Eliminating car ownership - seriously?

[Phil H]

It's the only way the electric car will work in the US , drive to the limit of the battery then change the horses , sorry car , while it charges up for the next user

It's the only way the electric car will work in the US , drive to the limit of the battery then change the horses , sorry car , while it charges up for the next user walk the rest of the way.

 

[P5Nij]

Public transport is of no use to me and I drive trains for a living - most of my shifts are between ten and twelve hours, if I walked or cycled to work at each end of the journey it would make it a fourteen hour day and I'd need a shower at the start and finish of each one. Throw in the silly o'clock start and finish times and it's a non starter, the transport just isn't there for me or hundreds of thousands of others, even in many suburban and city environments. I have to rely on my own car and even car sharing is out of the question as none of us start and finish at the same time throughout the working week.

I can see it coming but hopefully I'll be long retired by the time it's well and truly established.

 

[gb-gta]

There are only two words for the author of the article.
Stupid Bint.

 

[Scaf]

SK is doing a splendid job at banning cars by stealth in London. Last week I took 4 hours to drive to Wandsworth! A massive 18 miles… I used to be able to get there in 90 mins at rush hour! I got back in 3 1/2 though.

I live North of London (Hertfordshire) and often drive to the West End for shopping. Today 28miles 50minutes and parked in New Bond Street. There were 4 of us on the Strad, door to door the train. Would take longer and cost more.
I do agree that SK is a **** though

 

[Gazcw]

I live North of London (Hertfordshire) and often drive to the West End for shopping. Today 28miles 50minutes and parked in New Bond Street. There were 4 of us on the Strad, door to door the train. Would take longer and cost more.
I do agree that SK is a **** though

A lot of tw@ts voted him back in though.

 

[c4sman]

Sadly, I suspect this will become a reality and the only way a conversion to EVs will work at scale. The good news is I’m pretty sure it’s at least 30+ years out at which time I’ll care a lot less about driving nice cars (assuming I’m lucky enough to live that long).

 

[Scaf]

A lot of tw@ts voted him back in though.

All politicians are *****, so we are probably all guilty of voting for them

 

[safrane]

Public transport only works if your single.

Add a partner, some kids and a dog etc and you will use the car for every trip.

 

[2b1ask1]

I'm not surprised. SK is a massive Khant.

Living in Putney and while I love my car if it is to head towards central London I would take my bike or bicycle. The only exception is an early Sunday drive. In a city like London a car is next to useless to cover any meaningful distance.

Unfortunately the jobs in Wandsworth all require my kitted out van and on this occasion a trailer too!

I’m in Battersea Park and Wimbledon tomorrow doing a couple of welding jobs. I guarantee it will be a far quicker journey each way and with no CC I’ll go straight across the middle!

 

[rockits]

SK is doing a splendid job at banning cars by stealth in London. Last week I took 4 hours to drive to Wandsworth! A massive 18 miles… I used to be able to get there in 90 mins at rush hour! I got back in 3 1/2 though.

Snap....have reduced any work I do in the heart of London now as it isn't worth the grief. Between trying to find parking, the cost of it, the time it takes to get to jobs then CC and ULEZ charges it doesn't make sense.

As Zep said I can see the case for many to want to car share, hire or similar and have no car in the inner city areas. It just doesn't work so well in rural or non- inner city areas.

It is all a load of tosh really when you think that taking all motor vehicles off the planet reduces global CO2 emissions by 1% I read.

 

[rockits]

It's a weird thing though as Congestion Charge was brought in to....as the name suggests.....charge congestion so to prevent it getting worse or reduce it I suspect.

So if all EV's are Congestion Charging exempt then doesn't a huge shift to EV's just creat more congestion?

They change their mind like the wind. Is it congestion that is the problem? Or emissions? Or just all and any of the above and more just to accrue as many stealth taxes as you can possibly extract from people?

What fills that tax revenue hole when all cars that drive into restricted areas are EV's so are exempt from CC and ULEZ charges? Revenues would be hugely down surely?

