Road charging

[Yorkshire Esk]

Keep it going, it has already had an impact as it has made headlines today, even though they may not take any notice of what the motorist wants.

petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/

[elwyman]

What is the alternative, apart from gridlock?

[johnmac]

Yorkshire Esk.... are you trying to say that the government doesn't listen to the voters?? Did someone mention Iraq?

And in response to Elwyman..... gridlock? Improved and cheaper public transport, better roads and more road policing are the answers. Every other country in Western Europe seems to have a far better transport system than us, charging more money will not deter people from using their cars if the public transport is rubbish and expensive. I flew from Edinburgh to Dublin for £4.99 last year with a £2.99 return, all in all £10 with taxes for a 90minute trip. The train from Perth to Edinburgh takes up to two hours and cost me £16 return last week, with no seat all the way there! How do they manage it?

and lets be honest here, China is opening 2 coal fire powered stations a week..... so if its the environment they are using as an excuse then its not a very good one!

[elwyman]

And in response to Elwyman..... gridlock? Improved and cheaper public transport, better roads and more road policing are the answers. Every other country in Western Europe seems to have a far better transport system than us, charging more money will not deter people from using their cars if the public transport is rubbish and expensive.

Every other country in Europe is less densely populated than the UK - they have the room to build more road, we don't. Their public transport systems are better because their governments have invested in improving them over the years, ours hasn't.

I read today that the number of cars in the UK had increased by 7m (yes 7m!) since the mid 90's. The problem to be tackled is reducing car use.

Improving public transport will help in some parts of the country, but the current system is hopeless and it will take a lot to get people out of their cars.

I flew from Edinburgh to Dublin for £4.99 last year with a £2.99 return, all in all £10 with taxes for a 90minute trip.

Well done, but not exactly sustainable/environmentally friendly is it!

and lets be honest here, China is opening 2 coal fire powered stations a week..... so if its the environment they are using as an excuse then its not a very good one

Two wrongs don't make a right, do they?

I think the UK contributes about 2% to the greenhouse gas problem. Doesn't sound much, but we need to start somewhere.


P.S. I don't support road charging, and I agree that some better roads are still needed (eg a new motorway from N Wales to Speyside ;D), but we can't go on building more and more roads forever!