Quicker to walk
By Primal Sneeze ~ June 29th, 2007. Filed under: Driving, Transportation.
Young Barry asked me if I’d sell him my car. It’s old, but unlike me, is well looked after and has such low mileage I’m often asked if I’ve had it clocked. I haven’t. It’s just that I don’t use it unless I really have to. Barry knows that, hence his interest.
He explained he wanted a car to get to school. Why, I wondered, given the bus picks him up right outside his house and drops him a 2 minute walk from school. And all for student fare. Why would he want the expense of running a car. I assumed peer pressure and a teenage male’s natural inclination to show off. No, he was just pissed off at getting home at 5:00 or later when school finished at 4:00. An hour or more to travel 6km, because the buses are always late and sometimes don’t turn up at all.
I suggested he use his bike. Or at least stop looking up the road – a watched bus never boils.
But he’s right about the buses. I know others who make the same short journey for work and all have dispensed with the services of Bus Éireann for the same reason.
I was offered a 6 month contract based at Eastpoint Business Park a short time ago. Before accepting I did a few trial runs. Bus, train, Luas, combinations thereof – I didn’t even think of using the car. The quickest return trip was 3 and a half hours for less than 30km. I turned down the contract.
It is no wonder that rural and semi-rural dwellers shun public transport even when it is available.
A number of initiatives are in place to encourage public transport use. Some are excellent such as the full tax relief available for monthly and annual travel passes. Others are stealth taxes dressed up as disincentives such as exorbitant parking fees. Others are just plain stupid. Quality bus corridors (QBC’s) that are unused – they are not on a bus route. Reducing the number of parking spaces in towns to discourage cars – rural dwellers have no where to leave their cars when they take the bus. Small unsecured carparks at train stations. Can you think of more?
What one hand giveth and the other taketh away.
The Central Statistics Office published figures yesterday showing that, including those who drive work vehicles, 65% of the population drive to work. And those involved in the various authorities wonder why.
Even in cases where public transit is exceptional people continue to get in their car, Primal. Transit here in Toronto is the best I’ve ever encountered. It’s reliable, quick, safe and clean. I’ve never had to wait more than 10 minutes for the subway. Yet we meet people who would never dream of getting out of the car. I’m guessing there’s some sort of status or class privilege associated in the “I don’t want to be among the unwashed masses” perception. It makes no sense when you consider that traffic here is a nightmare and it would take more than twice as long to drive than to take the subway.
That’s one really great thing about living in NL, the transport system is really excellent. Funny thing is that the locals still complain if a train is five minutes late – I always point out to them that five minutes late is about half an hour early in Ireland.
We unfortunately still run public transport on the basis that it should make a direct profit while ignore the benefits that accrue to those not using the public transit of there being less people on the road. Most European countries about half of the cost for public transport comes from ticket revenue.
Buses need to be frequent, reliable, safe and clean. Sadly, too often if you live more than 6 stops from the start point you could see 3/4 buses go by before you can get on in Dublin in the morning. Limerick has a fictional timetable, 4 buses per hour in and out to UL, but only 3 per hour allocated. And we simply don’t do air-conditioning. And part of the problem is climate, picture the usual 16A on a rain day with loads of wet people heading into work, wet from waiting at stops with no shelters or shelters that give no shelter. We could fix it, question is whether anyone is interested. I use a bike most times and bus and train sometimes, killed the car (by scrapage) 2 years ago.
Medbh – There is a snobbery factor I admit. But there are so many people who would prefer public transport if it were a viable alternative. Just look at the success of the Luas in its early days.
Conorín – Ha! 5 minutes would be a dream here. In Tokyo the station officials hand out notes you give to your employer if a train is a couple of minutes late.
Dan – The problems with city services are now happening with rural ones – which is what I’m bitching about. Is that for real with the UL service? That’s a bit like where they have set aside QBC’s in Dublin without the buses to use them.
Know exactly what you mean, Mr Sneeze. I live in rural Devon and looked into the possibility of using public transport to get to work (25 miles away). There’s a train station in my village and one in the town where I work. To get to work I would have had to walk one mile to get to the station (that’s OK, wouldn’t have minded that)but to get to work on time at 9am (complicated by the fact that I start at 8am one day a week), I would have had to leave home at 5.30am. This is not only because of infrequency of trains but because of the lack of connection with buses at the other end – my office being two and a half miles from the train station. In the evening, I would have got home at 7.45pm.
Kit – Here’s your brudda from anudda mudda. I’m about 3km from the nearest bus stop but walking/cycling, while I do it personally, is a dangerous pursuit. Since a recent road widening and resurfacing the traffic has increased, as has its speed, and there is no longer even a verge to jump onto what some twat is hammering towards you chatting on the phone and oblivious to your presence. By the way, it’s Sneezy. Drop the Mr. bit.