 

[2b1ask1]

Yes, and there is the rub! EV’s don’t pay and yet congest. My big peeve right now is the active bottlenecking being put in all over. Take the city end of the Commercial Road where it meets and converges with the Mile End Rd. They have now reduced the road to one lane for 100 yds to a set of lights with left, right or straight on. Result is a maximum of 2 vehicles a change! From 2 major roads but cycles get one and a half lanes and a dedicated sequence in the light change!

 

[MaserMike]

That'll be handy living in a village 10 miles from any shops, no bus route and uphill in any direction back home. Fckwits.
Why not deal with all the dirty shipping, industry and deforestation first... oh but no that is far too difficult and political. Fckwits.
Fckwits
Fckwits

Fully agreed. Millions like myself are in this boat, completely screwed without a car and the whole family too - living in a small village with no regular public transport, no shops or amenities etc. Can’t see the kids peddling their way to school 6 miles each way or eventually college (30+ miles each way), closest London or Mainline connecting train station is 38miles away and I ain’t riding there at the crack of dawn in the cold winter rain etc. People who write these articles and government policies, live on a different planet… the centre of the universe revolves around London or big cities.

 

[mjheathcote]

I think you are just mad living in a place when it can take 1 hour to do less than 5 miles, when it takes me less than 10 minutes.
Don't you seriously think how much of your life you are wasting, stuck in traffic trying to get to your destination, and then get back home?

 

[Wack61]

Public transport only works if your single.

Add a partner, some kids and a dog etc and you will use the car for every trip.

Exactly , 10 years ago the four of us went to London to see a show, it was cheaper in a 4.0 jaguar including accomodation than 4 return train tickets, though bizarrely the next time we went I found 3 return tickets for £60 , I thought it was £60 each until I got to the checkout screen

 

[rockits]

I think you are just mad living in a place when it can take 1 hour to do less than 5 miles, when it takes me less than 10 minutes.
Don't you seriously think how much of your life you are wasting, stuck in traffic trying to get to your destination, and then get back home?

Agreed. Luckily I don't live there and most work is outside London now. At quiet times it could take me an hour to get to a W1 customer and busy times 2hrs+ so can be painful. That is less than 20 miles.

 

[rockits]

I don't quite understand why EV's are exempt from a Congestion Charge though if it is a congestion charge.

My PHEV used to be exempt but they have stopped this now.

When my wife and daughter go to the dentist in London they take the MG now as it is cheaper, quicker and more convenient than taking the train.

 

[doodlebug]

It's a weird thing though as Congestion Charge was brought in to....as the name suggests.....charge congestion so to prevent it getting worse or reduce it I suspect.

So if all EV's are Congestion Charging exempt then doesn't a huge shift to EV's just creat more congestion?

They change their mind like the wind. Is it congestion that is the problem? Or emissions? Or just all and any of the above and more just to accrue as many stealth taxes as you can possibly extract from people?

What fills that tax revenue hole when all cars that drive into restricted areas are EV's so are exempt from CC and ULEZ charges? Revenues would be hugely down surely?

EVs will have to pay the London Congestion Charge as from December 2025. By then I expect it will be around £30 to compensate for the lack of revenue from CC and ULEZ as a significant number of vehicles will be electric.

 

[Zep]

It is all a load of tosh really when you think that taking all motor vehicles off the planet reduces global CO2 emissions by 1% I read.

This is interesting, I guess they mean that if all the cars disappeared that the circa 15% of emissions that they produce now would go elsewhere. Do you have a link?

 

[Swedish Paul]

This is interesting, I guess they mean that if all the cars disappeared that the circa 15% of emissions that they produce now would go elsewhere. Do you have a link?

I see what you mean by the ‘missing’ 14%. I do wonder what the environmental impact will be to put on 20 times as many trains/buses/teams to carry the folks who need to travel? Though I would suspect the public transport would have to run almost continually.