The Big 'Let's sell our cars and take buses/ebikes instead' thread (warning: probably very dull)

1…8182848687…187

Comments

  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 29,103
    Stevo_666 said:

    rjsterry said:

    Stevo_666 said:

    rick_chasey said:

    Stevo_666 said:

    kingstongraham said:

    Pross said:

    kingstongraham said:

    rick_chasey said:

    kingstongraham said:

    Not much traffic this week.

    Well in which case scrap it all.

    Average speeds have been declining all over the place for a long time now.
    Every school holiday shows how much difference a reduction in optional driving would make.
    It's not necessarily optional though as some of it will be people having to take leave so not driving to work. It's not that big a percentage change either but a tiny amount either side of a junction's capacity has a big impact.
    Get the buses moving faster than cars everywhere possible. And by possible, I don't only mean places where that doesn't inconvenience car drivers.
    I don't understand why poor people need to get places faster than the rest of us?
    Can I assume this is a joke?
    It is, but it's also a fair question :smile:
    If buses are in their own dedicated lane, they can't be obstructing car drivers. It must be something else getting in the way of the 🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🤔
    I said 'need to', not 'do' :smile:
    Nobody has claimed buses are faster.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 60,620
    rjsterry said:

    Stevo_666 said:

    rjsterry said:

    Stevo_666 said:

    rick_chasey said:

    Stevo_666 said:

    kingstongraham said:

    Pross said:

    kingstongraham said:

    rick_chasey said:

    kingstongraham said:

    Not much traffic this week.

    Well in which case scrap it all.

    Average speeds have been declining all over the place for a long time now.
    Every school holiday shows how much difference a reduction in optional driving would make.
    It's not necessarily optional though as some of it will be people having to take leave so not driving to work. It's not that big a percentage change either but a tiny amount either side of a junction's capacity has a big impact.
    Get the buses moving faster than cars everywhere possible. And by possible, I don't only mean places where that doesn't inconvenience car drivers.
    I don't understand why poor people need to get places faster than the rest of us?
    Can I assume this is a joke?
    It is, but it's also a fair question :smile:
    If buses are in their own dedicated lane, they can't be obstructing car drivers. It must be something else getting in the way of the 🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🤔
    I said 'need to', not 'do' :smile:
    Nobody has claimed buses are faster.
    Just as well. Especially when you add on the time spent walking or taking ebikes to get to/from the bus stops, changing buses and waiting for the next one etc.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 27,762
    rjsterry said:

    Stevo_666 said:

    rjsterry said:

    Stevo_666 said:

    rick_chasey said:

    Stevo_666 said:

    kingstongraham said:

    Pross said:

    kingstongraham said:

    rick_chasey said:

    kingstongraham said:

    Not much traffic this week.

    Well in which case scrap it all.

    Average speeds have been declining all over the place for a long time now.
    Every school holiday shows how much difference a reduction in optional driving would make.
    It's not necessarily optional though as some of it will be people having to take leave so not driving to work. It's not that big a percentage change either but a tiny amount either side of a junction's capacity has a big impact.
    Get the buses moving faster than cars everywhere possible. And by possible, I don't only mean places where that doesn't inconvenience car drivers.
    I don't understand why poor people need to get places faster than the rest of us?
    Can I assume this is a joke?
    It is, but it's also a fair question :smile:
    If buses are in their own dedicated lane, they can't be obstructing car drivers. It must be something else getting in the way of the 🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🤔
    I said 'need to', not 'do' :smile:
    Nobody has claimed buses are faster.
    They should be. It makes sense.
  • morstar
    morstar Posts: 6,190
    rick_chasey said:

    Well since I was banging on about metals in the earth being a limiting factor on electric cars.

    One of them isn’t anymore (though refining capacity and location still is)

    I wonder when the whole mobile phone update cycle will shift from annually to a longer cycle? I can only imagine it's a very small minority who now update annually.

    I've never been a flash 'must have the latest thing type of person' but I did often want to update quite quickly with new features being advertised or a performance slow down of my current model.
    However, my current phone will be 4 later this year and it really hasn't experienced any age related limitations that I've noticed. It was the prior years model when I bought it too.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 26,976
    Yup. Mine will be 4 years old this year and I’ve seen nothing to entice me to an upgrade. Will probably be a catastrophic event that will cause a new purchase.
    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.
  • pangolin
    pangolin Posts: 6,604
    Mine will be 7 in June and I use it loads, quite impressed it has done so well. Get the occasional bit of slowdown these days so it might not make it to 8.
    - Genesis Croix de Fer
    - Dolan Tuono
  • morstar
    morstar Posts: 6,190
    I think it’s quite telling that 5g has been around since before covid (it did cause covid after all) and that still seems to have had a very limited roll out.

