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Post by PG on Jul 19, 2020 18:16:44 GMT
I saw this in the news today - the recovery (or not) of various means of transport.  The good old car - that hated form of transport in green circles - has come up trumps. It's private, bio-secure and meets all the required criteria for safe post-Covid travel. Trains, buses and tubes simply don't cut it. It will be a brave politician who stands up and says as much. But in my view that's the reality. Mass-transit is a stupid idea in a disease ridden world. And of course lorry transport saved everyone in lock-down getting stuff to supermarkets and warehouses. And then of course there are the delivery vans to get all that internet stuff to us all. I think the motoring organisations like the RAC and AA should be out there trumpeting the car / truck / van as a huge Covid success story. OK, perhaps in the future personal transport may look different - electric, hydrogen or whatever - but I do think that the anti-personal transport brigade are going to have a harder job from now on. What do people think? |
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Post by ChrisM on Jul 19, 2020 19:28:14 GMT
Very quietly, it's been announced that public transportation should no longer be "reserved" for use by essential workers, but we should all now be able to use it (if we want to).
However some rail companies are still running a severely curtailed service, eg one train every 2 hours instead of every 30 minutes
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Post by alf on Jul 27, 2020 11:10:32 GMT
As the largest european Telematics company, we have the vehicle based data in detail across europe by vehicle type and vertical since the start of the crisis (which we have been publishing jointly with one of our american competitors, they do the Amnericas bit, we do Europe). Obvs that lacks train/tube data, but passenger transport has been whacked by this, I think coach and bus are still 80% down, whereas truck traffic stayed 80-105% of normal through the crisis (in our customer base anyway). I don't fear COVID more than any other fit and healthy person, but there is no way I'm getting on a train to London, then the tube, to then work in a busy serviced office with effing millenials (sorry, different rant) hogging all the public spaces and meeting rooms. Likewise it will be some time before I fly again. Keeping airports, stations, trains/tubes/buses/planes very low risk is incredibly difficult with the timetables they run on and the space available. I see quite big shops with signs saying "4 customers" or whatever, and then wonder how that compares to a plane or tube carriage - its just not doable. Whereas driving through the tunnel to Europe last week, but visiting very few indoor spaces, felt totally safe. Cars are a very safe means of transport right now.
From our data there have also been striking differences between countries - journeys here absolutely crashed and only slowly came back, in Germany, eastern europe, and the NL the levels never dropped nearly as much, and came back far faster. The economic situation (us and Spain worst, then France/Italy, then a gap to the others) was clear in vehicle movement.
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Post by chipbutty on Jul 29, 2020 15:25:25 GMT
I see that the blonde and team awesome are considering banning Vans and Lorries from city centres to create space for cyclists as part of an anti obesity drive.
Apparently there is lots of " unnecessary motorised freight " in towns and cities (who knew driving boxes of stuff around purely for fun was actually a thing ?).
You know it's a good job these muppets aren't in charge of anything important...........oh shit !
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Post by Roadsterstu on Jul 29, 2020 15:48:25 GMT
I see that the blonde and team awesome are considering banning Vans and Lorries from city centres to create space for cyclists as part of an anti obesity drive. Apparently there is lots of " unnecessary motorised freight " in towns and cities (who knew driving boxes of stuff around purely for fun was actually a thing ?). You know it's a good job these muppets aren't in charge of anything important...........oh shit ! Well, there's all those rickshaws to put to good use... |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2020 16:09:10 GMT
Well, we could always burn them for winter fuel......
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Post by ChrisM on Jul 29, 2020 21:23:10 GMT
Well, we could always burn them for winter fuel...... The rickshaws or the muppets ?? |
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jul 30, 2020 8:02:23 GMT
Local councils seem to be the biggest muppets going. Gateshead council decided to close the northbound lane of the Gateshead flyover (reserving it for cyclists only!), turning a deaf ear to locals saying the flyover was built in the 60s to stop congestion in the local area. After 2 days of complete gridlock the scheme has been shelved (or put on the back burner to save face). I think at last count 3 cyclists had used it.
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Post by ChrisM on Jul 30, 2020 8:37:50 GMT
Local councils seem to be the biggest muppets going. That appears to have been the case since before I was born :-( |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2020 11:50:17 GMT
Well, we could always burn them for winter fuel...... The rickshaws or the muppets ?? Very definitely the muppets but sadly they are probably too wet to do more than smoulder. |
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 30, 2020 13:22:15 GMT
I see that the blonde and team awesome are considering banning Vans and Lorries from city centres to create space for cyclists as part of an anti obesity drive. Apparently there is lots of " unnecessary motorised freight " in towns and cities (who knew driving boxes of stuff around purely for fun was actually a thing ?). You know it's a good job these muppets aren't in charge of anything important...........oh shit ! Vote for muppets, get muppets. Not saying you voted for them, but obviously a majority of our fellow islanders did. |
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Post by michael on Jul 30, 2020 13:24:53 GMT
And still better than the alternative.
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Post by chipbutty on Jul 30, 2020 14:49:40 GMT
Punch in the face or a kick in the goolies ?
I vote for the one that I think will hurt the least.
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Post by Blarno on Jul 31, 2020 7:28:35 GMT
I see that the blonde and team awesome are considering banning Vans and Lorries from city centres to create space for cyclists as part of an anti obesity drive. Apparently there is lots of " unnecessary motorised freight " in towns and cities (who knew driving boxes of stuff around purely for fun was actually a thing ?). You know it's a good job these muppets aren't in charge of anything important...........oh shit !
I'd pay good money to see someone deliver one of our engines or gearboxes on a pushbike.
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Post by Martin on Jul 31, 2020 9:59:44 GMT
I see that the blonde and team awesome are considering banning Vans and Lorries from city centres to create space for cyclists as part of an anti obesity drive. Apparently there is lots of " unnecessary motorised freight " in towns and cities (who knew driving boxes of stuff around purely for fun was actually a thing ?). You know it's a good job these muppets aren't in charge of anything important...........oh shit !
I'd pay good money to see someone deliver one of our engines or gearboxes on a pushbike.
Good publicity for BBW! |
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