The master plan for London transport

Time to head for the exits? Probably if you read what Tony Blair’s anointed successor has planned for us when he takes over as Prime Minister next year.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, Labour’s number two man and a shoe-in as Blair’s replacement has former British Airways CEO Rod Eddington as his transport adviser. Eddington was given the task of coming up with a transport plan for Britain and his 366 report has come out today.

How to deal with congested roads, overcrowded trains and a green agenda? Just hammer anyone who wants to travel with huge price increases, starting with car drivers who’ll have to have a black box tracker fitted in their car to record their journey’s and charge them up to £1.50 per mile.

Second, even though the car tolls might force people off the road, jackup the price of using trains and buses in the rush hour. The Standard says ‘Rod Eddington’s report made clear that London commuters will pay more to stay working nine to five in future’ and that ‘Sir Rod admitted that many commuters would lose out’.

I think these guys who get chauffered around all their lives haven’t a clue what the rest of the population has to put up with. Does Rod Eddington really think people choose to get on a packed tube at 8 in the morning through choice. That’s when they have to be at work and its no use saying start work later and finish later, what about people with kids?

I was on the Central Line around 11am earlier this week, the train was full, people jammed in your armpit and even though it was late November it was pretty stifling down there. London’s a big congested city and the tubes go to be busy even outside of rush hour.
I can’t get my head around this idea that seems really popular with the government in the UK of just pricing people out of going anywhere.

Car drivers just get reemed, insane petrol prices, car tax, parking and congestion charges and now they want to track your every movement and squeeze some more out. Its no better on the trains, the rail operating companies announced well above infaltion rises this week and said tough, its going to go on like that.

The government are creating a country where only the rich can afford to travel, but where the ordinary working people still have to and are going to take a big hit doing so. People in the UK already work the longest hours in Europe and this is only going to add to that with all the stress and related problems that brings. Then some smarmy government minister will say why do we drink so much, why can’t we be more like the French.