Re: A303 to go into a tunnel eventually? | Forum

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A303 to go into a tunnel eventually?

Mustard Oct 1, 2013 11:35:57

Replying to Sanctuary

Sanctuary wrote:

Mustard wrote:

thesweetcheat wrote:

Do you believe such things couldn't be readily achieved?

I think they are entirely within practical reach, prevented only by a lack of willingness on the part of most people, who will not be prepared to fund something they don't want to use themselves, as long as alternatives remain available (i.e. cars).

I think you answered your own question. Although I'd dispute the degree to which they're within practical reach anyway, since the whole of western society is now structured around private personal transport. Not even a properly funded public transport system (of which I'm a huge fan) could possibly plug that gap.

Public transport is geared up to take the public to the main centres for work and shopping. Many of the private companies are backed by the big supermarkets to deliver those in the countryside to their door and then back to the customers. Public transport I doubt would ever consider megalithic sites outside of the likes of SH or Avebury as essential to our daily life unless they were passing the place. We have to accept that our hobby is really a minority one and only our own transport is going to get us there whether it be by car, bike or shanks' pony.

I wasn't referring to our hobby in that post. I was referring to the world of work and shopping. Public transport is fine for that if you live in a big city (although even there it only really functions if you lie on a route between hubs), but outside of that... not so possible. We'd need to roll back social changes from the last 50 years to make life without (or with reduced use of) the car viable. I can't travel between home and work on public transport, and I find it hard to envision how that could change. Buses can't possibly take in every place of residence in a semi-rural area - especially if trying to accommodate modern shift work. The reality for most people I know these days is that they live in one town or village and commute to wherever the work is.

Littlestone Oct 1, 2013 12:36:05

Replying to Mustard

Mustard wrote:

We'd need to roll back social changes from the last 50 years to make life without (or with reduced use of) the car viable. I can't travel between home and work on public transport, and I find it hard to envision how that could change. Buses can't possibly take in every place of residence in a semi-rural area - especially if trying to accommodate modern shift work. The reality for most people I know these days is that they live in one town or village and commute to wherever the work is.

Quite.

This is a problem we have to work our way through (nicely summed up by nix above) by pushing hard for environmentally-friendly means of transportation (public and private).

We can’t turn back the clock, even non-drivers rely on roads to get goods to their shops, ambulances or taxis to their hospitals, children and teachers to their schools etc). We know the ‘road tax’ doesn’t actually go towards paying for our road infrastructure (transportation system) but perhaps it should, and perhaps that tax should be evenly shared between all road users and not just the motorist and hauliers who already shoulder a very heavy financial burden with the present ‘road tax’ (not to mention the obligatory MOTs and motor insurance).

If there really was a proper, and universally applied, road tax perhaps we’d see the environmentally friendly transportation system we all want sooner rather than later.