sign the petiton!

GreyPilgrim

black-saturn wrote:

I think a PAYG car tax is a good idea. People use their cars far too much anyway and this will cut car useage down. People will think twice about jumping in the car for every single little journey.

I tend to agree. Whether the practicalities have been thought through is another matter but should we not at least debate this idea first before dismissing it as out of hand? You have to laugh at how people wring their hands about health, obesity, air pollution, carbon emissions but as soon as an idea to get people out their cars actually threatens THEM personally they bring the burning torches out and start saying their civil liberties are being infringed

I walked to work one morning a few years ago because my bus was cancelled. 50 minutes there and back and it cleared my head so much I did it every morning. People looked at me like I was some sort of deviant for WALKING so much..."BUT THATS LIKE...MILES!!!"

We are SO dependant on cars now that the thought of breaking into a sweat terrifies us.

I know that everyone with a car will come back with a barrage of reasons why they need theirs, and I reckong 10% will be geniune. The rest will be laziness.

Ditch the cars. You'll add years to your life.

(*GP runs for cover*)

oscar52

I agree people use cars too much, I remember a certain Labour MP using a car for a trip of 200 yards.

However to say put on petrol isnt good enough (we already have a tax rate of over 400% on fuel), Public Transport is non existant unless you live in the major cities. I have to travel over 150 miles a week to work - I cant afford £1 per mile plus petrol plus tax etc etc - I am unable to use public transport - it doesnt exist at the time i need to go to work and cycling 15 miles down a busy bypass isnt really a safe option. As I see it, this is just another tax on the poor - only the rich will be able to afford cars (bit like the Health Service now). I could probably ramble on forever about the incompetencies of this government forever.....

ZTD

black-saturn wrote:

I think a PAYG car tax is a good idea. People use their cars far too much anyway and this will cut car useage down. People will think twice about jumping in the car for every single little journey.

They won't because it's a linear charge. I can have 200 trips to the local supermarket for one visit to my parents. That means I won't think twice about driving to the supermarket (at least from a financial point of view), but would think twice about visiting my parents.

A lot of the problem stems from policies made in London. Some one comes up with some fond idea and then says "they can just jump on the bus" :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

They think the entire country is made up of London.

GreyPilgrim

oscar52 wrote:

I have to travel over 150 miles a week to work - I cant afford £1 per mile plus petrol plus tax etc etc - I am unable to use public transport - it doesnt exist at the time i need to go to work and cycling 15 miles down a busy bypass isnt really a safe option

This is exactly the problem though, surely? We're so car-centric that we have no choice to use them. cities are designed and built around them (or with the car in mind). Public transport IS rubbish and I wouldn't dream of biking anywhere because there are too many cars around.

But whats the answer? Keep piling more cars on the road or try and do something that compels people away from them? Like I said the proposed scheme may be unworkable, but at least it opens up debate.

oscar52

Possibly one answer would be to seek alternative fuels - Hydroelectric for example. Solar isnt much good over here, but the reasons against these are solely from the Petrol companies and the Government itself - both would lose alot of revenue if it was a case of just filling our cars with tap water. Engines have already been designed which are far more efficient than those on the roads, but plans were bought by the same people that would lose profit - the petrol companies.

livinginhope

ZTD wrote:

They think the entire country is made up of London.

Exactly what I've thought for years!
The government need to realise that people do actually live outside of London.

ZTD

GreyPilgrim wrote:

This is exactly the problem though, surely? We're so car-centric that we have no choice to use them.

Not neccesarily. We could use motorbikes/mopeds. A lot more economical, less use of resources and a lot safer to other road users. Many advantages, but never discussed.

GreyPilgrim wrote:

cities are designed and built around them (or with the car in mind).

Again, that city-centric mindset. Most of the land area of the UK is not city. You see that city-centric mindset when people are talking about 4x4s. Some places you need them.

GreyPilgrim wrote:

But whats the answer? Keep piling more cars on the road or try and do something that compels people away from them?

Congestion compels people away from them. Tax only compels poor people away from them. Keep the poor off the roads - that lets the rich get places quicker.

earwig

the answer is cheep afordable safe public transport every where in the country from the citys to the town to the villages that is the only anwer where i live it cost me and my dd 4.00 each way for a two mile trip and we have to wait in the cold for the bus to turn up so we wait untill oh comes home then we go in the car much cheeper much warmer

earwig

also the goverment dont want us to stop using our cars it will cost them to much money

Optimist

oscar52 wrote:

Possibly one answer would be to seek alternative fuels - Hydroelectric for example. Solar isnt much good over here, but the reasons against these are solely from the Petrol companies and the Government itself - both would lose alot of revenue if it was a case of just filling our cars with tap water. Engines have already been designed which are far more efficient than those on the roads, but plans were bought by the same people that would lose profit - the petrol companies.

Not really the answer to congestion. The UK has a growing population. Everybody wants a car