£25/day to drive in London...

[m99]

No congestion charge on saturday, whilst I agree, if you fill a car with people, it is usually cheaper than using public transport, as a regular user of london public transport I don't agree that most trains, tubes and buses are either smelly or old.

In my case. Norwood Junction to London Bridge 9 mins by train, 25 mins by motorbike, 45-60 mins by car. Crystal Palace to Trafalgar Square (a current regular journey) 35 mins by bike, 35 mins by train, car, forget it..

London transport is actually pretty effective on the routes I take, was not always the case - I remember during rush hour full no. 73 buses passing full bus stops without stopping in Islington a few years back..

Ade

It might mean back to the horse,(plenty co2 there?).
Up here in Durham the local travellers do it that way every day,with race days on the A168 every other sunday morning,and this includes using both sides of the road,with no con charge or plod about.:bannana:

 

[Sorry Pete]

Similarly, ten years ago when I commuted 12 miles each way through rush-hour, I initially took the train; one hour, 10 min walk at each end. Then I justified to myself that driving would be cheaper, more comfortable, and take less time. It worked-out about an hour in the mornings and 45mins in pm. That same journey three years later took the same time by car as by train, am and pm. I no longer commute that route, but the trend was clearly on the up.

Factor-in insurance, depreciation, wear and tear, servicing, washing/valeting and if you're being realistic, you might be surprised how much you're saving. Streetcar is extremely popular, it's growing all the time, and financially, (depending on mileage) you'd wonder why anyone owns a car. But we all do, for our own reasons, and don't baulk at throwing money at them as we would not for public transport.

I'm not saying public transport is great, it's not, but we seem to justify car ownership with our hearts, not our heads. I simply love my car, but I know it's totally irrational.

Just my 2p worth.

 

[MBManInKen]

Re: post 126

Have you tried the quoting system?

I'm thinking here about the buses; new, clean, efficient. 24 hour night buses even to outer areas; that wasn't the case five years ago.

My commute from Kensington to the City takes me 40 minutes on the tube, but at least twice that on a bus. Buses are of no use to me. Yes, there are more of them (and they are new, replacing the wonderful Routemasters ), in fact so many now that getting on one these days is about half as fast as 5 years ago as they are now all clogging up the buslanes everywhere.

The tube, yes it's torture, always has been, but the trains are new, and the track is getting replaced.

New trains? The Piccadilly line rolling stock is from 1973. The District line stock is from the 1980 period, looking even older than the Piccadilly line. The Norther line rolling stock is pretty recent (1995) but looks like it's been abused for 50 years and is so stuffed that I often have to let 5 trains go by before getting onto one.

I don't know what tube system you use, but it ain't the Central London one.

You've got to make a start somewhere, do you not?

What on earth has this 25/day to do with updating Central London public transport? Yes, that's Ken's spin on it, but in reality very little is happening other than pouring vast amounts of money in the black hole in the ground that the PPP scheme has become. In the mean time, the bloody system is more often than not disrupted, or hit by strikes, or sweltering hot, all at the most expensive public transport prices of anywhere in Europe.

For those that are suitably affluent, I'm sure it's not going to make much difference either way.

I certainly can't see how it would make any difference here in Kensington. So, that's quite an achievement for that salon socialist: only the wealthy will be able to continue to use their cars. The average earners here with their 2L Zafira won't. Very socialist policy that is.

 

[kikkthecat]

I've just been reading an interesting article that points to the way round any charges.

For a £82 application fee and a £27 per year licence you can register your car as a minicab and pay nothing.

The PCO in London has the following registered as minicabs making them congestion charge exempt.

1 Aston Martin
31 Bentleys
18 BMW X5's
8 Rolls Royce Phantoms
3 Maybach 62's
2 Maserati Quattroportes
8 Mercedes SL's
52 Range Rovers.

All look like your average private hire taxi to me...

 

[TonyVianoAmbiente]

I've just been reading an interesting article that points to the way round any charges.

For a £82 application fee and a £27 per year licence you can register your car as a minicab and pay nothing.

I am amazed how cheap that is!

My local council (Aylesbury Vale DC) charges £303 per year for the car plus £53 per year for the driver. You have to take a knowledge test and the car must undergo a safety check (higher than MOT standard) twice a year if less than six years old, and three times a year of older. That's for minicabs. It is even more expensive for hackney cabs.

 

[hawk20]

I've just been reading an interesting article that points to the way round any charges.

For a £82 application fee and a £27 per year licence you can register your car as a minicab and pay nothing.

The PCO in London has the following registered as minicabs making them congestion charge exempt.

1 Aston Martin
31 Bentleys
18 BMW X5's
8 Rolls Royce Phantoms
3 Maybach 62's
2 Maserati Quattroportes
8 Mercedes SL's
52 Range Rovers.

All look like your average private hire taxi to me...

Amazing. What a great loophole. Any link to the article please?

 

[Dieselman]

The PCO in London has the following registered as minicabs making them congestion charge exempt.

:

All we need are the registration numbers. A trip home in a Phantom or Maybach after clubbing would be cool..

 

[robert.saunders]

It's an old loophole, TfL are onto it. I doubt it will be around much longer.

It was even talked about on this forum shock horror:

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=43614&page=2

 

[kikkthecat]

Sorry I didn't post the link,

Full Story Here

 

[Sp!ke]

As long as once in a while you have a fare paying passenger then I guess it must be legal.

The Rolls Royces... I wonder if they belong to a fleet of a very exclusive private hire business?

 

[Dieselman]

Some years ago there were some real wide Boys ripping international travellers off by collectinig them from airports and railway stations.

They were using high end vehicles and earning loads.