The Big 'Let's sell our cars and take buses/ebikes instead' thread (warning: probably very dull)
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I use Starlink here, and while you do need fairly clear view of the sky for it to work best - which we have - it is fast and has so far been exceptionally reliable and stable.
Had it now for going on 2 years. Total downtime in that period is less than 60 minutes all up. Yes, total over 2 years.
Open One+ BMC TE29 Seven 622SL On One Scandal Cervelo RS0 -
Interesting. Where I was looking the issue was always mature trees, even for houses with a couple of acres. I would have been constantly thrown off my work systems. I don't think it would have been as much of an issue for streaming, for example.
For ScotRail, it can't be any worse than they have and I am sure it will be a massive improvement for the rural lines, all joking aside.
I'm not sure where you are based, but another issue that might face Scottish customers is the weather. How is it when it's is thick cloud and torrential rain?
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Other side of the world. Tasmania.
Not quite Scotland conditions, but I’ve not noticed service degradation in what bad weather we have had. The dish has a heating option for areas with snow or ice but we rarely even get frost so I’ve disabled that.
Download speeds are typically 150-200 Mb/s. Upload is 25-40. Ping is usually 30-40 mS.
Open One+ BMC TE29 Seven 622SL On One Scandal Cervelo RS0 -
That is pretty fast.
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An interesting thread on Berlin. Maybe Stevo ought to move there. Seems they like cars.
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Congestion charging hits New York.
https://bsky.app/profile/sparkhurst.bsky.social/post/3lffnrkx6is2v
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Definitely seems like a win-win... less traffic, and those who do drive get there faster.
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More good news... insurance premiums in London lower because of 20mph limits.
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I went out to the sticks the other day (St Albans). My return bus ticket from the station was, it turns out, only valid on one bus company which is not very useful for the customer.
Also, finding the right stop at the station involves more effort than going to one of them and looking at the display.
None of this stuff is difficult or costly.
On the plus side, the driver had a policy of not charging kids. Not sure it helps bus economics though.
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The Elizabeth line has had 500 million journeys. Build it and they will come.
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My daughter gets the train to school, it's one stop and 2 different train companies run between those two stations with a 50/50 chance of which she will get depending on how quickly she gets out of school in the evening.
Both companies allow you to use a smart card to get a season ticket that lasts all term and that I can buy/recharge the card on the app (great system) but you are only supposed to use it on that company's trains. If she buys a paper ticket on the day, she can use it on either one but it costs more and is less convenient.
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It's a pleasure to travel on. It would be nice if the LU lines could be brought up to a similar standard (or the trains on those lines at least).
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Pretty sure you didn't agree with the Build it and they will come argument about adding routes etc to regional airports.......
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But London.
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Roads are another example, but less popular on here.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
It's a catchy phrase, but no basis in fact. History is full of examples of railways and roads that were a roaring success and others that were expensive mistakes.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Not sure you will find any major roads that are under used in the UK.
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This lovely section of dual carriageway that I designed and worked on site while it was being built on site 28 years ago has never been used by the public. £8 million to build!
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Looks like the best cycle path in Britain! 😉
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
M6 toll road?
There's also the half-finished stump of a motorway - the Northern end of the M23 - just down the road from me. The original plan was to extend the motorway into Streatham Vale. Instead it's grafted onto the single carriageway A23, with a couple of slip roads south of Coulsdon.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
I haven’t been down it in years but last time I did you had to scramble over fly tipping.
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The new junction off the M49 to serve the distribution centre with Amazon is a classic too. It’s been finished a few years but can’t be opened as no-one was required to build the line no road and they are all pointing fingers at each other on who needs to pay for it to be constructed.
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That’s a whole other issue. Scrotes.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
It depends how you judge things. Are the channel tunnel and Eurostar a success? Certainly not for the original investors who were wiped out. Is the Croyden tram a success? Not if you compare to expected passenger numbers or you were an investor in the scheme. There are countless examples of passenger forecasts being wrong and build costs being underestimated, but once something is built it is generally used, and for people who want fewer cars, that is a success.
I saw the same discussion come up on HS2. No one knows what the economic impact will be or how it will change passenger numbers, but we do know that it will be used and it will provide an economic boost - we just don't know whether it will be value for money.
Airports are a bit different e.g. Doncaster.
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I think we're more or less agreeing. I was particularly thinking of all the small Victorian railways (we'd call them tech startups) some of which succeeded and for quite a few the investors lost their shirts.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
The history of the Culm Valley Light Railway is fascinating: built on a shoestring (e.g. all the bridges were wooden) to serve a sparsely populated rural area, it would have gone under within five years were it not for firstly GWR buying it, then the Hemyock dairy getting contracts to supply fresh milk to London and manufacture butter. The line closed within weeks of the factory closing in the 1980s.
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The build it and they will come concept has limits for all transportation.
But it does apply to the airports that you were trying to deflect us from discussing because we had a good point, such as Notdoncaster Airport and Notbounemouth Airport.
Happy to talk about other airports though, such as Plymouth or Broadford, where there is absolutely no demand. We can also talk about a motorway to Thurso if you want
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Thankfully when it comes to airports, we have these wonderful things called businesses that can make an assessment of demand and exploit it if they think it's worth it, rather than someone in Whitehall dictating where airports will be allocated.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition1 -
Businesses are like water though as they take the path of least resistance. That leads to centralisation which brings it's benefits, and it's downsides.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
Yes, everything has consequences, positive and negative. Tens of small airports evenly distributed would be super convenient, but put far more people under a flight path and be hopelessly inefficient.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0
