Boris say now looking at driverless trains.

pqrdef

They aren't driverless, they drive themselves.

Can't wait till a self-driving train wants to go on maintenance leave. Boris will probably sack it and have it dismantled. I mean, why should he keep a train on that isn't working?

somethingcorporate

It's only a matter of time before tube drivers shoot themselves in the foot! Good on BJ for kicking off the sensible discussion!

TruckerT

pqrdef wrote: »

They aren't driverless, they drive themselves

Actually, they are driven by computers, and the people who drive the computers would have Boris at their mercy...

If driverless trains were a serious possibility right now, BoJo wouldn't need to wait for a threatened strike, he would have started work already...

TruckerT

ILW

TruckerT wrote: »

Actually, they are driven by computers, and the people who drive the computers would have Boris at their mercy...

If driverless trains were a serious possibility right now, BoJo wouldn't need to wait for a threatened strike, he would have started work already...

TruckerT

He will have the public on his side now though.

ruggedtoast

Can someone explain to me why they can't just spend a couple of weeks training some new drivers and pay them an amount more commensurate with their skills and abilities.

I can see why skilled industries grind to a halt when their workers go on strike, but how difficult can it actually be to teach someone to press a button to open the doors, press a button to close the doors, and pull a lever to make something go and stop?

They could still pay them £30k a year and ask for people with degrees in engineering. It seems absurd to me that people who are less skilled than a bus driver wield such disproportionate influence over London's transport network.

TruckerT

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Can someone explain to me why they can't just spend a couple of weeks training some new drivers and pay them an amount more commensurate with their skills and abilities.

I can see why skilled industries grind to a halt when their workers go on strike, but how difficult can it actually be to teach someone to press a button to open the doors, press a button to close the doors, and pull a lever to make something go and stop?

They could still pay them £30k a year and ask for people with degrees in engineering. It seems absurd to me that people who are less skilled than a bus driver wield such disproportionate influence over London's transport network.

I daresay that in the short term a change in Employment Law is more likely than the necessary change in Railway Technology, but it would be a dangerous backward step in the process of 'civilisation'

TruckerT

discoass

somethingcorporate wrote: »

It's only a matter of time before tube drivers shoot themselves in the foot! Good on BJ for kicking off the sensible discussion!

and then when the public find out how much this will cost to impliment and fares increase to pay for it ,you`ll all be wanting the drivers back

purch

Boris does talk some sh!te.

Yeah.

Remember when he said he was going to replace the Bendy Bus with a new design, hybrid powered Double Deck Bus ?

That'll never happen :eek:

somethingcorporate

discoass wrote: »

and then when the public find out how much this will cost to impliment and fares increase to pay for it ,you`ll all be wanting the drivers back

It already costs circa £100m a year to pay for the tube drivers. It wouldn't be too many years until we'd see some payback.

Would people rather pay lower fares and get held to ransom by 3-4 strikes a year or pay a little bit more for an efficient, non-striking service? Except then we'd have delays due to software malfunctions or mice chewing through power cables :P

Spartacus_Mills

Browntoa wrote: »

London Dockland Light Railway has always been driverless

Jubilee Line and Northern Line either have been or are being modified to go driverless too. Worked on it a while back.