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Whoa, you're leaping to some conclusions there - most cars owned by Londoners are not used for commuting, they're for shopping, moving kids around, that kind of
by barrkel 9y ago
Whoa, you're leaping to some conclusions there - most cars owned by Londoners are not used for commuting, they're for shopping, moving kids around, that kind of thing - things that public transport is a poor substitute for. Things like congestion charging apply only to the centre, where the congestion is, and that's where my comments apply. Most of the cars owned by Londoners are not in central London.
- zimpenfish 9y ago> things that public transport is a poor substitute for Largely because public transport is underfunded in London and, of course, ridiculously hampered by the car traffic. Try getting a bus down the A2 in peak hours or at the weekend. It's often quicker to walk. That's why people end up getting cars and ... making things worse for everyone.
- Angostura 9y agoNope. I certainly wouldn't be able to carry my weekly shop on the bus. And public transport is, in my opinion pretty well funded here.
- donjoe 9y agoI love the irony. Moving 2 tons to buy 1kg of bread ;) delivery services as an alternative? It would work out if people wanted to...
- barrkel 9y agoDelivery services means delegating your choice of fresh produce. Incentives are not aligned; the lowest bidder will not do as good a job as the consumer. From direct experience: food delivery works well enough for branded, processed and other long shelf life products. It's not bad for meat, as long as you're ordering from a specialist and not a supermarket (and of course there is a price premium). It's not good at all for fruit or vegetables, with current suppliers. Goods are bruised, mouldy, unripe, overripe, etc. It's also useless for bread; you always get yesterday's bread.
- martinald 9y agoNot true in my experience; stuff in the physical shops is often worse best before date wise than the online delivery. All of the online delivery services will instantly refund and produce with no questions ask that you say is bad quality.
- Angostura 9y agoIf your weekly shop consists of 1kg of bread, you and I have somewhat different life-styles.
- grey-area 9y agoCars are not necessary in almost all parts of London. Removing them would vastly improve quality of life.
- barrkel 9y agoThis is ridiculous: you're just arguing by assertion. Give some evidence for your assertions, please! Cars aren't necessary, of course; we could get by with horses and carts. But removing them would not "vastly improve" quality of life. I live in Greater London, about 12 miles from where I work (35 minutes by scooter, 55 minutes by public transport if you time it perfectly, average 1h20 if you don't). My preferred supermarket is 3.9 miles away by road, about 40 minutes by bus or 12 minutes by car (though I normally go by scooter). Would my life be better without a motorised vehicle? My opinion is it definitely would not! Either I'd need to severely reduce my choices in purchasing or commit to spending significantly more of my life on and waiting for public transport. Neither of these would vastly improve my quality of life.