Damned If You Do.....
It's time for a rant*. I read on the news this morning that Transport Secretary Alistair Darling has announced that £7m is being given to Durham, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Tyne and Wear, Shrewsbury, Cambridgeshire and Bristol to develop their own versions of the Congestion Charging Scheme recently hailed as such a "success" in London.
If this proves a "success", a version of the system would be rolled out nationally, and would be used to replace either fuel duty or Vehicle Excise Duty. There is no deception though, it's admitted that this will likely mean an increase in cost to the driver overall.
As a sop, there is very vague talk of improving transport infrastructure as a whole and a "major feasibility study" to develop a congestion management strategy is expected to be published next year. What is going to be published? The plan of the study? The results? How long will the study take? No news on that so far. Yes yes, I may be accused of putting my own spin on what's been announced. I don't apologise for that, I'm putting it into practical context from my point of view.
So we will shortly be seeing a lot of congestion charging pilots of different flavour across the country. There is no mention as to whether these charges will also include cyclists. I trust not.
This is announced at approximately the same time that Southern Railway has announced its intention to "rigorously" enforce their peak times restriction. "The high volume of passengers who use our trains during the peak times means that we cannot accommodate ordinary cycles on Southern services at these times. This means on trains travelling towards either London or Brighton and due to arrive between 0700 and 1000 and trains leaving either London or Brighton between 1600 and 1900. Outside of these times, we accommodate ordinary cycles free of charge on our trains and without a prior reservation."
Also, South Eastern trains say "A limited number of cycles are allowed on our services free of charge except for those trains timed to arrive in London between 0700 and 1000 and depart London between 1600 and 1900. This is because our services are so busy during this time our priority must be to accommodate fare paying passengers and not cycles. However, folded bikes can be carried onboard at anytime." That's good of them.
First Great Western Link's excuse is that there are merely enforcing a policy which Thames Trains first introduced, and then are much more honest and transparent in their reasoning in that the 0-5 minutes delay trigger (on which they are monitored as part of their performance indicators) would be more likely to be tripped if cycles were freely allowed. They discuss the fact that should a cyclist find that the 3 allowed spaces were full on certain types of trains then they would have to try other carriages. True, and makes a very good case for cargo/cycle carriages. I quote: "The main purpose for the enforcement of this policy is to help to reduce delays on peak time services. Admittedly delay minutes caused by bikes alone cannot be quantified. However each delay, even if only of 1 or 2 minutes at each station, act like 'building blocks' which when added up cause substantial delays to FGWL services." I have to give them great credit for honesty and openness.
I would have been cycle and train commuting ages ago if I was able to. It would be a nice 12 miles to Guildford, hop on the train to North Camp, and then about 4 miles to work. Sweet. I would do that happily. If I could take my cycle on the train to work, my fitness would increase hugely. If my fitness was increased, why would I drive to Guildford on a weekend and struggle to park? If I could rely on the train allowing me and my cycle on, I would take the train to Romsey to visit my Mum and cycle to her house.
If I could freely take my cycle onto trains I could give up my car. It would mean some lifestyle and arrangement changes, but it could be done. See the link??!! How long is it going to take for this connection to be made by those deciding policy? Are we serious about carbon emissions or not?
* This is a rant. It is not necessarily reasonable, logical, well thought-out, grammatically correct or accurate. Rants generally aren't.
If this proves a "success", a version of the system would be rolled out nationally, and would be used to replace either fuel duty or Vehicle Excise Duty. There is no deception though, it's admitted that this will likely mean an increase in cost to the driver overall.
As a sop, there is very vague talk of improving transport infrastructure as a whole and a "major feasibility study" to develop a congestion management strategy is expected to be published next year. What is going to be published? The plan of the study? The results? How long will the study take? No news on that so far. Yes yes, I may be accused of putting my own spin on what's been announced. I don't apologise for that, I'm putting it into practical context from my point of view.
So we will shortly be seeing a lot of congestion charging pilots of different flavour across the country. There is no mention as to whether these charges will also include cyclists. I trust not.
This is announced at approximately the same time that Southern Railway has announced its intention to "rigorously" enforce their peak times restriction. "The high volume of passengers who use our trains during the peak times means that we cannot accommodate ordinary cycles on Southern services at these times. This means on trains travelling towards either London or Brighton and due to arrive between 0700 and 1000 and trains leaving either London or Brighton between 1600 and 1900. Outside of these times, we accommodate ordinary cycles free of charge on our trains and without a prior reservation."
Also, South Eastern trains say "A limited number of cycles are allowed on our services free of charge except for those trains timed to arrive in London between 0700 and 1000 and depart London between 1600 and 1900. This is because our services are so busy during this time our priority must be to accommodate fare paying passengers and not cycles. However, folded bikes can be carried onboard at anytime." That's good of them.
First Great Western Link's excuse is that there are merely enforcing a policy which Thames Trains first introduced, and then are much more honest and transparent in their reasoning in that the 0-5 minutes delay trigger (on which they are monitored as part of their performance indicators) would be more likely to be tripped if cycles were freely allowed. They discuss the fact that should a cyclist find that the 3 allowed spaces were full on certain types of trains then they would have to try other carriages. True, and makes a very good case for cargo/cycle carriages. I quote: "The main purpose for the enforcement of this policy is to help to reduce delays on peak time services. Admittedly delay minutes caused by bikes alone cannot be quantified. However each delay, even if only of 1 or 2 minutes at each station, act like 'building blocks' which when added up cause substantial delays to FGWL services." I have to give them great credit for honesty and openness.
I would have been cycle and train commuting ages ago if I was able to. It would be a nice 12 miles to Guildford, hop on the train to North Camp, and then about 4 miles to work. Sweet. I would do that happily. If I could take my cycle on the train to work, my fitness would increase hugely. If my fitness was increased, why would I drive to Guildford on a weekend and struggle to park? If I could rely on the train allowing me and my cycle on, I would take the train to Romsey to visit my Mum and cycle to her house.
If I could freely take my cycle onto trains I could give up my car. It would mean some lifestyle and arrangement changes, but it could be done. See the link??!! How long is it going to take for this connection to be made by those deciding policy? Are we serious about carbon emissions or not?
* This is a rant. It is not necessarily reasonable, logical, well thought-out, grammatically correct or accurate. Rants generally aren't.
posted by Catherine at 15:51
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