A rant about trains...
Mar. 14th, 2007 03:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annwfynRecently, David Cameron made a statement to the effect of 'people don't need to drive everywhere - we have a perfectly good train system'. I think he may have been trying to explain why it's generally a good thing to tax car travel lots, and try and beat people into taking the train.
Well, wide eyed and bright with hope, I decided last weekend to try the more environmentally sound train while travelling up to Birmingham. Sadly, I failed entirely, after getting to Euston, only to find out that the fare of £28 quoted on Virgin Trains website, was only applicable when travelling via the slow train from Marylebone. The normal London-Birmingham train service costs £38 return. I didn't have £38 on me, or available in my bank account (I'm a student and so often broke. It's a sad story), and Marylebone was a bit of a way away (and would have gotten me to Birmingham at a rather uncivilised time) so I went home, moped, and wound up deciding to drive up to Birmingham the next day withpierot and ksirafai, who nobly gave me money for petrol as well.
I had a completely empty tank of petrol just before leaving. I put £30 of petrol in it, and it got me to Brum and back, and has got me into college and back for the last three days. I also paid £8 for a day's parking in Birminham city centre. Time-wise, I spent about the same amount of time driving as I would have done if I'd had to travel across London to Euston, and then up to Birmingham. So, it took the same amount of time to drive as it would have done to travel by train, and it cost me exactly the same amount to get a car containing three people up to Birmgham, and park for day as it would have done to get a single person up to Birmingham by train.
There's a rant coming at the end of this, if I can just put it into words. I think it starts with me being of the opinion that trains are meant to be good things. They are meant to be better for the environment, ease congestion from the roads, offer an alternative form of transport for those who can't afford a car. Yet none of this can come to pass as long as train fares continue to be this high. At the moment, there is absolutely no positive incentive for me to use public transport outside of London. It isn't cheaper, it is less comfortable and less convenient. This needs to not be the case. People need to have positive reasons to not drive everywhere. Yet the government, and the opposition, don't seem to see this. Instead they are trying to sort out the car problem by penalising drivers and car owners, quietly making travel in general more and more prohibitively expensive for everyone beyond the middle classes and economic elites. That's not reasonable. Why can we not try and help the planet and ease congestion by offering people alternatives, instead of just taxing them into stasis?
And why on earth does it cost so much more to travel from Euston instead of Marylebone?
In other news, I've done nothing all week except college, dinner and TV and it feels amazing. My sanity is greatly restored. I think we all need to sit and chill every once in a while. I think life is beginning to pick up pace again, however.
Mostly for my reference, here are my plans for the rest of the week:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
Well, wide eyed and bright with hope, I decided last weekend to try the more environmentally sound train while travelling up to Birmingham. Sadly, I failed entirely, after getting to Euston, only to find out that the fare of £28 quoted on Virgin Trains website, was only applicable when travelling via the slow train from Marylebone. The normal London-Birmingham train service costs £38 return. I didn't have £38 on me, or available in my bank account (I'm a student and so often broke. It's a sad story), and Marylebone was a bit of a way away (and would have gotten me to Birmingham at a rather uncivilised time) so I went home, moped, and wound up deciding to drive up to Birmingham the next day with
pierot and ksirafai, who nobly gave me money for petrol as well.I had a completely empty tank of petrol just before leaving. I put £30 of petrol in it, and it got me to Brum and back, and has got me into college and back for the last three days. I also paid £8 for a day's parking in Birminham city centre. Time-wise, I spent about the same amount of time driving as I would have done if I'd had to travel across London to Euston, and then up to Birmingham. So, it took the same amount of time to drive as it would have done to travel by train, and it cost me exactly the same amount to get a car containing three people up to Birmgham, and park for day as it would have done to get a single person up to Birmingham by train.
There's a rant coming at the end of this, if I can just put it into words. I think it starts with me being of the opinion that trains are meant to be good things. They are meant to be better for the environment, ease congestion from the roads, offer an alternative form of transport for those who can't afford a car. Yet none of this can come to pass as long as train fares continue to be this high. At the moment, there is absolutely no positive incentive for me to use public transport outside of London. It isn't cheaper, it is less comfortable and less convenient. This needs to not be the case. People need to have positive reasons to not drive everywhere. Yet the government, and the opposition, don't seem to see this. Instead they are trying to sort out the car problem by penalising drivers and car owners, quietly making travel in general more and more prohibitively expensive for everyone beyond the middle classes and economic elites. That's not reasonable. Why can we not try and help the planet and ease congestion by offering people alternatives, instead of just taxing them into stasis?
And why on earth does it cost so much more to travel from Euston instead of Marylebone?
In other news, I've done nothing all week except college, dinner and TV and it feels amazing. My sanity is greatly restored. I think we all need to sit and chill every once in a while. I think life is beginning to pick up pace again, however.
Mostly for my reference, here are my plans for the rest of the week:
Thursday:
- Daytime - adventures in museums with
adze and anyone else who is around.Evening - Writing my museology essay which is due in on Monday.
Friday:
- Daytime - going to the bank to change all our mortgage stuff over to the new joint account, tidying, hopefully finishing my museology essay.
Evening - meeting up with
molez.Saturday:
- Daytime - meeting up with Mark Buxton to wander around museums and chat.
Evening - meeting up with
kittyboo_tastic and her young man for drinks and dinnerSunday:
- Currently free. What have I forgotten? I've got a reasonable lump of uni work to do if nothing else comes up...