    I remember all the encouragement to get a 5g handset back then. If I had done, the 5g would never have been able to be used other than for about 10 days I’ve been in either London or Manchester.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,162
    So much for the argument of needing a car for the weekly shop or to carry loads :wink:

    https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brommelstroet_please-tell-me-again-why-you-need-a-car-ugcPost-7051244087890305024-HcaV?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios
  • monkimark
    monkimark Posts: 1,881
    Somebody should tell him about rucksacks.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Economist has done one of its special reports for carmakers, if anyone is interested.

    It's not really look at it from a transport system perspective (so isn't concerned with traffic in general, but it does list that they think car-ownership may have peaked), but some relevant stuff here which is contrary to what I have posted in the past here:

    The biggest deterrents to buying an electric car—price and range—are slowly being overcome. Tightening bottlenecks for raw materials, such as lithium and nickel, caused battery prices, which are still around 40-50% of the cost of a new ev, to rise slightly in 2022. But scale and new tech have pushed prices down by as much as 90% since 2008.


    Though it does mention the geopolitical risks in this article: https://www.economist.com/special-report/2023/04/14/troublesome-tensions but sees them as challenges that can be overcome in the medium to long term (although possibly at some cost to the consumer long term).
    _
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 29,103
    At one of my local parks yesterday which is very popular with dog walkers and has a good café, so gets a lot of visitors from slightly further afield. The number of EVs was quite notable and all driven by boomers.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,162
    Only ones rich enough to afford them obviously.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 29,103
    Pross said:

    Only ones rich enough to afford them obviously.

    It would seem so.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 60,620
    rjsterry said:

    At one of my local parks yesterday which is very popular with dog walkers and has a good café, so gets a lot of visitors from slightly further afield. The number of EVs was quite notable and all driven by boomers.

    Someone tell Rick that Boomers are saving the planet.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    I think my scepticism of EVs is well documented
    _
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 60,620
    rick_chasey said:

    I think my scepticism of EVs is well documented

    I reckon mine are too.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 27,762
    They will bring in road pricing.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Speaking of EVs, India has discovered what could be one of the world's largest lithium reserves.
    _
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 29,103
    Stevo_666 said:

    rick_chasey said:

    I think my scepticism of EVs is well documented

    I reckon mine are too.
    If Surrey suburbia is anything to go by, ICEs will soon be a 'heritage' industry.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    rjsterry said:

    Stevo_666 said:

    rick_chasey said:

    I think my scepticism of EVs is well documented

    I reckon mine are too.
    If Surrey suburbia is anything to go by, ICEs will soon be a 'heritage' industry.
    Not many in Cambridge FWIW, and I'd have expected more.
    _
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 27,762
    The people have spoken

  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 60,620
    kingstongraham said:

    The people have spoken

    Glad I don't live in Bath.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    You'd like it if you cycled around there ;-).

    _
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 60,620
    rick_chasey said:

    You'd like it if you cycled around there ;-).

    I like cycling and driving round my way, ta :)
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 27,762
    It's obviously an overwhelmingly popular policy.



  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 7,395
    rick_chasey said:

    You'd like it if you cycled around there ;-).

    Like all good Roman cities there are lots of hills. So if you don't like hills then you might not enjoy cycling around there!
    BANES has always been a Libdem stronghold.

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Quite clever round here.

    I've mentioned the labour council here want to introduce a £5er a day ULEZ for Cambridge City.

    They announced it about 2 months ago. All the angry car driver lot all were saying it was a bad idea as it would lose them lots of vote.

    Of course, in reality, the parties in favour had so much of a lead tha it was never in doubt, and now they've spanked the only party against it (tory, natch), they now have a mandate to go the whole hog.
    _
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 29,103
    Stevo_666 said:

    kingstongraham said:

    The people have spoken

    Glad I don't live in Bath.
    Oh I don't know, you should see how they mow the grass.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    edited May 2023
    rick_chasey said:

    Quite clever round here.

    I've mentioned the labour council here want to introduce a £5er a day ULEZ for Cambridge City.

    They announced it about 2 months ago. All the angry car driver lot all were saying it was a bad idea as it would lose them lots of vote.

    Of course, in reality, the parties in favour had so much of a lead tha it was never in doubt, and now they've spanked the only party against it (tory, natch), they now have a mandate to go the whole hog.

    So no change in town, with a couple of seats swapping from labour to lib dem.

    In general quite a big swing towards tories in town, inversely correlated to how well off the wards are (poorer the ward the bigger the swing towards tories) so that does suggest that the only topic in town did affect things.

    But tories are so far behind they were never gonna get a sniff.
    _
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,162
    kingstongraham said:

    It's obviously an overwhelmingly popular policy.



    That'll learn them for going for these woke leftie policies

Categories