We need to reconfigure how we invest in transport, moving away from expensive and eternally loss-making fixed rail systems towards better residential environments that allow for car ownership
I believe that there is also a sociological angle to much of this. Cars put space between people and the criminal parts of town. Women feel safer in cars than trains. What is the cause of so many of the Dutch cycling? Well, partly that it's flat, but also that mothers work less in the Netherlands, and take their children to school on the bike in the early years. We have pushed and financially incentivised mothers going back to work, and they're going to drive to school in the Nissan Qashqai on the way to work if you do that (note: the people who object to women doing the school run and clogging up roads around schools are also the ones who want more "free" childcare).
I feel this about so many things today. Like many town parks are full of vandalism, graffiti, broken glass, drug paraphenalia. And it doesn't get fixed, so parents take their children to privately run activities. It's hard to create community living in many places because so much of it is easily ruined by a small minority that are not corrected.
“What is the cause of so many of the Dutch cycling?” Initially poverty, unable to afford cars. Small population, small sparsely populated conurbations and need to travel only short distances.
I don't know about that, but the point is that much of the conversation about the Dutch cycling doesn't take account of who cycles and why. We've ended up closing city roads for cyclists, but men going to work are one of the groups of people who cycles least there.
I don't quite know that I'd go as far as "community spirit" but when the state fails to protect individual rights or to protect the common, people will try and find answers themselves.
And the problem is that this then has secondary effects. If a city won't prosecute shoplifters, shops will leave. So, local people have less competition and have to pay more. Or, the shop has to put everything under lock and key, which requires more workers to run the shop, which costs customers more.
Why does Japan have lots of vending machines out in the open? Because they're intolerant of crime. And not in a UK politician making a speech about getting tough on it. They are tough on it. Steal bikes and you'll get a couple of chances and then you go to prison.
Just as an aside on this, I discovered a company called Via who are doing the software around on-demand bus systems. I've no idea about costs or how well it's working, but Milton Keynes are doing a project for this:-
Railways are 200 year old outdated technology invented to carry freight/raw materials not people. Freight is 24/24, 7/7 - people are two peak periods per day, with little at weekends. Public transport through Europe was nationalised after 1945, both national and local level. This took away commercial free market competition and profit motive as well as isolating transport systems from global, private capital for investment, replaced by funding from taxpayers which had to compete with all other Govt activities. Inevitably public transport suffered from lack of investment, bloated workforce, soaring costs, and started to make significant operating losses.
Given all this, it became important to push people off the roads onto public transport to try to reduce losses. Lack of investment, operating losses meant services and rolling stock/vehicles deteriorated making car transport more attractive. Environmental propaganda was used as the excuse to wage war against cars and champion public transport. So here we are. Banning ICE vehicles, pushing people towards BEVs which not only do not have much range, for which the infrastructure and generating capacity will not be able to meet demands, 20mph zones, congestion charges, 15 minute ghettos - the aim is to remove freedom of travel from the individual and control how much, how far, how often we travel.
I believe that there is also a sociological angle to much of this. Cars put space between people and the criminal parts of town. Women feel safer in cars than trains. What is the cause of so many of the Dutch cycling? Well, partly that it's flat, but also that mothers work less in the Netherlands, and take their children to school on the bike in the early years. We have pushed and financially incentivised mothers going back to work, and they're going to drive to school in the Nissan Qashqai on the way to work if you do that (note: the people who object to women doing the school run and clogging up roads around schools are also the ones who want more "free" childcare).
I feel this about so many things today. Like many town parks are full of vandalism, graffiti, broken glass, drug paraphenalia. And it doesn't get fixed, so parents take their children to privately run activities. It's hard to create community living in many places because so much of it is easily ruined by a small minority that are not corrected.
“What is the cause of so many of the Dutch cycling?” Initially poverty, unable to afford cars. Small population, small sparsely populated conurbations and need to travel only short distances.
I don't know about that, but the point is that much of the conversation about the Dutch cycling doesn't take account of who cycles and why. We've ended up closing city roads for cyclists, but men going to work are one of the groups of people who cycles least there.
So true. The lack of community spirit. And most concerning , that some feel no need for such community.
I don't quite know that I'd go as far as "community spirit" but when the state fails to protect individual rights or to protect the common, people will try and find answers themselves.
And the problem is that this then has secondary effects. If a city won't prosecute shoplifters, shops will leave. So, local people have less competition and have to pay more. Or, the shop has to put everything under lock and key, which requires more workers to run the shop, which costs customers more.
Why does Japan have lots of vending machines out in the open? Because they're intolerant of crime. And not in a UK politician making a speech about getting tough on it. They are tough on it. Steal bikes and you'll get a couple of chances and then you go to prison.
Hi Simon,
Just as an aside on this, I discovered a company called Via who are doing the software around on-demand bus systems. I've no idea about costs or how well it's working, but Milton Keynes are doing a project for this:-
https://getaroundmk.org.uk/on-board/mk-connect
Railways are 200 year old outdated technology invented to carry freight/raw materials not people. Freight is 24/24, 7/7 - people are two peak periods per day, with little at weekends. Public transport through Europe was nationalised after 1945, both national and local level. This took away commercial free market competition and profit motive as well as isolating transport systems from global, private capital for investment, replaced by funding from taxpayers which had to compete with all other Govt activities. Inevitably public transport suffered from lack of investment, bloated workforce, soaring costs, and started to make significant operating losses.
Given all this, it became important to push people off the roads onto public transport to try to reduce losses. Lack of investment, operating losses meant services and rolling stock/vehicles deteriorated making car transport more attractive. Environmental propaganda was used as the excuse to wage war against cars and champion public transport. So here we are. Banning ICE vehicles, pushing people towards BEVs which not only do not have much range, for which the infrastructure and generating capacity will not be able to meet demands, 20mph zones, congestion charges, 15 minute ghettos - the aim is to remove freedom of travel from the individual and control how much, how far, how often we travel.