What do you think about this?

Trumpet

Well-Known Forumite
Sofa said:
Buses need to be re-regulated and Stafford needs a bus station. Longton in Stoke has less than half the population of Stafford and had a new bus station built in 2003. Fares need to fall and bus companies must provide for the needs of the passengers and not the other way round, as it currently is.

Privatisation was supposed to create competition between bus companies, improve services and lower prices. I don't think we've seen any evidence of this happening.

By increasing car parking charges and not doing anything to improve the bus situation SBC will only be serving to force more shoppers, businesses and jobs away from Stafford.
Sounds about right to me.
 

zakkwylde87

Well-Known Forumite
henryscat said:
shoes said:
I think that the people who do drive get penalised enough - fuel, tax, maintenance, insurance, parking fees - it's horrendously expensive to drive.
Driving isn't as expensive as it should be. The cost of a car use to the driver do not cover all the costs that car use imposes on the state. In real terms the cost of driving has changed very little in decades. At the same time bus and rail fares have risen above inflation year on year. It isn't the driver who is being penalised.
Was waiting for that! What a suprise.... Strange anti driving/anti driver orientated response from henryscat. Although agree about bus and rail fares.

Sofa is right. It costs me £3.40 to go to town and back. If i go to the Yard on a Tuesday it's £1.50 a pint. So i can have still have two pints and have 40 pence change from the equivelant bus fare! Now thats not right...
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
zakkwylde87 said:
It costs me £3.40 to go to town and back. If i go to the Yard on a Tuesday it's £1.50 a pint. So i can have still have two pints and have 40 pence change from the equivelant bus fare! Now thats not right...
Offer the bus driver two cans, no questions asked..
 

United57

Well-Known Forumite
More car parks mean more revenue not from car parking charges but from fines for going over the allocated time or simply forgetting to buy a ticket.
 

henryscat

Well-Known Forumite
zakkwylde87 said:
henryscat said:
Driving isn't as expensive as it should be. The cost of a car use to the driver do not cover all the costs that car use imposes on the state. In real terms the cost of driving has changed very little in decades. At the same time bus and rail fares have risen above inflation year on year. It isn't the driver who is being penalised.
Was waiting for that! What a suprise.... Strange anti driving/anti driver orientated response from henryscat. Although agree about bus and rail fares.

Sofa is right. It costs me £3.40 to go to town and back. If i go to the Yard on a Tuesday it's £1.50 a pint. So i can have still have two pints and have 40 pence change from the equivelant bus fare! Now thats not right...
Always amusing that I get accused of being anti-driving - I'm not, I have a car.... But, I am anti too much driving and driving when not particularly necessary. Neither do I stick my head in the sand about the real costs of driving.

What I said is a statement of fact. Cost of driving has barely risen in real terms, public transport fares in the same period have gone up about 80% in real terms. The facts do not support the argument that drivers are being "penalised". If anything bus/rail users are.

Also, drivers do not pay the full costs of their journey - statement of fact, not anti-car. If you add up the costs paid by drivers to the state - excise duty, fuel duty, VAT it does not cover the costs driving imposes. Costs imposed are: cost to economy of congestion (i.e. lost time, inefficient vehicle use, increased fuel use), infrastructure costs, emergency service costs, cost of accidents (including loss of life and loss of income), cost of accidents to NHS, cost of pollution effects to NHS.

On another subject, why anyone would want to drink in the Yard beats me....
 

Lunar Scorpion

Anarchy in the UK
henryscat said:
On another subject, why anyone would want to drink in the Yard beats me....
Not to discredit everything else you said (which I 100% agree with) but LOL - you've been skilled for that...
 

henryscat

Well-Known Forumite
In today's Grauniad....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/02/unthinkable-declaring-war-motorists
 
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