Support road pricing ...

[teuchter]

For any disgruntled pedestrians, cyclists, public transport users, or environmentalists out there:

As the anti-road pricing petition seems to have gotten its fair share of publicity on here, it's only right that this one should too ...

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/yes2roadpricing/

Fast approaching the 2,000 mark!!!

 

[Space Girl]

have you thought of the bigger picture?

I am all for the enviroment but surely rather than charging the car users to use the roads it would be better to invest in better alternatives to road travel such as better train routes and services/buses etc.

Some people such as myself do not live where I work as I am priced out of the housing market, I start work at 7am, I can not get a train or a bus to my work for that time, I can not even get into work for 9am, the train goes literally past my work but it does not stop, I have to go all the way to clapham junction to then get a train all the way back out to west london.

If the train or the bus took me to work I would definately use them but they don't so I have no choice but to drive.

Now, you may tell me to move or change my job but this is not the issue, the issue is that we have crap train and bus services in this country and IMO that's what people should be protesting about and trying to get the government to address this issue rather than charging me because I have no choice but to drive

I am of course ready for the flaming

 

[teuchter]

The wording of the petition is as follows:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Introduce road pricing nationwide and channel the money into improving public transport and conditions for walking and cycling."

Carrot and stick.

I see it as part of the "bigger picture" of doing everything we can to encourage Britain to become less dependant on the car. The less dependant we are on the car in general, the less people will be in your situation where they have no alternative, or claim to have no alternative. Absolutely we need to improve public transport as part of the equation.

 

[cybertect]

Fast approaching the 2,000 mark!!!

Still approaching the 2,000 mark

 

[Cobbles]

Still approaching the 2,000 mark

Well, then you'll need another million and a half signatures for it to be ignored as merely being a contribution to the debate.

 

[teuchter]

Still approaching the 2,000 mark

Past the 2,000 mark!

 

[teuchter]

Well, then you'll need another million and a half signatures for it to be ignored as merely being a contribution to the debate.

As opposed to what?

 

[cybertect]

Must have been a sudden spurt after lunch... it was at 1,986 an hour ago.

 

[moose]

I see it as part of the "bigger picture" of doing everything we can to encourage Britain to become less dependant on the car. The less dependant we are on the car in general, the less people will be in your situation where they have no alternative, or claim to have no alternative. Absolutely we need to improve public transport as part of the equation.

I see it as people who live in an overcrowded capital, and who have absolutely no idea of the paucity of public transport provision outside major cities, being interfering arses.

 

[teuchter]

I see it as people who live in an overcrowded capital, and who have absolutely no idea of the paucity of public transport provision outside major cities, being interfering arses.

The whole point of it is that it can be adjusted so that those outside of the overcrowded areas pay less.

Even though they contribute just as much to pollution.

And if you read the wording of the petition it calls for the money raised to be used for the improvement of the poor public transport you refer to.

 

[Gromit]

Why not just ask for the existing road pricing scheme called Fuel tax to divert more of its funds to alternatives to road travel such as better train routes and services/buses etc.

The road pricing scheme will cost substantialy more before it sees even a penny in revenue. It involves the manufacture of millions of tracking units (that manufacture will have a carbon footprint), it will need loads of servers to track and calculate everything (more carbon footprint) and tons more admin staff who will need to be paid before any profit is taken.

If it costs 1 million pound to claim 3 million in tax now it will cost 2.6 million pound to claim 3 million under the new system and so they'll charge 5.6 million to make up for the surplus cost.

 

[moose]

The whole point of it is that it can be adjusted so that those outside of the overcrowded areas pay less.

Even though they contribute just as much to pollution.

And if you read the wording of the petition it calls for the money raised to be used for the improvement of the poor public transport you refer to.

Now you're confusing your own issue. Do you want to reduce dependence on the car, as stated in your second post, or do you want to reduce congestion? because they are not the same issue.

As Marius points out, there is already an effective way of taxing people on how much they use their vehicles. Where they use them is another matter.

 

[cybertect]

Where they use them is another matter.

and when

 

[teuchter]

Primarily I want to reduce dependance on the car. I would happily raise fuel duty to this end. However I have some sympathy with the concerns of rural dwellers etc to this and see road pricing, in principle, as a sensible way of addressing these concerns. And it also has the advantage of helping to control congestion - which you might have thought motorists would be pleased about...

 

[Irenick]

We moan and bitch; we demonise parking wardens; we blame everything and every one for the congestion that we create.

So, let’s have a free-for-all. Why not suspend all parking restrictions in London? How long would it take for complete grid-lock of the Capital’s roads? What would happen when chaos kicked-in?