The green lobby clearly believes that the magical talisman of “BETTER PUBLIC TRANSPORT” and more “CYCLE LANES” will “GET PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR CARS”.   Maybe it will get some people, some of the time, out of their cars.  But as most of them will keep their cars anyway, but just use them slightly less often, what will it gain..?

And what exactly would “Better Public Transport” look like and how much would it cost?   To me the definition of a “good service” would be at least 4 buses/trams per hour from 6am to midnight, and the bus/tram stop should not be much more than 5 minutes walk from home.  And, in any big city, that would be just one service out of hundreds.   Of course public transport would work better, if not up to that standard, if British cities were 2-3 times more densely populated, like Italy or Spain where 80% of the population live in medium-high density flats.

Having spent a bit of time in London recently and, armed with my very useful bus pass, trying to navigate my way through its labyrinthian bus service, I am not convinced.  Of course London – especially central districts – is a hellish place for cars and even more so for car ownership now that the “congestion charge zone” has been extended outwards for miles.  Between 7am and 10pm it costs £15 to bring a car into the zone, and a heavy fine of £160 if you “forget”.

But that’s not going to happen in Britain and, even if it did, would it really make our lives any easier?  Those earnest green lobbyists who advocate “better public transport” as a “green solution” must be masochists who get intense pleasure waiting 30 minutes with heavy shopping bags in a wind-swept, rain-swept bus shelter on a freezing night, possibly in the company of a raucous crowd who just spilled out of a pub.   Finally 3 buses arrive together and, our earnest green activist having struggled aboard and luckily found himself a seat, the bus lurches around a corner and his bags topple over and (most embarrassingly) wine bottles are now rolling about under the seats and (worse) being smashed..!