Will Public Transport Make A Comeback?

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by shhweeet#4292, Jul 28, 2021.

  1. shhweeet#4292

    shhweeet#4292 Well-Known Member

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    In the UK I do believe things like smart cards that work for all operators of trains and also work on buses and all their different operators are going to be more the norm for people. In 2030 we are all going to be forced into electric cars which are going to be totally unviable unless they can sort out the time it takes to charge the dam things up and the expensive cost of them which will take years to come down to acceptable levels for most of us. Public transport will make a comeback the only problem is people are more health conscious these days because of the pandemic so don’t like sharing space with others. The general acceptance of masks these days helps but designers of trains will probably go back to the old fashioned way of making individual compartments.

    What do you think? Am I wrong?
     
  2. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    I think rather the opposite: the legacy of COVID will be increased use of telecommuting and work-from-home, and both fewer people in urban centers needing to come in to the office, and fewer people needing to live in urban centers at all.
     
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  3. shhweeet#4292

    shhweeet#4292 Well-Known Member

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    I agree with that but those that would still need to commute don’t you think they might possibly return to public transport once again when faced with the prospect of being forced into expensive electric cars that could waste hours of your life whilst you wait to change them up? Speaking for myself unless they can get charging times down to say 5 mins and the price of electric cars to an affordable level then I’m one of those who will most likely return to the train or bus.
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2021
  4. Easilyconfused

    Easilyconfused Well-Known Member

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    I agree with solicitr about telecommuting. A lot of companies are downsizing their offices (I know we are) since it makes no sense for some roles to be forced to attend an office just for appearances sake.

    I don't believe compartmented stock will return since there is simply too much scope for anti-social behaviour and crime. Certainly I would not let my wife or daughter use such stock if our local operator had it since it is way too much of the safety risk.

    Electric cars are NOT the answer - nobody has addressed the elephant in the room of manufacture, supply and recycling of the batteries. I know that the recovery companies hate them since they can't be towed easily and if they have been damaged are prone to catching fire either on the recovery truck or at the yard and those fires are very difficult to extinguish. I don't believe we have anywhere near enough generating capacity to support them in this country.

    Before I am accused of being defeatist I would like to agree about smart cards. All operators should be forced to accept them and also full portability between operators should be mandatory. When there is major disruption we hear statements saying that other operators have agreed to accept tickets. Quite frankly (without going back to the monolith of BR) I should be able to pitch up at a station and get on any train from any operator to my destination. Likewise all operators should offer the cheapest ticket and not hide the cheaper ones away from the customer to get them to buy the more expensive tickets out of convenience.
     
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  5. shhweeet#4292

    shhweeet#4292 Well-Known Member

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    Wouldn’t cctv and lockable compartments that work via your smart card and could be overridden by the emergency services or automatically unlock by detection in the event of an accident solve the compartment issues?
     
  6. Factor41

    Factor41 Well-Known Member

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    I think for the majority of users, that's not an issue at all - you'd just charge your car overnight at home, or at the office while you're working and current EVs have plenty of range for a normal commute, if not several day's worth. Your phone doesn't charge in 5 mins and that doesn't stop you using it - you just plug it in when it's convenient to do so.
     
  7. Alex_m30x#7297

    Alex_m30x#7297 Well-Known Member

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    First i believe there should be a universal accepted smart card like oyster, which can have pay as you go and can be used on pretty much any service (except sleepers or special services.)
    Second i hope public transport can make a come back.
    Part of their users are forced to use public transport at least for the time being due to money.
    Another part could use cars and will do if they think its not worth it, tickets are going up, trains are less often and more cramped so they chose to drive. Public transport needs to do a lot to bring these people back
     
  8. GuitarMan

    GuitarMan Well-Known Member

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    I’m faced with a return to the office soon, so am using the cycle to work scheme rather than public transport. It will cost me about the same to be a very nice bike and all the accessories needed over 12 months as an annual bus pass.

    although I am only back in the office 2 days a week, the annual bus pass would still be more cost effective than buying two daily tickets a week… yes it’s that ridiculous.

    so… bike to work it is
     
  9. Tigert1966

    Tigert1966 Well-Known Member

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    I can't comment for the UK, but here in Switzerland our travel cards are valid for all forms of public transport (including boats). It's also pretty good value and a pretty good service (and to make it more appealing you can buy a half price card that lasts a year). Therefore a lot of people use it. It's far easier to get the Tram to work than it would be to drive and anyway unless you live over 20km away, my company won't issue you with a car park pass anyway. I only have a car for pleasure and to be honest I don't need it at all - It's rare I do enough shopping to need the car and if I didn't have a car, you can rent them hourly here. So I do think that if there was a viable service and common travel card it could encourage more usage in the UK.

    There are two other factors. COVID as already mentioned. My company has already said we don't have to come back to the office and we can basically choose how we want to work. I'll probably go in 2 days a week therefore will be using public transport a lot less than before. The other factor is that I don't believe the UK or Switzerland will have a viable infrastructure for Electric Cars by 2030 so will the government really bar sales of petrol cars? I personally don't think so. At the moment I believe it's just words (I will be happy to be proved wrong) Even then you are still allowed to use a petrol car so people will just keep them running as long as they can in preference to public transport.
     
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  10. shhweeet#4292

    shhweeet#4292 Well-Known Member

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    The problem is when you do long journeys that are more than a particular electric cars range so you have to stop in a charge station in order to charge it up to complete your journey which on a fast charger is currently around 30 mins for an 80% charge. Factor in a queue waiting to use the chargers and chargers that inevitably are out of service and you could be in for a seriously long wait / period of hanging around and stress. Also not everyone has a home where you can charge up, terraced houses and high rise flats for example. Will work places provide lots of chargers for their staff? I’m not so sure, a lot of them today don’t even provide parking in many cases. Tbh I think the whole electric car thing is the public being sold a pup just like when they pushed diesel just a few short years ago which later went from hero to zero in the governments view. If the knock on effect is better investment in railways and public transport in general because of more public demand then surely that would be a bonus. Ironic if that were to be the case because Beachings closure of large parts of the UK rail network would seem even more short sighted.
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2021
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