| Topic: | How do we make our lives better? | |
| Posted by: | Charlotte Kasner | |
| Date/Time: | 04/06/19 16:09:00 |
| I've never driven and I have a very busy, active lifestyle. I have travelled all over the country on public transport and rarely feel that I cannot do something because I don't drive. However, TfL have made it harder to travel by bus in London without paying for a credit account and more expensive to buy daily bus tickets. In June 2018, it was estimated that TfL were sitting on £321M on dormant Oyster cards alone, never mind the interest they must accrue on money taken before passengers have even travelled. Whereas it would have been possible to make a spontaneous journey by bus, it now impossible. No wonder it is easier to hop in a car. Walking for necessity or pleasure is simply vile in London. Litter, poor pavements and - yes - illegal, anti-social cycling and scooting on street, along towpaths and in parks all contribute to this. TfL have continually delayed improvements to the tube so that, while the network expands, delays are frequent and overcrowding is common at most times of day. Public transport is astronomically expensive, unreliable and inefficient compared to many other cities. Money has been siphoned off in PPP deals that could now be contributing towards the public transport infrastructure not to mention the waste on disasterous, expensive bus designs (bendy and Boris). So, rather than greenwashing and providing useless cycle ways, rather than diverting traffic witout decreasing the volume, why do we not invest even more in publicly-owned, public transport so that it is affordble, reliable and a realistic alternative to the car? |