In article , Iain Churches
wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article , Arny
Krueger wrote:
Petrol is not always inescapable, and the rate at which it is used
can relate to the opulence level demanded by the driver.

Ideally, there would be a mass transit system alternative for the
kinds of trips that absorb most of the fuel.

When I lived in Germany a lot of people commuted via the train.

They do in London too. Don't have any actual figures, but I'd guess
it's more than half if they work in central London, since it is very
lacking in car parking for commuters.

I dread to think what the commuter traffic is like now in London. Back
in 1980 I lived in Richmond, and often had to drive to a studio in
Finsbury Park N.London. The North Circular Road was a nightmare so I
took a cross-town route which a cabbie showed me.

c1980 I used to have to commute each day between Newham and Holloway.
Had to do this by BR and tube. Had to go *in* to Holborn and come out
again. Hated it. But that was quicker and cheaper than trying to go in a
direction closer to a straight line. One of the reasons I was pleased to
emigrate.

That said, for a few years in the 1980s I switched to using a bicycle. This
was when I lived in Leytonstone and worked at QMC (Mile End) so a more
convenient ride via a mix of back streets... plus at times the Bow flyover.
Main problem was the drivers who wanted to kill you if they could. Plus all
the rubbish in the air put there by the cars and lorries. Another reason I
left.

One of the problems of the UK having a lousy long-distance and mid-distance
rail system is that it pressures people to congregate into packed places
like London. Other EU countries have vastly better intercity train
services. When the Channel Tunnel was being built we were promised that
some of the fast trains would run past central London (via Stratford where
I lived a kid) and come though to the rest of the UK at the same high
speeds. Never happened.

Slainte,

Jim

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