4 ms·

London has good public transport internally. For people coming in from outside the picture is far more variable.

adwww 5y ago
I can travel to central London from my home 100 miles to the West in 70 minutes by public transport. In any case, that's a fault of poor public transport in the shires, not London.
- TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
  I used to know people who would commute by train to London from Bath and Bristol. Every day. And others who would drive from central Wiltshire to London and back. Every day. Work from home should have highlighted the insanity of those kinds of work patterns. Trains are greener than cars, but no commuting at all is greener still. Unfortunately it's looking more like we'll be heading back to pre-Covid normal, with very limited mixed-mode working offered as a bonus to those who qualify for it.
  - nicoburns 5y ago
    > Unfortunately it's looking more like we'll be heading back to pre-Covid normal, with very limited mixed-mode working offered as a bonus to those who qualify for it. Is it? Everyone I know with an office job has greatly expanded home working options. Most of them were previously 100% in the office, and now have the kind of 1 or 2 days in the office a week hybrid options that used to be exclusively for tech companies. And quite a few individuals I know have been able to go completely remote only having to go into the office a few times a year and have been able to move cities entirely.
- Silhouette 5y ago
  In any case, that's a fault of poor public transport in the shires, not London. Please see my other comments in this discussion. There is no "public transport in X". There is only "public transport". It will never be cost-effective to provide mass transit outside of densely populated areas and major long distance routes so if you want to enjoy the benefits and shift people away from cars in large numbers then you have to accept that we all need to subsidise plausible alternatives for everyone, probably through some serious taxation and government spending.
bananapub 5y ago
London already provides public transport even beyond it's own boundaries. It seems pretty unfair to insist that we, as London tax payers, spend even more money on providing services to people outside of London. how much better does London need to make (and I assume pay for?) public transport for the Home Counties before you think it's OK for London to not demolish thousands of homes, in London, to build more roads for people who don't live in London?
- Silhouette 5y ago
  London already provides public transport even beyond it's own boundaries. It seems pretty unfair to insist that we, as London tax payers, spend even more money on providing services to people outside of London. I don't think I've even suggested anything like that here. That said, the thing about public transport is that it's all-for-one. If it's going to be a viable alternative to owning private cars then it has to be reasonable for all journeys someone needs to make not just a few convenient examples. There is no "local" or "national" with public transport for most people. The question is whether they can get from A to B in some reasonable way for any A and B they care about.

I can travel to central London from my home 100 miles to the West in 70 minutes by public transport. In any case, that's a fault of poor public transport in the shires, not London.

TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
I used to know people who would commute by train to London from Bath and Bristol. Every day. And others who would drive from central Wiltshire to London and back. Every day. Work from home should have highlighted the insanity of those kinds of work patterns. Trains are greener than cars, but no commuting at all is greener still. Unfortunately it's looking more like we'll be heading back to pre-Covid normal, with very limited mixed-mode working offered as a bonus to those who qualify for it.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  > Unfortunately it's looking more like we'll be heading back to pre-Covid normal, with very limited mixed-mode working offered as a bonus to those who qualify for it. Is it? Everyone I know with an office job has greatly expanded home working options. Most of them were previously 100% in the office, and now have the kind of 1 or 2 days in the office a week hybrid options that used to be exclusively for tech companies. And quite a few individuals I know have been able to go completely remote only having to go into the office a few times a year and have been able to move cities entirely.
Silhouette 5y ago
In any case, that's a fault of poor public transport in the shires, not London. Please see my other comments in this discussion. There is no "public transport in X". There is only "public transport". It will never be cost-effective to provide mass transit outside of densely populated areas and major long distance routes so if you want to enjoy the benefits and shift people away from cars in large numbers then you have to accept that we all need to subsidise plausible alternatives for everyone, probably through some serious taxation and government spending.

bananapub 5y ago

London already provides public transport even beyond it's own boundaries. It seems pretty unfair to insist that we, as London tax payers, spend even more money on providing services to people outside of London. how much better does London need to make (and I assume pay for?) public transport for the Home Counties before you think it's OK for London to not demolish thousands of homes, in London, to build more roads for people who don't live in London?

Silhouette 5y ago
London already provides public transport even beyond it's own boundaries. It seems pretty unfair to insist that we, as London tax payers, spend even more money on providing services to people outside of London. I don't think I've even suggested anything like that here. That said, the thing about public transport is that it's all-for-one. If it's going to be a viable alternative to owning private cars then it has to be reasonable for all journeys someone needs to make not just a few convenient examples. There is no "local" or "national" with public transport for most people. The question is whether they can get from A to B in some reasonable way for any A and B they care about.