed a little more, but the money we'd save from paying fuel - and fuel tax would probably more than compensate us for that.
There are basically 10 nations in the world chucking out 60% of the worlds C02. These are the biggest and generally richest countries, who's governments can afford to go to war at the drop of a hat (or the drop of a barrel of oil), and who could easily afford to provide decent low cost transport to all.
Does anyone share my views and has free public transport ever been tried before? Well the answer is yes and yes. It took me quite a while seaching around the web to find similar views:
The Scottish Socialist Party
Members of the Safe Speed forum
Free Public Transit
Another blog that shares the same views as me but is better written is Wiganshale's Blog in which the subject of elderly and disabled people is also raised. It is a crime that in some areas, public transport is almost non-existent which means that many non-drivers are almost imprisoned in their local area.
Call me mad... but if we don't have an incentive to use PT we are doomed! Make it really cheap and we'll use it - we really will.