Great Western Coffee Shop

From the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56339192)


grahame posts story and stands back for member post their views  ;D :D

Celebrations at Pilning Station Group, as the news finally facilitates a scheme to merge the current and SEWWEB (https://fosbr.org.uk/timelines/pilning/)-proposed sites, and Boris, Olga Taylor, Red Squirrel and grahame formally unveil Pilning Westgate North Bristol Airport Parkway to thunderous acclaim.

Sorry about the edit flag, Lee - think we both added an extra end-quote at the same time - grahame

Come, come Lee - you'll be suggesting the use of Pilning station to access a surfing (waves, not internet) facility next.

Oh ... wait ...

Interim Report to be found here

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/967908/DfT-Union-Connectivity-Review-Interim-Report-March-2021.pdf

We appear to have been blessed with an administration who are quite happy to repeatedly raise rail fares on the grounds that train passengers must bear more of the financial cost of providing the service, but freeze fuel duty and continue to partially fund the road system via general taxation, and then also propose a reduction in domestic APD, measures which have exactly the opposite effect.

Doesn't exactly chime with their claim that 'greening' of the economy is an absolute priority. Coupled with the current suspension of a number of rail electrification schemes it just makes them look hypocritical and/or incompetent.

And Carrie will be furious!  ;D

I'm surprised.

This thread has been open for five hours and there's still no sign of a certain member who usually enjoys giving us the benefit of his views on air traavel...   ;)

Well here are my views.
Air transport is virtually 100% fossil fuel powered and likely to remain so.
Aircraft and jet engines are mature technologies and unlikely to improve significantly in efficiency.

Domestic air travel is bad because the energy losses in take of and landing are a greater proportion of the total.

Long haul flights are bad because the speed permits of great distances being covered. The fuel used per mile* per passenger* is broadly similar to that used in driving* but huge distances are covered. Only a tiny minority would drive thousands of miles for a holiday, but flying such distances is routine.

I am therefore opposed to any form of grant, subsidy, tax break or other incentive that encourages more flying. We should be moving away from air travel by not offering any form of encouragement.

The only way to significantly reduce the fuel used for aviation is to fly less, I have no faith in claims that that we can fly as normal whilst in some way trading or offsetting the carbon emissions.

Elswhere on these fora I have objected to ever increasing train fares whilst motoring gets cheaper. We now have cheaper flights as well.

If we are serious about the climate emergency we need to fly and drive a LOT less. Which means making flying and driving more expensive and not cheaper.

*No great accuracy may be claimed in this statement, as aircraft and cars vary a lot in fuel use and load factor. However as an approximation it is true.

Me too. The prime minister's plan is to remove or reduce a tax on travel to an offshore part of the union, rather than offer a tax break. I'm glad we can agree.

In any case, I am sure this is only a temporary measure, until the £100 billion tunnel via the Isle of Man and a new underground magic roundablout is complete, giving entirely carbon-free travel.

The Antipodeans have a slightly different view to kicking starting public transport

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-56355694 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-56355694)

I am not a betting man, but I think the odds of half-price rail fares to boost the domestic travel industry are minimal.

From Simple Flying (https://simpleflying.com/air-france-domestic-flights-trains/)

Sounds sensible, but the major difference is that the French have proper high-speed rail to those places where flying will be curtailed. Trains that run on mostly straight tracks at 186mph/300kmh.

Meanwhile in the UK, large parts of the mainline Great Western network potter along at 60-70mph (eg, large parts of Devon and all of Cornwall). The places that do have higher linespeeds (eg, London to Bristol/Cardiff) are too close to fly to.

There are however certain flows outside of GWR where a similar thing could happen in theory, before HS2 - Manchester to London being the obvious one.  And continuing the French theme, how about Paris (and Brussels) to London.

It won't catch on in Britain. The environmental lobby are against railways like that.

IIRC, flights between London and those 2 capitals reduced substantially when Eurostar started. Not gone altogether though as there will always be some point-to-point traffic, and people using those airports as a hub to connect from short-haul to long-haul and vice-versa (which they all are to a greater or lesser extent).

Report here (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/968214/DfT-Union-Connectivity-Review-Interim-Report-March-2021-accessible.pdf) ... "Union Connectivity" - Scotland, Wales, Northen Ireland and England

Air travel is bad due to the fossil fuel used and the carbon dioxide emitted, thus worsening climate change. HMG have a publicly stated policy of greening the economy.

"Union connectivity" OTOH sounds good and nothing to do with global warming. (RMT note they do not mean trades unions)

I'm not sure if this review is worth its own thread, but its interim report is probably worth a comment or two. I'm not impressed so far, and can see some big holes in it.

For one thing, having noted that Brexit has removed the TEN-T planning framework, they don't say anything about the continued need for transport links with the EU/EEA or what joint planning mechanisms there will be. This (unlike air and sea transport to farther away) is to other places so close that the routing has implications for internal connectivity. Thus it ought to be included, and the wider question of "who's doing our joint planning with the EU" at least clarified.

It's probably too much to ask for the economic analysis to address the changes implied by decarbonisation - I expect higher GDP and employment but lower living standards. They are transport experts, so have to rely on conventional government economic analysis. But we'll have wait for the final report to see how well they have coped with these - admittedly difficult - future changes.

Oh, and if on the first map you are going to arbitrarily label one grey blob in Fife as "Kirkaldy", do try to get the right blob (or name)!