Are unnecessary black cab journeys now a luxury that none of us can afford?

[whole diary]

[Celestial]

Whilst I feel that it would be an unreasonable burden to prohibit or restrict use of existing taxis that were compliant when purchased, I WOULD support a requirement that all new taxis first licensed after say 2022 should be electric.

I would support that, provided it also applied to any Uber registrations from the same date. Have to have a level playing field between the two modes else it would favour Uber too much.

[Bmblbzzz]

In other words it should apply to private hire as well as hackney. I'd support that, trouble is it's all locally regulated atm.

[Marlburian]

I do recall - not London, but St Albans, lines of taxis both at the station and in the City centre on still days choking the air with diesel fumes before I realised just how many problems such fumes cause.  Never min the health dangers - just darned unpleasant!

That's not just a taxi problem - also idling buses and diesel trains at Stations too.

And, occasionally, the duty ambulance at Tilehurst Station. Not that it can be much fun for drivers of any vehicle to sit around waiting on a cold morning.

[grahame]

That's not just a taxi problem - also idling buses and diesel trains at Stations too.

First generation diesel trains - with locomotives on the ends of carriages - tended to have their exhaust outlets away from the station centres / unpowered passenger carriages.   Many are the pictures of Brush 47s, Peaks, 31s, Comptons and Westerns on the end of train outside the train shed at Temple Meads with a string of carriages stretching back into the depths of the passenger shed.   The HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) with power cars on the end of 8 car rakes continued this trend.

With the nearly-universal use of multiple units these days, with engines and exhaust outlets integrated with the passenger carriages, engines running during layovers are much closer to the passengers, and much more likely in an enclosed space.   The power unit no longer just passes the passenger shed / core passenger area briefly - it stops there, chugging outs its gases and particles.  Place I've notice it is the waiting room at Westbury where there are some significant layovers.

For Bristol Temple Meads, it's somewhat of a relief to have the terminating London IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) at the platforms with no overall roof, and of course it will be still better when the electification to and through the station is completed.  Bimode probably makes sense for next generation Cross Country too as even today, Bristol - Manchester services could run on electricity from all the way north from Bromsgrove, and Plymouth - Edinburgh services all the way north from York.

Well off topic - rename or split, perhaps?

[Marlburian]

And, occasionally, the duty ambulance at Tilehurst Station. Not that it can be much fun for drivers of any vehicle to sit around waiting on a cold morning.

On my extended walk this morning to buy a newspaper I was passing Tilehurst Station at 0715 and popped in to see if there was any new signage about Covid-19. There was a duty ambulance, with its engine running. No hazard to anyone, but I did wonder how long it had been on for. Even at that hour, the weather was quite muggy - it might have been on for the aircon even.

Dunno what purpose the Portakabin serves. There's a sign up advising there are no drugs inside. When it was first installed, I had an idea that it was so the driver could make himself a cup of something, though I've hardly ever seen it being used. But probably not a fun place  to hang around in, waiting for an emergency call.