A Rant About Road-Building and Bad Public Transport
by My pet-hate is the destruction of our countryside by building roads that we shouldn’t have any need for…
A Rant about Road-Building and Bad Public Transport
You would think that with all the awareness now of climate change and the importance of cutting carbon emissions that governments around the world would concentrate on getting cars off the road – not encouraging them.
Here, in the UK, billions of pounds is spent on building new roads which we wouldn’t need if a fraction of that money was invested in improving public transport. Our public transport policy seems to be calculated to put people off using it.
For a few years now, I have been wanting to do without a car, but have found it is impossible to do so. I live on the outskirts of a small town, with a main road nearby. Buses run every half an hour from about 7am to 6.30pm between the two biggest towns, so if you want to travel outside of these times – bad luck. There is a train station in town, but you can’t get to it in the evening, and there is only parking for 6 cars, so you’re unlikely to be able to leave your car there whilst you use the train.
Most buses are so badly maintained that not only are they dirty (you are lucky if you can see out of the windows), but they sound like they are falling apart; you spend most of the journey wondering if you are actually going to make it to your destination. Quite often, the drivers try to keep to the timetable by missing stops altogether, leaving people standing at the stop stranded. It is no wonder that this puts people off ever using a bus again!
A good example of the lack of joined-up thinking is that when there are bus services that run to train stations, they are timed to arrive after the train has departed! Maybe this is just where I live, I don’t know.
It breaks my heart to see the countryside that I was born and grew up in destroyed by the building of new roads, especially as I can’t see any logic to it. Yes, the roads are overflowing, but only because so many people have no choice other than to drive a car. Also, so many more lorries use the roads now, carrying goods that used to be transported by rail, sea or even waterways.
Anyway, I feel slightly better after having a rant, thanks for listening!
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Post Commentchris73
On August 2, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Reminds me my country where is almost impossible to live without a car! And that drive people (and me first of all) into the bad habbit of using cars all the time even when it is not necessary:(
Lostash
On August 2, 2009 at 6:24 pm
I’ve never driven, and have to rely on public transport or lifts from others! I get by as you must and there are times when I consider learning to drive, but one less car on the road can’t be a bad thing.
Ruby Hawk
On August 2, 2009 at 8:28 pm
It’s the same way here. Heavy traffic everywhere and our buses don’t go anyplace you need to go. I would love to do without a car but you can’t get to work, doctors office, or shopping on a bus. The pollution is terrible, gas and insurance expensive, but what choice do you have?
william Lear
On August 14, 2009 at 10:41 am
Our transport system is quite a joke, our roads are choked with cars and lorries, and all our Trains are expensive to travel on, our Government would like for us to use a different system for travel but do not do anything to help us. Good rant I am glad you feel a bit better for it.
Aldrin A Wilding West
On August 17, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Unfortunately, the world still runs on oil/petrol, so governments will remain keen to see more cars on the road, as this fuels the economy in so many ways. They say 1 in every 10 jobs in the world is linked either directly or indirectly to automobile manufacture? And as for the buses. I think you live in Suffolk? Well from experience (I was born and bred there), I know that rurally, particularly in my neck of the woods, you were seriously lucky to see one a week….not kidding…! I think the upkeep of the local bus service mirrors the amount of paying customers they have, and unfortunately, Suffolk’s not got the greatest population of public transport users.
Buzz